Fow Amphibious-Assaults

7/27/2019 Fow Amphibious-Assaults

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Understandably, an amphibious landing requires some ratherspecic terraina beach to land on. You can either create aully-modelled beach or simply use a strip o blue cloth orthe sea and a strip o sand-coloured cloth or the beach.

Te table needs a small area o sea at the edge o the tablegiving way to sur crashing on the beach. Between the beachand the hinterland, there are usually sand dunes, a bank orsea wall, clis, or marshes. You will need a side table to holdthe troops still in their ships o the table as well.

SeaZoneTe sea zone is where landing crat load up and line up ortheir run in to the beach. It should be about 4-6/10-15cmdeep, just big enough or the landing crat to tcomortably.

Surf Zone

Te sur zone covers the last ew metres o sea up to thepoint where the landing crat beach. It should also be4-6/10-15cm deep, again just enough space or the landingcrat as they beach to discharge their cargo.

Like the sea zone, the sur zone is Impassable to all teamsexcept amphibious vehicles.

Beach Zone

Te beach zone starts rom the shallow water at the landing-crat ramp and goes up to the spring high-tide mark wherethe dunes or sea wall begins.

Te beach will usually be 8/20cm deep and is Dicult Going.Te landing-crat obstacles that litter the beach zone donot hinder the movement o teams once ashore and do notprovide any cover or concealment or troops on the beach.

SeaWall

Above the high water mark there is usually some orm obank or sea wall with shingle washed up against it.

A bank is Very Dicult Going. A sea wall is an Anti-tankObstacle (see page 231 o the rulebook) that provides

Bulletproo Cover to Inantry and Man-packed Gun teamssheltering on the seaward side.

Beach exitS

Te landing zones were, naturally enough, chosen or theiraccessible exits. Tere is little point in landing somewhere

were you need to be a commando to get o the beach!

Te beach should have at least one exit through the Sea WallZone that is Dicult Going.

hinterland Zone

Once o the beach, the countryside quickly assumes thenormal rural Normandy character. Generally the coastalareas are more open than the inland areas with larger eldsand ewer houses and woods.

SeaZone

SurfZone

BeachZo

ne

hinterl

andZ

oneSeaWall

Beach exit

Each Amphibious assault has its D-Day, whether it was on the shores of North Africa and Italy, or the biggest amphibious

assault in history, Normandy. Tis section allows you to recreate the drama of a small part of a landing operation.

Beach TaBles

See our website, www.FlamesOfWar.com or howto make a beach table.

Amphibious AssAults


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AmphibiousAssAul

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Amphibious landings require a little more work than mostscenarios. One o the trickiest parts o managing an am-

phibious assault is making sure that the right troops landat the right place at the right time. Dont worry i you dontsucceed with thisthe real Generals didnt always manage tocoordinate their landings either!

Te rst steps in making your landing are to select theplatoons that will land in the rst wave and determine thedirection the current is fowing across the beach.

selecTThe FirsTWave

Tere are never enough landing crat to put all o the troopsavailable ashore at once. You need to decide which units you

want to land in the rst wave and which will be let in theirships or the ollow-up waves.

roops let at sea will land as soon as the landing cratcarrying the rst wave have beached, unloaded, and returnedto the ships at sea to reload.

Beore the game begins you need to select up to hal o your

platoons as your rst wave. Each o these platoons is loaded in

a landing crat. Place the platoons landing crat in the sea zone

opposite the place they are to come ashore (bear in mind that

they will drit with the current).

All other platoons remain in their ships at sea and are known

as the Floating Reserve.

currenT

Die Roll Fate

1to3 Currentrunsletwardwhenacingthebeach

4to6 Currentrunsrightwardwhenacingthebeach

Warrior and Independent teams do not have their own landing

crat. Tey are attached to platoons in the rst wave and travel

ashore in their landing crat.Many platoons include trucks and other unarmoured transport

that will have diculty crossing the beach. I these land with

the troops they simply present the enemy with easy targets.

Platoons may leave their transport behind and not deploy it at

all when making an amphibious landing.

currenT DirecTion

Beore the game begins you will need to know which way thecurrent is running. Tis is important since your landing crat

will drit o course in a heavy current.

Roll one die and consult the Current able to determine the

direction the current is running.

setting up


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lanDing craFT

Die Roll Result

1 Drit4/10cmdowncurrent.




5or6 Delayed.Telandingcratwasunabletofndagap

throughthebeachobstaclesanddoesnotbeach.Placetheloadedlandingcratbackintheseazone.

