As promised, a couple shots of my Overlord play-through. Last time I played was as playtester for the Overlord Expansion. Have had to refresh with respect to the rules, but overall play is moving along smoothly. I'm in the transition between D-Day (Turn 1) and T2 when many of the regular rules kick in (i.e., support points, Allied air, etc.).

On the CW beaches, I'd say progress is good. The Bayeux-Caen primary road has been cut, only one reduced Weapon's Nest remains (circled in teal), and aggressively deployed airborne units are making a nuisance of themselves across the Orne River. Circled in black, German mechanized units (contrary to Milt's excellent player notes advice) made the mistake of attacking one of the outlying para battalions, and though the odds were high, ended up receiving a loss - not good for the Panzers.

For their part, the Germans are maneuvering the 21st and 12th SS Panzer divisions to cover the open area around Caen (black arrows). Generally, release of the unit groups was slow and Meyer's units (around Bayeux) didn't release until the last landing phase, which has the Germans scrambling to block both the CW and US leaving the beaches.



On Omaha, advancement is almost non-existent but the WNs have been eliminated (except for the pesky artillery along the CW/US boundary in left of pic). With the poor German response, the US hopes to move off the beaches in the direction of the green arrows.

Utah has had more movement off the beaches, and I played the paras very aggressively (see green circles). The Germans are wiping them out, but it has been one for one loss wise and I hope this will be more detrimental to the Germans in the long run than the Americans in the short run.

German release was much faster on the Cotentin Peninsular (black arrows), which has resulted in the formation of a solid defensive line (though there are definitely tweaks to be made). The big decision is how many more counterattacks should be made against the paras considering the losses they generally incur. As the Germans can start recombining their battalions this turn, another assessment will need to be made of their strength status and future proclivity for further attacks.

Thanks for sharing Gary. I still am committed to getting this on the table. Speaking of which...my Geek Chic table arrives in early December and then I can leave a four-mapper setup for the long term!

Separately I am going to try to get to Tempe next year and maybe get this one on the table there or possibly we can plan a long weekend here in Savannah in the future.

I think I can, I think I can,....

Chris

Your Geek Chic table can fit four maps? Didn't know they made one that big.

How long ago did you order it?

I ordered the 4'8" x 8'3" Emissary table. That is the largest standard production of that table type they make. It has a fair amount of room to spare on the ends with a rectangular 4-map setup in the "vault" which measures 4'x 7'6" of space. Of course, if one is willing to pay a premium they will make a table to any dimensions you request but the costs would get pretty extreme I am sure.

I ordered my table a few months ago and got lucky with the December delivery as they had space on their truck headed down to the Southeast or otherwise might have had another 2-6 months more wait time. My total wait time ends up being only about 5 months so I definitively got lucky.

Great AAR Gary

That is one tidy battlefield, Gary, thanks for posting.

While I can't claim to have a chic gaming table, I hope my ping pong table will suffice to hold my blown up TKG maps. =)

Tom - you know you deserve it! Take the plunge and make the purchase! You will still get another 30 plus years of usage and then can pass it down to Alex.

Wow guys, that took me back - the 'Last Updated' date on my charts file was over three years ago!

I have no clue now what I was thinking of when I put the 'No ZOC' message against Forest, and I can't check the rules at the moment, so I'll trust you and correct it. Any more changes now that I've found where I put the file ?

Andy.

. . . or possibly we can plan a long weekend here in Savannah in the future.

Sounds like an idea Chris. Shoot me an email once the Skirmish is over, and let me know what you're thinking and possible general time-frame (i.e., the holidays, next Spring, etc.).

Any more changes now that I've found where I put the file?

I noticed a couple of other things Andy, will get back to you in the next several days hopefully. Thanks for updating - it's a great play aid. :smile:

Andy,

Thank you very much for the charts, it helps so much ! :smile: Currently reading books on the Normandy campaign, might try this one soon

You're very welcome. I put them together for my own benefit to try and spend less time searching the rulebook - it's a superb game, but there are lots of details to remember.

Glad they're helping you.

Andy.

Just a quick update:

CW units moved further inland and expanded the Orne bridgehead slightly. Well, make that a lot as three battalions that included some commandos decided to "bum rush" a town outside of Caen that contained a reduced PzGr battalion from 21st Pz. The idea was to inflict a loss or retreat on the German unit, and then move into the "mandatory attack safety" of the town. Allied air, along with naval barrage and the commandos, contributed a 5 column shift to the attack, which along with a great die roll, annihilated the PzGr unit and created a hole allowing the attackers to advance all the way into Caen itself.

The CW then followed up later in the turn with Targeted Air Interdiction (light blue circles), and a strong General Air Interdiction (GAI) leaving the German mechanized almost paralyzed to adequately respond. They also started building an IP (circled in red) in a clear hex next to the blown Orne River bridge and Caen with the goal of maintaining contact with their mates on the other side, and eventually repairing the bridge separating them.

The Germans have brought in another HQ and a regiment of flak, one battalion of which was able to rail in close to Caen (circled in black). 1SS Pz crawled up the road network a few more hexes, while one of its A3 PzGr regiments recovered from the pounding it received from an interdiction air attack which Disrupted the unit, making it essentially useless to respond to the British incursion into Caen (Movement Allowance of 14 - 6 from GAI = 8, halved to 4 allowing a movement of 2 hexes because of the TAI).



