June 6, 1944 Smoke trails across the sky as death rains down from the beaches. Bullets pingoff of the tank traps and landing craft that scatter the beach like jagged misshaped teeth, men huddle behind them waiting for their opening, their chance to end this nightmare. This isn’t how he thought the battle would go, Peter thought as hunched behind a landing craft with what remained of his platoon, his commander lay dead a few feet from him. This put Peter right where he didn’t want to be: in command. Machine guns fire had them pinned for what felt like hours. Then the unexpected, an explosion, the machine gun nest was silenced, Peter looked to the sea wall. Moments ago the wall was an impossible dream to reach, but now the way to the wall is clear, without hesitation Peter ordered his men to move. “Reach the wall and hit the dirt, use the wall as cover!” Peter ordered as they charged across the blood stained beach. As they ran Peter saw their saviour, a DD Sherman, it look so odd on the beach fighting alone. It must have drifted far away from its platoon; it was laying into the surrounding machine gun nests. As he reached the sea wall he turned to see the DD Sherman light up in flames as an AT round hit its mark. Peter said a silent prayer for the brave tank crew that saved his platoon, with a new hardened resolve he ordered his men to prepare for an assault against the anti-tank bunker just beyond the wall.

Normandy Landing: Bloody Omaha

D-Day always sticks in my mind, it was such a brutal battle. So much had to go right to make the invasion work and it’s is due to the bravery and cunning of the soldiers who fought on the beaches that the allies took the beaches. When choosing an army to do for the hobby league I went back and forth and landed on one of my favourite Flames Of War armies, the Blue and the Greys, the 29th Infantry Division. The awesome Beach Landing Assault Companies full of D-Day themed models and base accessories. Among the fighting men are injured men and medics, a grim reminder of the price paid to secure the beaches of Normandy and I like to think my simple Flames Of War army keeps the memory of those brave men alive.

My army uses the Boat Section (US747) blisters to form the core of my force. In these blisters I get all the weapons and troops I need to field my core platoons. The first issue I had when making my list is figuring out what else goes into the it, adding in an Assault Company as my main formation was the easy bit but filling out the numbers was a bit harder as there are so many good choices. In the end I decided I wanted to maximise the options moving forward, as I have some other American formations but I don’t have an M10 formations, so to this end I am painting up a small M10 formation to go along with my Beach Assault troops.

Andrew's 29th Infantry Division

Assault Company Assault Company HQ 2 Points Command Card: Navel Gun Support 12 Points Command Card: Norman ‘Dutch’ Cota 2 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Support Boat Section 5 Points Support Boat Section 5 Points M10 Tank Destroyer Company M20 Scout Car HQ 2 Points M10 Tank Destroyer Platoon (2 Tanks) 8 Points M10 Tank Destroyer Platoon (2 Tanks) 8 Points M10 Tank Destroyer Platoon (2 Tanks) 8 Points Support Units M12 155 Artillery Battery (4 Guns) 12 points

I do have a good deal of points in Command Cards, I added these cards because I had them in my original list I used to play about 12 years ago. I figure its fine because I will be painting up a set of LCVP Boats to go along with my army so I am not missing out on any painting for the league. I also have a side goal of painting 2 more M10s so I can run two full strength platoons of four tanks instead of three units of two tanks if I want.

Now the hobby league is broken down into three painting goal sections, this month we need to paint 50 points so my 50 point goal is the following: Assault Company HQ 2 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Assault Boat Section 9 Points Support M12 155 Artillery Battery (4 Guns) 12 points

Painting Plan This gets the core of my force done and will be easier for me to paint up 25 points in the upcoming months. Month 2 I may just paint up my M10 Company and that’s 26 points. That leaves me the Landing Boats, Support sections and Norman ‘Dutch’ Cota figure to paint (going to create an epic commander to symbolize this iconic historical figure).

Normandy Landing: Coming Ashore

I love Hobby Nights, a night of sitting around a painting-table with friends and just shooting the breeze, talking painting techniques, and just being social. For every player the reasons for playing the games we do varies, for me it’s about community, and Flames Of War has one of the best communities out there. I remember when I started war gaming around 16 years ago, it was the Flames Of War community that got me into gaming through hobby nights at our local game store. I learned almost all my painting techniques I know now thanks my gaming club ‘Da Mommas Boyz’. It was a great experience getting back to those days has been fun and I am enjoying sharing that experience with other players just getting into the game, and showing them the tricks and techniques passed down to me.