This is the second report of a Co-op NUTS! WW2 game in which each player commanded one squad or section of 3rd Platoon, Dog Company, hitting the beach during the Invasion of Normandy, June 6 1944. While the basic coastal terrain and the town was mapped out and placed on the table, the players had no idea beach defenses they’d run into until they landed on the beach (using the Amphibious Landing rules from the NUTS! Compendium).
First part – The Beach: https://sbminisguy.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/two-hour-d-day-the-beach/
The area they would be landing in was loosely based on Utah Beach, with the beach rising to sandy slopes, behind which was a low laying swampy area and then a small town. The player’s objectives were to clear the beach defenses, then attack across the swampy area and causeway and try to take the town, which had x3 Potential Enemy Forces (PEFs) to clear.
After being dropped on the beach the platoon came under heavy fire from an MG bunker and a German squad in trenches. While 1st Squad bogged down in front of the bunker, 2nd and 3rd Squad took out the trench line, and then the Engineering section destroyed the bunker with a flamethrower.
Having cleared the beach defenses and captured the surviving defenders, the platoon pushed forward to try and take the small village of Ville Cotiere.
Views of the town
1st Squad, the HQ section and the Engineering section paused to allow the Medic to make some recovery attempts on downed figures, and then moved up across the bridge. 2nd Squad went across the marsh on the right flank. On the left flank, Sgt. Ricci decides not to make for the causeway, and has 3rd Squad move up and into the low laying marshy area.
As they cross the marsh (at half movement rate) the spot one of the PEF markers that had moved up from the center of the town. PEF markers represent possible enemies, and they will move around the table based on the type of scenario and dice rolls. Sgt Ricci rolled to resolve the PEF, and since we were adding some of the Chocolate & Cigarettes LiteRPG rules in NUTS!, the marker actually resolved as French civilians.
Sgt Ricci and his squad move up and speak with the civilians. The Sgt rolls his REP in d6 (REP 4 means he rolls 4d6) on the interaction/challenge table looking for successes (rolls of a 1, 2, 3). He scores three successes, the civilian only one success.
“Champ de mines, what the heck is he talking about?,” said Sgt. Ricci out loud. “Champ, is that like a boxer?? This guy saying he’s a boxer?”
“Say, Sarge, my grandma was French, I think champ means field…mines…minefield!?!”
Since the player won the test he ended up getting valuable information, letting him immediately resolve another PEF on the table. The dice roll results in a fixed defense, a minefield the Americans now know to avoid — the French civilians just saved lives, Vive le France! Second squad would have blundered into the minefield, but now maneuvers to avoid it. The last PEF remains at the far end of the village.
On the next turn during the activation roll the US player ends up getting reinforcements. What happened each is side rolled for activation (1d6 vs Leader REP), and in this case the US player rolled a 4, the German player a 3. The US player won activation, and adding the dice together equals 7 — chance of reinforcements. The US players end up getting tank support!
A Sherman with wading gear trundles out of the surf line and into action.
Lt. Dan decides to slow down and let the tank catch up, and sends runners to 2nd and 3rd squad with new orders. Pretty simple — 3rd Squad will advance up the left flank, 2nd Squad and the Engineers up the right flank, and 1st Squad and HQ will accompany the Sherman into the town.
As the platoon moved forward, 1st and 2nd squads ended up following along behind the Sherman, while Lt. Dan decided to climb up on the tank “for a better view.” Cpl Hulka told Lt. Dan that’s probably not the wisest idea, and then had his Engineer section move up through the walled gardens behind the houses on the right side of the village.
Sgt. Ricci led 3rd Squad up the left side of the village, where they cleared one house and moved up until they made contact with the final PEF. As soon as they came into Line of Sight, Sgt. Ricci rolled on the PEF resolution table, and it turned out to be an enemy Squad with AT weapons (Panzerfausts). These were placed on the table, and an In Sight test made — each side being REP 4. The German’s won the In Sight test and opened fire on 3rd squad, knocking one figure Out of the Fight and forcing the rest to Duck Back into cover and out of sight, ending the action.
With the burst of gunfire and yells of medic! medic! filling the air, Sgt. Toomey decided he didn’t want to have to break in another Lt. and hollered at Lt. Dan, perched on the tank — “Lt. Dan, come one down from there — 3rd Squad needs you, and you’d better ask the Sherman to cover us on the left flank!” The excitable 2nd Lt. gave directions to the Tank Commander and then hopped down and moved over to the left side with the HQ section.
