6 June 1944, a few miles inland of Gold Beach. Elements of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th 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.
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
I hope you enjoyed reading this little AAR. I certainly enjoyed playing the game. The gameplay was quick and tense. The fact that several of the game’s key mechanisms revolve around rolling “1s” or “6s” helped to keep rules look ups at a minimum, although it did take me a little while to get used to how cover works, and I had some questions over how to cross obstacles. Also, because I just wanted to get a handle on the game's core mechanics, I intentionally played without any Character skills, which allow individual figures to do things like modify rolls, gain extra movement, etc. Perhaps I will add this extra layer of gameplay on next time. I definitely want to hurry up and get some more terrain built so I can start playing properly! Thanks for reading.
