The Strategic Corporal

Late June, 1944. British SOE has identified one SS-Oberführer Ebbe Deitrich as an individual possessing vital intelligence needed for the continuation of the war effort in France. Local French resistance groups have reported seeing Oberführer Deitrich and his entourage taking shelter in a small bombed out hamlet, some distance behind the allied lines. Members of No. 10 Commando, who had been inserted behind enemy lines before the invasion, are tasked with infiltrating the ad-hoc SS command post and, if possible, capturing Oberführer Deitrich alive for interrogation.

The Men

The four-man Commando team selected for this mission comprises of Captain Macy (Welrod silenced pistol), Sergeant Barlow (De Lisle silenced carbine), and Corporals Dunnegan and Feron (Silenced Sten).

The Mission

The Commandos begin their infiltration from the east. Their basic plan is to split their forces into two and approach the house where Oberführer Deitrich is believed to be from two different directions. If they can reach the house undetected, they stand the best chance at capturing Deitrich alive by attacking from two directions at once. The men have observed some sentry activity but will not know the exact extent of the opposition they face.

Ed. note: because I am playing this scenario solo, from only one side, I wanted to add as much fog of war as I could. Before starting, I designated several areas enemy sentries could possibly be, marked with question marks on the map. Once line of sight was established with one of these “blanks,” I rolled on a table to determine who the enemy was, what direction he was facing, and if he was moving or stationary.

Captain Macy moves up along the north, peeking around a corner and gaining LOS to a sentry. As the sentry is not facing him, Captain Macy signals for Corporal Dunnegan to move forward. Macy attempts to neutralize the sentry with his silenced Welrod pistol, but misses the shot.

Ed. note: I goofed on the rules at this point. After Captain Macy fired he should have received a noise marker, which would have caused the SS sentry to investigate. I was able to ret-con this mistake in later, however, with one of the special “infiltrator” abilities which you will see showcased later on in the mission.

Sergeant Barlow and Corporal Feron move in to the south. During the patrol phase, several SS sentries begin to roam…

The next infiltration phase, the action stays with Barlow and Feron. Barlow moves in silently through one of the bombed out farm buildings, while Feron dashes along the outside wall. This causes a noise marker to be placed on Feron, which draws a sentry toward the noise, and directly into the sights of Barlow’s De Lisle carbine. Barlow lines up the shot, and drops the sentry with a single tringle pull. One SS scumbag down.

A noise marker is placed on Barlow which would have drawn the attention of the other sentry, but Captain Macy is able to use the “Deception” infiltration ability so that the sentry is prohibited from moving during the patrol phase. With that taken care of, Corporals Dunnegan and Feron move forward, and make LOS to another potential sentry “blank.” Corporal Feron rolls on the sentry table, and the original sentry marker is removed and instead replaced with two potential enemies.

During the next patrol phase, one of the possible enemy contacts roves to the outside of the building and reveals himself. Corporal Feron attempts to take him out with his Sten gun but misses. Sergeant Barlow drops him instead with another well aimed shot from the De Lisle. Again this causes noise, and with Captain Macy having already moved, draws enemy attention. The SS sentry begins investigating, and ends the patrol phase directly behind Barlow, with only a wall separating the two!

During the next infiltration phase, the rest of the team moves into position surrounding the target house. Sergeant Barlow, with a sentry being so close to him, must make a decisive action. He decides to round the corner of the wall, firing his De Lisle point blank at the sentry… and misses.

Alarm!

Things begin happening rather quickly. The sentry facing Barlow dives at the commando, attempting to take him down in hand-to-hand combat. The surprise of the encounter must have shaken him however, as the brawl end in a draw and Barlow retreats further into the farmhouse. An SS sentry steps out of the target building and fires at Corporal Dunnegan causing him to retreat to safety. Corporal Feron responds with a long burst from his Sten, and the sentry bails off table!

Before Oberführer Deitrich has the chance to fully respond, Captain Macy rushes inside the house and engages in hand-to-hand combat, attempting to wrestle SS leader to the ground. An unarmed SS radio operator joins the melee but is beaten back. Oberführer Deitrich is captured! SS reinforcements are beginning to arrive, however, so it is time to boogie.

