Origins was held in Columbus, Ohio last year. I know Columbus isn't known for its beaches, but my friend Jim and I decided we would spend our days in Columbus having fun at the beach. The Bloody Beach, that is. For most of four days, sometimes from 9 o'clock in the morning until midnight, we could be found maneuvering our forces across the four maps of Omaha: The Bloody Beach.

Large Map (slow: 105K)

We arrived in Columbus on the evening of July 3rd, expecting to check into our hotel room and get some rest before heading to the convention the next day. Since we had a few hours to waste, we decided to head down to the convention area and do an advance recon. Lo and behold, we found the gaming areas already open. So we decided to go ahead and set up Omaha and start plugging away.

Jim took the Germans. After talking to Perry Andrus earlier on the net, we decided to take his advice and play the Panzer Lehr option scenario. Jim was looking forward to smashing my invasion with the increased firepower he would receive from this powerful unit. We agreed that I would use the historical landing and he would use the historical pillbox locations. This greatly speeded up the game setup.

[Ed note: Ron was being quite generous here. This historical landing has two companies of Shermans landing with their DD gear, which means just about two companies of tanks the Germans won't have to bother destroying. Also, the Lehr option gives the Germans a chance to deploy some good tanks and some really nasty infantry. I endorse using the Lehr option and heartily agree with Ron and Jim's approach to setting up this scenario. Pre-game preparation for both sides in Omaha is an involved process. If you want to devise your own landing plan or (for the Germans) reinforcement Op Sheets, do so at home and show up for the game ready to play.]

Special Rules for a "Modern" Omaha

Let me explain some of the rules we were using. The TCS system has come a long way since Omaha was published, so some adjustments had to be made to bring the game rules up to date. We basically used the refit by Dave Powell that I had just received the preceding week in Operations 21. The one change I felt we had to make was to decrease the pillbox (PB) defense from 6 to 5. With a defense strength of 6, the PBs are invulnerable to Sherman tank fire. I just couldn't see the Shermans not having any chance of knocking out a PB. If they have a defense of 5, the Shermans must still close to within 5 hexes to have a chance of knocking out a PB [with an SFA]. In the end it didn't matter, because all my first-wave Shermans were destroyed by the end of the second turn and didn't knock out any PBs.

Other rules we used were:

PBs fire overwatch with their AT gun or MG, not both. The combined firepower is pretty devastating against the infantry moving on the beach, and I don't think the Germans would waste all their AT gun ammo against soft targets. [Ed. note: yes, game rule 3.5 says that the 88mm PB guns had plenty of HE, but like Ron you have to evaluate the effectiveness of these units in the context of the TCS 3.1 Area Fire Table and rules for overwatch.]

No bombing the German artillery. These units are in battalion counters so the German doesn't have a chance to disperse them. So I just agreed not to bomb them.

American artillery lands with five shots per gun. In the assault landings, most of the American artillery is sunk on the way in, so the guns end up shooting individual direct fires. Battery fire ammo allotments don't work well when you fire the guns individually. According to the rules, the guns would only get one shot. Instead, I just kept track of the ammo on an individual gun basis for the assault landings and gave them five shots each.

The German TRPs disappear at 1300. We actually agreed to this when we came to the 1300 game turn. By that time the German didn't have direct observation on most of the beach, and the American artillery started landing in transport waves. These units land in battalion counters. As with the German artillery, the American has no chance to disperse them. With the TRPs, the German could target them even though he couldn't see them. So we did away with the TRPs at 1300.

The German cannot adjust his artillery using the TRPs more than 10 hexes from the shingle. Think about it.

Using a TRP, the German could hypothetically target a unit 30 hexes inland from the beach, even though he had no friendly unit within miles of the target. He would simply adjust on the "7 hexes or more" table. This was not the intent of the TRP rule [Ed: see Ops 21], so we added this 10-hex limitation.

American tanks and infantry cannot be on the same Op Sheet. Lee Forester, a TCS designer and playtester, suggested this rule. Because of the coordination problems the Americans had at this point of the war, their infantry and armor did not operate as combined arms teams. Sounded reasonable to us, so we incorporated this rule. [Ed. note: For the history behind this rule, see "Learning the Hard Way" in Ops 1.]

German reinforcements draw their Op Sheets the turn they arrive, and then must implement them normally. We felt the German reinforcements would be rushed to the area before they had time to make detailed preparations, so we gave them two free movement turns to get on the map; then they were unassigned until they could implement Op Sheets.

