The Longest Day - A Small Solo D Day Game

 I have seen several posts recently of fantastic looking recreations of the D Day landings on various of the five landing beaches, with figures and scenery that would do justice to a large-scale diorama in a D Day museum - this isn't anything like those!

Its been in my mind for several months, that a D Day themed game on or around the day of the 80th Anniversary would be nice to do - and tonight when I got home from work, I decided I would do it tonight!

Nothing fancy - this is one of the British beaches with minimal fixed defensive positions and a small town immediately behind the dunes, not Omaha or Utah! The rules used were my mate Andrew's AS9, where you basically need a 9 or better to succeed in firing or combat, fire is "exchanged" ie both sides fire at each other simultaneously, and the attacker can easily come off second best!

The quiet before the storm - table set up and ready for action

Turn 1 - British - the three infantry units move up to the barbed wire obstacles

Turn 2 Germans - they open fire and score one hit, British return fire rolls a 12, causing 2 hits in return.

Turn 3 A German event - they have an artillery stonk come in - unfortunately (for them!) it causes no casualties at all.

Turns 4 & 5 British - the infantry deploy Bangalore torpedoes - two fail but the British left flank unit rolls a 12 and succeeds in clearing a path through the wire.

Turn 6 German infantry reinforcements arrive in SdKfz 251 carriers. The units on the dunes open fire again but all firing in both directions is ineffectual.

Turn 7 the British rally off one hit and again attempt to blow the two remaining wire obstacles with the torpedoes - both fail again too! The left flank unit puts in an assault on the Germans on the high ground but are repulsed.

Turn 8 - British event - they roll well and receive reinforcements in the form of three Sherman tanks - two "funnies' from 79 Armd Div plus one standard 75mm.

Turn 9 German - they rally off one hit. Firing is pretty ineffective again - one hit each on the British left flank and no hits at all in the centre or British right. The reinforcements move forwards.

Turn 10 is British - the tanks all fire but cause no loss to the enemy then turn 11 is German - their infantry fire is a bit more effective this time and the British left flank infantry unit reaches a total of 4 hits and is forced to fall back.

Turn 12 is British and they manage to rally one hit off the left flank unit, meaning it can stop in place. Firing puts a couple of hits on the German right flank unit. Assaults then go in on the German centre and right flank positions, supported by the armour. There is a 0 0 draw in the centre but on the flank, the Germans roll 12, score two hits, win the melee and destroy the Sherman - OUCH!

Turn 13 and the Brits go in again - this time the assaults are successful on the left and in the centre, but the Germans on the right flank hold firm, repelling the British infantry again.

Turn 14 British event - three more Sherman tanks arrive as reinforcements 

Turn 15 is German - they rally off one hit but it goes straight back on in the subsequent exchange of fire, with the Brits also picking up some hits. The reinforcements debus from their carriers and the front line units fall back from the dunes and occupy the partially destroyed buildings of the adjacent town.

On Turn 16 there is the third and last British event card - another three Shermans arrive, this time on the right flank of the landing beach.

Turns 17 & 18 are German - little happens, they rally off one hit but in two rounds of firing across the table, neither side causes any casualties

Turn 19 British - the tanks start to do some damage, with two double hit rolls (an 11 and 12, plus modifiers). Infantry exchange fire, the Brits roll a 9 but as the Germans are now in cover, they get a -1 modifier and avoid a casualty.

Turn 20 Germans manage to rally off one hit. They have no firing to do as being without AT weapons, they cannot engage the British armour and there is no LOS to any British infantry.

Turn 21 is the British and two of their tanks fire causing a German unit to reach 4 hits and be forced to fall back. all British units, infantry and armour, then advance.

Turn 22 German - they fail to rally any units and hit nothing in firing - the Brits again roll a 9 in return fire, but the cover of the Norman buildings saves the Germans from taking any damage1

Turn 23 British - a good round for the British armour - their firing drives a unit out of cover with four hits whilst another unit in the open, by the SdKfz carriers, is hit and pushed up to 4 hits again and forced to fall back further, whilst to add insult to injury, another Sherman brews up the platoon commanders SdKfz 251!

Turn 24 the Germans again fail to rally and firing is ineffectual.

Turn 25 is British...they cause several hits from firing, causing another German unit to abandon the building they are occupying. In movement,  the British infantry occupies three of the buildings recently vacated by the enemy 

Turn 26 was also British but their tanks and infantry were unable to hit a barn door at 10 paces! Despite that, I ended the game here, as the British had cleared the beach, forced back the defending Germans and begun to occupy the town, securing the landing site for follow up waves of infantry and tanks to carry on the advance....the longest day was over...in under two hours, too!

I enjoyed that little thrown together at the last minute game and I was pleased the way it turned out...the Germans put up a stiff resistance in the first half of the game and pushed the Brits back more than once, until the arrival of successive waves of armored reinforcements tipped the balance in the invaders favour!

Thanks for dropping by...and thanks for any comments too!