Te current is running strongly and the beach obstacles limittheir choices, so coxswains have diculties landing exactly

where they want to. Most end up somewhere down currento where they intended to land. Some all victim to beachobstacles or deending artillery. Others go completely astray

in the conusion, only locating the right beach much later.

Once the landing crat are in place, roll a die or each landing

crat to see how ar it drited o course during the run in,

or i it even made it to the beach. Te Landing Crat able

gives the distance down current the landing crat drits beore

beaching in the sur zone, or their ate i they do not make it

saely ashore.

I another landing crat already occupies the place a landing

crat drits to, it drits urther down current to the rst avail-

able space in the sur zone. I the landing crat drits o the

table it returns to sea and attempts to land again next turn as

i it had been delayed.

delayed landing craft

In the pre-dawn darkness and the conusion o hundreds ocrat milling around and making or the beach, it is easy ora coxswain to get separated rom their fotilla. At the sametime beach obstacles and artillery take their toll o landingcrat, requiring replacements rom ollowing waves to behastened into action.

Delayed landing crat return to the sea zone carrying their loadand attempt to land again next turn.

Tis may represent either landing crat being unable to beachor the delay as landing crat destroyed by the enemy deencesare replaced with ollow-on troops.

Coming Ashore

Onarollo1thelandingcratdrits4/10cm

Onarollo3thelandingcratdrits12/30cm

Sinceanotherlandingcratisalreadythere,itdrits

downcurrentuntilitndsaclearspace

Current

Onarollo5or6thelandingcratisdelayedanddoes

notland

As soon as the landing crat ramp goes down, the troopsaboard rush ashore, eager to get across the killing zone asast as possible.

Passengers and vehicles disembark rom a landing crat during

the Movement Step. Tey begin their movement rom the

landing crats ramp as i they had occupied the same position

as the landing crat.

Remember, the Beach Zone is Dicult Going. I a vehicle Bogs

Down when disembarking, place it on the beach adjacent to

the landing crats ramp (leaving room or ollowing vehicles to

disembark) and mark it as Bogged Down.

Landing crat cannot shoot or be shot at, and take no part in

assaults.

DisembArking

coming aShore


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Landingcrat

canmoveanywhereintheseazonereadyto

landagain

Landingcratinthesurzonecannotmove

VehiclesthatBogDowndosoimmediatelyaterexitingthelandingcrat

TebeachzoneisDifcultGoing

eamsdisembarkintheMovementStep

Delayed

landingcratwillattempttolandagainnext

turn

Onarollo1to3thelandingcratisstuckandcannotreturnto

seathisturn

Onarollo4ormoreanempty

landingcratreturnstoseatoreload

Emptylandingcratatsealoadanotherplatoon

Once unloaded, the landing crat quickly head back to theirships to reload with ollow-up troops and return with thenext wave to land.

In the same Movement Step ater unloading, empty landing

crat may attempt to return to sea and reload. Roll a die or

each empty landing crat in the sur zone.

On a roll o 4+, the landing crat refoats and returns to the

Floating Reserve or reloading. Select a platoon rom the

Floating Reserve to load and place the landing crat in the

sea zone to land again next turn.

On any lesser roll, the crat is stuck ast and must try to

return to sea again next turn.

returning for more

returning formore

diSemBarking


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One o the more unusual weapons landing on D-Day is theDuplex Drive or DD tank (unsurprisingly nicknamed theDonald Duck tank in the US Army!). Tis is a Shermantank tted with a collapsible canvas screen around the tophull and propellers to allow it to swim. Unortunately, its

low reeboard means that it is vulnerable to being swampedby large waves, making its use risky in stormy seas.

A British Armoured Platoon or US ank Platoon equipped

solely with Sherman tanks armed with 75mm guns may t

them out as DD tanks at no extra cost. Te platoon retains all

o its previous ratings. However, Sherman DD tanks cannot use

their hull MG due to the collapsed screen covering its position.

coming ashore

Te DD tanks are scheduled to land ten minutes beore therst wave o landing crat. Sitting at the waters edge, they

will give covering re as the inantry disembark and thenhelp them deal with bunkers and deences as they orce their

way inland.

DD tanks do not require landing crat as they can swimashore on their own ahead o the rst wave o landing crat.Because o this, you would not normally select a DD tankplatoon to be in the hal o your orce initially loaded intolanding crat.

