Firstly, the basic terrain. It's good enough as is. The fabric is a bit ordinary, but more effective than I thought it'd be. I have a hankering to do some nice terrain boards...but, yeah. First things first. Textured terrain boards can wait. As can bluffs-- I'd like to get the 2" thick foam insulation and a hot wire cutter and go to town, but later. Maybe. I would like to do a better sea wall-- right now, I'm just using trenches.
A breakdown of painted US Forces:
| 29th ID HQ | 10 pts |
| 6x 29th ID assault platoons | 780 pts |
| DD tank platoon | 345 pts |
| Naval gunfire support (offboard) | 200 pts |
| General Dutch Cota | 25 pts |
Unpainted US Forces:
| MG platoon, two sections +2 bazookas | 130 pts |
| Mortar platoon, three sections +3 bazookas | 165 pts |
| Priority Air Support, P-47 | 130 pts |
| 6x DUKW | - |
Whoops! As usual, it seems, I haven't gotten around to company weapon platoons. I don't have boats for these fellows, either; they make have to ride in on DUKWs!
Thoughts on where to take the US from here: I'd like to have a Ranger platoon. Probably actual LCVPs for the support platoons to ride in, and an LCA for the Rangers. (I'm guessing the support platoons rode in LCVPs...anyone know for sure?)
I can always bump the points up a bit by taking them as 1st ID veterans. And I have 57mm AT guns, 75mm pack artillery (to proxy as M3 105mm light howitzer) and M2A1 105mm artillery. It just seems weird to me to have those storming the beach-- never saw that in the Longest Day!!
A breakdown of painted German Forces, as Festungkompanie from 352. ID:
| Company HQ with Anti-tank section, panzerknacker SMG, 3x snipers | 215 pts |
| 3x Veteran Festungs Grenadier platoons, panzerknackers | 555 pts |
| Festungs MG platoon, panzerknacker | 105 pts |
| Festungs IG platoon (15cm sIG33) | 145 pts |
| Festungs ATG platoon (PaK40) | 155 pts |
| Festungs Artillery battery (10.5cm leFH18) | 210 pts |
| 2x Anti-tank Pillbox w/ mines, trench, wire | 290 pts |
| 5cm KwK Nest (unpainted) w/ trench, wire | 45 pts |
| 2x HMG Pillbox (unpainted) w/ total 1 wire | 170 pts |
| 2x HMG Nest (unpainted) | 80 pts |
| Anti-Tank obstacle | 100 pts |
In addition to the unpainted bunkers, I need to magnetize my AT pillbox guns. I need to double check my trenches-- I am using those for a sea wall for now, I may not have enough for all the trenches I bought, although I do have a lot.
Thoughts on where to take the Germans from here: I think the Germans are good to go! I have just about all the bunkers I could use, and I have some Renault R-35s I could borrow a turret for to make a Tobruk or two. I feel like I should get the company mortar platoon, as well. I could use some gun pits, and I notice that I could also use a second BB104 Battlefield in a Box: Defenses. I also note this product appears to have been discontinued!!
It looks like the dinosaur is on the German's side - that's bad news for the Americans!
ReplyDeleteNice set up, I look forward to the AAR.
Andy,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty easy to glue sand to the felt if you want a sandier looking beach. I've done a few different sand features just by liberally coating with spray adhesive, packing sand onto the felt, shaking off the excess and then spraying with a matte sealer.
An easy way to dress up your ocean is to add breakers using woodlands scenics snow flock. Put this into some sort of narrow neck bottle (e.g. a condiments squeeze bottle) and sprinkle it onto the blue felt in lines to make waves of breakers. It's fast, easy and surprisingly effective. I never bother trying to glue this down and don't worry about being super precise with the lines. Some variation and spray bits of "foam" make the waves look more natural.