"Get off the Beach! - 15mm Omaha Beach D-Day landing " Topic

Successful first run of Get off the Beach! at Dakota Con on March 29, 2014. This recreates the landing of the 116th RCT and Rangers with supporting elements of 743d Tank Bn, 110th FA Bn, 58th Armored FA Bn, 497th AAAW Bn, C/397th AAAW Bn, 81st Chem Mtr Bn (-), SETF, et al. on the Western half of Omaha Beach on D-Day. On the right flank, WN-72 proved to be a difficult nut to crack. Some engineers from the SETF were able to assault the 50mm PAK bunker but the 88mm PAK 43 held out earning the nickname of 'LCT killer' sinking three in as many turns before succumbing to a direct hit by naval gunfire. On the left, progress was swifter, after a lucky hit took out a Panzerstellung in the Les Moulins Draw early on. The 116th was able to press home the attack, however the 50mm Anti-boat gun dispatched the supporting 743 Tanks that were able to land and was able to repulse initial close assaults. In the center a French 75mm on the cliffs in WN-70 shot up a number of LCVPs. The surviving infantry made a push over the sea wall and through the wire only to fall victim to 14" shells of the USS Texas that fell short of their intended target, the French 75mm. Overall good close game with the US Rangers, having scaled the cliffs and taking the Fortified house and radar station on Pointe et Raz de la Percee threatening to roll up the German left flank just as the Ostbattalion arrived at St Laurent to reinforce the German right flank.

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Looking good Conrad, glad the game went well. I hadn;t seen the layout since you got the heights finished.

Very nice.

That looks great. Thanks for posting. Richard

Excellent looking game! What rules were you using?

Thanks. The boards had to be finished in time for the game and were done up quickly and still wet on the drive up. Will redo them some and add detailing such as flocking and drybrushing before the next game.

I created my own rules called 'Operation Neptune'. The Rapid Fire Normandy Campaign book was handy but I found a lot of historical inaccuracies. I also wanted more action in the landing craft stage than Rapid Fire and FOW provide. The ratio of one stand equals one platoon makes it more similar to rapid fire but without the man to man infantry tables. Left casualties on the board, which can crawl to medic teams and get treated or even reconstituted. Movement is all random to reflect Fog of War and Leaders influence by permitting a nearby unit to reroll the dice (movement, repair or shooting) once per turn.

I like the landing craft – i assume the LCT's are scratchbuilt?

The LCTs and LCI(L) are for the most part scratchbuilt. MMModels makes a good LCT(6) but their LCT(5) although adequate, was not to my liking. The LCI(L) 1 is wood with polystyrene bits and I have two LCI(L) 351s in production for the second RCT. I also plan to do a LCT(4) for the British.

Two more iterations at Spring Fever in Raleigh last week. Have flocked the boards so they are more ascetically pleasing. The Americans got pinned down in the first game and the Vierville Draw 88mm PAK took out 3 LCTs in a row. The second game the Americans resorted to crawling across the beach. Most of them survived but it was slow going. Neither of the games got to a decisive point and they ended after about 14 turns.

Happy to see that mmmodels have come up with a LCS(L)(1). That will be handy when I take on Sword Beach. Alas, their LCI(L) is too late as I am already producing my own.