However, you can bring your DD tanks ashore in landingcrat as normal tanks, landing dry shod as the expressiongoes. I you want to do this, have them occupy one o your

landing crat instead o swimming them ashore.

Beore the game begins place DD tanks in their swimming orm

in the sea zone opposite the place they wish to land (bear in

mind that they will drit with the current). Roll a die or each

DD tank and consult the DD anks able to see how ar it

drited o course beaching in the Sur Zone, or i it even made

it ashore.

fighting aShore

Since DD tanks can land beore the rst landing crat, theyare ready and able to provide re support or the rst waveas it comes ashore. Tis extra re support can be vital in thecrucial rst ew minutes o the landing. Some DD tanks letthe rear o their screen erected on landing and remained inthe sur giving re support. Others moved up the beach toengage targets they could not reach rom the waters edge.

Once ashore DD tanks may either remain in the Sur Zone

providing re support or the attacking inantry, or move on to

the beach as normal.

DD tanks that remain in the Sur Zone do not count as moving

and may shoot at their ull rate o re, but must roll a die in

each Movement Step.

On a roll o 1, the rising tide washes over the tank, whichis Destroyed.

Otherwise the tank is ne and can keep shooting.

commandand control

DD tank platoons are very likely to come ashore scatteredand piecemeal making it dicult or the platoon commanderto coordinate their actions. As a result they are trained to andexpect to operate independently.

DD tank platoons that swim ashore (as opposed to arriving by

landing crat) operate as Independent teams.

DD Tanks

Die Roll Fate




4 Swamped.TeDDtankwasswampedbyheavywavesontherunin.ItisDestroyedandremovedromthegame.

5or6 Delayed.DDtanksarenotastswimmers.Tistankhasnotyetreachedthebeach.Placethe

tankbackintheseazonetoattempttolandagainnextturn.

DD tAnks


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As well as landing crat and DD tanks, the Allied orceslanding at Normandy had numbers o DUKW amphibioustrucks available. Most o these were used to unload suppliesand carry them directly inland, but a small number wereused to bring ashore artillery pieces getting them into actionmore quickly than landing crat would have.

Any US Cannon Platoon or Field Artillery Battery may replace

its 1 or 2-ton trucks with DUKW amphibious trucks at

no extra cost. Te command and sta teams ride in one o theDUKW trucks, leaving their vehicles behind. A DUKW am-

phibious truck counts as a 2-ton truck with the addition that

it is amphibious.

A platoon mounted in amphibious DUKW trucks does not

require a landing crat to come ashore. It can swim ashore rom

Both the British and US armies provided the assault divi-sions with sel-propelled guns mounted in landing crat togive re support as the division assaulted the beaches.

You may load a landing crat with a British Assault Field

Battery (SP), Royal Artillery or a US Armored Field ArtilleryBattery and hold it out to sea ring as artillery rather than

bringing it ashore. I staging an amphibious assault US players

may eld one Armoured Field Artillery Battery in place o a

normal Field Artillery Battery, and British players may eld

one Assault Field Battery (SP), Royal Artillery in place o a

normal Field Battery, Royal Artillery (seeurning ide).

I you do so, the landing crat remains in the sea zone rather

than attempting to beach, but the artillery on board may re

Artillery Bombardments while still in the landing crat. While

the Floating Reserve on its own as i each DUKW truck were a

landing crat, except that they use the DD anks able rather

than the Landing Crat able to determine their ate during

the run ashore.

Once landed, DUKW trucks simply drive up the beach to

wherever they are intended to unload and set the guns down.

DUKW trucks carry their gun in their cargo compartment, but

are not strong enough to allow the gun to re while aboard.Te Gun team must dismount beside the truck as i it were

unlimbering beore it can re. Since the DUKW cannot tow

the gun, nor reload it in the cargo compartment, the DUKW

truck is immediately Sent to the Rear when the gun dismounts

and cannot be Brought Forward (see page 48 o the rulebook).

at sea the battery cannot be shot at. You may elect to beach the

landing crat and bring the battery ashore in a later turn when

the beach is secure enough.

Te artillery may either spot targets or themselves rom the

landing crat, or have their normal spotters and observer teamslocate targets or them. Measure the range to the target rom the

landing crat.

Batteries ring rom landing crat cannot re Smoke

Bombardments. Due to the constant motion o the landing

crat Sta teams cannot operate eectively, so the artillery bat-

teries using the Floating Artillery special do not count as having

a Sta team. Tis means they cannot use rules such as All Guns

Repeat! to repeat bombardments, nor may they re a ime On

arget bombardment.

