The Commander Series Forum

June 7, 1944 (D+1), Canadian troops are advancing towards their first day objective, Carpiquet Airport. The advance has been met with only light resistance. Unfortunately the advance has left their flanks open. The Germans take full advantage of this with the newly arrived elements of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division. German infantry and tanks attack quickly on the stretched out Canadian column.

This is my first Normandy scenario. I have always wanted to get into Normandy wargaming, mainly focused on the Canadians (being from Canada). Early in the campaign I thought there would be good battles between the Canadians and the 12th SS Panzer division. Unfortunately this battle is pretty much one sided with the Canadians being easily pushed out of the area. I guess I need to do a bit more research before deciding on a battle and buying the miniatures. The Panzer Ivs really have no problem against the Shermans and they pretty much had the same number of tanks. But having the miniatures now, I should be good to go for more balanced battles.

I ran the scenario at the club and it played out the same as playtested, which was't good. I guess that is what you get when you run some historic battles. Oh well, what can I say...I like the rules and am enjoying getting into Normandy. I guess some scenarios will just have to be solo games.

Playtest photos:
http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z18/Schlesie...

Miniatures
-N scale Minifigs
-10mm Pendraken
-1/144 New Millenium Toys (Pz IV & German half-tracks)

Terrain
-Paved roads made with foam sheets and Liquitex ceramic stucco.
-Dirt roads from Monday Knight Productions
-Buildings are mainly Jerry's Hobby Junction (i.e. all buildings for Buron). Abbey and Authie are Old Glory.
-Drop cloth by Hotz Mats.
-Hedges I made.

Battle in this book: "Holding Juno" by Mark Zuehlke.

That looks good, I like the effect of the fields on the cloth. The battle sounds good too. Like you say, historical battles can be a little one-sided, especially when you are trying to make them as accurate as possible.

When dealing with German Armour in Normandy I have just two words; "Sherman Firefly". For the Canadians they are a life saver.

My LW stuff is based around the Canadians and 12 th SS as well. I've been playng around with a "fictional" campaign centered on the exploits of the "Leeds & Grenville Rifles". Perhaps one of these days I'll actually get around to running it.

"Battle in this book: "Holding Juno" by Mark Zuehlke."

A truely excellent book.

I've played the same scenario in 6mm using Battlefront rules, available from their website in the Blood and Honour series. It's really a scramble for the Canadians to set up some sort of defensive line before they get rolled up by the 12th SS.

A very enjoyable scenario if you get the victory conditions right.

Thanks Pete. I look forward to better Normandy scenarios in the future.

I have thought about doing a campaign as well. I think there are no shortage of different battles from DDay to Falaise. The Holding Juno book is good, but I don't recommend it for non-military history buffs, there is probably too much detail. I'm looking forward to his next book "Breakout from Juno." I'm currently reading "Operation Husky." Not sure if there are any Sicily scenarios yet, but a good book.

I think I need to look at victory conditions better, although, both games had the Canadians failing their breakpoint before end of game.

Which scenario did you base the game on? Looking at the Buron scnario in the GHQ "Canada in WWII" supplement victory goes to whichever player holds the majority of the towns of Authie, Gruchy and Buron. What conditions were you working under?

I made up my own historical scenario based on German player capturing Franqueville, Authie, and Buron, June 7, 1944. German major victory by turn 8, or minor victory by turn 12. Both based on the Germans capturing all three towns.

The playtest game had the Canadians quitting the battlefield I think on turn 10. At the club game, the Canadians quit the battlefield around turn 8. I will say in the playtest, both the Germans and Canadians were rolling for breakpoint for two turns before the Canadians failed.

Before the game started, I eluded to the Canadian player that it might be recommended to do a fighting withdrawal to limit casualties. This is not easy because this area around Buron is pretty wide open. Tanks can be easily spotted.

What were the OOBs (for both sides) out of curiosity?

Overall, sounds like a good idea for a game. Just needs a little tweaking.

Panzerleader- I wrote up the Buron scenario for Test of Battle. I did some research into it, as well as from GHQ's Canadian supplement which has the battle as well.
Here is a link to it...
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bob_mackenzie/

I have not played it with BKC yet, but with ToB and GHQ rules, it is a fun battle for sure. The map in the link may look crappy, but I didn't have a good program to make one.

Doug

Oops...got to scenarios...scroll down to NWE...entitled Buron.

North Nova Scotia Highlanders Regiment
27th Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment), 2nd Armoured Brigade (Independent)

1 CO (9)
6 HQ (8)
1 6pdr
1 AT carrier
3 Universal Carriers
13 Infantry (reg)
3 MMG (Vickers)
3 Piat (upgrade)
9 Sherman
3 Sherman Firefly
2 Stuart
1 M10 tank destroyer
1 Vickers carrier
I don't remember why I left out mortars.

12th Panzer Division
1 CO (9)
2 HQ (8)
2 HQ (9)
1 FAO (7)
3 105mm Wespe
3 150mm artillery
24 Infantry (HJ)
8 Panzerfaust
3 120mm mtr
2 150mm IG
2 IG tractors
12 Pz IV

The thing to remember about the battle, if you choose to play it historically correct, is the M10's did not make it to the battle as they were tied up due too incoming enemy fire. As well, a British warship HMS Belfast, was to provide fire support for the NNSH, but could not due too loss of contact with the troops.
Schlesien - nice AAR...may have to try it sometime with BCK.

In case anyone plays BCK at squad level, I have a scenario for Authie itself...that took up a quite a bit of free time to write that one up.

Doug

Hmmm don't remember reading about the M10s not making it. Thanks.

>Hmmm don't remember reading about the M10s not making it. Thanks.

Essentially they didn't get there in time as Buron and the surrounding villages were taken by the 12.SS. It could have been that they made it to provide covering fire while the NNSH were in full retreat.