Units on Omaha, now hooked up with the CW, were able to destroy a German flak unit and cross the Aure River as the Germans rushed reinforcements in the form a bicycle infantry regiment, and a battalion of infantry, the latter having arrived by rail (circled in black).

On Utah, the 101st glider regiment, with help, eliminated a German garrison within the American perimeter (circled in green). Next to it sits the first US HQ to make it on shore. The glider component of 82nd Airborne moved up to Carentan.

Circled in gray are German regiments that were re-combined from their associated battalions. Hopefully they can stay in supply as they now have to use HQs and not cities as their source.

Very interesting situation Gary. Is the 17SS still far away from reaching the front ? Going to be very tough for the German especially on the CW front.

What a beautiful game. I really need to get that on the table.

Very interesting situation Gary. Is the 17SS still far away from reaching the front?

It sure is Olivier. I'm relearning the nuances of the system, and one of them is that even though you may have overwhelming odds, when you're in combat, you may suffer from losses/results that you didn't expect. That means as the Germans you are NOT going to push the Allies back into the sea, unless the latter commit some egregious error and even then it would only be on one beach. And if they do manage to repulse one beach, they will have necessarily neglected the other beaches where the Allies will certainly be wreaking havoc. In the blind playtesting at CSW Expo, I thought Bruce (the German player) was being way overly cautious by not attacking in the first several turns, but now I believe he was just being smart!

17SS is just beginning to dribble onto the map far south of the beaches. If you have the game, note that on the Overlord Game Turn Chart, 17SS enters as a reinforcement over several days (alternatively, you can look at this pic of the chart that I took during playtesting ----> Overlord Game Turn Chart ).

Going to be very tough for the German especially on the CW front.

Yeah, I may play on for awhile and then reset. I'm still learning a trick or two on the other beaches, plus I want to see if that Caen situation really is as tough as it looks. :goofy:

What a beautiful game.

I totally agree Peter - it's easy to tell the NES team really spent a lot of time not only on the system, but on the details of the components (even the new charts are gorgeous). :ooh:

I really need to get that on the table.

Totally guilty here of letting this one languish on my shelves overrun, if you will, by all the new game releases (and "upgraded" reprints) that gush forth every year. I'm so glad that I've got this on the table (where I intend to keep it for quite awhile) as it really is an elegant system - one of the reasons why I believe it's possible to read about multiple playings through the whole campaign.

Thank you Gary. Yes, I checked and the 17SS is still far from the front...Very tense situation for the german, pff.. I conccur, this game is gorgeous, the maps are first class, but definitely not an easy game.

On the Overlord Sequence of Play Chart, under section 26.3 there is the following statement: "Each Game-Turn must proceed exactly in the order described in the following outline:" [Emphasis added]

This is very explicit, and practically would mean that during the Recombine Breakdown Battalions segment (C.2.B.v), the Allies would NOT be able to use Replacement Points during recombination as the SoP "ordering" calls for their use four steps previously in C.2.B.i.

Is this the correct interpretation?

The reason for asking is that the Germans don't appear to have this Sequence of Play "ordering" restriction under D.2.B which appears to allow incorporation of RPs anytime during the Replacement Segment, including while German Breakdown Battalions are recombining. Wondering if this difference was intentional.

Well, the CW are about to make their move and I noticed another mistake by the Germans that exacerbates the first of not adequately protecting the Caen city hexes (which was technically the second if we count attacking Paras with the 21st Pz Mechanized Infantry the first). :eyeroll:

Anyone else see the error (it has nothing to do with the "yellow dot" units)?

The Germans left a ZOC hole on the Orne side of Caen - British units can fan out via 4148 and among other things, totally cut off 25/12SS. Or whack the 1SS HQ unit. The only saving grace is that they don't have a lot of units in range to do this .

The Germans left a ZOC hole on the Orne side of Caen - British units can fan out via 4148 and among other things, totally cut off 25/12SS. Or whack the 1SS HQ unit. The only saving grace is that they don't have a lot of units in range to do this.

You, of course, nailed it Marty. So I switched the 25/12SS and 2/12 Pz positions which was legally what the Germans could have done on their turn anyway. That at least put a ZOC both in 4148, and in the town hex of 3948. The former blocked the "fan out" and the latter semi-blocked a rush of reinforcements into Caen. The problem however is that once CW units stop in the town, on their next turn they can step into the city since ZOCs do not enter city hexes.

On their turn (Germans haven't moved yet), the CW spent a support point, attacked (commandos + air without naval bombardment which failed to join) and eliminated 21st Pz Recon. So . . . another Caen hex is in Allied hands (see red arrow). The Paras briefly thought about taking on the 2/12 Pz unit, but it was only a 3-1 in clear, and it would have sucked them away from their perimeter positions. Also thought about fanning the Paras out further inland, but thought the better of it without more reinforcements, which are pouring into the Orne bridgehead having now recovered from the landings and recombination disruptions. Note also, the completed CW IP position on the west side of the Orne - those CW should be there to stay, and will eventually repair the blown bridge between them and that 4Ar unit on the east side.

Allied air pounded the sister Mech infantry regiment of 25/12SS causing it to disorganize, and with targeted and general interdiction from the air, movement around the Caen area should again be tedious for the Germans.