Te D-Day landings were supported by dozens o warships

rom mighty battleships like the USS exasand HMS Rodney,down to lowly destroyers. Many o these warships were tasked

with providing re support to the troops on the beaches.

A orce making an amphibious landing may have Naval Gunre

Support rom warships o shore at a cost o 200 points.

naval gunfire SupportI you have Naval Gunre Support, your orce will eld anObserver Rife team that can spot or an artillery battery o

our Condent rained Naval Guns with no Sta team. TeGuns are not deployed on the table, but have the range to hitany target on the table.

Weapon Range ROF Anti-ank Firepower

Naval Guns 112/280cm - 6 1+

hit the beACh nAvAl gunfire support

DukW Amphibious truCks

floAting Artillery


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d-day

fortificationS

Te German deences on the coastline can be ormidable.Tey can include bunkers with the latest and heaviest anti-tank guns as well as emplaced tank turrets.

Te deending orce is best represented by a German

Festungskompanie rom page 22 oEarth & Steel. You may

like to deend in a Hit the Beach mission with another type

o Fortied Company, though not all o these are ideally

suited to deending a beach ront.

A Deending orce in a Hit the Beach mission counts as aFortied Company. In particular, remember the Armoured

Reserves special rule on page 269 o the rulebook.

PreliminaryBomBarDmenTBeore a major attack the deender is subjected to a prelimi-nary bombardment rom every heavy gun, bomber, and bat-tleship available in order to pin the enemy down and weakendeenders beore the battle begins.

o conduct a preliminary bombardment, the attacking player

works through the deending platoons deployed on the table one

at a time, including platoons that are held in Ambush.

Te attacker rolls a die per team in the platoon as i the whole

platoon were under the template o an artillery bombardment.

For each roll o 4+ the deending platoon takes a hit on a team

in the platoon chosen by the deender. Hits must be assigned

as though they were caused by an Artillery Bombardment (see

page 132 o the rulebook).

hit the beACh mission speCiAl rules


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Te deender then rolls a save or each Inantry or Gun team

that was hit. Any team that ails their save is removed rom the

game even i it is in Bulletproo Cover.

Te deender gets an Armour Save roll or armoured vehicles.

Te Anti-tank rating o the heavy guns ring the bombardment

is 6, so i the die roll plus the vehicles op armour is 5 or less,

the vehicle is removed rom the game. On a higher roll the

vehicle is unharmed.

Vehicles in ank Pits roll their extra 4+ ank Pit Save i

they ail their normal Armour Save. I they pass this, they are

unharmed and remain on table.

Unarmoured vehicles do not have any save due to the intensity

o the bombardment and are automatically removed rom the

table unless they are in a ank Pit where they get their 4+ ank

Pit Save.

o refect the mind-numbing ury o the bombardment, all deend-

ing platoons on the table start the game Pinned Down and all de-

ending Armoured vehicles on the table start the game Bailed Out.

Deending teams may not start the game mounted in their

transport vehicles or on tanks and, as normal, may not mount

up Bailed Out transport vehicles or tanks until the crew have

remounted.

Company and Higher Command teams and other Warrior

teams are hardened veterans and always survive a preliminary

bombardment, so do not roll to hit them.

Remember that losses taken beore the rst turn o play donot aect Platoon and Company Morale Checks.

inTerDicTion

Te Allied air orces totally dominate the skies over thelandings and ar inland. Te German reserves are placed cen-trally so they can respond to a landing anywhere. However,their march is continually interrupted by air attacks makingtheir movement very slow and uncertain.

Te Deending players Delayed Reserves arrive on rolls o 6

rather than 5+ as normal.


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VicTory PoinTs TableOutcome Results Attackers Deenders

Points Points

Attackingplayerholdsbothobjectivesbyturn9 StunningAttackersVictory 6 1

Attackingplayerholdsbothobjectives MajorAttackersVictory 5 2

AttackingplayerholdstheobjectiveplacedbytheDeendingplayer MinorAttackersVictory 4 3

AttackingplayerholdstheobjectiveplacedbytheAttackingplayer MinorDeendersVictory 3 4

Attackingplayerholdsnoobjectives,buthastroopsintheHinterlandZone MajorDeendersVictory 2 5

AttackingplayerholdsnoobjectivesandhasnotroopsintheHinterlandZone StunningDeendersVictory 1 6

overWhelming force

Amphibious assaults require overwhelming orce. Te troopsland in the teeth o the enemy deences, scattered and disor-ganised. It is only through overwhelming orce that they willsecure a lodgement.

