Ran a game of Utah Beach: Exit 1 at Pouppeville last night. This was largely based on Scenario Nineteen: Blocking the Way from Where the Hell Have You Been Boys? I modified it so everybody came in on the first turn-- the Germans were told of the 4th ID approaching from the beach direction, then the Airborne placed their blinds on the inland table edge on the first US Blinds card. The Germans had a full strength company, and each US platoon only had two full strength squads per company, due to disorganization on the beach or from the air drops. I did not give the Germans the suggested Tank Killers card.
The US tanks came up the road from Utah beach, and the closest house held a Panzershreck team. The Panzerscheck team annihilated the lead Sherman, before the other Shermans started pasting the house. Another Sherman was immobilized by a Panzerfaust.
The 4ID infantry came through the bocage on the right flank. The squad nearest to Pouppeville was pinned down by a German sniper. The remaining squads then turned in to approach the town via the road. However, a German blind revealed themselves at the edge of some bocage and caught them in the open, tearing them up. The airborne had those Germans in a pincer, but did not get to press home due to time constraints.
It went well and everybody seemed to have a fun time. I had seven players show up, one of which had played a single game of IABSM before. So, we only got through about four turns in the three hours we had before the store closed. I didn't hear any complaints, though, and the players seemed eager for another game.
One improvement I made for this game was to paint single Old Glory CD Panzerfaust figures to be used as Panzerfaust counters per platoon. And I painted the US infantry company (well, most of it) for this game. I also made some orchards from some very cheap aliexpress trees, but I had them out on my workbench and my dog ate them the afternoon of the game.
Andy Cowell
