Historical Background:
Gold Beach was three miles of low, flat beach that rose into higher ground at either end. The Germans had prepared the entire stretch of beach with barbed wire and anti-tank hedgehogs, along with bunkers and casemates manned by machine gun teams and supported by artillery batteries.
At 5.10 the Allied fleet opened fire on the coastal positions and two hours later RAF bombers also attacked. At 7.25 the 50th British Infantry Division began their landing with initial success. However, the German defenses were still intact despite the bombing, stalling any major progress until more reinforcements arrived.
As Hobart’s Funnies began to land, breakthroughs were finally achieved in some areas but they still had to fight through tough German strong points. After being repulsed on June 6, the British liberated Bayeux the next day. However, they soon ran into the newly arrived Panzer-Lehr Division near Tilly-sur-suelles and their advance inland was stopped. On June 8 the 47th Royal Marine Commandos finally linked up with the American 29th Infantry Division to the west, consolidating the Allied bridgehead.
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 [Great Britain]
6 Command cards.
You move first.
Conditions of Victory:
12 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. 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.
Beach Control rules are in effect (Actions 30 - Beach Control). The AxiS player is in control of all three beach sections on the Gold Beach map and gains 1 Medal for each beach section he controls, starting with 3 Temporary Victory Medals on the Axis Victory Stand. The Allied player will gain 2 Medals for each beach section that the Axis side no longer controls.
Place a Medal on each of the four road hexes on the right side of the board. These are Exit hexes for the Allied forces; however, for each road hex, only the first unit to exit will gain a Medal. The Medal, once gained, is a Permanent Medal and cannot be lost (place it on the Allied Player’s Victory Track). When the Omaha Beach map is not being used alongside the Gold Beach map, units that exit the map are removed from the game.
The Allied player gains 2 Permanent Objective Medals when the first bridge is constructed across the La Seulles River. The only way to build the bridge is to use Hobart’s Funnies units that were equipped with the bridge accessory.
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.
Special Rules:
Reinforcement rules are in effect (Actions 28 - Ground Reinforcements).
British Commonwealth Forces Command rules are in effect (Nations 5 - British Commonwealth Forces).
Place badges on the British Commando unit (Troops 2 - Specialized Units) and on the German engineer unit (Troops 4 - Combat Engineers).
Place a badge on the German Big Guns (Troops 3 - Big Guns).
The Axis Artillery unit marked with a Heavy Anti-Tank Gun badge are Flak 88 (Troops 23 - Heavy Anti-Tank Guns).
Hobart’s Funnies rules are in effect (Troops 26 - Hobart’s Funnies). For each Hobart Funnies unit, the Allied player replaces 1 figure with a Churchill Tank figure equipped with an accessory of his choice.
Place a Battle Star on the Supported Infantry (Troops 27 - Supported Infantry) and Supported Armor (Troops 28 - Supported Armor) units.
Special Weapon Assets late war rules are in effect (SWAs 4 - Special Weapon Assets Late War) for the unit equipped with a Machine Gun (SWAs 7 - Machine Gun Late War).
Allies have Air Superiority (Actions 34 - Air Superiority).
Off-Map Artillery Support Rules are in effect (Actions 35 - Off-Map Artillery Support), for Allied forces.
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 usual opponent took allies. Allies started to land but axis’s troops near the beaches caused devastating looses. A tank unit tried to encircle the machine-gun unit but next turn it was forced to retire. After their failure in center, allies landed troops in their left flank but axis unit in the bunker resisted heroical and destroy 3 units in the following turns with the help of the big guns. But the allies’ attack at the bunker in the left was made to distract my unit’s from allied Hobart’s Funnies equipped with assault bridge. Next turn Hobart’s Funnies broke through and constructed a bridge over le Seulles which brought allies 2 permanent medals. But the German forces that were standing in Bayeux, came to the frontline were they lunched a counter-attack (in allies right section) with the help of the machine-gun unit which was almost intact. Allies tried to stop the counterattack but many of their forces were sent in the left flank and only 3 units were able to fight. Next turn axis played recon in force and won the game by 12-5.
End photo:
Allied Hobart’s Funnies are behind enemy lines but they achieved their objective:
Axis’ counter-attack:
For the second game we changed sides and began the landing. Allies began with two assaults in center and took the center beach. Axis responded was with some cards in center but they had poor dice and took only one medal. Next turn allied armor, Hobart’s Funnies and Supported armor destroy the big guns and a infantry unit that tried to retook the beach. Axis had no more cards in center and plaied cards in their left flank but allies played a firefight which brought them the victory 12-3.
End photo:
Conclusion: A very good scenario but there are few axis reinforcements behind the front line.
If you played this scenario too (breakthrough or extended breakthrough) please share your experience.