This is a two game campaign that uses both the Bolt Action and Flames of War rules to play. In my last post I briefly described the historical context for this campaign. The first game represents the American Paratroopers ambushing a unsuspecting column of German troops as they advance near Graignes sometime around 9/10th June 1944. The second game represents the main battle for Graignes on the 11th June when the Americans were left with the only one option – a strategic withdrawal from Graignes.

 

Game 1 – Ambush (Bolt Action)
The scenario for the game is based on Warlord Games’ Jungle Road Ambush! and uses the same rules. The American player is the ambushing force (aka the Japanese force in the original scenario description) and the Germans are moving along the road (like the british in the original scenario). The game may be played at any points level the players decide (though 500-600 points seems about right), with the American player choosing forces from either the generic US list in the main Bolt Action rulebook or from the 1944 – Normandy list in the Armies of the United States. The US army should only contain infantry squads and teams (e.g. PIR squads, MMG teams, Bazooka teams, Mortar teams etc.). The German player should choose a mixed Regular and Veteran force (representing the mixed experience of the platoons in the 17th SS Panzergrenadiers) from either the generic Germany list or from the 1944 – Normandy in Armies of Germany. The German force should also contain a transport vehicle (or two), either a truck or halftrack.

The terrain should be a mixture of wooded and areas and open fields surrounded by hedges and walls. There may also be one or two buildings, representing nearby farm buildings. The roadblock could either be a bit of destroyed road or a demolished bridge over a narrow stream.

Game 2 – Fighting Withdrawal (Flames of War)

The scenario for this game is the standard Fighting Withdrawal scenario. If the Germans won the Game 1 the American player (who is the Defender in this scenario) does not get an ambush. If the American player won Game 1 they may add up to three ‘Bazooka Trap teams’ to their company HQ for +25 points per team. These teams follow the Panzerfaust Ambush, Well Hidden and Fanatical Faust-men rules on P.65 of the Bridge at Remagen (replacing references to Panzerfaust Trap teams with Bazooka Trap teams). The following 1400 point army chosen from the Parachute Infantry Company list (P.180) in Overlord, or something quite similar, should be used to represent the American force –

 

This roughly represents the fighting force that had gathered in Graignes.

The German player should choose an appropriate 1500 point force from the Gepanzerte SS-Panzergrenadierkompaie list (P.188) or SS-Panzergrenadierkompaie list (P.196) from Atlantik wall. The Germans have a slight points advantage representing their superior numbers. The army should contain an Heavy SS Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon to represent the 88s and should be mostly made up of Panzergrenadier platoons (and maybe an understrength SS-Assault Gun Platoon).

The American player should be defending the outskirts and edge of the village with the German player approaching from farmland with at least one road leading to the village.

The winner of Game 2 wins the campaign, though that’s not really the point of playing these games. It’s mostly about gaining some small insight into the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers (from both sides) and civilians who were involved in this battle.

Until next time,

Owen