Te Attacking orce has 25% more troops than the Deending

orce. A good orce or most tables would be 1500 points or the

Attacker against 1200 points or the Deender.When an Attacking platoon is Destroyed, the player returns

it to the Floating Reserve to represent a resh unit landing in

its place. Inantry and Man-packed Gun teams in the platoon

return to the Floating Reserve and can land again as long as

the platoon contained at least our such teams at the start o the

game. However, all other types o teams are permanently lost.

As usual, Destroyed Armoured vehicles remain where they are.

Warrior and Independent teams are also permanently lost when

they are Destroyed.

Te Attacking player may voluntarily destroy platoons andreturn them to the Floating Reserve in the rst part o the

Starting Step.

no retreat, no Surrender

Te troops landing on the beaches know that it is do or dietime. Tere is no going back, only death or victory. Likewisethe deenders have no contact with their headquarters andhave no option but to ght on.

Neither side needs to take Company Morale Checks. Tey will

ght until the end.

ToTal airsuPerioriTy

Tis battle is the ocus o the attackers strategic plan. Teirair orce is working overtime attacking enemy airelds andfying extra ghter patrols to keep the deenders air orcesout o the battle.

Te deending player must roll a 6, instead o 5+, in order to

receive ground-attack air support.


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Te time has come to liberate Europe rom the Nazi menace.

Your orce is landing in the rst wave. Can you break through

Hitlers Atlantic Wall and make the invasion stick?

Mission Special Rules:

Amphibious Assaults Rules (pages 20 to 25),D-day Fortifcations (page 26),

Delayed Reserves (page 269 o the rulebook) ,

Interdiction (page 27),

Overwhelming Force (page 28),

No Retreat, No Surrender (page 28),

Preliminary Bombardment (page 26),

Prepared Positions (page 264 o the rulebook), and

Total Air Superiority (page 28).

yourorDers

attacker

Your troops are the rst wave ashore. You must push inland

and secure the beachhead at any cost. It is essential to capture

both objectives as soon as possible.

defender

Te enemy invasion has nally begun. Under no circum-

stances can they be allowed to gain a beachhead. Tey must be

destroyed on the beaches. You must hold both objectives.

PreParing ForBaTTle

Te Deending player places their objective rst, thenthe Attacking player places theirs. Objectives cannotbe placed within 12/30cm o the beach or dunes or

within 20/50cm o the rear o the table, nor within8/20cm o the table edges.

Next the Deending player places their orticationsanywhere in the Hinterland Zone. Bunkers may not beplaced across roads or the beach exit.

Te Deending player must hold at least hal o theirplatoons in Delayed Reserve at the start o the game.Te remaining platoons and Independent teams are

now placed in the Hinterland Zone.

Te Attacking player must hold at least hal o theirplatoons in their Floating Reserve. Place the rest in theirlanding crat in the Sea Zone.

Next the Attacking player places any DD tank platoonsthat will swim ashore, and any artillery batteries carriedin DUKW amphibious trucks, in the Sea Zone.

BeginningThe BaTTle

Te Deending orce begins the game in preparedpositions, so their troops are in Foxholes and Gone toGround.

Te Attacking Player conducts a PreliminaryBombardment on the deenders orces.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

SurZone

BeachZone

SeaWall

Bothplayersplaceanobjectivehere

HinterlandZone

20/50cm

12/30cmDeendingorcesdeployhere

SeaZone

Deendersreservesarrivehere

8/20cm

4/10cm

8/20cm

Te Attacking player then lands their DD tankplatoons.

Te Deending player may not make ReconnaissanceDeployment moves.

Both players should remember that the Deendersreserves will be hindered by the Interdiction special rule

when making their plans.

Te Attacking player has the rst turn. Tey may notmake a Night Attack.

enDingThe BaTTle

Te battle ends either:

at the end o the Starting Step o the Attackers turn12, or

when the Attacking player starts any o their turnsholding both objectives.

deciding Who Won

Unlike most missions, casualties are irrelevant. All thatmatters is getting ashore as ar and as ast as possible, orstopping the enemy rom doing so.

Te Attacking player wins i they hold the objective placedby the Deending player, otherwise the Deending player

wins.

Calculate your Victory Points rom the Victory Point ableon the previous page.

3.

4.

5.

6.

4/10cm

hit the beACh mission

Fow Amphibious-Assaults

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