Finished Normandy Board Batrep

-By Brian Fuller

So, after a long hiatus I was finally able to get a game on my Normandy board. Peter and I decided the best way to break in the board was to run 1750pt lists out of the Normandy book. I ran my trusty 3rd Armor list and Peter ran Panzer Lehr Grenadiers.The mission was Hasty Attack with Peter defending.

Peter chose the right side of the board which then had me attacking from the left. The boccage covers the entire table with the village in the center and two small woods on each side. Wheat field occupy a few of the boccage cells and the rest are open.

The Lists

For this report I am trying something different. Below are pictures of our companies rather than showing the lists.

Brian's 3rd Armor (CT): 7 Platoons, 2iC with a dozer and hedgerow cutters for all tank platoons.

Peter's Pz Lehr Grens (CV): A very mobile lists, 2 Tigers, and 3 Pak40s for some Sherman hunting goodness.

Deployment and Turn 1

On the board Americans: Stuarts on the left flank, 75 Shermans in the village and the 76 Shermans just to the right of the village. (In reserve more 75s, AR, recce and mortars).

On the board Germans: Tigers covering the roads, rockets in the back center and in immediate ambush a platoon of Grens pop up in the woods on the right to check the Stuarts from an easy objective grab. (In reserve another platoon of Grens, cannon platoon, Pak40s, recce and some AA).

After deployment, the 76's used the spearhead move to move up into the village looking at getting some side shots on the Tigers. Turn 1 for the Americans saw the 76s advancing up on the Tigers and taking one out while the 75s in the village used direct fire smoke on the other. The Stuarts started to move on the left and had one tank bog in the hedgerows. On the German turn on the remaining Tiger move to cover the other objective as did the CiC and 2iC. Rockets fired to no effect and the Grens in the woods kept their eyes our for the pesky Stuarts. Return fire from the Tiger destroyed a 76.

(Note: The American reserves came in at a steady pace but did not have any effect on the outcome so I did not include pictures of their arrival.)

Turn 2

The Americans pushed hard in the center. The remaining 76s lined up for some more side shots on the remaining Tiger and took it down. The 75s started to move up on the rockets in the back center of the board. At this point the German objective in the middle was solidly contested. The German HQ was able to dig in behind the bocage to hold the middle objective. The Grens in the woods started to move but had to keep one eye on the Stuarts as the moved out.

Turn 3

The Americans attempt to dig out the German HQ holding the center objective using the 76s and HQ, but the Germans are stubborn and stick around. The 75 go hunting for the rockets and destroy the platoon. The Stuarts check the Grens as they move with the AR moving in behind them.

The Germans begin their turn below half and proceed to fail their company moral check. 6-1 to the Americans.

Conclusions: The Tigers were set to cover the road approaches but did not take care to cover their side armor. Had they been in reserve then the second Gren platoon could have dug in on the second objective and would have taken awhile to dig out. Hedgerow cutters are amazing for trained armor, not having to make a 4up skill check was very nice. This was a quick game but it was good to get Peter back to the garage playing FOW. I am very sure there will be a rematch to follow.