German D-Day Bat Rep

By Benny Christiansen

With the new German D-Day book available, I made an effort to hurry and try to make a game with the two D-Day books. That means there will be some proxy units in the US list. Sorry for that and the poor quality of the photos. Blitz wasn’t working that day for the US or for the American player (me).

My friend is a veteran German player, so we decided to have a go at it. 80 points, as there will be a tournament later this year with 80 points D-Day books. My list was as follows:

*I really liked the idea of Engineers with the Dig in on 3+, as well as “Hedge Trimmer” special ability to help my Shermans in Bocage.*

His list was from the Reconnaissance Company.

*A lot of choices are available for this company. I’m certain we will see several of these boys fielded when this book is being played.*

He had chosen the following

Recce HQ – 2 SMG Teams

Recce Platoon 7 MG Teams w/1 Panzerfaust + 7 Sd Kfz 260

Recce Platoon 7 MG Teams w/1 Panzerfaust

Pak 40 – 3 teams

Sd Kfz 250 Scout Troop – 3 teams

Puma – 2 teams

Stug 7,5 cm – 3 teams

StuH 10,5 cm – 3 teams

Wespe – 3 teams

Lucky Command Card

All of these boys are Confident, Careful and Veterans

One of the things about the Recon Company is a lot of their choices are “Scout“. This really is awesome for the list to BE a scout company, not just by name.

We played the new Armoured Fury mission from the D-Day book. Americans as attackers.

As the attacker, I wanted to push forward towards his closest objective. He had spearheaded so he had his inf platoon with halftracks in the fields at the bottom of the picture above. I needed his ambush to be revealed, so I could deal with it. I had put one engineer platoon on either of my objectives with my Priests behind one of them, on a hill top. My HQ was in the house on the hill at the center and then mortars in the forest at the top right of the above picture.

Table before deplyment. Bunkers are just normal buildings.

In the first turn, I rushed forward my 3 75mm Shermans. I put them right up against the building. He popped his ambush (Pak 40 platoon), blitzed his Stugs and took a swing at my Shermans, only to bail one. Through the game, he had a hard time with the 3+ FP test. I moved my Priests up so they were able to provide defensive fire for my infantry if he wanted to make a mounted assault.

Second turn (still no reserves) I pushed forward with parts of my infantry platoon in protection from the hill and I backed my Shermans away and put them within assault/attack distance of my own infantry push, in case he decided to go out of his foxholes to assault my “poor infantry”. I smoked to protect my Shermans from his Paks and Stugs. His Stugs shot at my Priest but missed.

*For a few points most of the German infantry have access to this WunderWaffen (I find it to be one of the most fantastic weapons of FOW).*

His turn 2 saw him rushing towards my infantry to assault them, leaving only the platoon commander and a bazooka alive (4 dead teams). That left him in the firing lane of my HMGs and subsequently, he was assaulted by my Shermans, leaving him with 2 teams on his objective from the inf platoon and the CiC with no 2iC. I was worried that his Panzerfausts would kill me, but I was lucky.

I smoked with my Priests so he could not shoot at them with his Stugs, and I would be ranged in on his infantry platoon, that was making a move towards my engineer platoon. My HMG and rifles took out 2-3 teams from his inf platoon with halftracks.

My first reserves were my Rangers. I brought them in the list, as I had forgotten some of my tanks at home. They rushed towards the house in the middle, where they hid and put pressure on the center of the table, and later one of the teams made an attempt at an assault, but I missed a 4+ hit with my bazooka, so the aggressive 3+ punished him, and killed him in defensive fire.

In turn 3 I had my 76mm Shermans on the table (using proxies). They made a rush on the flank towards the nearest objective. But as I came close he had his StuH and Wespe come in from reserves blocking me, forcing me to focus on them. I tried to Blitz 3 times in the game, with my Shermans, and I never managed to roll the 3+ once.

In the top, he tried a mounted assault, only to be denied in defensive fire from the bazookas (three in a platoon is a good number) supported by one .50 cal from a Priest.

*The 3 proxy tanks in the bottom of the picture are priests. Two of them are bailed out. His Stugs never managed to kill any tanks, even if they hit at least one in every turn.*

We ended the game on turn 6, after appx three hours of play, including small talk and deployment. He had lost one platoon (Wespe), and might loose his HQ and another infantry platoon if ever I get past his StuG and Pak40s. I was about to start rolling for Last Stand on my 75mm Shermans, due to Pak40 shooting. We agreed, that too many things were down to “What If” to find a winner, and settled for a draw.