[Ed. note: Some of you may remember this tip from my "Sand, Surf, and Survival" in Ops 8: draw up pre-game Op Sheets for all possible German reinforcements and give them objectives that the victory conditions and your own experience with the game suggest will make good targets. You could, say, order the 901 PzG to retake and hold a village within 25 hexes of the shingle (perhaps St. Laurent sur Mer), or order the 130 Pz to break through near some shingle breach and rove up and down the beach. Then chances are that, if you are lucky enough to roll the Lehr reinforcements, they can spring immediately into an effective mission. Ron and Jim's rule here uses a historical simulation rationale to do away with what is, admittedly, a gamey trick.]

Infantry guns can fire overwatch at vehicles only out to a range of 8 hexes. This rule was also suggested by Lee. It didn't have a big effect on our game, but it is a reasonable rule. Infantry guns don't have the sights of muzzle velocity to engage moving vehicles accurately at long range. The big 150mm infantry guns ahistorically become effective tank killers if you don't use this rule.

AT guns that are dug in or in partly protective or protective terrain can only be engaged with area fires, unless you are returning overwatch fire at them. The reason for this rule is that tanks can easily pick off AT guns with point fires before the AT guns get a chance to shoot.

Historically, the tanks usually didn't see the AT guns until they were fired upon by the guns. Using this rule, the AT guns at least get to fire before they get blasted.

Only infantry units (platoons, sections) and tanks (SP guns and tank destroyers included) can spot for artillery or mortars. A tactic I used was to advance my machinegun sections and use them to spot for artillery and mortars. This turned them into scouts--not how they were historically used--so after we finished the game, we decided this is a good rule to use in the future. I believe Lee also uses this rule.

Wow! that's a lot of special rules. Some of them can be used in all the TCS games. I think Lee is compiling a list of optional rules such as these which will be published in Ops to make them "semi-official." Until then, these are my house rules.

Invasion: They're Coming!

Getting back to the game, Jim set up his PBs and placed his reserve company in Colleville sur Mer. The two battalions from the 916 Rgt and the flak guns set up back on maps C and D but had to wait to be released.

My rocket fires were able to pick off three PBs right off the bat. Four of the DD tanks made it to shore. Unfortunately, one of the LCTs was sunk on the way in, so I had a total of 16 tanks make it in the first wave. The infantry companies made their scattered landings on the beach, with one company of the 116 RCT landing off-map on Dog Red 2. As the tanks advanced to the shingle, Jim's AT guns opened up and started picking them off. Only 3 or 4 made it to the shingle. Then the infantry moved up and the German machineguns started cutting them down. Overall the infantry didn't fare too badly, but now that they were at the shingle, all they could do was hunker down and test the wire in a few places.

Jim was lucky enough to release the entire 352 Panzerjager Bn on his first turn. The only problem was that it was too early to determine where it could best be used. He drove them into St. Honorine des Pertes and began working on implementing a hasty defense Op Sheet.

The next turn, Jim's artillery started opening up, and the AT guns picked off my remaining tanks. He was lucky again and released a company of panzergrenadiers from 901/Lehr. They advanced to Huppain and awaited Op Sheet implementation. The one bright spot form me was an intact platoon which found a hole in the wire and successfully advanced into the German field works in a spot where the PB had been destroyed by my rockets. I was elated to have a platoon in the works so soon. My elation was short lived. Next turn the platoon was wiped out by artillery and mortars.

At 0740 the next wave came in and the real fighting started. With the AT guns just landed, I was able to start destroying PBs. My 75s were able to pick off a couple, creating an open area in front of des Bateaux. The one 105mm howitzer that made it ashore was bale to pick off 2 PBs before it ran out of ammo. My A-20s bombed Jim's mortars, which brought some relief to my troops hunkered behind the shingle. But his artillery kept blasting away, destroying platoons and restricting my movement. Tentative advances were started into the works near des Bateaux.

Over the next few turns, Jim's artillery continued to blast away, while my AT guns traded shots with his PBs. A few more PBs were destroyed, and a gap opened near the road that runs from Cabourg 2 down to the beach. After a while, Jim started running low on artillery ammo. Around 1000, he had to curtail his fire, so I was able to advance inland. The gap near the road proved fortuitous, because my infantry could advance quickly up the road, and Jim didn't have a TRP close enough to land accurate artillery fire to slow them down. By this time my destroyer fire opened up. Don't place too much faith in your destroyer fire because it isn't very accurate and doesn't have a good chance of destroying a PB. I recall destroying only two PBs the whole game with destroyer fire.

