Designed by Eric Teng for Vae Victis Vae Victis' games combine aesthetic delight with low prices, but sometimes the games go a bit pear-shaped. This one is, I am pleased to report, a very enjoyable and accessible game with plenty to enjoy but little to tax the brains in the rules department (I can supply a translation if needed). It provides a very handy game that allows you much of the same things for which you purchased Breakout: Normandy or June 6th. The designer has set out to provide a game accessible to beginners but enjoyable to veterans. I believe he has succeeded. The situation remains, however, one in which playing the German is not the most attacking of roles. But all the games on the subject, other than Breakout: Normandy, suffer from this problem. Let's start with the usual bits. The map is very nicely prepared with clear symbology. The hexes are a wee bit small and you will need to lift the stacks up to check terrain. As eye-candy (if I may borrow Mr Berg's term) it is jolly good, and it plays pretty well. Whether the bocage is in the right place I leave to greater minds. The counters are also very pleasant (though those of you who object to bland-and-white SS counters prepare to shed a tear). Each shows one of the troops or vehicles of the unit involved. The concept of moving away from drab NATO symbols or silhouettes to full sprites is one that Vae Victis has pioneered. Here we get many types of armour (I could swear one of the Brit vehicles was a Bishop) and troops. The Germans are, as ever, smarter than the British and Americans, but you get lots of jolly details. The various nationalities have their own flags or devices so that you can tell the Free French from the Poles, Belgians or Canadians. The Corps commanders are very nicely rendering, from Sepp von Schwein, through Chester "Bat" Guano to Sir Horace Chinless-Wonder. Most units are divisions or parts of divisions (regiments, brigades and the occasional Heavy Tank battalion) but those "odd" units like British Commandos or Belgian brigades are covered by rules for "independent units". Given the complexity of the matter it is well done. The Turn sequence opens with Weather being decided. This is die roll stuff with a modifier if Clear weather has not been seen for a bit. Into August the chances of clear weather improve. As in any D-Day game (of J-Jour as we Frenchies say) weather is vital affecting landing and air-power. With good weather you should (I think) beat the historical timetable, but bad weather at a key stage could materially damage the campaign. It provides the opportunity that the Germans must take. Weather (for the Allies) and a die-roll (for the Germans) then decides how many Offensive Markers are available. These useful little chappies are placed on Corps Headquarters and permit up to five divisions, and three independent units, to move and fight in the Offensive Phase. As all units may also move and fight in the Normal Phase this gives one a double-turn. Even better for the Player with the initiative where the other player has no Offensive Markers it will give two turns in a row, you can seek to break a hole, and then exploit it. The Allies get two Offensive Markers unless the weather is "averse" (in which case they get none!). the Germans will usually average one, but clear weather will reduce this and the arrival of Panzer divisions increase it. Initiative passes to the Player with the greater number of Offensive Markers. Since the player without the Initiative may need to reinforce holes in his line he has to make a careful judgement as to which Offensive Markers he covers. Similarly the Allies (for they are usually Player One) need to consider whether they split up their Offensive Markers, leaving the German with one uncovered, or they mass them to achieve a significant rupture in the line even with a German headquarters with Offensive Marker in the area. It is a nice (as in exact) matter of judgement. These counters placed we visit the air war. The weather will give you a number of fighters and bombers. Fighters can join in ground attacks (they are equivalent to a strong battalion) or interdict movement. The latter is my favourite as it doubles movement costs (thus taking out strategic play) and can cause losses from retreating (which is otherwise bloodless). Since (see below) the Germans usually trade ground for losses clear weather is a time for maximum Allied attacking. The bombers can carpet bomb once a game (a 3:2 attack on each counter – no retreats, but a lot of cratering) but the campaign rules do not mention when (I use the rules from the breakout scenario). In addition, they can be placed on the German reinforcement track to delay reinforcements. Reinforcements are now available. Any Allied forces must be landed on the beaches or ports and this is limited by landing capacity. German forces march through a zone structure to reach the map. The rules claim that each box on this has a Maquis resistance factor of 6 or 7. I could not see one so I used 6 throughout (see below). Reinforcements are treated as activated on entry so those entering on the Offensive Phase can provide a valuable addition to Offensive Marker units. Once ashore one has the Offensive Phase where the Corps with Offensive Markers move and attack. As mentioned above the intelligent use of these markers is vital in setting up successful strategies. Combat can be very slow, and frequently consists of German's retreating, neither of which is wrong. You therefore need to attack as much as you can, aiming at one spot to stretch the enemy to breaking point. Initiative player goes first. The Normal Phase that follows also has Initiative player going first