Operation Overlord Finale

Our final mission was a free-for-all, and true to usual form, my opponent ended up the defender, despite having a tank company against infantry. (Any time we have to roll, no matter how bad my dice pop up, his are lower!)

Deployment was fairly standard, and again true to usual, despite my rolling a measly 3 and him having a +1 for being finished deploying first, he whiffed a 1 for first-turn.

Canadian deployment, roughly evenly spread out. The two middle infantry platoons are within 4" of obj. A

German deployment was similarly fanned out, with a lonely observer to the North.

Recon moves saw the UCs zip out of view of the StuGs across from them, and out of sight of the artillery, while the 8-rads tore along the road, attempting to shift to the South.

My first turn saw an incredible failure to dig in, with only the infantry platoon at the far North managing. To the South, the 6pdrs and infantry squared up on the hedges, hoping to get clear views of anyone moving. The UCs continued to advance into a corn field, hoping to go unnoticed while threatening the Nebs.

The Germans started by advancing StuGs 1st against the hedges, attempting to spot the South UCs. The StuGs in the middle ran up to hedges as well, carefully avoiding being able to see the Firefly. The North StuGs advance into the cornfield across from my Pioneers and Achilles. The accursed Nebs range in on the corner of hedges containing my 6pdrs and 3rd platoon, taking one 6pdr out. The StuGs lined up on the Shermans open fire and fail to successfully hit.

Shermans roll up to the hedge, while StuGs threaten the UCs.

6pdrs start to weather fire from rockets.

On my next turn, the Shermans roll up to the edge of a wheatfield, foolishly, as it would come to pass, and utterly fail to hurt any StuGs. The infantry apparently forgot they had shovels, as no one else managed to dig in this turn. The observer, apparently thinking about crepes, fails to send artillery fire accurately on StuGs, and I end my turn frustrated.

The Germans, by contrast, continue advancing, with StuGs pushing into wheatfields, Pioniers advancing through hedges, and the rocket artillery again slamming the 6pdrs (Basically a repeat of the above picture.) A second 6pdr falls to it, while the StuGs open fire on the Shermans, blowing them up and forcing the Firefly to run. The UCs dodge back out of the wheatfield, having found a bit too much to play with, and surprisingly, the StuGs peering down the road at the Achilles manage to miss with every shot!

Gee, what could possibly go wrong here?

Ahyes, that could happen...

UCs tangle with a few too many enemy things...

...and decide to pull back out of sight.

My Turn 3 finally sees most of the rest of my force digging in! The 6pdrs are now the only things that have failed to dig in (must be them rockets distracting them). A UC patrol sees an opening to the North objective, and double-times along the open ground near marshes, hoping the StuGs will be paying too much attention to the Achilles to notice. (Said Achilles relocate to find cover from their new friends.) Once again, my Sextons decide to hold a contest on who can fire blind the best...

All StuGs again push forward, with two at the north noticing the UCs ploy and turning to face them. To the south, StuGs and 8-rads push through the now-vacated field, peeking in at my Sextons. The StuGs in the middle roll just into view of the Achilles, and open fire, destroying one. Somehow, with incredible luck, the UCs that have double-timed are only hit twice, and my opponent fails both firepowers! On the other end, the StuGs cause only superficial damage to the 6pdrs and Sextons.

An Achilles suffers long-range fire from StuGs.

A bold sweeping move by the North UC patrol is almost sure to get them killed unless they can remain hidden!

Well, there goes that plan... Pioniers advance as StuGs turn to face.

Okay, maybe not so much killed, as a bit spooked... Not even the lurking German die in the bog could hurt them!

As the Germans push through the South, UCs pull North, and the anti-tank assets are thinning...

This turn saw my UCs at the north continue to push towards the objective. One remains bailed out, but the other two sweep up. If that luck continues, they could possibly even take the objective! (Yeah, and they'll take out all the StuGs single-handedly...) Sextons see the StuGs advancing, but seemingly are thrown off by the illusory effect of the wheatfield (or so they claimed), sending their shots long. At long last, the 6pdrs dig in, having already lost two to rocket fire.

StuGs again seem to hate on the UCs. In the middle of the board, the StuG CO kills one, while at the North, the entire patrol is wiped by mass fire from 5. Showing the Sextons how it's done, the StuGs fire back, blowing one up, and bailing a second.

After failing every previous roll he's had to make, the StuG CO succeeds! ...At killing a lowly UC.

I wish I could trade spotters with the Nebs!

Alas, poor UCs. I knew them well, Achilles.