Between 1000 and 1300, when my leaders went away, I was able to advance the remnants of the 16 and 116 RCTs and the still-strong 115 RCT into Cabourg 2 and the west edge of le Grand Hameau. Jim's reserve company was forced out of Colleville sur Mer by elements of 2/18 and 1/115 in a sharp action. To give an idea of the strength remaining in some of my units, 3/16 had a total of 6 steps remaining out of the 66 they started with. The entire 116 RCT had only about 12 steps remaining. The 115 RCT was still in fighting shape. The 1/18 and 3/18 were landing unopposed, but needed to implement Op Sheets before they could move out. In the meantime, Jim had released another company of panzergrenadiers, most of the 916 Rgt, and three more batteries of artillery. I had been trying to wear down the 352 PJ by bombing it, but had destroyed only three StuGs.

Turning Point

The 1300 turn was a turn of great anxiety for me. My troops had a good lodgment, but they were now unassigned with the leaders gone. I was worried about a counterattack that would push them back to the beach before they could implement orders. Before my leaders left, I was able to get my troops organized to where 1/115 and 2/18 were in Colleville sur Mer, 2/115 was in Cabourg 2, remnants of 1/16 and 2/16 were in the woods and hedgerows south of the road between Cabourg 2 and le Grand Hameau, and 3/115 and the remnants of 116 RCT were in the west end of le Gran Hameau.

Jim had the 352 PJ and two companies of the 916 Rgt contesting the rest of le Grand Hameau, and I was worried these troops, reinforced by the panzergrenadiers, would push west to drive towards Cabourg 2. Lady luck was with me. When I started rolling to implement orders at 1300, only on battalion successfully implemented a hasty defense order, but this was 3/115, who were eye to eye with 352 PJ.

Jim kicked off his counterattack at 1300 with the panzerjagers supported by infantry. I had three AT guns in le Grand Hameau with 3/115, but the AT guns were unassigned; they could only fire overwatch. Three more AT guns, assigned to 3/115, were moving up and would reach le Gran Hameau next turn. Jim's counterattack turned out to be very tentative. He advanced and did some damage to 3/115. But when I wiped out a couple of his infantry platoons with direct fires and mortars and picked off a few StuGs and Marders with AT rolls, AT gunfire, artillery fire, and bombing, he became very cautious. He didn't press the attack, and waited for his panzergrenadiers to come up.

When my A-20s destroyed a platoon of panzergrenadiers moving up to support the attack, he called it quits and pulled back, conceding le Grand Hameau to 3/115. I hate to have to criticize my good friend and playing partner, but if Jim only knew how worried I was and pressed his attack, he might have won the game right there. As it was, a few casualties put him completely on the defensive. From then on, I never worried about being pushed into the sea.

Jim spread his troops out on a line roughly Formingny--Surrain--Le Frense--Le Mont Cauvin and dug in. He tried to defend everything, and therefore was weak everywhere. If only he had read Lee's articles on maneuver warfare, he might have realized that the German strength was in the 3 Command Prep Rating. He could have build a powerful kampfgruppe with 352 PJ and 901/Lehr and hit me where I was weakest. I couldn't react because of my 8 Prep Rating.

As it was, 18 RCT implemented orders one battalion at a time and moved into St. Laurent sur Mer unopposed. This prevented a victory level shift against me per Dave's refit rule. Jim remained on the defensive as my troops piled ashore. My tanks came in, but were stuck on the beach until I cleared some lanes in the shingle and implemented orders.

Lull

A lull settled on the battlefield until 1/18 implemented orders at about 1900 to attack Formingny. They moved south in a dispersed formation. Their attack was opposed by two companies of dug-in Ersatz troops and the 352 PJ, which motored all the way from StŽ. Honorine des Pertes to take part in the battle. By this time I had plenty of artillery support. 1/18 drove the Germans from Formingny in a successful daylight attack, giving more casualties than they received. 352 PJ was reduced to a shell of its former self. Only 9 or 10 armored vehicles remained, and the 37mm flak guns had been wiped out.

Some details of the attack on Formigny bear telling to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the American and German units and to show how the fortunes of war can swing 180 degrees with the roll of some dice.

