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Will we be doing D-Day beach landings ?


barca

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My answer is ... "maybe". I would like to. It looks and feels STUNNING/AWESOME when done "right"

    ...(it can look and feel disappointing when done wrong)

If we do, it the D-Day Beach landing will be in two parts, due to the slow-rollout Battlefront Release Schedule (see "Find out more about the Late War Journey here"):

D-DAY:

  • US vs. GE: mid- to late-OCT 2019
  • UK vs. GE: late-March or early April 2020 ( the players with Canadian Infantry are chanting "JUNO!, JUNO!"...)
  • the timing can be LATER, BUT NOT EARLIER, due to delays in people getting the products, preparing and practicing with their armies

D-Day vision: 1-2 beach tables and 1-2 Airborne/glider landing tables, 2 (or more) people on each table,  plus 1-2 game masters

D-Minus 1:

  • We could also do a "Ranger / Point du Hoc" scenario, but who has/will build the terrain? -- Does not have to be same day as the US beach landing event
  • Next year we could do "Pegasus Bridge" scenario, but who has/will build the terrain? -- Does not have to be same day as the UK beach landing event

What it takes:

  • A TEAM EFFORT
  • Practice before the event: specialized rules, need scenarios that balance "feel" and victory conditions
  • Specialized kit: Landing craft, bunkers, maybe gliders, etc.
  • Specialized terrain: Beach board and or beach mat, beach obstacles, "Rommel's Apsaragus" (mostly in the British glider landing areas), hedgerows, buildings, sea walls,
  • planning, logistics and commitment.

What hapened the last time (Sat, June 6th, 2015 and this )

  • It was visually awesome!
  • It was memorable.
  • Took all day.
  • Not everyone was practiced/prepared (e.g., assaulting bunkers, getting thru minefields and past barbed wire is NOT easy for new players, unless they have some experienced players coaching)
  • A lot of questions about the special rules (see previous comment)
  • Scenario was too hard (at least for the Americans getting off the beach).
  • The airborne scenarios needed more practice to be interesting.
  • Making the German side interesting takes practice and scenario-building
  • Fun for some, frustrating and not fun for other players
  • Could have gotten better advertising, both before and after.

Don't be discouraged. I believe it is worth doing. It is worth doing "right"

Are you curious? Eager? Inspired? Comment below.

 

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I have always been interested in the Airborne drops. (go figure, coming from a paratrooper) But, I have only been able to do a german glider platoon landing a few times.  It's always been hard to find anybody else interested especially for someone to play the non-airborne side of things.  Guess people don't like to get surprise attacked at night.   The same kinda goes for the beach landings, people don't like getting mowed-down trying to get off the beach.

Beach assault - Germans get to have fun mowing down the enemy as they appear. Makes it hard for american/brit player.

Airborne landings - American/Brit get to have fun causing chaos and being very exploitive. Germans get frustrated trying to keep their forces rallied together.

Both of these are difficult scenarios that need practice with the learning curve.  Once the D-Day Americans book comes out,  I will be dedicating more of my Thursday (Guardian Games) and Tuesday (Oregon City Geeks Games) to doing Airborne landings and possible Beach assaults. Will also need to concentrate on building up my german proxy forces for anybody that would be willing to help me.

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I would attend whatever we end up doing. My main collections are US and Germans so I can bring whichever side or both.

Last year I bought someone's American collection that had an airborne company in it and I'm eager to try them. I've never played a 101st or 82nd list.

In terms of beach mats I can probably come up with some very simple add ons that can overlay a typical mat and turn it into a beach mat.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I really enjoy this time period. I would like to get in some games. I am not sure how battlefront is going to support the efforts due to the extended book/army drops. I am commited to building and upgrading my terrain this year, so a bridge and some beaches sounds good to build. I have an extensive German army for beach and inland defense. I have a large canadain beach landing army (british). I have a US army still new on sprew yet.

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My thoughts are:

EVENT #1: Informal/casual tryout of the D-Day American Special Missions: See preview article at NoDiceNoGlory . Schedule is shortly after the "D-Day American" book arrives (say Mid to late July ?), using generic forces and cardboard terrain (as promised by Pete S. - listen to NDNG podcast episode 38)

EVENT #2: test-run of home-brewed Utah Beach Scenario. Second table would have test-run of  home-brewed airborne/glider scenario. Schedule is shortly after the "D-Day German" book arrives (say Mid to late Sept ?)

