WRG 1925-50 (neu) Part 5. Brecourt Manor, June 7th 1944

 Back in June I thought I'd try the Fireball Forward "Brecourt Manor" scenario with the WRG rules as a D Day anniversary game. I actually ran this scenario back in 2018 using John As 'Platoon Commanders War', a distant relative of the original WRG set. This engagement is the one featured in Band of Brothers episode 'Day of Days' and is the assault on the German gun positions at Brecourt Manor on 7th June 1944 by D and E Company, 506th PIR. 

The battlefield. The German battery is entrenched around the outer hedgerow, the gun emplacements linked by communications trenches. The guns are firing on Utah beach and the Germans get VPs each time they fire. The US have to knock all the guns out before they get to 24 VP.

The four guns are more visible here. They don't  play any part in the tactical game, just get points each turn that they fire (one each). This is a 2 x 3 table at 6"=100 yards (so 400 x 600 yards). I used some of my desert artillery for these, a couple of German 105s and a couple of Italian 100mm howitzers as I don't have four captured Russian 122mm howitzers in German colours.

This is the battery HQ, with a rifle/cmd group, another rifle group and an LMG (MG42) group. They setup in the easternmost trench section. 

In the original scenario these guys are all average (think 4-6-7 Squad Leader Squads), and a very average leader (think 8-0 or 8-1). So I didn't give them a Company Command element, just  a normal command element for each sub unit (the battery and the defence platoon).

And this is the battery defence platoon. Two more MG42 groups, a rifle group and a rifle/cmd group. These guys all set up in the triangular hedge. They aren't dug in but the Normandy hedges provide cover.

And to attack them we have what is left of E Company, 505 PIR! The US units are insanely understrength due to scattered D drops and losses. 

Lt Winters commands one 'platoon' with a single rifle/cmd group, this is also the Company Command element. Lt 'Buck' Compton commands another 'platoon' with one rifle and one rifle/cmd group and finally Lt Spiers  from D Company has another 'platoon' with one rifle and one rifle/cmd group. Fortunately the E company weapons platoon has also rocked up with a couple of belt fed .30 cals.

All the US rifle groups are armed with Garands (self loading rifles in WRG parlance). No BARs for the US paras on D Day. In the original scenario these guys are veteran US paras, abo.ut as good as they get, with excellent leaders. So, Lt Winters is rated as a Company Commander (he was acting CO anyway) and Compton and Spiers each get a command group to command their single rifle groups!

On reaction tests they are going to roll two dice and pick whichever they wish.

On turn 1, Winters and Spiers advance cautiously as they haven't got enough movement to make it the hedgerow AND do advancing fire so they hang back out of LOS. The LMG platoon hops over one hedge and similarly hangs back a bit. I'm ignoring the 100m movement penalty for foot troops crossing hedges, that seems very silly! (and would completely break the scenario).

None of the US units are in sight so the Germans get on with shelling Utah beach. BANG!

Next turn things hot up. The LMGs move up and set up along the hedge line to cover the battery position. Compton storms the top left gun position and destroys it with advancing fire under 50m.

Winters tries the same trick but although they manage to acquire the gun, they miss the to hit roll (needs a 5+ as it is moving fire vs a dug in target).

The Germans are vaguely aware something is happening now, so the defence platoon relocates one of its MGs and the eagle eyed rifle group spot Winters and open fire (needed 5+ to acquire) but they miss.

Next turn Compton hops over the hedge into the abandoned gun position. The German riflemen direct the MG42s at Winters and they all blaze away, pinning him. Despite being a CC, he goes to 'cautious advance' on the morale test. Even though I'm allowing the US to reroll their morale dice, he still fails.

The battery HQ has moved up the trench to defend the third gun.

Compton spots the Germans moving along the trench, as do the .30 cals. The Germans are pinned. Hilariously the .30s cals are unable to see any of the MG42s blazing away 150m away across the field due to the foliage modifiers, and the Germans are equally oblivious to the .30 cals. That is one (perhaps the only one) feature of the dice driven spotting that I like - target fixation.

Winters withdraws out of LOS as he isn't doing any good there.

Now Spiers storms on, but the hail of grenades and Garand fire fails to knock out gun number 4. Unlike the TV show, his platoon didn't dash across open ground in front of two MG42s this time. The German battery has had an adverse reaction test now, but not enough to get them to surrender.

The German MGs are now spraying suppressive fire over Comptons platoon (as they spotted one element). It pins the HQ group but the rest of the platoon edges forwards. I don't want to move at full speed as it makes it far more likely they will be spotted.

Winters group has now recovered and is working its way up the hedgerow, while the .30 cals keep the battery HQ suppressed. The HQ MG42 tries to acquire Spiers platoon but fails the acquisition roll (being suppressed is -2).

The battery HQ is gone 'cautious' now but the gun is still popping away. In the face of all out assault by scary US Paras, the gun crews are proving surprisingly resilient. Compton is slowly leading his men along the trenches from the left trying not to be seen.

Spiers meanwhile knocks our gun No. 4 with one group and the cmd group enters the trench. The Germans are too preoccupied and/or suppressed to notice them.

Eventually they move along the trenches leads to some close range grenading which is equally ineffective on both sides. The guns bangs away again. In my test game number two, I definitely mis-measured when the Germans were overrun in the woods, they should have been able to get a shot off first. I was super careful this time and the attack/defence mechanism worked much better.

By now the Germans have spotted all of Comptons platoon and they are completely pinned down by MG42 fire. Winters is trying to sneak along behind the hedge but needs to be super careful not to get into LOS of the battery HQ MG which is peering over the hedge with a very restricted arc.

Essentially everyone is bogged down in a firefight now and I can't see the last gun being knocked out before the Germans accumulate 24VP, so I call it as a (rather Phyrric) German victory.

That was actually OK, but reinforces my impression that these rules are a bit of a slog for infantry combat, being very, very firepower focussed and with very little emphasis on troop quality and morale which is so vital in small unit tactics. In real life, the Germans just fell apart in the face of the rapid US assault. The German gun crews rolled amazing reaction tests though, normally have lost 75% of their number with enemy infantry advancing within 100m would be curtains, so it may have been a fluke result.

I think for this level of infantry heavy game there are more modern and better rule systems or even the venerable Crossfire, although WRG works fine for armour combat. Once again the dice driven spotting produced some very odd results, and I'm really not a fan of that although it did induce some realistic behaviours as units tried to avoid being acquired. 

That was a fun outing, but  it is probably my last WRG game  for now and I have a better idea of what I'm looking for in a tactical game. I think my focus for tactical stuff going forward will be Norm Smiths 'Tigers at Minsk' and derivatives thereof, and my long considered but not executed updating of Charles Grants "Battle".