Historical Background:
In the early hours of June 6th, 1944, the American Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne division flew over the Normandy coast. Bad weather and heavy flak resulted in sticks being scattered, but the paratroopers were well trained and knew their assignments. They gathered in small groups and got to work.
The 101st were tasked with eliminating German artillery batteries that threatened the Utah Beach landing and clearing the causeways from the beach so that the landing forces could advance inland. This meant they had to capture and hold key bridges over the Douve River, serving the double purpose of preventing German counterattacks from the south and setting the stage for an attack on the well protected town of Carentan.
The 82nd Airborne was assigned with capturing Ste-Mère-Église and the roads leading north, protecting that flank until landing forces could link up with them and preparing for a push westward to cut off the Cotentin peninsula.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.
Briefing:
Axis Player [Germany]
3 Command cards.
Draw two Command cards after turns 1 and 2. You will then have a hand of 5 Command cards for the rest of the battle.
Allied Player [United States]
6 Command cards.
You move first.
Conditions of Victory:
9 Medals
Town Control rules are in effect (Actions 29 - Town Control). The Axis player is in control of all the town hexes on the map at the start of the battle (except the Church – mark it with an Allied Control Marker). The Axis player starts with 2 Temporary Victory Medals on his Victory Stand for controlling the towns. If the Allied player takes control of at least 3 town hexes, he takes a Temporary Medal from the Axis Victory Stand and places it on his own Victory Stand. If he controls at least 5 town hexes, he takes the second Temporary Medal from the Axis Victory Stand and places it on his own. Note that the Church counts toward the Town Control total.
Bridge Control rules are in effect (Actions 32 - Bridge Control) for each of the 4 bridges marked with Medals across the Douve River, for Allied forces.
The Axis player gains a Temporary Medal Objective worth 1 medal if the Allied player does not have at least one Allied unit in each section of the American Airborne map. The medal is lost when an Allied player has units back in all sections. Hexes with a dotted line are considered to be both sections.
The elimination of an Axis Big Gun Artillery unit counts as two Victory Medals. When the last figure of a Big Gun Artillery unit is eliminated, place both the figure and Big Gun Badge on the Allied player’s Medal Stand.
The two road hexes on the right side of the board are Exit hexes for the Allied forces.
Special Rules:
On this map, American Airborne units may retreat in any direction and Axis units may retreat toward either baseline.
Reinforcement rules are in effect (Actions 28 - Ground Reinforcements). Allied Reinforcements are limited. For this scenario, they can only call in French Resistance units (Nations 1 - French Resistance), American Airborne units (Troops 2 - Specialized Units), Supply Trucks (Troops 17 - Supply Trucks) or parachuted Standard Artillery units (apply Geronimo! Special Rule). Any other result is ignored. Flags still allow On The Move orders.
Place badges on the German Elite Infantry and American Airborne units (Troops 2 - Specialized Units).
Two Airborne units are equipped with Special Weapon Assets (SWAs 4 - Special Weapon Assets Late War). The Allied player places one Mortar (SWAs 6 - Mortar Late War) and one Machine Gun (SWAs 7 - Machine Gun Late War) on two units of his choice. If an Airborne unit equipped with SWA does not move before battling, then it may use the SWA it carries. Otherwise, it may move up to 2 hexes and battle like any elite unit.
Place a badge on the German Big Guns (Troops 3 - Big Guns).
Place a Battle Star on the Supported Infantry (Troops 27 - Supported Infantry) and Supported Armor (Troops 28 - Supported Armor) units.
Allies have Air Superiority (Actions 34 - Air Superiority).
Air rules are not in effect. The Air Sortie cards are set aside and not used in this mission.
Scenario link
Setup photo:
For the first game I took axis and my opponent took allies. Allies started with good command cards and took 3 medals. But axis destroyed then 4 units. Allies continued with attacking the supported armor and finally destroyed it and won the game at the score of 9-5.
End Photo:
Note: If you are looking very careful you can see that allies control only one bridge not two.
The second game (in which we changed sides) was more faster. Allies destroy the big guns and another unit with epic dice rolls. Axis tried to eliminate the airborne units but they lose at the score of 9-1.
End Photo:
Conclusion: a good scenario but very fast for a breakthrough senario.
If you played this scenario, no matter breakthrough of extended breakthrough, please share here your experience.