Posting #1

*It’s been so long since I played a scenario from Beyond Normandy and there are so many interesting looking ones, that I had to play another, difficult terrain and all.

*In this one both sides are fighting for different objectives on the same hill, Hill #112 but they are so close together that a great collision of forces will have to happen. The Germans start owning the hill but the British have a 2.5 to 1 advantage in Infantry and support weapons and a huge amount of Off-board Artillery and Aircraft but the German have terrain, entrenchments, and a nice amount of armor. The British have armor as well and both sides get reinforcements of armor groups as well. The Germans have a pretty good dose of off-board Artillery as well. This is anybodies game at first glance.

*Besides the huge amounts of Infantry, it should be interesting to see how the British: (Archer, Crocodile, Churchill VII, Sherman, Firefly & Stuart VI) match up against the German: (Pz IVF2, Marder III, Pz IVH, StuG IIIG, StuG IV & PZ VI – Tiger). Both sides have some AT guns to assist their armor, including some British: 17-pdr & 6-pdr vs. the Germans: 88mm & 75mm AT guns. The real battle will still be the Infantry controlling the high ground or not but with this much artillery, there is going to be a lot of casualties.

Posting #2

*This was a very bloody battle for both sides. The Germans however still control the higher ground and more important the victory point hexes for both sides. I didn’t think it was possible with all that artillery & air-power but the Germans have a huge amount of Artillery Power as well and the British get more exposed as the Germans sit in the Entrenchment and dug-in if not the former but also, they have a 9/8 morale so the recover very fast. The British were never able to bring The Scoot Greys reinforcements on they map, as the condition to bring them on the map was to occupy hex 0929 for three consecutive turns, which never happened. So the 10 x Sherman, 3 x Firefly & 1 x Stuart never showed up in the Battle but the Germans Tiger tanks did join the battle on turn number seven. The British Typhoons helped knock the German armor around a couple of time but this was before the Tigers show up and did come back with any AT rockets after that. Both sides took armor losses, more for the British and the Infantry for both sides will have to be refit and will not be available for combat for months.

• One huge mistake in playing this scenario, I forgot to use the smoke, which would of helped the British in this scenario. Also, the British need to send forces on the end around to clear the hex that will bring on their reinforcements. The hill lines are still a challenge in BN but, I tried to use common sense and just went for it. It was fun to get beyond Normandy back on the playing table, as there are so many interesting looking scenarios I still want to play from it.

The British have to break through an entrenched/dug-in German line. With its units down in the valley to the north, the British pound the line with pre-planned artillery, OBA & an abundance of air power. After a couple of hours many German steps were eliminated. Time for the advance. Smoke was deployed and the two British battalions, along with their Crocodile flame-throwing tanks, advanced to the west portion of the German line. The final battalion is left in the valley as a deterrent to keep the east portion of the German line in place. Very bloody assault. The German entrenchments hold, locked in assault. And, after a few more hours, the dug-in Germans are routed and the Brits continue to bypass the entrenchments and continue south. Finally, the third British battalion advances and moves south past their comrades in the assault hexes. The 2nd German line of dug-in Panzers eventually knock out the Crocodiles and most of the Churchills. The Germans move their east line to the southwest and are shredded by OBA and air support. With causalities mounting, the British advance from the west side of the hill stalls. A surge forward is met by fire and them by several turns of regrouping. Repeat.

The time runs out. Neither side can claim the hill and the battle ends in a draw.