After I finish painting up the Infinity figures I'm working on, I want to finish preparing for a D-Day game. My goal for the year was to
run two D-Day games, and it's getting late in the year. I grabbed some beach and water colored fabrics on my way home from work tonight and proceeded to lay it all out on the table, so to speak, and take stock of my situation. Here is what I found:
Firstly, the basic terrain. It's good enough as is. The fabric is a bit ordinary, but more effective than I thought it'd be. I have a hankering to do some nice terrain boards...but, yeah. First things first. Textured terrain boards can wait. As can bluffs-- I'd like to get the 2" thick foam insulation and a hot wire cutter and go to town, but later. Maybe. I would like to do a better sea wall-- right now, I'm just using trenches.
A breakdown of painted US Forces:
| Unit | Cost
|---|
| 29th ID HQ | 10 pts
|
| 6x 29th ID assault platoons | 780 pts
|
| DD tank platoon | 345 pts
|
| Naval gunfire support (offboard) | 200 pts
|
| General Dutch Cota | 25 pts
|
Unpainted US Forces:
| Unit | Cost
|---|
| MG platoon, two sections +2 bazookas | 130 pts
|
| Mortar platoon, three sections +3 bazookas | 165 pts
|
| Priority Air Support, P-47 | 130 pts
|
| 6x DUKW | -
|
Whoops! As usual, it seems, I haven't gotten around to company weapon platoons. I don't have boats for these fellows, either; they make have to ride in on DUKWs!
Thoughts on where to take the US from here: I'd like to have a Ranger platoon. Probably actual LCVPs for the support platoons to ride in, and an LCA for the Rangers. (I'm guessing the support platoons rode in LCVPs...anyone know for sure?)
I can always bump the points up a bit by taking them as 1st ID veterans. And I have 57mm AT guns, 75mm pack artillery (to proxy as M3 105mm light howitzer) and M2A1 105mm artillery. It just seems weird to me to have those storming the beach-- never saw that in the Longest Day!!
A breakdown of painted German Forces, as Festungkompanie from 352. ID:
| Unit | Cost
|---|
| Company HQ with Anti-tank section, panzerknacker SMG, 3x snipers | 215 pts
|
| 3x Veteran Festungs Grenadier platoons, panzerknackers | 555 pts
|
| Festungs MG platoon, panzerknacker | 105 pts
|
| Festungs IG platoon (15cm sIG33) | 145 pts
|
| Festungs ATG platoon (PaK40) | 155 pts
|
| Festungs Artillery battery (10.5cm leFH18) | 210 pts
|
| 2x Anti-tank Pillbox w/ mines, trench, wire | 290 pts
|
| 5cm KwK Nest (unpainted) w/ trench, wire | 45 pts
|
| 2x HMG Pillbox (unpainted) w/ total 1 wire | 170 pts
|
| 2x HMG Nest (unpainted) | 80 pts
|
| Anti-Tank obstacle | 100 pts
|
In addition to the unpainted bunkers, I need to magnetize my AT pillbox guns. I need to double check my trenches-- I am using those for a sea wall for now, I may not have enough for all the trenches I bought, although I do have a lot.
Thoughts on where to take the Germans from here: I think the Germans are good to go! I have just about all the bunkers I could use, and I have some Renault R-35s I could borrow a turret for to make a Tobruk or two. I feel like I should get the company mortar platoon, as well. I could use some gun pits, and I notice that I could also use a second BB104 Battlefield in a Box: Defenses. I also note this product appears to have been discontinued!!
It looks like the dinosaur is on the German's side - that's bad news for the Americans!
ReplyDeleteNice set up, I look forward to the AAR.
Andy,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty easy to glue sand to the felt if you want a sandier looking beach. I've done a few different sand features just by liberally coating with spray adhesive, packing sand onto the felt, shaking off the excess and then spraying with a matte sealer.
An easy way to dress up your ocean is to add breakers using woodlands scenics snow flock. Put this into some sort of narrow neck bottle (e.g. a condiments squeeze bottle) and sprinkle it onto the blue felt in lines to make waves of breakers. It's fast, easy and surprisingly effective. I never bother trying to glue this down and don't worry about being super precise with the lines. Some variation and spray bits of "foam" make the waves look more natural.