Macy and Dunnegan begin withdrawing back to allied side of the table. An SS sentry attempts to rush Sergeant Barlow again, but this time is cut down by the De Lisle. Feron lets loose another burst from his Sten and sends an SS scumbag scurrying back.

The following turn, arriving SS reinforcements are able to get a flanking position on Feron, who does not survive the resulting fire. Barlow responds with the De Lisle, which once again drops its enemy.

The rest of the team is able to withdraw safely. Mission accomplished, but with the loss of a good man.

Enemy casualties: 1 captured, 4 KIA
Friendly casualties: 1 KIA (Corporal Feron). His sacrifice will not be in vain, as intelligence gathered from Oberführer Deitrich should further the Allied war effort and save Allied lives.

The game played is FiveCore from Nordic Weasel Games.
The VTT used is Owlbear Rodeo.
The map is by 2-Minute Tabletop.
The tokens are by Historical Battlefields.
Dice were rolled by me, John Mayes.

For Christmas this year my sister and bro-in-law picked me up a set of Italeri 1/72 US Paratroopers. Life being the way it is, I've only just got around to painting them up.

The start of the project - first figure off the sprue.

I started with a thin base of grey primer. As you can see this brings the details on the figure out quite nicely. I have been pretty happy with Italeri's casting quality so far.

A pathfinder.

I also picked up a few 20mm metals, pictured here in the foreground, to go along with my plastics. The figures are from CP Models / TQD Castings, and I am quite happy with them. The proportions on the figures match the Italeri 1/72 nicely, and, because of the kinds of bases they came with, would end sitting at the right height off the table with the other figures as well.

CP Models starting to get painted up.

Also pictured is the color choice I made for mid-'44 Airborne uniform color. I did not have anything that matched well, so I decided to mix 2 parts Vallejo Khaki with 1 part Vallejo German Field Grey to try and approximate the color. As you will see I ultimately regretted this decision, but live and learn.

Progress being made on the CP Models. The detail on these is great!

Once I got all my base coats down, I gave the figures a healthy application of Army Painter Strong Tone. The wash leaves quite a bright sheen, but an application of Vallejo Matte Varnish will flatten the figures back down nicely.

A figure pre matte varnish.

I based the plastics on pennies, and kept the 20mm metals on the bases they came with. I find that pennies are a good size for basing 1/72 plastic figures. The weight of the penny also gives the figures a good heft, and helps to stabilize them on the gaming table.

Once the figures were attached to their bases, it was time to start adding ground texture and flock. A simple but effective basing method I have been using is wood filler as a base for dirt, then very watered down dark brown paint. Because the paint is so watered down, the wood filler absorbs it well gives the dirt a nice saturated yet varied color. Then I dry brush on some lighter shades of brown.

The Situation

France, late June 1944. Early in the morning, Lieutenant Anderson personally leads a four-man American scout team, seeking possible safe passage through the dense hedgerow country the Americans have been fighting in for weeks. Only one of the scouts returns, badly wounded. A second team is dispatched to retrieve the fallen and potentially save any who may still be alive. Lt. Anderson is well liked and losing him would be a serious blow to the men’s morale. The Germans, meanwhile, continue to lie in wait…

The Team

The task of retrieving Lt. Anderson and the wounded scouts has fallen to Sgt. Buck, who has been friends with Anderson since Sicily. He chooses four men to accompany him on the rescue: Privates Roman, Cline, and Roth, all riflemen, and Corporal Branson, a bear of a man who can handle the BAR like it was a child’s toy.

The Mission

As the Americans approach the ambush site, Buck divides his team in two. Riflemen Cline and Roth go with the BAR on the left flank, approaching the suspected machine gun nest from the cover of a hedge row. Buck takes Pvt. Roman and advances along the field, staying close to the protection of a low stone wall.

Danger lurking just beyond the hedgerow.

The German machine gun team spots the approaching Americans and opens fire, causing Buck and Roman to dive for cover behind the wall. Crouching low, they are out of sight for now.

The German squad leader takes this opportunity to dash across the road into a flanking position where he will have a clear line of sight to the enemy.

