House Rules!

While we are between games in our campaign I thought it would be interesting to share some of the house rules we have been playing with for this year. I feel like these rules capture the feel of some mechanics and units more so than the official book rules. Of course, all of our games are non-competitive and we are very much playing for the enjoyment of the game and not to win so maybe these rules unbalance some units and make them not suitable for competitive play but who knows! I doubt I'd play competitively at all in the future anyway!

Sergeant Malarky orders his men up the street supported by the templateless fire of a Sherman's main gun.

Rule 1: No templates for high explosive (HE) weapons.

To speed up the game we have removed all templates from our game. Instead, HE weapons do DX hits as defined in the rulebook for shooting at units in houses. I always though the templates were  lame and sometimes its not exactly clear how many models you can get under them, it also gets rid of the weird scenario where a unit out of cover can take less hits than a unit in a fortified position. So far everything seems balanced enough and I don't see us going to templates for any reason!

The fortified German line comes under the HE-1" fire of a US bazooka team.

Rule 2: Bazookas/Panzerfausts/PIATs/etc can fire at infantry as HE-1" weapon.

While reading Arnhem: The battle for the bridges 1944 by Antony Beevor I was inspired by descriptions of both British Airborne and the Germans infantry firing these weapons at each other while fighting in the battles of Operation Market Garden. To represent this we have a house rule that if any of these shaped charge weapons fire at a vehicle its business as usual, however, if they choose to fire at artillery/infantry then treat the weapon as a HE-1". Makes those bazooka teams useful when there's no more armor to hunt and same with those left over panzerfausts in the final turns of the game.

The while the light machine gun team are safe from exception damage, Unteroffizier Fischer is fair game!

Rule 3: Exceptional damage can't kill specific weapons only the squad leader.

I always thought this rule was really lame and didn't really make sense that a single guy dying can wipe out a whole machine gun team but not an artillery team. I don't feel like there is a satisfying explanation for why the other crew members couldn't man the weapon. This change makes weapon crews more resilient and also makes it harder to remove LMGs from squads thereby buffing them a bit (I think they are crazy over-costed anyway). It also makes snipers a bit weaker so we have changed them as explained below.

The German Sniper team prepare to inflict D3 pins on the troops moving up the street.

Rule 4: A hit from a snipers 'scoped' shot does D3 pins.

Since we nerfed the exceptional damage rule we have given snipers D3 pins on a hit instead of the usual 1. This helps keep snipers relevant and I feel like it really captures the whole "keep your heads down there's a sniper out there somewhere", like the scene where Vin Diesel dies in Saving Private Ryan. So far it has played out really nicely and sticking 3 pins on a squad from the sniper team can be brutal and also cinematic. 

 

As we are still very new to the game there have been a lot of rules which we have never played with yet but I'm sure they will come up and we will change them too (e.g: Transports auto-die if they are closer to an enemy than a friendly unit?!). We will be using air strikes in our next battle and I've read online the rules for those are abysmal so maybe we can see how we will change them after they play out.

Signing off,

Chewie

Battle Report: The battle for Saint-Côme-du-Mont

 

June 8^th St Come du Mont. The smouldering wreck of a US tank marks the ‘Dead mans corner’ on national road 13. Tank commander Sam Jackson, leading the push to Carentan, knows that St Come du Mont must be secured for the success of the allied invasion, however, the Fallshchirmjager ‘Green Devils’ stand in his way. The key objectives of the town would need to be captured and held until reinforcements could arrive and solidify the US hold on the town.

 

The town of St Come du Mont

Jackson ordered his tank forward as the US forces advanced down national road 13 under the cover of medium machine team. He scanned the path down the road with his binoculars and all seemed quiet, however, he knew that the Germans were here and they would not be leaving without a fight.

As the US veteran glider infantry advanced up the western flank of the town they were ambushed by a Sdkfz 234 ‘Puma’ which cut down two of their number with a burst of fire from it’s MG. Leutnant Bernard Klosterkemper ordered his men to snap to action and the Fallschirmjager took up position in the bombed out buildings of the town.  Quickly shouts filled the air as the German troops scrambled into position and the bursts of machine gun fire filled the streets.

The German infantry take up position to repel the US attack on the objective.

The Puma erupts in a ball of flame.

Jackson ordered his gunner to zero in on the Puma which was continuing to fire on the US infantry. Despite only having an obscured shot at the front armor of the car, the shot was a direct hit. The high explosive shell penetrated and the crew were vapourised in a ball of fire throwing scraps of metal all around Klosterkemper and his men. The grenadier squads took position among the sandbag emplacements and opened fire on the combat engineer squad advancing up the main road killing several of the engineers. Under heavy fire the glider infantry squads continued their advanced up the road with the bazooka team close behind. 

Moving into position to fire his Bazooka, Private Joe Mangelio and his loader dashed into the middle of the street and began to aim. A shot rang out from a nearby building and Joe’s loader fell to the ground dead. The deadly results of a German sniper team. The grenadier squads continue their fire as the US infantry squads backed up by the Sherman continued their advance. Klosterkemper ordered a machine gun team to fire at the Glider infantry as they entered an alley between two bombed out buildings. Despite their unfavourable position the quick thinking and expert training of the glider units resulted in only one of their men being wounded by the spray of bullets. The US forces returned fire killing several Fallschirmjager in return. The veteran Sturmpioneer squad dashed through houses and opened fire from close range on another group of glider infantry killing several of them including their sergeant and causing the rest to flee.

