The Normandy Battles book has seen a lot of play around our neck of the woods this time of year. For several years, we would put together our 30 feet of table, and launch a landing for the ages. Getting all that lead on a table is an awful lot of fun, but the smaller games are too. And the Coup de Main glider assault is one of those missions. Eager to try out some V4 with the D-day lists, My buddy Shane and I met over at his place for a pre-dawn face off. Shane played his Brits, and I brought my Germans with some Tigers in support. 1500 pts per side.
The Board
German Forces:
British Forces
3 full airborne platoons with gliders, mortars, a pioneer platoon, and some 6 pounders.
Shane attacked at dawn.
Since we didn't have 15mm Horsa Gliders, we used some American P51s
I Deployed my main forces in the middle of town, and put my HQ platoon in a house near another objective.
Shane landed his troops with daring, and put them right down the street, all 3 platoons landed, and coasted to a perfect stop within assault range.
In the north, the first assault was pinned down by 5 hits on 6 shots, needing 5s for darkness.....Shanes troops took some losses, and were pinned.
In the south, a massacre happened, when the MGs from the buildings were able to open up on the troops in the road.
And in the middle, Shane finally made some progress.
Several dead halftracks later and a nearly wiped out platoon and I was forced off the objective, but still able to contest, just barely.
In the north, the British unpin, assault, and wipe out the HQ and his attachments
In a series of bloody assaults he wiped out both platoons of grenadiers on the board. leaving me with the mortars and the Machine guns. My Tigers came on from reserve, and used their move orders to blitz, then move, then follow me into a position to fire on and move towards the Paratroopers in the house at the north end of town.
I moved my MG's into their halftracks and went into a position to rain down fire on the paras holding the objective. Coming on from reserve Shane's mortars did some damage, and his pioneers arrived to get hit hard by my mortars.
I brought up the Halftracks, and prepared to wipe out the Paratroopers who were holding the north objective, but despite my best shots, and heavy airborne casualties, Shane's formation held.
With no one within 4" of the objective, Shane's Airborne troops held on, and won the game 6-3 under the new rules.
It was fun getting my models on the table, and we will need to have some more practice with the move orders before I get used to them! The mortars were nasty, and the assaults were tighter. It also seems borderline impossible to break a formation! My understanding of the new rules for Formations in LW and EW, is that almost all of the main parts of the formation count, on table or off. The game is quicker now that infantry can move 8 inches, and it plays quicker. Lots of fun, and thanks to Shane for the game.
Tom Mullane aka Captainecho on the forums, is a High School History teacher in Brewster NY and lives in Danbury CT, he plays at Hobbytown USA in New Milford CT with the Ordo-Ineptus club, come down for a game if you're in the neighborhood!
