Overlord : The Allied Invasion of France, June–September, 1944

304 Pages·2013·105.26 MB·English

by  John-Paul Brisigotti

- ThisisasupplementforFlames Ofwar, the World W'ilrIIminiaturesgame.
AcopyoftherulebookforFlames OfWarisnecessaryto fullyusethecontentsofthisbook.
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Allrightsreserved. No partofthis publicationmaybe reproduced,sroredinaretrievalsystem, ortransmitted,inanyform orbyany
meanswithoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher, norbeotherwisecirculatedinanyform ofbIn 'ingorcoverotherthan that
in which itispublishedandwithoutasimilarcondition beingimposedon thesubsequentpurchaser.
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© Copyright BattlefrontMiniaturesLtd., 2013. ISBN: 978-0-9922516-7-3
THE ALLIED INVASION OF FRANCE
JUNE-SEPTEMBER 1944
)I' ,lfi ,I\'
Overlordwas updatedandexpandedfrom TurningTideby GraphicDesign:SeanGoodison
MichaelHaughtand PhilYates CoverandInternalArt:RandyElliott, MichaelTaylor,
TurningTidewasproducedbythe VincentWai,and BenWooten
Battlefrontteamandfriends. Proofreaders: Ed Baldridge, RobertBothwell, Russell Briant,
Paul Kitchin, BryanKoches,SeanIreland, GaryMartin,
Editors: PeterSimunovich,John-Paul Brisigotti
MichaelMcSwiney, GreggSiter,NealSmith
CONTENTS
-=
~ ,lfi
Introduction 2 GuardsSpecialRules. ............ 86 29'hInfantryDivision .
UsingaCompanyDiagram. ........ 4 II,hArmouredDivision 87 AssaultSpecialRules .
BasingYourArmy ................ 6 4'hCanadianArmouredDivision 88 BrigadierGeneral'Dutch' Cota .
TheD-DayLandings. ............. 8 ArmouredSquadron 90 AssaultCompany .
AlliedForcesinNormandy. ....... 14 MajorDavidVCurrie,VC 95 AssaulrDivisionalSupport .
CanadianArmoured RecceSquadron 96 Rangers
BRITISH FORCES MotorCompany. .............. 100 2,dand 5'hRangerBattalions. 214
AirborneDivision LorriedRifleCompany .......... 104 RangerSpecialRules . 217
6'hAirborneDivision 18 SergeantTomStanley III RangerBattalion (Normandy) . 218
AirborneSpecialRules. ........... 20 ArmouredCarSquadron 112 RangerBattalion . 219
ArmouredDivisionalSupport. .... 117
Lt-ColonelRGPine-Coffin ....... 21 ArmouredDivisions
ParachuteCompany 22 InfantryDivisions 2,dand3'dArmored Divisions . 227
AirlandingCompany. ............ 26 TankSquadron 124 4'hand6'hArmoredDivisions . 228
AirborneArmouredRecceSquadron. 32 IndependentArmouredSquadron.. 128 ArmoredDivisionSpecialRules . 230
AirborneDivisionalSupport 36 15'h(Scottish) Division .......... 136 StaffSergeantLafayettePool . 231
Commandos 51"(Highland) Division) 138 MediumTankCompany . 232
I and4SpecialServicesBrigades. ... 38 BritishDivisionsin Normandy 140 LightTankCompany . 236
CommandoSpecialRules 41 ScottishSpecialRules. ........... 141 Armored RifleCompany . 238
BrigadierTheLord Lovat 42 RifleCompany ................ 142 Armored Recon Company . 244
Lt-ColonelPeterYoung 43 RecceSquadron 150 CavalryReconTroop . 246
Commando (Beaches) 44 InfantryDivisionSupport 154 ArmoredDivisionalSuppOrt . 249
Commando (Orne) 45 CorpsSupport InfantryDivisions
D-DayAssaultDivisions CorpsSupport. ................ 157 The BigRedOne . 252
3'dDivision'Monty'sIronsides' 51 Arsenal SreadfastandLoyal . 254
50'h (Northumbrian) Division 52 Arsenal. 162 BrestorBusr . 258
CSMStanHollis,VC 55 PaintingBritishTroops 166 29,LetsGo! . 260
3'dCanadianInfantryDivision 56 RifleCompany . 262
1 CanadianSpecialRules 57 US FORCES InfantryDivisionalSupport . 268
CaprainJohnTreleaven 58 AirborneDivisions TankDestroyers