Roman sees the silhouette of the German squad leader’s helmet peeking over the stone wall, draws a quick bead, and fires. He rolls double ones, and the squad leader goes down!

The German machine gun nest retaliates by firing another long burst into the field, causing Roman to flinch and dive back into cover. The German squad leader, meanwhile, miraculously recovers: Roman’s round had only grazed the top of his helmet, briefly knocking him down.

The German squad leader once again peeks over the low wall to fire on the Americans, but Sgt. Buck has his grease gun trained on the position. A steady -thump-thump-thump- emanates from the gun, and heavy .45 caliber slugs smash all around the German squad leader. The German panics, and gives up his position!

Thinking twice about that grease gun.

The Americans roll a “scurry” for their next turn, which allows them to reposition without fear of reaction fire. Buck and Roman move within arms reach of the first downed scout, but cannot yet leave cover for fear of MG42 fire.

So close. Hang on brother!

The BAR team, meanwhile, has managed to clear the hedge and enter a small grove of trees, looking for a position to provide a good base of fire.

The following German turn does not see much action, but the German squad leader manages to regain his nerves and prepares to get back into the fight.

Buck throws a smoke grenade over the wall in an attempt to provide some concealment against the German machine gun. The grenade bounces slightly and pops. The resulting smoke screen just manages to obscure the LOS from the machine gun to the first downed scout.

Roman moves forward under its cover and checks his downed comrade – walking wounded. Under the protection of smoke, the wounded scout begins making his way to safety.

The smoke clears the next turn however, once again leaving Roman exposed to machinegun fire. MG42 rounds rip through the air, and Roman panics, hunkering down next to the low wall.

On the American turn, the BAR team finally moves into position to provide support by fire. The MG42, being otherwise engaged, does not notice the impending threat. The loader has keener eyes and takes a pot shot at Pvt. Cline as he emerges from the brush, causing him to flinch. Branson opens up with the BAR and looses a long burst into the machinegun nest – the MG42 goes down, and the loader flinches!

The following German turn, the machinegun team manages to recover and return fire against the Americans. Pvt. Roth has a rapid change of heart and flees backward toward the hedgerow, while Branson and the BAR dive for cover

Attacking MG42s is not for the faint of heart.

With the BAR team hunkered down, the action returns to Buck and Roman in the field, still crouching behind the low wall and desperately trying to reach their downed comrades. Buck is in position to see where Lt. Anderson lies fallen – the furthest from cover, Anderson must have been leading from the front, as usual. Buck throws his last smoke grenade in front of Lt. Anderson, but the wind picks up and the smoke dissipates to quickly to be of any use. The German squad leader has since managed to regain he bearings and rejoin the fight. He hurls a grenade at Buck – the grenade bounces harmlessly away, but lands right next to Roman! The grenade explodes, instantly killing him. The Americans have suffered their first casualty. Buck returns fire, but only causes the German squad leader to duck back behind cover.

Branson, meanwhile, has managed to get his BAR back into position, and begins to once again lay down fire on the German machinegun nest. The volume of fire is to much for the MG42 gunner, who panics and flees off table!

Without covering fire from the MG42, the German squad leader is now dangerously exposed on his right flank.

Sensing the desperation of the moment, he decides to charge forward and engages Buck in hand-to-hand combat. This catches Buck by surprise, and it costs him his life. Two American lives have now been lost in an attempt to save three.

The BAR team, seeing their beloved sergeant go down, respond with a bayonet charge of their own. Screaming and hurling grenades, they charge the lone German occupant of the machine gun nest.

One grenade lands true, and the German rifleman is downed in the resulting blast.

The German squad leader has lost all of his support, and decides that discretion is the better part of battle. He flees off table, living to fight another day.

The surviving GIs gather around their beloved Lieutenant and check his condition: the dice have fallen, and so has Lt. Anderson. The battle may be won, but to the men, it feels like a hollow victory.

One more day in Normandy.

Thank you for reading this battle report, I hope you enjoyed it. The game was played using "FiveCore" by Nordic Weasel Games, a fun little set of skirmish rules that generates strong narratives such as this one. FiveCore may be found at Wargame Vault. NWG may be found at their blog.

