Shifting Sands 09 Firestorm Normandy At Shifting Sands 2009 a Firestorm campaign was run with adaptations for Normandy. Mark Francis reports.  Here is a quick review of our Firestorm tournament for Normandy. You can see more info here… and see images of the event here…   Special thanks to Chris Dunlap for doing all the maps and running the website. I couldn't have done it without him!

We had 26 players total after 12 had to drop for various reasons. The starting situation… 1 July 1944. Cherbourg has fallen and the Allies are poised on the outskirts of Caen and St Lo. However, the German defenders refuse to yield ground and the fighting has been brutal and deadly in the bocage and around the villages bordering Caen. The boundaries before Turn 1 Green territory: US Tan territory: British Grey territory: German

List of Firestorm units:

Allies: 3 Churchill Crocodile platoons 1 British paratrooper platoon 1 British commando platoon 2 British engineer platoons (all engineer firestorm units were 4 CT pioneer rifle teams with supply truck) 2 Typhoon flights 2 NGFS if fighting on beaches 2 M12 artillery batteries 3 US paratrooper platoons 2 US engineer platoons 2 Thunderbolt flights 2 NGFS if fighting on beaches

Axis: 2 King Tigers 2 Jagdpanthers Wittman Barkmann 6 gun Nebelwerfer battery 2 Fallshirmjager platoons Luftwaffe 88s

The Allies' assault hit stiff defences along the entire front and many important territories were lost including Carentan which was taken by elements of 17. SS-Panzergrenadierdivision supported by Fallschirmjäger. Villers-Bocage also fell into Axis hands during an Exploitation move in the Strategic phase. All was not lost for the Allies as they were able to take the vital crossroads at Le Haye de Puits and expand the bridgehead over the Orne sealing their eastern flank. A deep penetration toward the vital supply route at Le Beny Bocage, however, was cut off and surrounded. Round 2 Dispositions

The Allies were poised to strike at St Lo and Caen again, but needed to recapture Carentan as it is a vital supply terminal between Omaha and Utah beaches. With renewed vigour, the British forces struck hard on the east flank capturing many important territories including Caen. The US also captured St Lo but lost ground at Le Haye de Puits and Omaha Beach! Their forces in St Lo were now cutoff and would be facing a desperate battle to hold onto their precious gain. Round 3 Dispositions

Going into the last round of the day, the British looked very confident while the US faces were very nervous. This mission was to be the Breakout! Mission. Unfortunately for the allies, they seemed to completely disregard any strategic orders and attacked in disorder with the end result being that they were very nearly driven into the sea and having a paratrooper platoon completely cutoff. The US fared no better as they lost St Lo and German forces pushed further north toward Cherbourg. The allied players attitude at dinner that night was very defeated and solemn! Round 4 Dispositions

Well, the Germans had pushed the Allies back and were now ready to launch their counterattack. All along the lines the Germans went on the offensive, but it seemed as if the Allies had finally woken up and began to resist without mercy. The British regained some of their previous ground and retook Caen. A Fallschirmjäger Firestorm unit was also cutoff and destroyed. The Americans and Brits both struck back at Omaha Beach putting it firmly in Allied hands, but Carentan and St Lo still belonged to the Germans. Round 5 Dispositions

This would lead to a very exciting final round. The Americans would have to strike at St Lo while being out of supply and try to retake Carentan. The British would try to hold onto Caen. The British executed perfect strategy by attacking away from Caen drawing in Firestorm units that were meant to attack Caen (much to the German commander’s disgust!). However, the US players had totally ignored their orders and all of the commanders but one had assaulted Carentan! This left just one American commander and one initiative roll to see if the could even strike St Lo. Luckily, the American won the roll and St Lo would come under attack! In a nail-biting round, the Allies were able to make-up for all past mistakes and took St Lo, Carentan and held Caen! They also managed to destroy another Fallschirmjäger Firestorm unit. A final, convincing win for the Allies. The Final Map

Overall, the event was a blast. It was a welcome change to see a team mentality in a tournament, especially when the decisions and battles of players near the bottom in points can swing the campaign entirely. The final assault on St Lo was by a player in the lower half of the standings by VPs, but it was ultimately his Initiative roll and victory that won the game for the Allies! Below is just some random notes regarding the event and some of the decisions we made, especially read the Strategy piece. We used some Special Event cards that I randomly drew each round (3 per round). These would either help each of the forces in their battles and really added some spice to the event.