AssaultCompanySpecialRules 59 82,dAirborneDivision 172 TankDestroyerCompany . 276
AssaultCompany 60 LieutenantTurnerTurnbull....... 175 TaskForceAinBrittany . 280
AssaultDivisionalSupport 66 10l"AirborneDivision 178 TaskForceASpecialRules . 282
79'hArmouredDivision. .......... 70 USAirborneSpecial Rules. ....... 179 Task ForceA . 284
ArmouredDivisions ParachuteRifleCompany 180 CorpsSupport
7'hArmouredDivision. ........... 78 GliderRifleCompany. .......... 186 CorpsSupport . 288
DesertRatsSpecialRule .......... 79 Airborne DivisionalSupport 190
Arsenal
DesertRatsArmouredSquadron 80 D-DayAssaultDivisions Arsenal. . 296
ArmouredRecceSquadron 82 l"InfantryDivision 198 PaintingAmericanTroops . 299
GuardsArmouredDivision 86 4'hInfantryDivision 200
FLAMES OF WAR You'll need to breaktheGermanlinesfirst though, andthat's
where theinfantrydivisionscomein. SupportedbyHobart's
In Flames Of ~r you take on the role of a company
Funnies (AVRE engineering tanks and flail mine-clearing
commandermanoeuvringyour troops across the battlefields
tanks) and plenty of tanks (especially rhe flame-throwing
ofWorld War n. This classic period ofwarfare is brought
Crocodiles), they'll do thejob.
to life in your own game room. Overlordprovides the core
armiesintheformofIntelligenceBriefings.TheseIntelligence LandwiththeAmerican82nd'AllAmerican'or101S[ 'Scream
Briefings allow you to field the American, British, and ing Eagles' paratroopers at midnight and delay the enemy
Commonwealth forces that clashed with the Germans on so he can't reinforce the beaches. Then move on to a small
the beachesand battlefieldsofFrancein 1944. French rown called Carentan and wrest it from German
To play Flames 0f~r you'll also need the Flames Of~r paratroopers to linkUtah and OmahaBeaches.
rulebook. The rulebook contains all the rules that you need Meanwhilein the English Channel, climb into yourlanding
to fight miniatureWorldWarnbattles. craftand hit the beachcode-named Omaha. Push your men
up the seawall to knock our enemy machine-gun and anti
WHY COLLECT A FORCE FROM OVERLORD? tankbunkers.
.Overlordprovides Flames 0f~r players with the briefings Scale impossible heights with the Rangers at Point du Hoc
needed to recreate the heroic Allied forces from the bloody and capture the enemy guns hidden there before digging
invasion beaches to the breakout battles in bocagecountry. in like a tick to defend your positions against a German
counterattack.
Startwiththe Britishairborneassaultagainst PegasusBridge
andMervilleBatterytocuroffGermanreinforcementstothe Once the beachhead has been secured push inland and
beaches. Then take to the beaches with British or Canadian spearheadOperation Cobra, the breakourfrom the beaches.
assault troops as they smash through Hitler's Atlantic Wall. Follow the 2nd and yd Armored or the IS[and 4th Infantry
Break through the beach defences with an elite commando Divisions into the heart ofFrance as they press on to Paris.
andhead inlandto link upwith the paratroopers. Orhead westwith the 4th and6thArmored and 2nd and 29'h
Infantry Divisions as well as Task Force A as they liberate
Exploit the enemy's disorganisation to makea run for Caen
Brittanyand capturethe French portofBresr.
with the veteran Desert Rats, Just watch out for the Tigers
at Villers-Bocage! If that doesn't wotk, send in the Guards They are all here in Overlord, looking for the right general
th
and 11rh Armoured Divisions, or even the 4 Canadian to take command and bring the sting of battle to your
Armoured Divisionto smash the Germans. game room.
