Panzer Leader's Omaha Beach scenario offers a provocative challenge to German ingenuity in deployment and refined tactical maneuvers: the game board is smaller than in many situations and of an abnormal shape; a second "city board" is offered for use and tempts the German away from forward positions; the number of allotted positional defenses is too small; German mobility is seriously deficient; game time is far too long, and the number of units on the opponent's side and the victory conditions both point toward an Allied victory. The German is clearly the underdog, and it is precisely this that draws me back to Omaha Beach time and time again. There must be a way for the German to eke out a tactical victory, or with luck, a decisive one--I think I have found it.

For the astute German player, half the game lies in the set up. Because his defense is static (only three mobile units besides his infantry), he must take great care to place fortresses, mines, and blocks where they will do the most damage to the Allied assault, and at the same time defend Omaha Beach well. An expert will be intrigued by the possibilities; a tyro will be boggled.

In examining the victory conditions, you will find that the German must hold four towns on board B (the beach board) for a decisive and three for a tactical victory. The task would be simple but for the Allied Naval Attack Strength (NAS). This edge will turn the tables on even the most experienced German, who must nullify the effects of NAS in order to win. After extensive deliberation and trail, I have found only one way to do this: place a single fortress in each of the four towns.

This offers a constant forty defense factors as opposed to the thirty-two that a stack of infantry would offer, or the scant eight from a battery of heavy artillery. Without a fort, one to three naval attacks will reduce a town and all units in it to rubble. Even with a fort, though, careful planning is needed to hold the town.

For the first nine game turns the Allies can mount 3-1 plus 1 attacks on any single fort. With the die roll adjustment for town occupancy, the Allies have a one in six chance of a kill. A subsequent close assault at 1-1 minus 2 odds affects a one in three chance of a kill, provided the fort had been dispersed from the previous attack. But watqh the frustrated Allied player try to muster ten infantry units and an engineer to even launch this attack series!

Play it Safe

Some of us, however, like to play it safe. To me, the thought of a successful 3-1 is nightmarish. I prefer to juggle the odds a bit by placing a sacrificial wagon, infantry unit, or 81 mm mortar on top of a fort; the indirect fire will attack the fort at 1-1-plus-1 (50% chance of dispersal, none of a kill) and the sacrificial unit at 4-1 plus 1 (66% chance of a kill). If the Allied player likes to waste his NAS in this manner, it is a good idea to keep two or three of these sacrificial lambs around each town. German losses will necessarily be heavy, but the Allies will lose time, men, and power before they will be able to conquer the hex.

An alternative strategy is to heavily fortify the beach to pound away at amphibious landing forces. This is strong medicine until you consider that the Allies can land forty-five units in three turns and sometimes two. You can hope to destroy no more than a dozen units overall in these amphibious waves. Before long beachhead defenses are overrun and the towns in the rear fall prey to Allied armor. An amphibious defense is definitely needed, but it is secondary in light of the victory conditions.

Key: Rieux

The key to a balanced defense is the beach town of Rieux. It is nearest the Allied offensive and will probably undergo attack as early as the second turn. It would be nice to afford two forts in Rieux, but that would create serious difficulties elsewhere. Place a single fort in Rieux to control what little beach there is to the east, and at least two hexes west. This will delay and in some cases stop an Allied push between the slopes behind the city.

This is a must, for once the Allies control this gorge, they sever German communication lines. The problem now becomes a beachhead defense West of Rieux. Minefields placed on beach hexes Z through EE narrow possible landing areas and close FF and GG to landing as well, except by engineers. The single unplaced fort should deploy on the hill West of Rieux in a position to cover the seven beach hexes not yet guarded by defensive fire. There are only two hexes to choose from, so placement will depend upon your later artillery deployment.

After minefields, place two blocks on the roads leaving Rieux to delay enemy movement. Position the other four blocks where German firepower will eliminate anyone taking advantage of the porosity of a block defense. It is important to note that a block on a beach hex is essentially worthless -- the Allies would be foolish to land an amphibious tank on one, and infantry units must stop on the first beach hex anyhow.

Programmed Landing

At this point, the Allied player must program his entire landing, as well as any naval indirect fire for the first two turns. Assume that your opponent has found the weaknesses in your defense and has programmed his landing accordingly. Anticipate his landing and deploy your big guns where they will cripple his attack. Blocks and mines will channel the Allies into your line of sight; be sure you have the artillery available to finish the job. Artillery deployment is the next big step in German defense.

It is possible to divide German artillery into seven "killer packs," of 36-40 attack factors, each having a 50% chance of frying any amphibious tank before it reaches shore, and an 83% chance of sinking anything else. Amphibious tanks have only a 50% chance of survival in this scenario anyhow, so the odds favor having only two or three of the around for the Allied thrust; in fact, this has been the case in all but one game I've played.