EVENT #3: test run of Omaha scenario - tough for the Americans, but winnable within 3 hours. This could be done on a Tuesday or Thursday session. Late SEP/Early OCT ?

EVENT #4: We pick a beach scenario that gives the Americans a fighting chance of geting off the beach, and a second scenario for US airborne/glider where the Germans have a 50% chance of winning their objectives. This event will be have a lot of promo and be a demonstration with all the bells and whistles: D-Day models and terrain. Schedule is prob a Saturday in October or early November.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I have looked over the Dday missions form the German perspective it is pretty boring. The allies get double the number of points. So for example ally get 100 points, Axis gets 50. But then in the missions the defender only gets to start with 40% of thier force. , 20 points, so they are playing 1 or maybe 2 platoons, and mostly playing the fortifications. The Axis starts far from the first objective and have very little chance of sending any units towards it. Seems like a boring time for the Axis player.

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3 hours ago, phyfor88 said:

I have looked over the Dday missions form the German perspective it is pretty boring. The allies get double the number of points. So for example ally get 100 points, Axis gets 50. But then in the missions the defender only gets to start with 40% of thier force. , 20 points, so they are playing 1 or maybe 2 platoons, and mostly playing the fortifications. The Axis starts far from the first objective and have very little chance of sending any units towards it. Seems like a boring time for the Axis player.

The Guys at NoDiceNoGlory explain the points somewhat differently:

" Another aspect of this mission is a different force point approach. IF the attacker has 150 points to spend the defender only gets 75 (meaning 1/2) and then has 48 points of fortifications + 6 minefields and + 6 barb wire sections. "

 

As I pointed out in the first part of this thread, we should have some practice sessions before including a larger group of players.

I also stated " Making the German side interesting takes practice and scenario-building "

It may be that after playtesting, we decide to create scenarios that have most of the elements of the book missions, but are modified for balance and player engagement, based on our lessons in the playtesting.

I am also looking at the v3 Books for ideas and adaptations of scenarios and missions:

  • Normandy Battles
  • Bloody Omaha
  • Atlantik Wall

 

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BTW, Soulder3 had a question about how do we use the wire obstacle markes?

ANS: Same as the minefield markers: 2" radius from the edge of the marker token.

This means that your 2"x8" rectangular minefield terrain will not be compatible with Late-War v4. To replace these, I plan on building rectangular 2"x5" barbed wire models glued onto painted compact discs. The rectangular part is for the 3D visual/modeling presentation, while the base disc represents the rules/functional area of the wire.

 

I think that 2"x8" rectangular minefield terrain might still be compatible with Great War and FOAN, but I will have to check those rule books to be certain.

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5 hours ago, barca said:

BTW, Soulder3 had a question about how do we use the wire obstacle markes?

ANS: Same as the minefield markers: 2" radius from the edge of the marker token.

This means that your 2"x8" rectangular minefield terrain will not be compatible with Late-War v4. To replace these, I plan on building rectangular 2"x5" barbed wire models glued onto painted compact discs. The rectangular part is for the 3D visual/modeling presentation, while the base disc represents the rules/functional area of the wire.

 

I think that 2"x8" rectangular minefield terrain might still be compatible with Great War and FOAN, but I will have to check those rule books to be certain.

 

Lazarus and I were discussing this. We came to the conclusion that they both have approximately the same amount of area.  Use either so long as the players involved are OK with it.  We plan on practicing with the 2x8. would be interesting if anybody comes across in differences in game play between the two types.

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Ref the old 2x8 Barbed wire terrain/defences, they are still available and being manufactured and sold by BF:

Old (2x8 inch) Barbed wire terrain obstacles, Great War:
BB132 Barbed Wire Obstacles, Contains 4 Barbed Wire Obstacles
ARTICLE: https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3152
PRODUCT: https://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=79&ProductID=4561
PRODUCT: https://www.flamesofwar.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=4561

Old (2x8 inch) Barbed wire terrain obstacles, Fate of a Nation
BB129 Desert Barbed Wire Obstacles
ARTICLE: https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=2957
PRODUCT: https://shop.battlefront.co.nz/product/bb129/?ph=520e08a63daa08ffebfa06f6

 

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