The rest of this game was a further deterioration. The StuGs at the south rolled up the Sextons, before turning on the 6pdrs and attempting to eliminate them. The Pioniers continued their march, finally charging my Pioneers, trading 2 kills for 1 casualty, and pushing them out of the field. The StuGs at the North followed up their UC hunt by killing off the Achilles, and readying to charge at the infantry. We technically tied as a result of running out of time, but it's likely I would have lost had we continued to the bitter end...

I know my dice, on average, likely obeyed the rules of chance, but By God did it feel like when I really need them, they failed. I should have played more conservatively with the Shermans, and tried to lure him closer, but a combination of utter failure from my Sextons, 6pdrs, and Shermans' shooting, plus unerring accuracy (it felt like) on his part meant it felt more like a fighting withdrawal than the actual fighting withdrawal mission! I really need to get me some ground-based 17pdrs that can duke it out at range, and apparently need to court-martial my artillery spotters.

With that, our Overlord gaming comes to a close. Time to call up my desert Germans again, see if I can get better results on the open sands!

Some final pictures to enjoy of the battle:

No it's fine guys; I didn't need you to hit or anything...

The StuGs approach my infantry, while true to form, a StuG crashes on the bocage. FAMO to the rescue again!

This is why I suggest I may soon have lost...

Though my friend doesn't like drawing attention to himself, I will do it for him; His StuGs are carefully painted to imitate the 17th SS camouflage scheme: A combination of airbrushing, and using a tiny round stamp to do the dot camo!

Safe Extraction

[This time the battle report we rolled was Fighting Withdrawal, which my force would be defending, being infantry. Since that isn't especially fitting the diary form, I'll just blow-by-blow it.]

Here's the Canadian deployment: 6pdrs with 1st platoon to the South, 2nd Platoon in the middle covering B objective, a screening force of Engies out front, with 3rd, the Achilles, and artillery covering the North. the UCs were spread to give clear views down roads, and hopefully lift gone-to-ground.

Across from me were the Germans: Thanks to the density of bocage, he was somewhat cramped. The North side had one platoon of StuGs, as well as the rockets. The middle was loaded with a huge number of tanks, some armoured cars, and the infantry, with the South seeing the last StuG platoon facing the bushes across from 1st platoon.

As Recon Movement, the 8-rads rounded the corner and rolled along the road, staying carefully out of range of the 6pdrs peeking through the hedges. the entire German force advanced and spread out, with the infantry crossing the wheatfield, StuGs 3rd and 1st advancing fairly straight, and StuGs (2nd) and Co going along the road. The command team of the rockets sighted down the road and dropped their payload on my Achilles, UCs, and part of III platoon. I lost a single Achilles. To the North, StuGs opened fire at the UC patrol, which pulled out of view without casualty.

Lots of fury, and one of my few 17pdrs disappears.

In response, the Shermans appear from ambush in the middle, opening fire at StuG (3rd) platoon, and killing two. The UCs make a move to go silence the rocket command team, and the remaining Achilles moves to cover the hedgerow between it and the church. My Sextons fail to kill any infantry stands, but do pin them temporarily. Foolishly, I attempted to have my pioneers charge the last StuG from 3rd, but I forget they need to be in concealing terrain to get the sneak attack. An 8-rad and the hull-mg kills two stands and fends the platoon off.

Achilles relocates, and Shermans pop in.

StuGs pile around the church, as the 8-rads face off against the engineers.

Infantry advances to the bocage, and the last StuG platoon spreads out to cover.

The newly arrived tank platoon lays into the StuGs, brewing up two. I love my Firefly!

On the far side, the UCs leave the field to charge along the road in search of rockets.

On the 2nd turn, the 8-rads bypass the remaining pioneers and line up on the bocage overlooking the crossroad. The StuGs all essentially pile forward, either facing off against the pioneers, pushing through bocage, or trying to use wrecks and the church as cover while drawing a bead on the Shermans. Rockets again slam into my lines, this time over by 1st platoon and the 6pdrs, killing an infantry team. The pioneers suffer fire from the 8-rads and remaining StuG again, and decide that (presumably) hiding in the church is better than staying visible, and quit the field.

The Canadian Left suffers rocket fire, but endures.

In response, my Achilles pokes through the bocage, and opens fire but to no avail. My Southernmost UCs round on the StuGs facing away, but fail to do any damage with their PIAT. Again my Sextons fail to do any lasting damage, and all 6pdr shooting at the weak 8-rads and a StuG on the road fails to penetrate. Proving they were well worth the points, again my Shermans open fire, killing one, and bailing another StuG of 2nd Platoon. Finally, the UCs at the North took a slight detour from command-team hunting and opened fire at the German Pioneers attempting to run across open
ground, killing a team.

