"Operation 'Windsor' - Carpiquet 1944" Topic

Here's a report by Richard de Ferrars on our game at Bovington in July: Operation 'Windsor' – the assault by 3rd Canadian Division on Carpiquet Airfield in July 1944.

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Very cool game. Well done!

Really nice!

Great looking game, thanks for posting!

Wow! One cool-looking game. Great terrain and figs!

I should add that it was all the work of Richard de Ferrars and Paddy Green. I particularly like Richard's DD Shermans with the flotation screens removed (you can see one of them breaching the wire). It's a shame that models of these beasties aren't commercially available.

Richard & Paddy's previous show games include 'The Scottish Corridor':

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and 'Seizing The Initiative (the Battles of Le Mesil Patry & Cristot)':

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Absolutely beautiful terrain, buildings, figures vehicles.

It's all so terrific can't single out any one thing.

Nice battle report, as well.

The allied armor really took a pounding.

JW

Nonsense… we swept all before us!

Great report Mark. Thank you very much for the heads-up.

Just a question from what I remember from the ruleset. Seems to me there are many Ds in the front companies, did at anytime any of the battalions or companies (I don't remember very well the size, I mean the unit that have to roll to check if they can move or must retreat) rolled low enough to stall the attack or make any of the sides retire?, I don't see any reference about it on the AAR.

The 'D's are Disordered. The 'S's are Suppressed.

Both sides in the front line were being fairly comprehensively hammered by artillery and the tanks were in an 88 shooting gallery, hence all the Disorder and Suppression in the photos. The Canadians were employing the best part of an AGRA, while unusually for the Germans in Normandy, the 12th SS were employing very large concentrations of defensive artillery fire. This is not a usual occurrence, but Battlefront: WWII is the only game I've come across where realistic quantities of artillery can be thrown around without it totally dominating the game.

In Battlefront: WWII, the morale side of things is assessed during the 'Manoeuvre' phase. Morale, rallying and movement are determined simultaneously in the Manoeuvre Phase. If you've played Fire & Fury ACW, it's a very similar approach (both games being written by Rich Hassenauer).

Each 'Manoeuvre Element' (i.e. a company, battery or squadron) rolls a D10 as the 'base number' for the Manoeuvre check. Each 'unit' (i.e. tank model or troop stand) within the Manoeuvre Element then modifies that number according to their local situation – troop quality, suppression/disorder, cover, commander's proximity, losses, enemy proximity, artillery dropping on their heads… the usual stuff. There are only a few modifiers and it becomes intuitive after a few turns. Depending on the numbers, units will then perform one or two actions, hold position, fall back or leg it. Suppression or Disorder is rallied off in lieu of an action.

What this means is that companies can 'crumble' as individual units within the company start to falter or fall back, while others press on regardless. I find this rather better than the 'all or nothing' approach taken to morale in other rules.

This does seem rather fiddly at first glance, but it does quickly become intuitive after a few turns and it's always a good idea to check the poor sod who is in the worst situation (disordered, under artillery fire, miles from the boss and close to enemy armour), because if he passes the Manoeuvre Check ok, then everyone else is going to as well!

I hope that explains it a little? I'm not a rules writer and find it VERY difficult to explain rules mechanics! :o)

It's explained somewhat better at fireandfury.com

Here's the page that it explains it a bit better:

fireandfury.com/desc.shtml

Looks like a great game. Thanks for posting.

Palafox – I didn't actually answer your question!

Richard does mention in there somewhere about the Canadian armour falling back. My lead squadron suffered 50% casualties and then a succession of bad die-rolls just meant that it went back and back and back until at least part of it ran off table! :o(

The second squadron did a little better, despite similarly heavy losses.

The Funnies meanwhile, being qualitatively a bit better (Veteran) did incredibly well and just kept on going despite astonishingly high casualties.

(I do tend to just throw them in…)

Thanks a lot Mark, now I understand the situation a little better. The Germans held the ground too despite the losses?. Seems they were pretty good troops. We'll have to play these rules one of these days again, good scope for big battles.

Yes, as Richard says in the reports, the leading German companies holding the perimeter were pretty much hors de combat, as was the Pz IV Company and the 88s. However, instead of breaking and running, the quality of these units meant that the surviving elements grudgingly gave ground, making us fight for every inch.

The Germans could not really have been much better in terms of quality – a battalion of veteran-class panzer-grenadiers and elite-class armour from the best German formation in Normandy (12. SS HJ Pz Div), backed up by their divisional Flak battalion and virtually their entire divisional artillery regiment.

The remaining (untouched) elements of the German battlegroup still held Carpiquet village and the airfield administration buildings at the eastern end of the airfield, which was essentially the historical finishing situation.

I recommend giving them another go if you've played them. They're not really designed for this size of game, but work well regardless. Personally I wouldn't bother with any other set of WW2 rules.