Battle in Normandy AAR

[Rob Gjessing]

For those of you who think I might be overly cautious around Caen the last turn indicates what can happen to an adventurous Allied player. In test games German forces have sweep the British forces back to Omaha. It is wise for the British player to take it cautiously, and I have put detachments in front of my line to help a bit.

Last turn the British could have attacked Caen at 6-1, which was the best odds Rob left me. I decided that it was simply not worth the effort and continued on my push through the Bocage to the South, a much safer route.



On the other front St Lo has fallen. The first attack at 10-1 failed but the second succeeded.



It will be interesting to see who works out how to get 2nd and 3rd armor over to the Caen area to assault the town. The British has some very nice units but lack the real punch power of the US forces.

[Rob Gjessing]

Not one single assault this turn. I had enough on my hands in terms of trying to cover the holes which Roger had created then have to worry about attacking.

The biggest threat of course if to the South West of Caen.. and I havent been as successful in covering his move here as I had hoped. I expect a lot more trouble next turn.. but with a bit of luck Roger may find that he extends too far and gives me a good opportunity for a counter attack.



The problem is though that apart from the breach - I have also had to weaken my assets in Caen itself... whilst now not only limits my control of the area and my ability to launch attacks out of there - but also causes me some concern that Roger may be able to assault Caen directly now.


St Lo has fallen - whilst this has made Hitler very unhappy, the good news is that it enables me to fall back..



So I have therefore chose to start to pull back - dropping detachments as I go (where possible) to deny Roger tactical shifts in any combat he conducts as he follows me. As you can see though that around Caen I again am faced with the problem that some of my units are pinned down and are unable to keep up.. this makes they targets for Roger in his next turn.

[Rob Gjessing]

Not a lot to report this turn. Around Caen the advance to the South is proceeding well and the German forces moving South out of Caen make the British life a lot easier. Those counter attacks can be devastating. I have now moved up to change the control in the hexes around Caen so that I can plan an assault. This turn a 6-1 was the best I could do so waiting, again, seemed the best strategy.



I have exposed a few units but it is necessary to keep the pressure up. To attack, the Germans will have to concentrate forces and, hopefully, that is not one their options.

I have moved a pontoon unit up to the river line to provide a temporary bridge that will help supply and movement. Another pontoon unit is in position to make an incursion across the second river a possibility.

In the St Lo sector bad dice and bad terrain have combined to make any real progress impossible this turn.

[Rob Gjessing]

Upon loading me turn I was faced with some serious supply issues:



The problem here - apart from Allied interdiction further back hehind my lines, is that there is no road leading up to my frontline which supplies can travel through...

Infact you can see that I had resorted to placing one of my supply units off the road to try and get some suppies to my men.. I have paid the price as a result of that choice as there are now no supplies able to get to that supply truck for it to distribute! It doesnt matter how close your supply truck is to your men is there is nothing to hand around.

As a result of this I have really pulled my line back now..



I would have preferred to get it a bit straighter then it is.. but I couldnt retreat as far back in some parts as I would have liked.

Things look bad also around the Caen breakout.. as Roger's interdiction plays havoc with me there also. Where the terrain and rivers are you friend in terms of providing some good defensive lines - it can also work against you in cutting the supply to your own units at times.

So I have had no choice but to pull back slighly to try and get my units into a supplied zone.. this has presented its own problems as I again find that I have units that are unable to keep up. This time its quite a stong ARM unit.. which were unable to regain supplies and refit whilst it was sitting in the frontline.. so its had to be left behind.



These new refit rules add a whole new dimension to the game.. and its particularly felt in the Ardennes scenario where the German player can no longer continue to advance using extended movement.

There is still some fun to be had by my strong ARM around Caen though. Last turn I set a bit of a trap, I vacated a clear hex which was bound by four hexes of my units. Roger took my bait and advanced into the hex (destroying a strong point which I had placed in the hex - so it looked like I as trying to defend it).

I then conducted a counter attack.. now I must admit I got a lot of luck here with my assault.. resulting in 6 lost steps to Mr Keating (I took minor loses (2 steps).



At the end of it all, this is the situation around Caen.. the pointy end of Rogers salient to the south west of Caen is still where I am weakest. But my line running up north south along the river to Caen is something which causes me concern. Behind my line are open fields of grass which arent going to be much fun to defend in if Roger gets over that river..

[PJJ]

Great AAR guys! As a long-time fan of the DB series, I'm really looking forward to this game.

By the way, that Pz.Abt.503 had Tigers (and you have the right picture too), but the description says 503 Panzer (Mk V), now Mk V is of course the famous Panther! Or then there's something wrong with my eyes...[8D]

[freeboy]

good catch, I am more fond of names, rather than those pz or mk designators...
did anyone notice the hunting tigers in TAO3?

[IckieStickie]

Wow,i cant belive ive only justr ecently come across these SSG titles!,and ive been an avid Wargamer for three decades at least.Yes id heard of SSG and others way back in turn of the Century etc,but this is the first time ive allowed myself to sink Deep into these Titles,and now in the last couple of months ive tried to get my hands on Everything SSG.This goes to show that although im aware this post is roughly 15 years old now,the games that are discussed here do NOT feel old at all really to me.SSG obviously got its formula correct right off the bat.Stood the test of"Time"rather well too it seems,ive introduced these SSG games to my John Tiller group on Steam and they are going down a treat.
Reason ive come here is to mention that ALL links ive come across regarding the SSG games etc seem to be long Dead or up for sale!.Surely the playerbase of these great Titles hasnt totally disapeared over time?I do hope some of you are still around(those that created this olde post for a start)and id like to say thanks for the AAR,id like to find more of this please.SSG.Au is about all i can find,and ive added every single extra scenario too my list of games that are all found on that site,but if theres any more please point me in the right direction.I would love to see a NEW Title by this lot for sure and any news of that too id like to hear. Seems Across the Dneiper was the last one they made?For me to recently discover these great Wargames and really like what i see thanks to Matrix i dont get why then suddenly they seem to have stopped being made?If they go to the trouble to re-release and update the for example Close Combats eries then why doesnt this awesome collection get a second look in?
PS,i cant belive my post is the only recent one since 2004!These games have still be on sale whole time on Matrix so...