More StuGs suffer at the hands of Shermans, and the centre's getting quite messy!

On the German 3rd turn, apparently the StuG CO decided he hated UCs. To the North, the remaining tank of 2nd StuGs round on the UCs that had been harassing infantry (you can kind of see them in the last image), and to the South the brazen UCs that dared tempt the wrath of StuGs found themselves staring down the 7.5mm barrels. Fire from the StuGs knock out one UC at the north, and kill one and bail one at the South. Sadly, the run of luck from the Shermans came to an end as two light up from concentrated fire by StuGs. Rockets, for once, fail to kill anything, despite ranging in. The Pioniers spend this entire turn attempting to get closer to the 8-rads at the crossroads, hoping to jump on an objective.

Shermans suffer the attention of the StuG's long-barrels

Starting this turn I had to decide which platoon to remove. The North UCs, despite having not completed their original objective, did lay some hurt on, and were the easiest to safely extract. The Shermans relocate, seeing only burning wrecks but having caught glimpses of infantry running through fields, and draw around the farmhouse to target his pioniers. 2nd Platoon of infantry joined their fire, and take out a few teams. The remaining Achilles picks up the slack of tank killing from the Firefly, and somehow fires a shell that burns through two StuGs in a row, blowing them both apart, and eliminating a platoon. The 6pdrs find their mark finally, and destroy one 8-rad, bailing the second. The Sextons utterly whiff, and out of spite, the remaining fully-mobile UC runs up to the bocage and blows apart the FAMO. (This loss, while minor, was probably the most contentious of the game: His FAMO has incredible luck: whatever it needs to do, gets done. Motivation check? Passed. Skill check? No trouble.)

UCs suffer at the hands of the StuGs, while the FAMO lurks, hoping to remain unseen.

the StuGs have had enough of the Universal Carrier shenanigans, and threateningly advance on them. Rockets again fall amongst the 6pdrs, and two lucky shots break two of the guns. The StuG CO sights the Achilles, ending its threat. The Pioniers have had enough incoming fire and dig in where they are, 'safely' in the middle of a field.

With the 2nd Achilles gone, Sextons and an infantry platoon are all that hold the North objective.

 This turn my last UC manages to safely extract, carrying the injured crew from the other two, thanks to Stormtrooper moves that pulled his platoon out of the 8-inch threat radius. The remaining 6pdr that can draw a bead lines up and blows up the last 8-rad.

Burning FAMO, burning UCs, burning 8-rads, and 5 burning StuGs, and only 2 teams left of the Pioniers!

The remaining StuG platoon pushes up through the cornfield, lacking any UC threats, and attempts to threaten the left-most objective, aided by the CO. The Nebs again steadily range in on 1st platoon and the 6pdrs, and kill the remaining gun that can see down the main road. Somehow, the Firefly weathers a storm of fire from the StuG platoon, and comes out unscathed.

StuGs in the cornfields

On my turn, the left-most objective was removed, along with the 6pdrs, presumably on their T16s. The Sherman rolls up square to the hedge, and while many things fired at them, nothing managed to stick to the StuGs: Not the firefly, not the sherman, and not the Sextons...

In the final two turns, the StuG CO manages to brew up the Firefly, and the Sextons suffer the attention of the Nebs, but only one bails. To the south, 1st platoon pulls off, followed closely by objective B and the Sextons, with the last objective and remaining Canadians pulling back having left a field of destroyed vehicles.

Sextons taking hits.

The game ended a 5-2 for the Allies!

Holding the Line

[This time we played No Retreat in a board heavy with bocage, meant to represent the fighting just around Caen after the allies had taken it. My Canucks were defending, facing off against his tanks again.]

09.00 D+1: Well, a big push captured us the town of Caen. Our company was directed to entrench just to the West of the city, attempting to ensure we weren't overrun. Some of the men grumbled about not getting to enjoy a hero's welcome in Caen, and enjoy the soft beds and wine, but the sounds of continued door-to-door combat as those in the city rooted out the Germans quickly quieted those complaints.

We spread out among a forest and the clearing behind a river. I want to force those accursed tanks to have to ford their way across it, or stack up down the narrow bridge if they want to get at us. My 1st Platoon Lieutenant did wisely point out that a nearby farmhouse would make an all-too-tempting spot for the Germans to set up a forward command post or observer hut, so I sent his platoon forward with the 6pdrs and FOO to keep it in our hands.

