Normandy 44

Lawrence and I got together for Normandy 44 yesterday.  Another fine game in the Mark Simonitch 4X game "series".  (Normandy 44, Holland 44, Ardenness 44)

Some major mistakes on the first game but we will keep playing it.  First up was mis-remembering that Infantry units did not pay 1/2 for road movement like they do in Holland 44 (which is the last one we played).  So the German first turn is less then optimal.  Combined with a horrible airlanding for the US troops and it may even out.

End of German turn 1.  The US air drops were a disaster while the Germans forgot to hustle on the road - leaving way more deployment space for the Allied advance off the beach.  Omaha went fairly well, a 1 was rolled for one beach but the other went well.  Overall the beach landing rolls were on the bad side though.

End of Allied first turn.  Right off the beaches and into combat with the German front line.  We (I) also forgot the Strongpoints could do a Determined Defense so a fort or two might have held.  On the plus side we (I) mis-remembered a normal advance being one hex in any direction instead of two hexes.  The Germans attacked a US airborne Cadre and knocked it out of the game.

Overcast 3 for turn 2.  The Germans move up to seal off the front line.  Thin in many spots but it is a line.

Allied turn 2.  I remember DD for the forts but even the +1 fort fails (a 1 in 6 chance) to hold.

German turn 3.  Overcast 2.  The line is getting thinner but reinforcements are on the way.  No counterattacks this turn.

Allied turn 3.  German reinforcements at Caen arrived just in time.  British attempts to flank it on their left are stopped by a DD result.  They then try a reserve force attack and it is also beaten back by a successful Determined Defense.  The British do have three powerful stacks next to Caen now however, on the plus side for my Germans I have two powerful stacks on the flanks and the city itself is ZOC blocked from being entered.  The weather roll will determine my plans for next turn - if it is a Storm or Overcast a counterattack may be in order, clear and it is time to hunker down again.  DDs should hold Caen for this next turn or two and then more reinforcements start arriving.  The Allies get them too but their front line is about as full as it can get near Caen anyway.

Part 2   https://fiftyshadesoffeldgrau.blogspot.com/2019/11/normandy-44-continues.html

Across Five Aprils: Bentonville

Having extra time after our game of Bobby Lee Lawrence and I setup and played the Bentonville scenario from Across Five Aprils.  A perfect game to fill in some time since the game is simple and the scenario a small on.  To win the CSA has to capture at least 1 stared space on the map or do better in casualty tracking at the end of the game.

Setup for the game.  The stars to the left are the VC locations.  Capturing at least one is a CSA victory.  The USA gets a number of reinforcements and the game lasts six turns.

The chit draws for the CSA go perfectly on turn 1.  At least I think they did, all of their forces got to move and then the combat chit came up, perhaps getting a bit of them to move, then combat, then moving some others would have been better since that could blow a whole in the line that could be exploited.  Besides the point at any rate, though the chit draws were perfect the combat rolls were abysmal for the CSA and near perfect for the USA.  I think in every case the USA got the better of the deal with both sides being forced to retreat from the battle or even just the CSA being forced to retreat.

At the end of turn 2 the chits did not go well for the CSA.  I don't remember the exact sequence but it appears that the USA attack chit came up before the CSA OR that the CSA got move chits and then the USA got move chits.  In either case the USA pulled back without losses and the CSA could not advance at all this turn.

Turn 3, the sun is setting and the CSA has to hurry (in other words sorry about the lighting...).  The CSA gets some good positioning for the attack this turn.  The CSA cavalry was in position to interdict the USA forces getting beat in battle which caused the USA cannon to lose a step in the retreat.  Or it could be the USA attack chit came up and I took the retreat (yes that was it).  The CSA attack blew the whole in the US line at the top allowing the CSA cavalry to get into interdiction position.

Turn 4 and the USA pulls back.  More reinforcements come on board and the line is solid - not much chance of another retreat through a ZOC but if the chits come up badly it could still happen.

Turn 5 and the chits came up favoring the USA.  Can't remember much else.  At this point the USA is slightly ahead in casualties.

End of turn 6 and the game.  It all boils down to chit draw this turn, if the CSA can get forces in position and then draw they could take a VP space and win or perhaps improve the casualty situation for a draw.  The chit draws come up with USA moves, and single CSA move, and then the CSA combat.  The combat forces the CSA unit to retreat but it can not so it loses a step instead.  Since the CSA can not get a VP space we call the game and count up points.  It appears the USA won but a minor victory but the VC are hard to interpret when we dug into them.  It is loss ratio based but the ratio we ended up at was not covered.  It was not at 1 to 1.5 for the union but it was not 1 to 1 either.  The table goes 1 to 1 is a draw, 1 to 1.5 is a union victory.  In no case does it say what to do between 1 and 1.5 

It is an easy to play fun game and we intend to give a larger scenario a try.