D-Day American – Forces in Normandy 1944 + US Cards Review

By Paolo Paglianti

The Battlefront plan is simple and bright.

Deploy the Fortress Europe book to start off the Late Period Flames of War V4, with all four principal armies in short form – good lists, but focused on the “general” armies after 1943 – and after that explore the various Late War theaters of war and their specific armies.

So, we’ve just finished drooling on Fortress Europe it’s already time to dive into a new, more specific book: ladies and gentlemen, time to get on our brand new Sherman 76mm and storm the D-Day beaches with your Late US army.

Long story short, I’ll start from the end and spoil the final score: D-Day American is a really great army book, one of the finest I’ve seen in V4. It’s a rich compendium of the US Army, and you will be able lots of different lists in your Late War battles. Obviously, it’s totally compatible with US list in Fortress Europe, but it greatly expands it with new flavors and troops. In this article, we will have a general glance at the book, while more specific features will examine in detail the Tanks, Airborne/Rangers, Infantry units and the Command Cards.

Rank and file: the US Infantry

Let’s start with the heart of the army, the infantry. While in Fortress Europe you can only choose between the Rifle Company and the Armored Rifle Company, here you have a full range of US military foot soldier units, from the fresh troops thrown on Normandy beaches to the highly trained paras and glider companies sent behind enemy lines.

US infantry units are really large – except for the Assault platoons.

You can still have the basic Rifle Company and their cousins with Armored transports, and they are similar to the one you’ve already in Fortress Europe. The first step, you can upgrade them to Veterans, gaining that invaluable “To hit on 4+” all US army players dream since Mid war.  Oddly enough, the Veterans lose the Blood’n Guts trait (Rally 3+) but gain the Yankee Ingenuity (Tactics 3+).

So, they’re more likely to leave the field if butchered or stay pinned, but easier to dig in or blitz. For comparison, the Armored Rifle Platoon (15 points as “ordinary”) costs 19 pts if Veteran. Note you can’t mix ordinary troops with Vets in the same Company.

Maybe, you would prefer to field the All American 82° Division or the Screaming Eagles: Paras finally land in FOW V4 with those two divisions. Fearless (Fearless 3+), Veteran (Skill 3+) and To hit 4+ make them true elite troops, but at a high cost: you don’t have all the options you have with Rifles Company, and you will spend 14 points for seven bases plus a single bazooka and a 60mm mortar. They can have a 57mm AT cannon, Jeeps for recon, an 81mm mortar platoon and also a 75mm artillery battery.

Glider Companies have lesser stats: Motivation 4+, Skill 4+ and Hit on 3+, but a full infantry platoon with a gigantic 10 bases plus 1 bazooka, 1 M1919 LMG and the 60 mortar is a real bargain at only 10 points. You can have the Rangers: these boys have special skills when they meet hard terrains and can pass thru a mountain or cliffs at dash speed with a skill test. They have very small formations with only HQ and three Ranger platoons, but they are true killers in hand to hand assaults, scoring a hit at 2+. They are Fearless (3+) but a target (to hit on 3+).

Finally, the Assault troops: they can be fresh or veterans, with similar values to the Rifle company, but can cross minefield at 3+. Smaller platoons (5 Garand bases), but they also have one small base with flamethrowers, so good versus dug-in enemy infantry.

Here come the tanks

The D-Day US army finally receives the Sherman with 76mm gun, but we are a bit disappointed: the AT value is 12, while the “old” V4 Late book had it at 13. One point is significant, with so many up-armored tanks around on Late War tables. The good news is you can have fresh and veteran companies also for the tanks, so you can choose between cheaper, easier to target green Sherman’s or more costly veterans, harder to spot.

The 76mm Sherman also comes with a frontal armor of 7, so slightly harder to beat but still no true match for German calibers, and an improved remount value of 3+. One M4 76mm costs 4-points plus something, the veteran 5.2 circa, and similar to the infantry counterpart, loses the Blood’n Guts trait but gains the Tactics 3+.

Damn trip on the Ocean! My gun shrunk a bit and now I have only AT 12!