The Farmhouse, after the 6pdrs had popped ambush.

3rd Platoon holds the river ford in a forest, slightly exposed but soon to be reinforced.

The Sextons all had a good line to the bridge, held by infantry. He'd have to assault to cross.

09.30: Once again, the sound of engines and the sight of a dust-cloud to the West. This time the Jerry tanks were rolling up the road, bold as brass. I received reports of another smaller force of trucks, with AA guns, and more of those annoying 8-wheelers rolling up further to the North. The 8-wheelers were tall enough at one point to peek over the hedge at 1st platoon's position. Knowing they could have radios, and may well at that moment be calling in fire, I had the Sextons open up on them, and the 6pdrs followed suit. The Sextons went long, but the 6pdrs chased them off. Not far, I suspected, but they weren't reporting anything just at the moment!

8-rads toe the line, ready to race forward.

This was the tempting array at the start of battle. Sadly they spread before I could fire on them.

9.35: The FOO reported the StuGs spreading out: one group rolled to where the 8-rads had been, and another spread out at the crossroads to start attempting to flank 1st Platoon. Luckily, this time our Shermans were responding quickly, when a troop from the Sherbrooke Fusiliers came trundling up the road. They stopped briefly to get the feel for the situation from 2nd Platoon, just before the bridge. From somewhere in a back field, the sound of rockets firing was confirmed when our FOO's position was blanketed in smoke. Whether they'd seen him or were just covering the end of the road, those poor observers have no luck.

Shermans arrive and get the lay of the land from 2nd Platoon.

His Rocket Battery frustrated my FOO all game, either smoking or, when he forgot, shelling the FOO.

9.40: Once again the 8-wheelers peeked over the bocage, and this time they brought friends. Five StuGs started to push their noses through the bocage, hoping to get clear lines of fire. They opened up, and an unlucky shot tore through the shield and breech of a 6pdr, causing thankfully minimal casualties but ruining the gun. In return, the AT guns scored multiple solid hits, at least rattling, if not damaging the StuGs. Following hot on the heels of the Shermans, a half troop of Achilles arrived, and were directed to where the fighting sounded worst. The Shermans raced along the road, using the continuing barrage of smoke as an excuse to not take it slow.

Moving at speed, my Shermans pass the undoubtedly shellshocked FOO.

The lineup of targets for my 6pdrs and artillery: I managed to range in on the centre one early on!

9.45: A new threat is confronting 1st Platoon; an entire platoon of enemy infantry is darting across the road. They seem better equipped than the standard infantry we've seen previously, and I order the men to be ready to pour the fire on them, should they give us opportunity to shoot. Concentrated fire from the StuGs ripped into the command section of the 6pdr platoon, wounding or killing most of them. In the chaos and noise, I don't think any of the gun crews even noticed. The enemy infantry has made it into the cornfield, and attempts to get the jump on 1st Platoon. Shouting the alarm, 1st Platoon opens up on them, joined by some close-range and careful 6pdr fire. Clearly the German infantry wasn't anticipating being seen, and take heavy casualties before retreating.

Despite doing everything right to set it up, still his assault is rebuffed!

9.49: Vengeance. The Sexton battery has found their mark, hammering the Stugs with shells. I can see on the faces of 1st Platoon that the men are brave in the face of enemy fire, and the 6pdr crews keep up their devastating rate of fire. The Achilles find gaps in the bocage behind, and somehow manage to sight, and destroy a StuG at range. In a firefight like this, there's nothing quite as frightening or comforting as the sound of a 17pdr shell zipping overhead to blow up an enemy tank!

Achilles add their weight of fire to the 6pdrs.

 9.54: The Achilles and the StuGs are now trading fire, as some focus on the big threat while others fire at the 6pdrs. Rockets continue to fall around the observer, and the Jerry infantry again makes a run on 1st Platoon. This time the men are ready for them, and they are again rebuffed with casualties.

My friend's snazzily converted trucks; the command figure is especially neat, I think.

The Shermans are having a go at flanking the Jerry force, but just as they round the corner, spot that second platoon of StuGs and begin trading fire.

Shermans brazenly roll down the road attempting to flank.

[Sadly, this is where we ran out of time. It ended with a 1-1 tie, and could honestly have gone either way. One or two good assaults from my friend may have pushed 1st and the 6pdrs back, and I would essentially have to break his company to make him leave. It'd have been 4am for sure before we finished this.]