"Calibration Battles?" Topic

OK I made the term up. But when I do horse and musket, I'll sometimes take a decently-documented historical battle, use a scaled map to set up the terrain and a historical roster and run a smoke test on a set of rules. If things that happened in real life aren't possible under the rules, more work is clearly called for. Plenty of battles between 1740 and 1865 well enough described for such purposes.

WWII seems trickier, for all the wealth of material. Can anyone recommend one or more engagements in the battalion to Brigade range where we have scaled maps, OOB for both sides and a decent narrative I can use to check out some rules?

Thanks.

I'd suggest the series of battles in the scenario books by Gasoline Cowboy on Wargames Vault. Done for the rules set for Fistful of TOW's 3, they can be used by a number of other rules sets. link

Mike, are these historical battles, with historical scaled maps and OOB? My experience with moderns scenario booklets is that they're mostly "reconstructed" OOB or maps to provide a better game or fill in missing information--fine as scenarios, but not helpful for my purposes.

Maybe the Second Battle of El Alamein?

The various battles aro nd Hill 112 have been documented to the Nth degree and are typically in the battalion to Brigade range I generally use 9th RTR at Maltot as one of my "calibration battles" and there are numerous rule specific scenarios of the battle, but the book Hill 112; Battles of the Odon cover it well.

I'm spacing on the name of the town and the exact date right now, but there's a great gamers' battle during the mop-up after the siege of Bastogne is lifted. I'm thinking c. 28 Dec – 4 Jan maybe?

An American recon battalion advances into a town and meets a German recon battalion. The book that would have the details is in one of two piles that are both somewhat buried right now…

For 1944, the Over The Battlefield Breakout From Normandy series of books is superb for maps and OOBs aimed at gamers, there's titles for the numerous Operations within the breakout.

Breaking the Panzers by Kevin Baverstock is a very detailed study of the defence of Rauray by the Tyneside Scottish battalion in 1944. It may be what you're looking for.

link

The US Army Historical Series ("The Green Books") has a volume called "Three Battles" which takes a very detailed look at three actions the US Army fought in WWII. It's been a while since I read this, but as I recall it has detailed OBs maps, and descriptions. Available here: link

You might be able to find a free download somewhere, too.

Thank you all! It will take me a bit to get through it all, but there are several very promising suggestions.

Scott,
That looks like a great book. The lead author wrote company commander as well.
Thanks
Joe

link allows a download of the Three Battles book in pdf format.

Thank you! At 400+ pages I went looking for a hard copy and found it on eBay for $15 USD including shipping. Good summer read at the beach next week I hope.
Great link that convinced me to buy the book.
Thanks again.
Joe