This holiday season saw our family gather and saw games played! This is an AAR of a game of Five Men in Normandy, played Christmas Eve between myself and my brother-in-law. Enjoy!

Set Up

Early Hours June 6, 1944. A small group of Americans encounter the German garrison of a small hamlet, somewhere along the road to Colleville. The American objective is to push the German's out of the area. The German objective is to render at least half the attacking forces combat ineffective.

Inching Forward

As the attackers, the Americans have the initiative. The Americans split their forces up into two sections. The Lieutenant, armed with a Thompson submachinegun, takes the light machine gun team and two of his riflemen and pushes forward along the road. The remaining four rifleman advance through a few fallow fields and stop short of some hedgerows. The American LMG team begins laying down suppressing fire, causing one of the German MG42 teams to “Bail” and seek cover further away from the threat.

The American’s suffer an early setback, however, when a German rifleman lines up a clean shot on the American .30 cal and rolls a “six” on his kill die, destroying the machine gun team outright. The Americans have lost their only heavy weapon. It will be up to the remaining riflemen to go it alone.

The German MG42s, meanwhile, have been able to reposition and do a good job repulsing the GIs along the road, rolling many “flinch” and “bail” results on their shock die. This keeps the GI’s heads down and forces them to seek cover, slowing their advance. One GI is hit and goes down, but later recovers.

Along the hedgerow, the Americans manage to cross without incident. However, the German’s roll a “scurry” during their next turn, which allows them to reposition without fear of reaction fire. One MP40 submachinegunner and one rifleman push forward aggressively, denying easy access to a grove of trees which would provide a good base of fire for the GIs.

The German MP40 gunner steps out of the cover of the trees to fire on the exposed GIs, but is hit by guard fire. His buddy rushes to his aid. Making base contact with a friendly allows the downed figure to roll for recovery – the MP40 gunner recovers, and the two men move back into the cover of the trees.

Death in the Tree-Grove

Recognizing the importance of capturing the tree grove, the Americans rush forward. Snap fire from the German submachinegun puts one GI down, but another two make it into the grove and a fierce series of Brawls ensues. Twice the GI’s enter hand to hand combat, and twice they are repulsed! The German defenders roll a tie in each Brawl, and the Americans are forced to move back. Emboldened by their success in repulsing the enemy, the Germans initiate a counterattack. This time, however, the dice do not roll in their favor. The submachinegunner looses his edge and gets the edge of an American fighting knife instead. The rifleman is hit with snap fire and goes down – he is not outright killed, but without the ability to roll for recovery before the American turn, and with no one to provide him with guard fire, he is left dangerously exposed. The following American turn sees the GIs move in for the kill.

The tree grove is lost to the Germans and the GIs continue their steady advance.

Fix, Flank, Finish

For the time being, the focus of action returns to the American section advancing up the road. Despite the heavy machine gun fire, the American leader manages to rally his men. Disregarding his own safety, the Lieutenant personally leads a bold flanking maneuver and manages to get into position behind one of the German MG42s. This forces the German MG to relocate. The MG team sets up,

draws a bead on the American Lieutenant,

and fires. The Lieutenant, however, has nerves of steel. He weathers the machine gun fire and responds with his Thompson, causing the German MG team to bail! With no other cover to flee to, the MG team instead flees off the table.

Grenades: enemy of many and friend of none.

The Americans are now in position to assault the farmhouse. In an attempt to soften their target, each GI within throwing distance hurls a grenade. The grenades mostly bounce away harmlessly, and cause no casualties – however, one grenade lands close enough to the last German MG team to cause the team to flinch and duck behind cover. This gives the GIs the chance to rush forward and get into position along the low wall next to the farmhouse, without fear of reaction fire from the MG42.

The Germans respond by throwing grenades of their own. The rifleman inside the farm house throws a grenade from the window – two Americans are killed in the resulting explosion.

The MG42 gunner attempts to toss a grenade at the Americans hunkering behind the low wall, but the grenade clips the top of the wall and bounces directly back at him and his assistant gunner! Neither of them survive.