but here any units can be activated for movement and combat. Having completed this one has an Administrative Phase checking supply and replacing losses of units pulled out of line. Weather is decided depending on the turn (it gets better in the second half of the game) but with a modifier for each consecutive turn of overcast or bad weather, so clear weather will tend to break out eventually. Weather is a real key to the campaign. If you have "bad" weather you will be at a disadvantage. Losing a Mulberry, for example, for the Allies can be serious news especially where reinforcements are needed. Equally a few turns of bright sunshine will mean the Jabos can hamstring the Germans. Terrain is pretty fierce especially in the bocage and under air interdiction. Equally if its pouring down and you are in the eastern part of Normandy it can be swift. Most allied units are motorised (10 to 12 movement points) and the differential speed between both armies is very noticeable. ZOCs are very much in evidence. There is strategic movement outside EZOCs. Stacking is based on stacking points. Six of them will fill a hex (though the breakout scenario set-up has apparently not noticed this). This can be two infantry divisions or three combat commands. Whatever it is nice and clear on the counters (though see the errata below). In order to benefit from armour-infantry combination the stacks may need to be inefficient (an armoured brigade at two will bump out an entire infantry division). As befits a simple game Normandie 1944 is not overrun with command control. But if you try to operate too far from a Corps HQ you will be unsupplied, not benefit from offensives and not get ground support from corps guns. Since the HQ can mean one of two favourable command shifts they are vital. This is a neat and elegant solution to the problem. For those histo-fans though the lack of Army or Army Group leaders means certain well-known characters (for example Patton) are missing. You'll have to make your own I fear. Combat is quite flavoursome providing you accept its basic premise. It uses the loss system in which you suffer a number of losses, but can take these either as step losses or as hexes retreated. This means attackers tend to take the losses and defenders tend to retreat. This is especially the case as a multi-hex retreat is still only followed up with a single hex advance. The only times the Germans consider not retreating are: In good weather and under interdiction where a retreat has a 33% chance of inflicting a step loss as well. When holding key terrain (Caen for example) Where the attack occurred in the Offensive Phase and the German will not be able to move again before the Allied Normal Phase (this means gaps can be exploited). Since the CRT can often give a wide range of losses (at high odds it can be between one and four) combat feel can be very variable. Combat uses an odds system, each unit being rated for attack and defence. German regiments are frequently able to square up to Allied divisions. Headquarters can give column shifts but are then flipped. Terrain can influence the column, but (rivers apart) only one terrain modifier per hex, so that the bocage is like a mass of villages (which is exactly what it was). It also means attacking Caen is a lot easier once you are round the Troarn side of the river. If armour attacks infantry alone (except in the open) it will suffer a column shift, equally armour with infantry against pure infantry will get a positive shift. The exception are the British whose lack of armour infantry co-ordination, according to Mr Teng, so poor that they cannot have the advantage. US Combat Commands are considered to have integral infantry. However, before we burn him in effigy the brigades of 78th Armoured give positive column shifts. Finally, paras are less effective on their drop turn (well that's what I think it says). Supply involves a five-hex radius to a Corps HQ that can then trace to a supply source (a port or supply hex). One Allied division can be supplied by air. This works very well, and I found neatly, but it does not stop unsupplied German units from hanging on a while until bludgeoned to death (even at half strength). There are the usual Friendly Allies rules (that is the Brits and the Americans cannot help each other). This prevents mixing up units and I find the front does keep itself pretty tidy. Naval bombardment is available within a certain number of hexes of the coast, and works to give you a +1 column shift max. This is very useful on the British front. Replacements are very important. Units a sufficient distance from the enemy may receive a replacement step, but only if they did not move or fight this turn. This can make the management of such units very difficult. You have your units about to receive replacements, plus units pulling back to receive them next turn, and you still need a front line plus attacks! Allied units have infinite replacements, you just have to land them (this is a bit toppy for the Brits). Germans are limited to one motorised step a turn and two infantry steps, but their lines are terribly thin to make this sort of reserve available for replacement. Landing capacity is measured by port captured (or built in the case of Mulberries). For the first two turns the beaches provide capacity but not after then. This makes the first three or four turns vital for the Allies. If they make a mistake here their campaign is in trouble because there are a lot of German divisions coming up. Once ashore and Mulberries built Isigny is valuable followed by a hard drive to clear Cherbourg and St Vaast. Into the second half of the game things are less vital here. Cherbourg