Jim takes a moment to have a look at what’s happening on huge the Sword Beach table at Historicon.
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Command decision along with crossfire are my 2 favourite sets of ww2 rules
Anything command-tactical (ea piece is a platoon or a company or battery) is always a step-up in my book. Individual skirmish “WYSIWYG” games are great for moderns, but WW2 has to be command-tactical.
@oriskany you are really spoiling me, armoured bulldozers, AVREs with facines, Churchill bridgelayers, Sherman flails & DD tanks! If only there was a bicycle unit and it would have been perfection! ???
@brucelea – I was on the lookout for German bicycles – I didn’t see any! They must have pedaled away when they saw what was coming! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
No one else is brave enough to handle the bicycles @brucelea
You know this. 😀
My Grandfather served there He was also at Dunkirk so he must have got sick of French beaches. Being a short fellow he ended up under the water a lot.
That reminds me of Sean Connery’s character from Sword Beach in The Longest Day. 🙂 Left from Dunkirk, came back to Sword, and wound up in the water. 🙂
Great looking table, very impressed with the sheer size and scope of some of the games so far!
@robert – there were tons of great tables, it was a tough call, but I think this one was my favorite. 🙂
Let there be no doubts that @oriskany knows his stuff …
What were those logs and why is the direction so important ?
I’m assuming it means they weren’t meant to impale incoming boats/tanks, but to have them expose the soft underbelly ?
The boat rides up the slope of the log and either hits a mine placed at the end or be tipped over.
@avernos is correct, the log is usually slanting up AWAY from the sea, as shown in these images. For some reason Saving Private Ryan had them pointing out TOWARD the sea.
Even if the landing craft doesn’t hit the mine (or of the log doesn’t have a mine, most didn’t), it will flip the boat and spill the men and equipment into the surf where they are helpless against MG and mortar fire. Such was the idea, any way.
In saving private Ryan the tide was going out, so they had swung around with the current. ?????
That explains it. Now if I could just get past those P-51s …
Grr …
It all sounds rather unsporting
So does slinging a Flying Dustbin from an AVRE mortar at a German bunker 50 meters away. 😀
Is that Mr Rommel amidst all those men inspecting the Atlantic wall?
Thank you for the info on these beach obstacles.
I could not find them on the Pictures, but were there some Rommelspargel on the board, too?
@jemmy – I just did a Google Images search on “German Beach Defenses Normandy.” 😀
The search returned a few pics of Rommel’s Asparagus as well.
I’d love to play this scenario!
This would be an epic game. See if you can get 1st Special Service Brigade Commandos to the 6th Airborne Paras in time! 21st Panzer is on the way!
I really want to go to this show.
The new convention center is great. Seriously awesome facilities, tons of space, everything is centrally located, helpful staff, its really great.
amazing
Even more amazing, he resets it and runs it again the next day! 😀
Huuuge table!
Good looking stuff.
21st Panzer ‘funnies’ versus Hobart’s Funnies, that would be an interesting scrap.
Good to see you on the threads @damon , hope you are enjoying the coverage! 😀
I like the look. I’ve never played in or seen a game of command decision not played in 6mm
Doesn’t Bob MacKenzie’s site always play Test of Battle in 20mm? Or am I thinking of another system?
Not sure Jim. I have seen pictures of games in 15mm and above but not actually in the flesh
Actually it looks like he does both 6mm and 20mm Test of Battle.
http://www.testofbattle.com/upload/bob/
@oriskany Ah yes I kinda had a brain freeze as I have that page book marked when I downloaded his WWW and WW1 versions of Bloody Big Battles which is basically a slimmed down version of gire and fury
He does his research, that’s for sure.
now that’s D-Day, what a table, say it’s a blast to play on
I’ll say. The only issue I might have noticed is getting access to units and figures at the center of the table. It was THAT big.
you can not but be impressed looking at tables like this.
This historical accuracy was also impressive (again, the scale was fig = PLATOON and I think he said 1″ = 50 yards).
Astonishing, so detailed table.
It was amazing, and the people were very friendly too.
What a stunning looking table.
I especially like the British engineering vehicles.
Just loving the landing craft!
He even had a piece for one that had been hit and sinking.
HOLY SHIT! That table is AMAZING! Did you get a chance to talk to him about your nine hour Gold Beach game @oriskany ?
That’s a game just for myself, @damon , and @brucelea , and of course our YouTube Fans …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAdtv4t8z8
That was an incredible table.
Absolutely, @cbrenner .
Just absolutely great looking games being run there!
That’s just staggering. Hats off to the organisers!
@longshotte and @somegeezer – absolutely true. 😀
Awesome table, jeeze man that is a game table, man i would just play on that all day…?
The only possible challenge I could see is getting to units at the very middle of the table.