The rifleman inside the farmhouse is now the last surviving German defender. He fights bravely as the GIs close in on him, but he has little chance of holding the house. Surrounded on all sides, the rifleman is shot down.

The game ends in an American victory, and a hard fought victory at that!

Hope you enjoyed this little AAR, we certainly enjoyed playing it.

6 June 1944, a few miles inland of Gold Beach. Elements of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8^th Armoured Brigade are pushing into France. Corporal Curtis of HQ Squadron, Recce Troop is leading a reconnaissance patrol on foot, looking for a suitable place for the Ranger’s armor to cross the river Seulles. Although stiff in places, German resistance is mostly disorganized. A few men of 352. Infanterie-Division have been tasked with slowing the British advance, fighting a delaying action to give the rest of the division time to reorganize and stage a counterattack.

Advancing through the think brush, Corporal Curtis spots a low, stone bridge, still intact. Resistance seems to be light, and Curtis, seizing the initiative, decides to push forward without armor support.

Feldwebel Steiner, meanwhile, is having a bad day. Steiner was recently wounded on the eastern front, and was supposed to be using Normandy as a place to rest and recuperate. Now, Steiner finds himself in command of a small group of fresh recruits, desperately trying to hold off the Allied onslaught...

Hello! This will be my first playthrough of Five Men in Normandy. I finished painting my first set of miniatures (here,) but do not quite have enough terrain built to run a game just yet. However, I really wanted to get my hands on the game and see how it plays. So, for this first AAR, I decided to go electronic. If you are new to "Five Men" like I am, here is a few quick rules explanations, shamelessly stolen from this blog post: At the beginning of your turn you roll a single d6 to determine the type of turn you will have. A 1 indicates it is a Scurry: All of your figures can move. A 6 indicates it is a Firefight: All figures can fire. On any other roll, a standard turn takes place: half of your squad members can be activated, moving and firing as you see fit (and being subject to reactions if allowed). During the enemy turn, you can conduct reaction shooting at moving figures. Ranged combat is resolved through a one-roll system. The weapon, skills and situation will grant a number of Shock and Kill dice which are rolled simultaneously. All dice in combat are D6's. The dice are checked for 1's and 6's which are applied, meaning an attack can have four outcomes (Kill die 6 = out of action, Kill die 1 = down and must make a recovery roll, Shock die 6 = "bail" (aka panic) and must make a recovery roll, Shock die 1 = "flinch" (aka heads down). Enjoy!

The British objective is to secure the bridge against nearby enemy troops. At least one figure must move to the objective and succeed in a Task Roll, with no enemies within 6”. If this succeeds, the enemy will fall back off the table. The German objective is simply to prevent British victory.

The Battle Begins

The British have initiative. Corporal Curtis rolls a 5 - a regular turn. As there is no reaction fire permitted during the first turns of the game, this is a good time for Curtis to get his men moving. He orders the Bren team to advance to the cover of a small depression in the ground and start laying down suppressing fire on the MG42 spotted in the barn across the river. Because he moved this turn, Wright's Bren gun only has 2 shock die at its disposal. Wright manages to get some rounds on target however: he rolls a single "1", a Flinch. The German MG gunner ducks his head down, and he temporarily looses line of sight.

With the MG gunner's head down, Davies makes a dash for the small outbuilding to his front, hoping to close the distance on Jerry. Davies makes it to a low window, but is unable crawl through this turn.

The German's respond, rolling a regular turn. Muller, the MG42 gunner, pops his head out of cover, sees Davies exposed, and squeezes off a burst. But Muller is green and is shaken by Wright's last burst: he rolls no hits. Steiner, however, keeps a better head, and rushes into the outbuilding, catching Davies still struggling to climb through the window. Steiner fires a burst from his MP40 at point blank range and rolls a "1" on his kill die. Davies falls backwards out of the window, and goes down. He will have to roll to recover.

On his turn, Corporal Curtis rolls a 6 - a firefight! Seeing Davies go down must have gotten the men's blood boiling. Jones fires on the farm house and rolls a 6 on his sock die, a Bail! Wright once again opens up on the MG42 with the Bren gun, and this time he is more honed in. The MG gunner has a rapid change of heart and bails! As there is no cover away from the Bren gun within six inches, the MG gunner flees off the table. With no other enemy in view, the British turn ends. Feldwebel Steiner also rolls a firefight on his turn, but Steiner's troops are young and inexperienced, and no one is in position to fire.