rather neatly takes longer to bring into full operation, but this handled painlessly. The Turn 0 invasion consists of landings, combat and activation by units of German close to the front. And yes 21 Panzer can attack, though the Somua on their counter is not conducive to good morale. Paradrops drift, commandos land and Funnies storm ashore. Each beach has its own intrinsic defence. Which I assumed dies with any losses. Victory tends to centre about holding certain vital towns or cities (which should help historicity, since running away as the Germans will lose you the game) and sending divisions off the map (Patton heading towards the Loire). There are three scenarios. The drive on Cherbourg is small and I have not played it. Operation Cobra permits you to play open war, but its set-up is a bit ropy. The campaign game also has some "odd" units but plays well. The general feel of this game is excellent. The first turns are very difficult with the Allies desperately trying to exploit out from the beaches facing a few good Germans and a lot of delay. The weather affecting the movement of the Germans, and the bombers and the resistance's effect on reinforcements can make a very big difference. The Germans do not often attack, but if they get a couple of panzer divisions early on they may well do so. The Brits can take one half of Caen but the one across the river is a little Stalingrad for most of the game, requiring the British to push into Troarn. I found the American breakout (when it came) occurred further south than historically. The Germans try to control a number of widely held cities so running away is not always an option, though I did wonder that they might use "bridgeheads" on the south edge of the map. Tanks do not break out spectacularly unless used in a double-phase as mentioned above. But one gets a very good feeling for how grinding the combat was. And the excellent counters are so very atmospheric. This game is, I think, for all its ease of play very elegantly positioned in terms of historical detail. It is there, its just not overlaid with baroque decoration. All the interesting Allied and German units take one back to what was a tough campaign. It remains one where the German may find life a little defensive, but he can derive a great deal of pleasure from watching the Allies banging their heads, and just occasionally he might get the Initiative. An Allied army will not want to retreat, giving the Germans the chance to inflict serious loss. I thoroughly recommend this game. Unit stuff The parachute units of the Allied army are usually 2 stacking points: making a division 6 stacking points compared to a normal infantry division. This reduces their ability to attack, but not their ability to take losses. This is not the usual use for these elite troops. US infantry divisions tend to field 15-18 or 12-15 combat factors, while British units are 10-12. I think we'll put that down to artillery. A strong US armoured division is 21-21 (in three Combat Commands) but 11th British Armoured is just two brigades (one infantry and one tank) 15-17, did these divisions usually attach another brigade of tanks? (The later American armoured divisions are much less powerful in terms of combat steps). To put that in context Panzer Lehr (in a hex splitting stack) with two regiments of infantry and one of tanks is 26-26. Given the lower level of tank numbers this looks a bit like some defence value is built into the counters, especially when one looks at some German infantry divisions at 8-10. Keegan speaks of 7th Armoured Division having 300 tanks for Villers Bocage they do not look like it on these counters. The Arrival charts and scenarios have the usual confusions. Using Keegan's Six Armies in Normandy for dates of arrival the US landings are rather anticipatory, especially their armour. Five divisions are a turn early, three two turns and one (2 Armoured Div) three turns early if our John is on the money. Perhaps his dates are those at the front (in which case the other units are wrong!). The 45th Division appears clearly incorrectly. In the realms of the Godly; Guards armoured has three brigades, but 6 Brig comes on later than the other two, and I assume the two Polish units are 1st Polish Armoured (the tank brigade does not disclose this). The British forces have five "out-of-time" two are one turn early, two one turn late. The fifth – 3rd Infantry Division has been missed out by naughty Mr Keegan. Keegan does not give armoured brigade arrival dates. The Germans have a number of three stacking point units that do not have a third combat step (2nd Panzer Division, 275, 346 and 353 Infantry Division). Setting up the Germans requires that you know you can identify SS divisions by the number of their Panzer regiment (they are referred to by initials on the counters – "H" for Hohenstaufen). There is a missing 16 Luftwaffe Feld division (though three spare paratrooper regiments) and three other spare units. The Fallshirmjäger counters are usually portrayed as motorised which seems very wrong. Even Bodentandige and Ost formations appear very strong compared to Allied formations (and not just on defence). The arrival of German formations is not worth comparing given delays by air interdiction. If I may summarise the Germans have been made overly strong on offence, but feel right on defence. The Americans appear to be anticipating matters (if Keegan is right) and the Brits have got the dirty end of the stick. [Vae Victis have corrected a number of errors in the Ia Drang issue. I have incorporated these in my translation now on web-grognards.] Back to Perfidious Albion #100 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com