Landing at Sword Beach

The first time we played the Sword Beach scenario we did so many things incorrectly that I did not post the pictures.  Getting off of the beach, destruction of the sea wall, smoking German bunkers, and others were screwed up.  Plus, I lost (as the British) so I did not want to post the indications of yet another defeat.  So, I waited a week, took another look at the various rules, and tried again.  I admit the end result was the same, though we were a lot closer to all of the rules for amphibious assaults.  Not all (I still screwed up the smoke rule on the German 88 mm bunker) but a lot closer.  Really!



The British first wave approaches the beach.

German forces at strongpoint Cod are shaken but not really damaged by th epreliminary bombardment by HMS Warspite. 

An old French tank turret covers the left side of the beach area.

Strongpoint Cod just before the landing craft drop their ramps.

The first waave hits the beach minus delayed pioneer platoon and 2 of 3 DD tanks.

The first DD tank engages the French turret bunker.

 

A DD tank and Sherman Crab destroy the French turret bunker. 

The 88 mm bunker eyes the British assault with malice in its sight. 

The British move up to the seawall though 2 Crabs are bogged down.

The 88 mm bunker kills its first British tank, an AVRE.  It won't be the last kill . . .

German artillery from inshore range in on the beach. 

 

The AVREs destroy a section of the seawall.

An infantry platoon works its way around the 5 cm kwk bunker.

The Crab smokes the 88 mm bunker.  This was incorrect since the tank was over 16 inches away.  This allows the British armour to survive a bit longer.  But not by much. 

The beach exits become clogged with a mass of British tanks and infantry.

The slowly move ashore past the burning AVRE.

The British move ashore and turn right to attack Cod while the two bogged Crabs remain bogged on the beach. 

The AVRE attacks the 5 cm kwk bunker. 

 

One less 5 cm kwk bunker!  The AVREs are pretty awesome with a bunker busting petard. 

Another AVRE attacks a German HMG tobruk but misses. 

The 88 mm bunker fires back and hits!

The 88 mm bunker has a great LOS to hit just about everything. 

 

More British land but a LOT of landing craft are stuck on the beach so reinforcements are slow.  The M-10s land and attack the 88 mm bunker.  This is a waste of time and M-10s (proxied here by Achilles as I haven't painted the M-10s yet).

The surviving AVREs attack Cod with some help from a Sherman Crab and rout the German defenders.

The M-10s fire and chip the paint on the bunker. 

German reinforcements start to arrive from inland.

Still, there are few in way of the advancing British who have finally departed the beach area.

 

Another view of the AVREs crashing through the barbed wire.

Can the Germans withstand the tank assault?

No!  They rout and withdraw to fight another day.

More German reinforcements arrive. 

The M-10s give the German 88 mm bunker a chance to earn another kill ring. 

The British need to go faster before more German reinforcements show up.  The ranks of the point infantry platoons are being whittled down, slowly but surely.

The beach remains a mess as the Priest battery (proxied by Sextons) lands and bogs down almost immediatley.  At least the Crabs have managed to move ashore.   

 

The lead British infantry platoon engages the German Company Commander and soon wishes he hadn't. 

The lone German HMG guards strongpoint Sole and the other German objective.

Panzers from the 21. Panzerdivisione arrive.  This is not good.

The 88 mm bunker kills the two remaining AVREs.  Uh-oh . . .

German artillery hits the Commandos as they get off of their landing craft.

 

The British infantry platoon close assaults the German Company commander in the hedgerow and loses.  It falls back and licks its wounds. 

The Panzer Mk IV Hs engage the lead DD tank. 

The Germans take up position in the center hedgerow area.  There are a lot of them even if some are merely Ostruppen.

More M-10s burn courtesy of the 88 mm bunker.  I hate that thing!

A Sherman DD tank burns too but this one was taken out by the Mk IV H zug.

Return fire from the surviving British armour and artillery is ineffective.

 

The British approach culmination. 

The specialized armour has been destroyed and the lead infantry platoon has lost its platoon commander.

A Mk IV H is destroyed but the British have run out of steam.

Despite a valiant attempt, the British cannot take the objective near strongpoint Sole.  Monty will not be happy. 

 

 

Unfortunately the net result was the same, another German victory.  I took the closer objective near the German strongpoint but it wasn't enough.  The combination of platoons being swept off of the board due to current, DD tank delays or swamping, and trying to maneuver took too much time.  By the time the Brits were off the beach and rolling inland, they had taken too many casualties to halt the advance of the German reinforcements.  Plus, I didn't make use of the Priest battery offshore.  All in all, an improper use of my pretty powerful assets.  Next time I should attack strongpoint Cod directly with the armour and take out the 88 mm bunker before it causes too much grief.  The other German forces in the strongopint can't stand up to the massed amour and pioneers and the other 5 cm kwk bunker isn't a real threat.  Next time . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setting Up SWORD Beach

I am setting up the SWORD Beach scenario after a wait of almost 6 years.  The D-Day book was published in the spring of 2007 and I was hooked from the start.  Thus began my interest in LW British forces, leading to the Villers-Bocage obsession previously discussed.  Buying the forces for the SWORD Beach scenario in the book was easy.  Painting them was not, particularly the Sherman Crabs of the breaching group which languished on the painting table for A LONG TIME.  Even still I don't have all of the British painted though my son's 7th Armoured Division force will provide some Sextons and Achilles TDs which will proxy very nicely for M-10s and Priests, thank you very much.  I do have all of the Germans, including a pair of Pak 97/38 anti-tank guns which I rapidly painted this week, if only to test out the new Battlefront German paint set and see if I could still paint Germans.  They just got the matte coating so will show up soon.  In any event, here is my setup of the "QUEEN RED, 6 June 1944" scenario from the Battlefront D-Day book. 

This is the scenario map from D-Day.   The pictures below are my representations.  This is NOT 100% but it is pretty close. 

Looking in from the sea.  The Battlefront beach mat is really nice. 

Looking west to east.  Most of the terrain is made by Battlefront though the roads and swamps are by JR Miniatures.

A closer view of the SWORD Beach front property.

Looking toward strongpoint COD.  My son is finishing up a new platoon of the plastic German infantry to man the trenches. 

The 88 mm bunker and 5 cm Kwk bunkers dominate the approaches to COD.

A stray German HMG post at COD.

The 88 mm bunker is impressive and will be tough to take out.

The field of fire of the bunkers along the beach.  My breaching group may not live very long.

With a German infantry platoon and the Pak 97/38 anti-tank guns still drying, I hope to play this scenario tomorrow.  It won't go fast as this is the first time we have played with the Amphibious Assault rules as well as the numerous defenses (bunkers, mines and barbed wire).  It should be fun. 

UPDATE: The Germans are done!  And in their trenches and emplacements, awaiting the pre-invasion bobmbardment they so richly deserve.  The infantry stands are the new plastic ones while the pak 97/38 guns and crews are the older metal versions.