Day of Days! (Avalon Hill's D-Day)

Started by Crossroads, June 08, 2016, 11:02:57 AM

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Crossroads

#15
News news read all about it! The Allied have landed in Europe!

What the news are not telling is the initial fighting is not going well at all. The two infantry divisions securing the left flank, with 2-1 odds, rolled "6" for instant elimination. They were never able to leave the beach, the brave souls...  :-[

The 47th ID bravely attacked at 1:1 odds, only to be thrown back to sea  :buck2: The surviving men evacuated themselves into what ever landing craft they found, under a thick cover of smoke.

The spearhead on the right flank went better however, but at bitter costs, as each attack resulted in exchange of strength factors. Here's the situation after the Allied landing took place, with the armored units and Paras meeting each other to form a secure front for the reinforcements to join the fight!



Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#16
The German counterattack!

I was not quite sure after the first read of the rules whether the invading forces were supposed to stay yet in their water hexes (beach hexes), or if they were allowed to move in one hex. I did the latter, thought it would be OK as one turn equals a week of fighting.

The German Panzer formations, having drilled for exactly such occasions as this one, moved quickly in for a kill.

From a distance, they might look innocent enough in their pink uniforms, but there's nothing innocent about them when they actually stack next to you!

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#17
"We'll fight in the beaches", or is it; "We'll fight in a beach..."

Sure enough, during the previous turn the Nazis in Pink crushed pretty much everything under their treads. Remarkably, the Canadian 2d Armored having made into Dieppe, took everything out coming at them, but the odds were just too great.  :-\

Never say die, so another wave hits the beaches, err, beach. I make a call that there's two friendly hexes available, and with a stacking limit of two, I can only bring four divisions into the fray. I opt for two armored and two infantry divisions, and make it towards Dieppe. At 1:2 odds, the inevitable result is retreat, with the few survivals again escaping to the Channel under thick smoke.

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#18
Dieppe, The Sequel

Again not sure about the rules, but I move the surviving formations inland, to dig in against what seems a huge wave of Pink Steel coming their way. By now, the elite German Panzer formations are all in to see the unfortunate landing off. It can't be long now...

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#19
Fortress Europa, Unconquered

And so it ends, seems the bad guys did not even break a sweat ensuring another unfortunate Allied Blunder against Dieppe seen off. Champagne for everyone in pink!



Well that was fun, wasn't it  :)
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#20
Quote from: Crossroads on June 18, 2016, 08:59:45 AM
German Set-up

BGG forum suggested a historical set-up for the Germans, so I tried to replicate that to my best. How cool, that already in 1961 the game designer included unit markings for both Allied and Axis chits. To their places they went. The mapboard I have doesn't have Lettering / Numbering available though, so I sort of winged it when it comes to those units which were not set-up in any of the many cities in the map.

Blimey, forgot to add the picture. Here goes:



This seems like another way to tell an early print box. My map indeed does not have letters or numbers for hex coordinates, while the later ones do. I just loaded a VASSAL D-Day module, which very handily has the hex coordinates in place of course. Next time, I will try Normandy, with those few evil pinkies in their correct positions as well!  O:-)
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

#21
And one more. There was a pointer to AH General #1/Vol11, and true enough it comes with a historic deployment guideline  O0

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

GJK

I just quickly glanced at your pictures in the order that you have presented them here and thought "my word, Ike would be reading the 'I made a big boo-boo and it's all my fault' speech at this point!".  :O
Clip your freaking corners!
----------------------
Blood Bowl on VASSAL - Ask me about it! http://garykrockover.com/BB/
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"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

-Dean Vernon Wormer

Crossroads

Pas de Calais turned out to be quite a tough nut to crack.

With the three fortress cities in the middle, tripling the defence values of those pesky 1-2-2 formations, and with the stacking limit of two units per beach hex, even with a Para unit dropped behind them I could not get better than 1:1 odds, perhaps a 2:1 odd for one of the assaults. So I thought I'd hit the stronger units in the right flank and get them out of equation from the very beginning. Then came the hideous die rolls.

With the historical setup, Brittany seems likes the weakest link of German defence, with Normandy another good candidate. I will try out the Normandy scenario next.

Not before I've managed to play a solo with the S&Ts October War first though. But that's another story.

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Crossroads

Picture links restored, after Dropbox cut off the Public folder from actually being public. What a classic this game indeed is  :clap:
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

DennisS

My very first wargame was Tactics II, which I played in about .. 1967 I think.

I played Panzer Leader and Panzer Blitz in Berlin in the early '70's. For you true grognards, it was at the home of the US Air Force Templehof AFB Wing Commander, Gail Halvorson. Yep...the Candy Bomber of the Berlin Airlift.

The Air Force promoted him several more times, from 1948 to 1971, and sent him back to Berlin as the Air Force Commander. Pretty cool...when I met him, as a teenager, I immediately recognized his name, and his accomplishments. His son and I became pretty good friends. This son eventually joined the Air Force, and became a C-130 pilot.

Still, I believe that I played just about every Avalon Hill, SPI, GMT, Victory Games, and others through the years. Still have a pretty sweet collection that I will pull out and review. DDay was one of my favorites.