(J£'~3~'C).A.~,~',._PIAN--..-~, F -,r-"',-r- ; 1,"'-.\; How THIS BOOK WORKS
RiflE COMPANY
..
This book is divided into two main sections: one for the
H~~dquarters)
'. ': CompanyHQ(Compulsory Britishandonefor theUSforces. Withineachofthese there
Q
mHeadq'uarterswithTroop Carner is a section for each stage ofthe operations in Normandy.
Rifle,Platoon(CompulsoryC0mba<''P'l.atoon) Within these sections there are Intelligence Briefings for
with3 Riflesquadsand . various tank, mechanised, and infantry companies. All
170 points
.'~ ofthe forces in this book are based on historical examples
DefrockedPriestAPCs
(iRiflePlato~)I)-(CompulsoryComb~tPlatoon) thatfought in Normandyand Brittany from 6June to mid
September 1944.
with3 Riflesquadsand
DefrockedPriestAPCs
«!>
RiflePlatoon(CombatPlatoon)
~uads
with 3Rifle and
170 points
1
DefrockedPriestAPCs
CarrierPlatoon(WeaponsPlatoon) .'
.. I f 3Wasp flame-thrower camel'Sand
I
Wlth 1patro 0 . 180 oints-·
1patrolof3 Universal Camel's p
. HMGPlatoon(WeaponsPlatoon) .
. 120 pomts
with 2 Machine-gun Sections
11\ M Platoon(WeaponsPlatoon)
W Heavy ortar 130 points
with 2MortarSectionq
oBreachingGroup (SupportPlatoon) . d
V d 2ShermanCrab flails tanks an
with I.Sherman an 145 points
0 2AVREassault tanks
ArmouredPlatoon(SupportPlatoon)
Independent . 230 points
.,. . h 2ShermanV andaFireflyVC .
W Wit . Total-1355 pomts

Flames OfWar uses a point system to ensure that games are Next, Iwouldalso like to takeaBreachingGroup from page
reasonablyfairandbalanced.Gamesaretypicallyplayedwith 70 to deal with enemy bunkers. This platoon has no divi
around 1500points, butyouarecertainlynorlimitedto any sional symbols, but since the company diagram allows it as
..
particularvalue. You can playany pointvalue you andyour an option, Ican take itin mycompanyanyway.
opponentdecide from small 600 pointgames inan hour, to
mammothgames using armies that are3000 or5000points
or more! Once you and your opponent have agreed on a
=.. ..
points limit, you can choose any platoons allowed byyour
Coor.nllrl<tShltOnoiOV
companydiagram up to that total value. ~ ~".!I!L.l.!!1
r
havechosento field aBritishLorried RifleCompanyusing
the 7'hArmoured Division (m) variant. I chose the Desert The Breaching Group has no divisional symbol,
Rats (as the 7'hArmoured Division was known), because of companydiagram saysI can includeit.
its longhistoryand dramaticstoryin Normandy.
Next, Iwant to addsome tanks. The7'hArmoured Division
Reading the instructions box, I need to field at least a hasaspecialoptionto take aDesertRatsArmoured Platoon
Company HQand two Lorried Rifle Platoons in the black from page 81, so I'll take that. I could also have taken an '
boxes. All ofmycombatandweapons platoon choices must ArmouredReccePlatoonfrompage83,butnotanArmoured
have the Desert Ratssymbol ((l;J). Platoon from page 92 as the instruction boxsays that I can't
take aplatoon from anotherarmoureddivision.
Then I'll add some ofthe optional platoons in grey boxes.
OneoftheoptionalplatoonsIwouldlike to takeisaLorried
Onlythe7'hArmouredDivis
Machine-gun Platoon from page 110. Again, I need to use
ionisallowedtotakeaDesert
the points listed in the column marked (m) to match my
RatsArmouredPlatoon.
divisional variant.