3rd squad took cover in a ruined house, and started to exchange fire with the German defenders. Lt. Dan and the HQ section also entered the bombed out structure and the Americans moved up to the walls and windows to engage the Germans, sparking a fierce firefight. The Germans again won the In Sight and opened fire first. A figure next to Lt. Dan took a hit, but being Unlucky and all, the hit was applied to him instead. He burned a Star Power die to convert the hit from Out of the Fight to Duck Back. The Americans that could returned fire ineffectually, ending the turn On the next turn the US player won In Sight and the sniper managed to kill a German figure, but accurate German return fire killed the sniper figure in return and again forced the Americans to Duck Back.
On the next turn the US player failed their Activation roll, and the German play was able to move up unopposed (the Americans in the house were in Duck Back while 2nd and 1st Squads didn’t have Line of Sight on the German figure), and send a barrage of grenades into the house causing chaos among the Americans! The grenades killed and disabled three American figures, forcing the rest to keep in Duck Back mode.
Meanwhile, Sgt Toomey of 1st Squad directed the tank into action and laid some payback down on the Germans. The fusillade of fire and a 75mm HE shell from the Sherman blasted the Germans back away from the fire fight at the house.
The Engineering section continued its flanking move up the right side of the village, and 2nd Squad under Sgt. Johnson decided to move up the main street to try and flank the Germans engaged with 1st Squad, the HQ section and the Sherman. It was an aggressive move that failed, German figures at the end of the village won an In Sight test and the brief fire fight left one US figure dead and the rest doing a Duck Back for cover. The Medic went into action, helping one OOF figure recover and go back into the fight.
The Medic rules, by the way, allow for a Medic test on an OOF figure to see if it can be recovered. The results can range from the figure being only stunned and the Medic gets it back into the fight with no penalty, to walking wounded (able to take some actions), to still OOF. The Medic figure helped several figures recover during the game.
Lt. Dan then ordered everyone forward, and tasked the Sherman to move up the main street to support 2nd Squad, which was taking cover in doorways and behind debris, taking fire from a German MG-34. The Sherman blasted the house the Germans were in with MG fire and a 75mm HE shell, setting the building ablaze and forcing the Germans back.
Lt. Dan orders his troops forward after a flurry of grenades that killed and knocked out several German figures, and then movesd up into the face of the shocked German defenders.
The Sherman also advanced, along with 2nd Squad, and the German defenders had their Panzerfausts ready to go…
…when the Engineering section completed its flanking move through the village and attacked the Germans from the rear, catching them by surprise.
Combined with Lt. Dan’s continued attack, in combination with 1st Squad, the remaining German defenders surrendered.
With all the PEFs resolved, the Mission was over. As more troops made it ashore, 3rd Platoon gratefully turns the fight over to them and stands down. After the Mission is done, if you’re doing a Campaign Game, you can check to recover casualties, get replacements and try to improve the REP of your figures.
Let’s see how that works.
- After the Battle: This was a tough Mission, there were a total of 15 American figure casualties. Three were recovered during the game by the Medic, leaving 12 more casualties. Of these, seven were Obviously Dead, leaving five OOF figures that could be recovered for the next game. Rolling 2d6 vs REP 4, we end up recovering three of those figures. They will be available for the next Mission.
- Replacements: Lt. Dan has lost nine figures, almost an entire squad. He asks for Replacements from his Company Commander. He rolls 2d6 vs REP, passes 2 and ends up getting two replacement figures into the Platoon. For subsequent Missions, the Platoon will be short seven figures — the Player(s) will have to decide how that’s distributed in future.
- Improving REP: It’s possible for your Star and its squadmates to improve their REP if they did well, and they might lose REP if they had a really bad Mission. Most games will have a core Star and Squad in them you want to track, but the player’s could check for the whole platoon in this case. Both Sgt Toomey and Lt. Dan took OOF results during the game, so even if they used Star Power not to get knocked out, they can’t improve their REP. We check for Sgt Ricci with a d6 vs REP roll, he rolls below his REP and stays at REP 4. We check for Sgt. Johnson, he also stays at REP 4. We check for Cpl Hulka, rolling above his current REP 4 (the roll was a 5), so he goes up one REP level to REP 5. Checking for the rest of the Platoon, six additional figures go up one REP level — but some of the figures that were injured lose a REP level. You can track this during a Campaign if you like.
Since this is the start of a Campaign, we also check to see if US or German morale has changed. Each side starts off at Campaign Morale 4 in this case. Basically you will run a series of Missions, and as you succeed or fail the morale will change until one side hits 0 Morale Level and retreats from the area. The US player won the Mission, so they roll 3d6 vs 2d6 for the German side. The US player gets Pass 3, the German player gets Pass 2 — so the US player won the roll by 1, and that reduces German Campaign Morale to 3.
Now we see what the next Mission is — since the US players were on an Attack Mission and they were successful, the Fight On table says the next gig is also an Attack Mission. Let’s liberate France, one ville at a time!
If you missed it, here’s the first part of the mission report: https://sbminisguy.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/two-hour-d-day-the-beach/
