Club night at the South London Warlords tonight and we had another go at the St Aubin D-Day game, but with a bigger piece of coast, and a sandy beach instead of shingle. We used 15mm and I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! with an activation system taken from Chain of Command.

48 Commando landed a company on the left of the table, aiming to drive inland and take a command bunker. Two troops of the 1st Hussars and A Company of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles were to land at St Aubin and to the right of the sea defences.

48 Commando roared onto the beach with a double move, all three landing craft making it to shore safely, only to get set upon by two MG 42’s and an infantry section. It was a bloody affair and by the end of the game half the initial force was dead or wounded, but the seawall was taken and two sections were moving through St Aubin. The other two sections were preparing to move against the bunker.

In the centre, the assault wave was slow to arrive, with the currents causing some near misses amongst the LC and DD tanks. Eventually all of A Company made it to the seawall but also took heavy losses. The Germans did eventually break as all three DD tanks made it ashore and blasted HE at any German position that showed itself. My own troop had terrible luck. Two tanks sank in the deep water, the other lost power and drifted offshore.

A great game and Iain Fuller did an amazing job fighting to keep the three Allied players from breaking the Atlantic Wall. He was exhausted and later found he had his jackboots on the wrong feet.......😄

I am determined to do the next game as a “ next wave and supports” and will start the planning for that in the coming weeks

Desmondo Darkin