The flamethrower on the Sturmpioneer squad causes heavy casualties on the US infantry.

Seeing the gout of flame from the Sturmpioneers flamethrower, Tank Commander Jackson ordered his vehicle to pivot and open fire with all machine guns on the pioneers. The coaxial and hull MMGs sprayed a torrent of bullets pinning the pioneers and forcing them to keep down. The German sniper team continued to pick off men and killed a member of the US machine gun team who were covering the infantry’s advance. Meanwhile, Private Joe Mangelio steadied his bazooka and despite the pinning fire of the Germans managed to land a shell amongst the grenadiers in the sandbag emplacement killing one of them. As the smoke cleared he watched in horror as the advancing US combat engineer squad was wiped to a man by bursts of MG42 fire. The battle for the town hung in the balance.

Joe fires his bazooka into the grenadiers

Seizing the initiative, the US veterans sprang forward and vicious close range fighting ensued. The veteran US troops shot down the grenadiers in the alley and forced the sturmpioneers to surrender. Klosterkemper himself was cut down while firing off his Stg44 into the US troops storming his building. Jacksons Sherman advanced and aimed its turret down the crossroads of the town firing on the fleeing German infantry. Joe loaded his bazooka and dashed back out into the street, the German sniper cracked a shot off at him which did not find its mark. He took a knee, aimed the zooka up at the building containing the sniper and blasted away the floor. A plume of plaster smoke filled the air and the fire from the building ceased.

 

US Armor covers the advancing infantry as they secure the town.

Disregarding their orders to advance and capture the central objective, the remaining Germans fled from their positions and retreated towards Carentan. For them this battle was over. Holding the centre of the crossroads, Joe looked out over the bombed out town, his fellow countrymen dead all around him. They had captured the town but at great cost… how many more would die before they reached Carentan?

Once again it was a cracker of a game and came down to the last dice on turn 7. Had the sniper hit joe and killed him off the objective the game would have been a draw so was a real nail biter! Next mission will be 'Crossing the Douvre' and I am currently building some river and bridges for the battle!

Until next time,

Signing off,

Chewie

 

Scenario 4: The battle of Saint-Côme-du-Mont

 

After a decisive German victory at Les Forges it is now time for scenario 4 - The battle of Saint-Côme-du-Mont

 

Background: June 8th 9am:  Saint-Côme-du-Mont, a village on the National Road 13, is a key objective for the allies as it is necessary to secure the road to Carentan. The smouldering ruins of US Stuart tank serves as a grim landmark known as 'Dead Mans Corner' to mark the border of the town defended by the German 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, the “Green Devils”, of Major von der Heydte.  It is the objective of the US Colonel Robert Sink to capture the town from the Green Devils and secure the allied position inland. The fighting has been raging for a full day by now . Colonel Sinks forces have now entered the town and the battle hangs in the balance with the German's desperately trying to secure the positions and push the allies back. 

 

Dead mans corner in 1944. Today the site is a museum commemorating the allied landings.

 

 

Points: 750 points US and 750 points Germany

 

Scenario: Key Positions with 5 objectives.

 

Forces:

 

327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

 

Regular Second Lieutenant

• 1 man with rifle

 

Regular Infantry Squad

NCO with submachine gun

6  riflemen

1 BAR

 

Regular Infantry Squad

NCO with submachine gun

6  riflemen

1 BAR

 

Regular Engineer Squad:

1 NCO with submachine gun

3 Infantry with Rifle

1 Flamethrower

1 Assistant

 

Veteran Infantry Squad

1 NCO with submachine gun

3 Infantry with submachine guns

1 BAR

1 Rifleman

 

Regular Medium Machine gun Team

 

Regular Bazooka Team

 

Regular M4A1 Sherman 75mm Medium Tank

Pintle Mounted HMG

Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6, 91. Infanterie Division

 

Veteran Second Lieutenant

• 1 man with Assault Rifle

 

Regular Heer Grenadier Squad

1 NCO with submachine gun

4 Riflemen (1 Panzerfaust)

1 Machine gun

1 loader

 

Regular Heer Grenadier Squad

1 NCO with submachine gun

4 Riflemen (1 Panzerfaust)

1 Machine gun

1 loader

 

Veteran Sturmpioniere (Assault Engineer) Squad

1 NCO with submachine gun

3 Infantry with submachine gun

1 Flamethrower

1 Assistant

Entire Squad has anti-tank grenades.

 

Veteran Heer Grenadier Squad

1 NCO with submachine gun

3 Infantry with submachine guns

2 Infantry with rifles (1 Panzerfaust)

 

Regular Medium Machine Gun Team

 

Regular Sniper Team

 

Regular SdKfz 234/2 'Puma' Heavy Armoured Car

The ruined Stuart which acted as a grim sign post for the allies.

 

 

 

 

As a boon for winning the last game. The German forces will start the game with 50pts of barbed wire set up where they chose.

I'm ready for another great game! This map will feature many buildings for brutal house-to-house fighting and will see both sides fielding the dreaded flamethower teams! Should be a great bit of fun on this long weekend.

Signing off,

Chewie