Hi All
Great day and thanks to both opponents and team mates alike.
Few shots of the calm before the storm.
Rommel adding some defenses.
The three bridges that the airborne had to hold to stop the reserves arriving.
Allied landing craft start to arrive.
Two German Festung companies dug in on our right flank, pity the tide was running in the opposite direction and forced many troops to bypass these heavily defended points. That's what the commanders said anyway, if the tides were running or the landing troops had a quiet word with the boat crews and asked them to land further down the beach the result was the same. FJ commander Colin had a boat load, no pun intended, of bodies coming for him.
Shots of the landings.
Allies even landed their own war photograthers with the first wave.
All kinds of strange people turned up on the beach.
This is a special experimental Tardis landing craft capable of holding an entire squadron of armour.
Obstacles holding up the tanks until the special breaching groups start to clear a path.
Meanwhile on the other side of the table the German reserves start to arrive in dribs and drabs and start to roll towards death or glory, the 21st had disobeyed the Fuhrer and were making for the beaches.
British paras hold one flank and the Americans the other.
Due to 17 pounder and 6 pounder on British side the sneaky Germans decide to head for the Americans.
Harder to cross the bridges than you would think when AT6 12 gun battery from British battleship is zaping you, actually on one turn two air attacks failed to kill anything as did the American and British AT Guns and then two sets of mortars and some 105mm howitzers also missed everything. Could have been a fantastic turn for the allies but ended with a bit of a damp squib.
First axis forces get across the bridges and start to go toe to toe with the elite troops, fair to say it was a 50/50 scrap.
Time was ticking and and allies were starting to get through the FJ defenses, with massive cost to armour as the paras were pretty much just holding PF out of the windows and dropping em on the shermans and specials that were making it ashore. Two of the three bridges were crossed and the third was also about to fall.
Artillery and tanks were now able to start taking pot shots across the boards.
Game was planned to go across two days but as things were starting to get decisive and some players couldn't do both days something drastic needed to be done.
A fine figured Baldie headed German commander decided everyone should charge across the three bridges rather than spend another couple of turns whittling down the brave allied roadblock.
Now you could call this a target rich environment
It would be fair to say that the American paras got a good kicking on the left flank but in retaliation the British paras did over the PIV on the middle bridge. The panzer grenadiers on the right flank also joined in and the last remaining 17 pounder and tetrach repainted the bridge in a fetching shade of Red.
With parents and er indoors's sending increasingly terse communications for a retirement on all fronts we decided to call it a well deserved draw.
German flankers were getting good footholds on the other side of the river but there weren't many panzer forces left that said there also weren't much in the way of tanks for em to go for either.
The festung companies were just starting to come under pressure from the British airbourne and the Americans were having a stare off with the FJ.
Really good day again, some of those bellies mine included are definitely getting bigger each year we play one of these.
Tomorrow those who can are having another game this time with armored forces heading inland.
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by Bob Typhoon » Fri Jun 06, 2014 7:24 pm 
only kidding ...great day and a top shop...well done and a massive thanks to Colin and Jenny.... 
