Background:
June 6th, 1am. Drop Zone "O" in the french country side. Infantry from the 82nd Parachute division drop off course in the early hours of operation "Boston" and must regroup before assaulting and liberating the French town of St Mere-Eglise. However the 14th company of the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier-Regiment 1058 is in the area and scrambles to disrupt the 82nd from forming together and launching an attack.
US airborne troops preparing to board their transports.
Scenario: A single
objective is placed in the centre of the table. The German player then deploys up to half of their units on the table and
a Bunker (facing outwards from the objective) and 2 trench sections flanking
the bunker. The US players units are not deployed at
the beginning of the game. The attacker must nominate at least half of his
units (rounding up) to form the first wave. All other units are left in
reserve. Reserves enter the battlefield on a random table edge determined by a die roll (this represents the scattered landing of the US paratroopers and the scramble of the German units)
Points: 400pts (US) vs 300pts (German) + 100pts of Fortifications (1 bunker + 2 trench).
Objective: An objective is placed in the centre of the table. The US player must move all infantry units within 6" of the objective. The US player gets 2 VP for each unit moved within 6" of the objective. The German player gets 2 VP for each US unit destroyed. To win a player must have 2VP more than the other.
Extra Rules:
Surprised: All German units deployed at the start the game have 1 pin markers on them. In addition the US forces get the first order dice of the game.
Night Fighting: This scenario is played with the night fighting rules for the first 3 turns. At the beginning of turn 4 a flare shoots up into the sky and illuminates the battlefield. At the beginning each subsequent turn roll a D6 on a 4,5,6 the flare remains on a 1,2,3 the darkness falls again and night fighting rules come back into effect.
Darkness of the early hours: The darkness and surprise means that the Germans had no idea what they were up against on the early hours of 6th June. The US player deploys their units 'hidden' and represents them with a playing card until they are revealed either through being spotted by the Germans (as per the night fighting rules) or they fire at/assault a german unit. Each playing card corresponds to a unit which is left off the table. Write down which card denotes which unit secretly. Once the flare is fired each unit on field is revealed.
Forces:
US:
HQ:
2nd Lietenant and
Man with rifles
Infantry:
Regular Paratrooper Squad
1 NCO with Submachine gun
6 Riflemen.
Regular Paratrooper Squad
1 NCO with Submachine gun
6 Riflemen.
Regular Paratrooper Squad
1 NCO with Submachine gun
6 Riflemen.
Veteran Pathfinder Squad
1 NCO with Submachine gun
2 Submachine gunners.
2 Rifleman.
Regular Medium Machine Gun Team.
German:
HQ:
2nd Lietunant and
Man with SMGs
Infantry:
Regular Heer Grenadier Squad
1 NCO with Submachine Gun
6 Riflemen
Inexperienced Heer Grenadier Squad
1 NCO with Submachine Gun
4 Riflemen
Regular Heer Grenadier Squad
1 NCO with Submachine Gun
4 Riflemen
Regular Medium Machine Gun Team.
Regular Medium Machine Gun Team.
Paratroopers deploying en masse from their transports.
Aftermath:
US Victory - In the Battle for St Mere-Eglis the US can outflank reserves.
German Victory - At the battle for St Mere Eglis the US player has +1 to rolls to bring in reserves and can only begin to bring reserves in on turn 3.
A draw has no effect on the next game.
It should be a fun first scenario to our campaign and I look forward to seeing how it all plays out!
Signing off,
Chewie.