In the new armored units, we have the Scott Assault Gun both with Rifle Company and the Stuart Formations, the new anti-aircraft platoon with mixed M15s and M16s, and the M8 Greyhound recon Patrol. Speaking of scouts, the M10 Tank Destroy formation gets the M20 Security Section, with better amour and weapons than the Fortress Europe M3A1 Armored Car. The 3-inch Anti tank gun also appears in the Support section, with a AT 12 that could really help to fight off the Nazi panzers – and you can count also on the new antitank 57mm battery instead of the 37mm with most infantry formations.

A real welcomed addition is the M12 155m Battery: 2 or 4 guns with a powerful AT 15 direct fire (with AUTO firepower and Brutal) so good in killing bunkers, tanks and dug in Panzergrenadiers alike. They are almost unarmored (zero armor, but at least no simple save) and their artillery barrage have a 96″/240 cm radius and fire-power 2+. Four SP guns at mere 12 points: we are sure we will see many of them in the next months.

Another nice addition is the L4 Grasshopper: a single plane (it enters at 3+) that can spot for the artillery batteries (but – new rule – enemy anti-aircraft units can open fire as soon as it declares the range in). We’re also really pleased to see the Sherman observation post now range in at 3+ and not the inexplicable  5+ seen before.

Finally, over your head you can field two P-47 Thunderbolts (9 points): with their skill 4+ and rockets with top Anti-tank of 5, these twins can really tear apart even the mightiest enemy panzer. A bit disappointed I still have to wait to deploy my already painted P-38, but will soothe with these hard punching beasts. And yes, you can have the Grasshopper and the P-47s.

Scenarios

The scenarios for D-Day are really interesting – more on this within the week.

After the usual paint guide, the book ends with a rich section on the D-Day scenario: 5 battles linked together, starting with a special airborne assault  with paras and gliders landing in the middle of the enemy line; the classical Saving Private Ryan beach scenario, with special rules and points for German bunkers and defenses, with full landing craft rules. There are also some pages you can color-copy and cut out if you don’t have landing crafts and bunker models. We will do a special report around the end of June on these scenarios – honestly, I can’t wait to play them.

Cards

With D-Day books, the Card packs return. The US cards focus on the D-Day scenario, with cards adding Amphibious transport or the special Sherman DD, or the special hedge cutter to improve the cross value when meeting the infamous bocage. Some cards add some special weapons, like one shoot Napalm bombs for your P-47, or flamethrowers for your Rifle Companies. A really nice one is the Desert Veterans card to upgrade the M10s to Skill 3+, allowing them to use their deadly Seek, Strike and Destroy trait much easier (1+ point per tank).

A great comeback from the V3 days is the Naval gunfire: each shooting phase, the US players can call a special bombardment from the sea, with antitank 4+ and AUTO firepower. You need to discard the Range in at the end of the shooting phase, so no double save checks for the enemy infantry. Nothing comes as free lunches, however: it costs 12 points.

Some cards allow you to play the French Free army: Division LeClerc transforms a US Veteran formation (tank or armored rifle) into a Free France one, with a last stand of 3+ (and costs +1 point for the unit). You also can have partisan and Resistance units: they are Fearless but as irregulars have a Last Stand of 5+. Also, easy target as hit on 3+ and Skills 5+, but they don’t count for Reserves.

Final thoughts

We already spoiled at the beginning of this article: we loved this book. It’s packed with new units and lots of details and allows you to entirely customize your army from a cheap, green mass assault army to the ultra-elite paras with veteran tanks. The cards add, as usual, extra flexibility, and enables you to shape your unique army.

If you are going to fight a friendly historical scenario, D-Day American introduces all the D-Day rules you need for bunker defenses and landing craft assaults. On the contrary, if you are building a tournament force, you can choose very different approaches: the opponent will never be sure of what he will face against a US army.

This is only the first “general” feature on the US army book D-Day American: on you will soon see new articles on specific areas, like the scenarios, the tank companies, the infantry divisions.

In case you wanted to see how these forces stack up to the previously released Fortress Europe you can check them out here.

Fortress Europe German army