Artillery killer packs should be carefully deployed to provide 4-1 attacks on any aphibious landing unit, as well as on any infantry unit which has already landed. Obviously, an 88mm anti-tank gun will devour anything in the water but can get only 3-1 odds on beached infantry. A nearby killer pack of howitzers can effectively adjust the odds so that a pair of 4-1's can be made.

An additional problem involves balancing these packs between forward positions defending the beach and rear positions defending interior towns. (H) class weapons should have a direct fire capability forward and an indirect fire capability into the gorge and interior forests and towns. Anti-tank guns should be in positions to stop armored units before they penetrate, or held in reserve to stop them in later turns. Too many direct fire units in Rieux will seriously hamper German punch if the Allies bypass that city and move inland. In any Omaha set up, artillery deployment is a crucially difficult task. Give yourself plenty of time to think it out.

Of the remaining units, infantry and wagons, wagons are the simpler to deploy. Sacrifice one on the single exposed fortress to drop first turn naval fire to a 2-1 attack possibility. In the event that the attack kills the fort, hope that your heavy guns were tucked away in the other two wagons just outside the fort and out of the line of sight of any ocean hex. It will take two turns to move these units inside the surviving fort and unlimber the guns, but that is much better than losing them altogether. Chances are that the Allies will waste much of their NAS on this fort because it should be their only target early in the game.

Control Points

Infantry units should control interior forests and the crossroads on board B to inhibit Allied mobility later in the game And to spot for all units. There just are not enough units to do the job well, so rear guard defense should be secondary to providing sacrificial units to the forts. Ideally, each unit should guard a forest hex, yet be one or two moves from a town hex. Such a double-duty defense becomes impossible if the German tries to defend board A. Don't worry. If the Allies want to run rampant on the southern board, let them do it as long as they wish; German orders concern only board B.

A special alternative is available if the Allied player is prone to using indirect NAS rather than direct. A few infantry counters in Rieux can sneak out on to the beach in front of Allied units and occupy the hexes necessary for a safe amphibious landing. This is a dirty trick to play on the Allies because incoming units will be automatically destroyed if German units hold their landing hexes. Should direct NAS be available on that turn, though, the Germans stand to lose more manpower than the endeavor is Worth. For an unlucky gambler, this is as effective a suicide measure as any.

Unfortunately, even the best laid plan will probably yield the Allies a single town, likely Volle or Fratelle. If the Germans hold until turn ten, though, the Allies will be hard-pressed to mount another strong city offensive. But the possibility is there and the game should remain a toss up until its close.

Second Half Strategy

After such a German set up is complete, half of his game is over. The second half, actual game strategy, falls into four easy groups:

1. KILL ALLIES first the mobility, the power of the tanks and the movement of the halftracks; second, the engineers, to eliminate close assault advantages; and third, any spotters for NAS.

2. DELAY the Allies-if you can't make a kill, divide attacks to disperse as many units as possible.

3. HOLD-do not give up a town without a bloody, prolonged battle. You'll never have the chance to retake a fallen city

4. ANTICIPATE Allied naval fire as the game progresses and move German units to best eliminate the effectiveness of indirect fire. This means you'll have to play the game at least two turns in advance, and you'll have only two chances to destroy a spotter before the roof caves in.

And finally, a word about optional and experimental rules is in order, as these rules can gravely effect the defense of Omaha Beach. To employ infantry quick-time speed, functional mobility for AFV's, artillery field-of-fire limitations, and smoke shell concentrations is to promise, in varying degrees, an Allied victory. Quick-time speed costs the German time, which the allotted fifteen turns give all 'too much of already; AFV functional mobility costs him targets, for a tank will fire and move, and remain unspotted; artillery f-o-f limitations will cost the German the game because he will not be able to attack after the first few turns-therc are only three mobile units to change the facing of heavy artillery, and before this could be accomplished, the invaders will have overrun the positional defenses; and finally, SSc use will cost the German ALL targets except those directly adjacent to his guns. The Allied player would have twelve, nine, and then eight SSC's available every turn for the entire game, and since these have a two turn duration, even a newcomer to the game could blanket the beach in smoke and land all troops unscathed.

I strongly recommend the use of opportunity fire. Since German wagons are their only mobile units, the Allies will not have much chance to use this rule. It does, however, give the Germans an extra chance at eliminating Allied armor and holding the infantry on the beach. If nothing else, it delays Allied armor by forcing it to use protected paths.

In spite of all these plans, the German units must assume that he is playing a losing - battle in defending Omaha Beach. As I stated earlier, it is possible for the Allies to land their entire force in three turns, regardless of German defenses, at the expense of approximately twelve counters, leaving three times as many to plague him for the remainder of the game. Even. if the Allies lose two-thirds of their invasion force, they can still win. The primary belligerent menaces the Germans from the sea and is impossible to destroy.

At best, German players may hope for a tactical victory. With a set up like this one and accompanying elaborate play, they should get one. Yet the scenario is not cut and dried, no matter how many times you play it. It is an exciting bloodbath that will carry on through all fifteen turns, and the victor will be he who makes the least number of errors amid ingenuous and refined operations.