The next two turns see both the British and Germans repositioning. Jones, Curtis and Stanton dash for cover, moving in closer to their objective, but Stanton is left exposed due to a bad roll. The Germans roll a "Scurry." Bouer recovers from having bailed, but is hunkered down and may not move. Steiner is feeling a bit trapped in the outbuilding so take the opportunity reposition himself around to the corner, staying in cover.

During the next British turn, Stanton moves up and Davies rolls to recover from "Down." He rolls a 6, out of action. Seeing his friend's situation is helpless, Jones moves north along the wall in an attempt to flank the remaining Germans in the hamlet.

The Last Stand of Feldwebel Steiner

Steiner must make a decision – he is in danger of being flanked, and the British are inching closer to the bridge. He decides it is time to fall back. Steiner orders Bauer across the river and to the protection of a hamlet of trees on the other side, and provides him with covering fire. The British position is just outside effective range of his MP40 so he rolls only one shock die, but he rolls a 1 and manages to get Corporal Curtis’ head down. Bauer is going to need it because the river is a Difficult obstacle: it will take him his entire next turn to make it across.

During the British turn, Jones clambers over the low wall and rushes forward, catching Steiner exposed. Heart pounding, he pulls the trigger of his Enfield rifle just a hair to soon and sends a round whizzing ineffectually past Steiner’s right shoulder, rolling “5” on both his kill and shock die. Seeing the fighting taking place Curtis and Stanton dash across the road in an attempt to support Jones.

On his turn, Steiner turns and fires at Jones, rolling a six on his kill die. Jones is hit and goes down, never to rise again.

Steiner then re-positions behind a nearby tree to better guard against the advancing British. Bauer, meanwhile, is struggling across the river, and has reached the other side. He will have to wait until his next turn to scramble up the bank and into safety.

The British have lost two men and are down to only two activations per turn. Corporal Curtis needs to act decisively. Curtis sends Stanton around behind the outbuilding, while he himself scales the low wall and approaches Steiner's position, readying a grenade. Stanton moves into Steiner’s view. Even though Steiner fired last turn, Stanton is within four inches of Steiner and so draws reaction fire. Steiner rolls his kill die, but his nerves are starting to break and the burst sprays wide. This gives Curtis the opening he needs, and he hurls his grenade toward the German. The grenade lands and explodes only a few feet from Steiner, sending shrapnel whizzing through the air, and leaving Steiner, crumpled and unresponsive, on the ground. Feldwebel Steiner has met his end.

Parting Shots

With their heavy machine gun fled and their leader knocked out of action, things are looking dire for the Germans. They are also down to only one activation per turn. Bauer spends it finally freeing himself from the river bank and moving into the safety of the tree-grove. He fires at Stanton, now in the open, and causes him to bail. Bauer then moves back into the protection of the trees.

Stanton decides he has had enough and flees off the table. Corporal Curtis keeps a better head, and he and Private Page rush the bridge. Page sprints a full 12 inches and reaches the bridge, but because he Dashed this turn, he will have to wait until next turn to make his required task roll. A long time to wait, exposed and alone.

Now is Werner’s time to act. He moves to the door, draws a bead on page, and fires. He rolls a “1” on his kill die, and Page is Down! With Page going down, this opens line-of-sight between Werner and Curtis, and Werner draws reaction fire from Curtis. Curtis rolls a 1 on his shock die, causing Werner to flinch and retreat back to the safety of the building, where he hunkers down – he will not be able to move or fire next turn.

Corporal Curtis rushes to Page’s aid. Making base contact allows Page to roll for recovery. Page rolls and “2” and regains his bearings – he just had the wind knocked out of him. Corporal Curtis then makes a task roll secure the bridge, and rolls a 4 – Mission accomplished! Curtis' cool head, consummate leadership, and decisive action has carried the day. Seeing that their situations has become hopeless, Werner and Bauer flee the battlefield.

Closing Thoughts