Special Event Cards Weather Change: Heavy rain, no air support including AOPs and visibility down to 24"/60cm. You should hve heard the Allies gasp when this was revealed on round one. Weather Change: Light rain, air support arrives on 6 only, visibility 36"/90cm. Choked Supply: Any Allies out of supply subtract one from dice roll on supply chart (added round 2). Rampaging Typhoons: Any Axis out of supply subtract one from dice roll on supply chart (added round 2). Rommel at the Point: Company Command team may attach to a platoon to give reroll to failed ST moves. Gather Round Monty: Any support platoons on table allowed British Company Command team to reroll company command checks. Sacked by Bradley: If US Company Command team fails company morale check the 2IC Command team may be promoted to CO and reroll it. (above 3 are from Firestorm Total War part) Rocket armed Thunderbolts: Any Thunderbolts can fire rockets as per Typhoons. 5.5" Artillery Strike: Allies get a single 5.5" template strike in game. Need Ob with staff team or CO to call in. Nebelwerfer Strike: Axis get one free double width nebel strike in game. Need Ob with staff team, or rockets, or CO to call in. Rommel hurt in air attack: Command disruption. Axis Company Command teams cannot give a reroll to Motivation checks. Officer Sniping: British officers lost at alarming rate. British armies cannot use brit bulldog rule in game. Mistaken Identity: US friendly fire casualties cause cautious movement. No US unit may use Spearhead or double move in game. ME109 Strafe: Axis players get one ME109 strafe in game. Expanded NGFS: NGFS (Naval Gun Fire Support) may be used up to an additional territory instead of just the beach territory.

Firestorm Units I really liked using "rare" units as Firestorm units. I also liked that these units were forbidden from regular lists. I did make a huge mistake by allowing 3 Crocodile units and 3 US Parachute Infantry units. That was fine when we had 9 US players and 9 Brits, but after attrition and only 6 brits, 7 US, it was too many. I just didn't think about it but I should have pulled one each of those. The German units were perfect and played out very historically for the most part with the heavy armour staying in the British sector and the Fallschirmjäger always fighting over Carentan. In future I would add Luftwaffe Field Divisions too. The Allied mix was too bland and I should have mixed it up. I liked the M12s as nobody takes them anyway and they are just too cool looking to leave behind! Allied air support and NGFS was overwhelming mostly because the Allies were pushed back to the beaches several times meaning NGFS was always available and any recycled Firestorm units were brought directly into play. Unlike the regular Firestorm, we reversed the strategic phase and bring on reinforcements so that they would have to spend one turn in their supply depot before being moved to the front. This was a good call. Overall, the Firestorm units were an important part of the game and could really sway a battle in a crucial sector. They also worked wonders in a strategic sense too as sometimes a player couldn't resist taking a firestorm unit even though it didn't help their strategic cause and this would drive the generals nuts!

Strategy I was concerned that the sheer number of simultaneous games would make strategy impossible, but that wasn't the case. It did help that our final numbers were 26 instead of the 38 that were initially signed up. There were many aspects of strategy that were identified or missed and I hope that the respective generals will reflect upon their own decisions. The hardest part was the general relaying his strategy to his commanders. I only allowed the generals to be at the board in the strategic phase and they then had to leave and brief their commanders away from the board as I did the next round match-ups. This created a little Fog of War which was very fun to observe. It was fantastic to see a player come to the table and make a move that was completely against his generals wishes. A control freak's nightmare! Factors affecting strategy: 1. Don't attack out of the cities!! Several people made this mistake even against expressed orders not to! 2. Don't get wide-eyed over Firestorm units. If it's not in the team's best interest to take them...don't take them. Bill pulled off a very strategic move by attacking a Firestorm unit controlled territory next to Caen. Instead of leaving the Firestorm unit for someone else to use to attack Caen (2 King Tigers), the German couldn't resist taking them!! This meant no advantage to the German attacking Caen as that meant they would have no Firestorm units to Caen's 2 Crocodile units. 3. In unfavourable match-ups, attack in bad terrain or unnecessary territories. Bill's Cromwells fought on open terrain all tournament, not once did an opponent choose to fight near Villers-Bocage or outside St Lo where he would have been forced to play on the VB table or in Bocage. I had purposefully set the room up to represent the Normandy map so all the British territories were on one side of the room with their themed tables and it flowed to the US side. This meant that you could look at where you were fighting on the map and know where you would be playing in the room.

Terrain 7 Bocage tables for fighting around St Lo and Villers-Bocage etc. Flooded fields table. Carentan. St Lo Cruelly (was used as a standard town table for both sectors too) Dickie's Bridge Carpiquet (Caen table 1) Caen (Caen table 2) Colombelles Steelworks (Caen table 3) Villers-Bocage Hill 112 Orne Bridge Cagny/Le Mesnil Frementel

Written by: Mark Francis (Bullyboy) Maps and Website support by: Chris Dunlap (Bengo)