The battle will be fought lengthways on a table 6ft by 2ft 6in (183cm by 76cm). The sea and beach are made of coloured tissue paper from Ryman, and the slope of the land has been created by piling magazines and two boxed games.
I will be writing up the battle turn by turn.
As host, I have given my opponent the choice of sides, and without much hesitation he chose Tan, saying: "Since it's D-Day, Green must represent the Germans so naturally I want to be on the side of the liberators of La Belle France."
While I set out my fortifications and troops, my opponent, who from now on I will refer to as Tan, left the room to work out the order in which his troops would arrive.
MY PLAN
I placed my tan-coloured emplacement as close to the water's edge as allowed and manned it with a sniper and anti-tank rifleman from what I will call Unit Beach. The rest of the unit I spread to either side, ready to catch as many of the Tan as possible while the invaders are helpless in the water.
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| The view from the sea |
I aimed to send my tank forward from the get-go while keeping Unit Land's anti-tank rifleman in my Jeep, ready for quick deployment at the appropriate moment.
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| The view from the command post, with the Jeep and its occupant, the Unit Land anti-tank rifleman, hidden from enemy line-of-sight |
Tan's first wave consisted of an infantry unit and a tank.
The tank fired at my beach emplacement, but rolled a 2 - a miss.
I advanced Unit Beach towards Tan's infantry, except for the sniper, who stayed behind the emplacement, and the anti-tank rifleman, who bravely headed for the Tan tank. My tank rushed forward its maximum move distance of 12".
Thanks to having advanced, the two right-hand riflemen of Unit Beach were within short range of the Tan troops, one of whom was killed. My other Unit Beach rifleman and the sniper fired at long range, but both missed.
My tank was not quite within range of the Tan tank, and in any case its line-of-sight was blocked by a friendly rifleman (you must have direct line-of-sight unobstructed by friendly troops in order to fire, but note that barbed wire does not block line-of-sight and does not count as cover - it is merely an obstacle to infantry and Jeeps).
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| The front line at the end of Turn One, with one Tan infantryman lying prone in the water |
Tan's infantry continued to wade through the sea but the tank halted. It fired at my anti-tank rifleman, but missed to the right. The shot never-the-less claimed my left-wing rifleman.
My Unit Beach officer, sergeant and shotgunner continued moving towards the Tan infantry, and my anti-tank rifleman towards the Tan tank.
My tank again advanced 12", and it opened fire on the Tan tank at long range, but missed.
My rifleman fired, with the extreme right one scoring a hit. Since he was equidistant from two Tan soldiers - a rifleman and the sergeant - I diced again to determine which was the casualty, and it turned out to be the rifleman.
My sergeant opened fire with his sub-machine gun at short range, killing the Tan sniper and officer.
My officer opened fire at long range, killing the enemy anti-tank rifleman.
My shotgunner opened fire at long range, but missed. My anti-tank rifleman likewise missed the Tan tank, and my sniper - also firing at long range (incidentally, distances are measured base to base) - missed the sole remaining Tan rifleman.
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| Carnage in the water at the end of Turn Two |
Tan's first-wave infantry at last reached the beach, His tank ignored my front-line infantry and headed up the beach towards my tank (where movement is on more than one surface, eg water and beach, measure for whichever surface predominates for that unit's movement that turn).
Tan's second wave landed - both infantry units.
Having reached the beach, Tan's much-diminished first wave of infantry killed two of my riflemen but his tank had no luck against mine.
My tank closed within short range of Tan's but threw a miserable 1 (my turn-starting rolls for reinforcements had been similarly lacking in success) and my anti-tank rifleman also failed despite getting within short range of Tan's tank as it moved up the beach.
However, the last three Tan infantry of the first wave were all killed this turn.
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| The second wave of Tan troops has disembarked into the sea. In the middle-distance my anti-tank rifleman has just missed the Tan tank from point-blank range |
Tan's tank struck a major blow for the invaders by accelerating up the beach and destroying my tank.
With my tank out of action, I sent my Jeep and its anti-tank rifleman from Unit Land at full speed towards the Tan tank.
My other anti-tank rifleman followed the Tan tank as closely as possible, but was at long range. Frustratingly, I threw a 5, which would have been good enough for a "kill" at short range.
Three of the Tan second-wave were killed in the sea.
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| Smoke billows from my tank. In the background my Jeep can be seen passing the green-coloured emplacement |
Tan's third wave entered the battle, consisting of an infantry unit and a second tank (there where no shotgunners left in the pack, so we used a fourth rifleman to make up the unit's numbers).
Tan's tank continued its success story, reaching dry land and destroying my Jeep together with its anti-tank rifleman occupant.
Tan's second-wave infantry staggered ashore but, despite their overwhelming advantage in numbers, only managed to kill two of the five remaining members of Unit Beach. Alas, this included the anti-tank rifleman, meaning I had no troops left capable of destroying the Tan tank!
I "only" needed to throw 11 on two dice for reinforcements to appear this turn, but I was nowhere near.
The only movement I made was to move two Unit Land riflemen to take advantage of cover provided by the wrecked Jeep.
Firing claimed a Tan sergeant.
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| The beach and sea are swarming with Tan invaders |
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