D-Day

By Michael Rafferty

This year marks the 80^th anniversary of Operation Overlord and the Battle for Normandy. To commemorate this my local group, the Nerds of War, wanted to run a D-Day themed mega battle. It’s been a few years since we’ve run a mega battle at our FLGS The Game Room and not at AdeptiCon, so we wanted to start things off with something big and flashy.

We have a logo and a banner, we’re official!

I really enjoy running large games for people and I’ve always enjoyed playing in something larger and more cinematic. It’s a good feeling to be maneuvering whole tank companies about the battlefield instead of a platoon. That’s what got me started running big games a decade or so ago.

If other people weren’t going to run the kind of games I like, I would do it myself. These games also motivate me to complete modeling projects. Setting a date means I need to have things ready by then and I work better with firm, external deadlines. Big games both keep me recharged in the hobby and progressing along my projects, a win-win!

By Richard Steer

“Does anyone have any Wespes that I can borrow?” The request was posted by a friend on one of our local group chats ahead of a Late-War Flames of War tournament last year. Once the accusations of “meta chasing” died down, it led to a conversation about the role and effectiveness of artillery in the game.

As someone who primarily plays British forces, my contribution to the discussion was that while the Late-War British lists have a lot of artillery options, only mortars and AVREs offer good value. The British towed artillery piece, the 25pdr, is only Firepower 4+ and is expensive due to being Fearless Veteran. Where the Germans and Americans have cost-effective three-gun units of self-propelled artillery, the British Priest and Sexton troops are units of four, again being Fearless Veteran.

To cap it off, it’s not easy to make use of that Veteran skill because most British Formation Commanders are only rated as Trained. Almost everything that the 25pdr should be able to do in the game can be done more effectively by Crocodiles.

The 25pdr field gun played an immense role in British and Commonwealth actions throughout the war, and it’s a shame that they don’t see the table more often. To do my bit to help correct this, I challenged myself to build a British list that goes all-in on artillery.

By Richard Steer

2021 is shaping up to be a big year for with the release of the remaining books in the Bagration series, and a return to the Western Front for Bulge. To celebrate some of our favorite units returning to the game, I’m considering organizing a multiplayer event for our club. I ran something similar in 2019 for the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings, and I’ve been looking back over my notes from that day, reflecting on what worked and what could be improved for next time.

by Tom Burgess

 

Mitch Reed has already provided an excellent of the D-Day Waffen SS Book for NDNG, so it falls on me to review the Command Cards for this new Flames of War Late War book.

This might be the best part, as it is with the command cards that one can really flavor a list. I’ll break the cards down into the following five groups; Standards, Same as D-Day Germans, New Formations, Special Formation Upgrades, and finally Heroes.

Standards

Softskin Transport and Lucky.  You knew these had to be here. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone actually use the Softskin Card, but as with all Command  Card decks it is here.

By Kreighton Long

As the pandemic continues to dominate our news feeds and our minds I’ve been trying to focus on the future and how exciting it will be to attend club days and tournaments.

Warlord Games is doing its part to ramp up my excitement with the planned publication of their second D-Day Campaign Book with nearly two hundred pages focusing on the Anglo-Canadian Sectors from Gold, Sword, and Juno Beaches to the capture of Caen and the German defeat at the Falaise Pocket.

As you can expect from Warlord, this book contains new historical scenarios, units, and theater selectors.

Look for Bolt Action: Campaign: D-Day: British and Canadian Sectors to be released this coming Autumn. With the disruptions from the pandemic, Warlord has not put an official release date on it yet but indicate they hope to have it out potentially in October.

Can one get excited for a new book that has very little new models in it? Well if it is the new D-Day Waffen SS book from there is a lot to be excited about if you are a player who likes to play the SS. Do not let the lack of new models throw you off, this book adds so much flavor for the German D-Day forces you will never notice it.

After I built what I claimed was my only army for Flames of War almost a decade ago (Canadians) I soon found myself building an opposing force to play against them. I selected the Waffen SS because even decades after the war they hold an odd fascination for me as I try to wrap my head about how they existed as a separate force based on the Nazi party as opposed to the national army.

The SS also seemed to be everywhere during the war and one of the first lists I really loved to play was the SS Wiking Division that fought on the Eastern front. Now this force is available for Normandy as Battlefronts closes the Late War chapter for the invasion of France.

 

Editorial Comment: We all know it will be a while before Battlefront gets around to updating every force and list to it’s Version 4 format. Far too often we see players lament that their forces are not “officially” represented in the rules yet. But in may cases, as Clive shows us with his ideas for Late War Romanians, there are many suitable analogs that, with a little thought, can let  player break out his waiting models and get in great gaming action. Even in “official” events, players could take Clive’s suggestions to expand their gaming opportunities with models they have now.

By Clive Henrick,

During the late war period, the Romanian army is far less than what it was at Stalingrad, but it can still mount a defense and with support do local counter-attacks. It’s more of a defense army at its heart with dogged defenders, good at counter-attacks, but not one that you would normally think off to clear the table of the enemy.

Even without a Late War Romanian 4th edition book, the flavor of the Romanian forces can still be captured in Late War Flames of War by using a combination of German D-Day book and the German D-Day Command Cards.

by Matt Varnish

Here we go, myself and fellow No Dice No Glory contributor Scott ‘Obsidian23’ Roach, get in a game using the new British D-Day book. As always, the video of the game is linked at the end of the article.

We actually debated using the special D-Day missions in the book but they were either on 4ft by 4ft tables or Airlanding, so we opted to use the normal Battle Planner.. and wound up with Free-For-All. We WERE using the new Bocage rules, however, Bocage Hedgerows are Tall Terrain and provide Bulletproof Cover to gun and infantry teams shot through them. Looking at the above table Scott laid out, you can see that Line of Sight would be an issue for things like Achilles, 88s and Panthers.

D-Day +2, Monty’s forces have pushed past the beachheads and are heading towards Caen.   In their way lies a German Recon Coy sitting in an outskirt called Herouville-St-Clair.

By Preston Jacob

 

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!” – Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

That speech rings no truer than with all the new units you can find in the new Flames of War D:Day British book. For any British player who felt they may have been cheated with the small list and force selection from Fortress Europe, worry no more. There are over 100 pages in this new book and brings the British fully into late war. Whether you’re an infantry or armored player, you’ll find everything you could want from the Normandy campaign and will be able to drive the Germans back to the Fatherland by Christmas.

Since the beginning of FOW’s Version 4 I’ve been patient. Taking the opportunity through the midwar releases to buy, build and paint an entire British armored company, and a motor and infantry company. An entire cornucopia of Churchills, Grants, and tin hatted tommies have graced my painting table all gussied up in the Tobruk Finest camo schemes.

What I have been waiting for, however, is the Airborne. Because I have three full companies already painted in their signature smock. And its’ been a long wait.

Let’s see what the new D-Day British book gives us, shall we?