1/18 was almost fresh when it began its attack. The battalion had taken only a few step losses from infantry platoons on its trip from the beach to St. Laurent sur Mer. The American infantry platoons do not have much firepower themselves. But they are fairly resilient, having decent morale. The Americans' strength, at least by this time in the battle, is in their abundant and accurate artillery, and in their mortars. The infantry was mainly used to act as spotter for supporting arms.

With the remaining 4.2 inch mortars in support, 1/18 was able to mass 30 fire points from 60mm mortars. This is enough firepower to give any German infantry a good reason to run away. In addition, they had five batteries of 155mm guns and one battery of 105mm guns in support. Add in a sortie or two from the A-20s, and even German armor is in trouble. The Germans were dug in, but this usually only gives them a one-column shift advantage [e.g. in Partly Protective and Protective terrain].

Being dug in, they were hesitant to maneuver. Using smoke to cover the advance, 1/18 moved into spotting positions where only a few German units could see them. The German artillery and mortars replied, but they were not as accurate or abundant as the American artillery and mortars. Though the German platoons have good firepower, they never got close enough to use their firepower to advantage. The few German units who could observe were wiped out or run off by mortar and artillery fire. Then, 1/18 moved to new positions to spot the next few German units. In this way, the German units were picked off, a few at a time. Using these attrition tactics, I was able to reduce Jim's forces significantly, while taking only moderate casualties from artillery fire myself.

Turning Point

In the turning point for the battle of Formingny, 1/18 used artillery to silence 352 PJ's 37mm flak guns. These guns were dug in on the outskirts of the town, in two adjacent hexes, three guns to a hex, with supporting infantry. With a good field of fire to the north, the guns had chewed up some infantry advancing against them. A platoon from C/1/18 maneuvered to a position in the woods where it did not have a direct line of sight to the guns, but could see the hex in front of them.

Next turn, a battalion of 155s was called in on the hex. It was a Good Shoot, and both hexes of flak guns were in the attack zone. [Ed. note: Yes, this is legal. The trade-off for battery-sized fires is that your firepower against the occupied hex(es) will never be better than x 0.5, even on a Good Shoot, because of how the scatter and attack zone rules work. With a battalion mission like Ron's, a Good Shoot still hits the occupied hex with full firepower.] The combat resolution was nothing spectacular. I think each hex took a few hits, Jim allocating them into the infantry units. The morale results were a different matter. Usually you dread seeing your opponent roll boxcars, because that means you are going to take a lot of hits. But when he rolls them on the Morale Table, it's just the opposite. On the first hex, Jim rolled a 66, the infantry SYRed, and the flak guns were abandoned. Three guns gone. All I could say was, "That's the fortunes of war."

At the End of the Longest Day

Needless to say, by this time Jim was totally demoralized. He played on, being the trooper he is, but the writing was on the wall. 3/18 implemented orders to attack Surrain, engaging German infantry on the way there at Le Carrel. Tanks were moving off the beach, preparing to attack towards Bellefontaine and establish a birdgehead over the L'Aure Inferieure River. The 26 RCT was moving off the beach into St. Honorine des Pertes, which was hastily abandoned by the panzergrenadiers of 901/Lehr. The time was 2200.

Unfortunately, our real time at Origins was up. We had played for about 34 hours over four and a half days to finish 15 hours of game time. Do I need to say I had a great time? In addition to playing this monster game, I had the opportunity to exchange ideas and suggestions with principals such as Lee, Perry, Dean, and all the Daves. Quite a few folks came by to ask questions about the game and the TCS in general.

Some wanted to know where they could get the game. I told them it was out of print, but referred them to other fine Gamers products. Hopefully, I steered some business Dean's way. [Ed. note: What a guy!] The only gripe I have is that all the "What's the scale?" questions became annoying. Next time I'll know to post a sign giving some info on the game so people don't repeat the same questions over and over.

My thanks to the principals mentioned above for answering all my questions about the system, and to Jim for a great game. Dean, I hereby request membership in the prestigious Omaha Beach Club. I think I've earned it.

[Ed. note: You're in, Marine. I have to recompile the Omaha Beach Club list, so if any of you qualify, please notify me. The criteria: play the Americans in a full game until at least the end of the 1200 hours game turn on 6 June and don't get kicked back into the surf. The battle narrative is optional.]