The 7'h Armoured Division
isn't allowed to take a Can
adianArmouredReccePlatoon
as only the 4th Canadian
ArmouredDivisionisallowed
thatoption.
Finally, I'd like some armoured cars. I'll take an Armoured
Car Platoon from page 114. None ofthe variants here have
mydivisionalsymbol,buttheydon'thaveanyotherarmoured
division'ssymbol either, so I can take whichever type Iwant
inmycompany. IchooseanArmouredCarPlatoonfrom the
When buildingmy 7'hArmouredDivisionforce, I use the Jl).
11th Hussars (marked
points in the second column marked with my divisions
symbol(mJ. Once I have selected all ofmy platoons and totalled up my
points, I just have to gather my miniatures, set up a battle
I'llalso needsomeartillerytohelpmyboys,soI'veselecteda
field, andstartplaying!
FieldBattery(SP),RoyalArtilleryfrompage 121.Inthiscase
there are five available variants, so Iselect the 7th Armoured
Divisionvariant.
-
ADDING WARRIORS TO YOUR FORCE
Thereare manywarriors throughout this book. Theseare heroicsoldiers (manyfrom real
life) who canjoinyourforceandhelp ittovictory. Foreachwarriorthere isaphotoofthe
miniatureand the productcodeso thatyou caneasilyfindoutwhere to get theminiature
andadd it toyourforce.
Warriors are available from the Flames Of War website www.FlamesOfW.ar.com and
independent retailers as special orderitems (BSO###or USO###), blister packs (BR###
or US###), or boxes (BBX## or UBX##). Each warrior entry displays the relevant
packcode.
In theexampleto the rightyou canfind thewarriorLieutenant-Colonel RG Pine-Coffin
as aSpecial Orderitem using thepackcode BS0153.
BattlefrontMiniatures packages Flames O/Warproducts to give you everythingyou need to assemble your force as quickly
and accuratelyas possible. Our blistersand boxsetsarepackagedto giveyou all ofthe optionsavailable to buildyourarmy.
How TO BASE DIFFERENT TYPES OF UNITS-......:.. --_~~).I.Ii==~~.,~==---!l.P.--~~=7Y-fIt
Every army organises its platoons differently, and the organisation diagrams reRect this. For example, a RiRe squad in an
American Armored RiRe Platoon has ten mensplitinto twO RiRe teams offoursoldiersanda Bazookateam oftwosoldiers.
Ofcourse, units incombatrarely maintain their theoretical strength. We reRect this byallowingyou to takefewer squads.
Thefundamental building blocks ofan infantryplatoon are the various types ofinfantry teams. The mostcommononesare
shown belowwith abriefdescriptionoftheirfunction and organisation.
COMMANDTEAMS ACommandteamis made upofanofficer,anNCO, andariReman on
asmall base. There are often options to upgrade your Command team
with adifferentweapon.To do so, simplyreplace the riRemanwith the
chosen upgrade. You canseean example ofthis on thefollowing page.
RiRe teams are the basic form ofinfantry. All the miniatures in a riRe
teamwill normallybearmedwith riRes. Somesquadsmayhaveasingle
machine-gun, but its effect is diluted by the number of riRes in the
squad. Baseyour riRe teams onamedium base.
RIFLE/MG TEAMS RiRe/MG teams are organised like riRe teams, except that everysquad
~~,\ ~~,\"'-
oftwO teams has a machine-gun. Base RiRe/MG teams on a medium
basewith thesecond basenormally modelledwith a machine-gun.
MG TEAMS MG teamsare betterarmed than RiRe/MG teams. EveryMG team has
a machine-gun. Base MG teams with a machine-gun and two to three
riRemen on amedium base.
SMG TEAMS Some nations equipped entire platoons with submachine-guns. SMG
teams are made up ofminiatures armed exclusivelywith submachine
guns. BaseSMG teams on amedium base.
APioneerteam retains thenormalcharacteristicsand basingofits type,
e.g. aRiRe teamonamediumbase, andgainscombatengineeringchar
acteristics and abilities such as an increased anti-tank rating in assault
r-----------........................--....... and theability to clearminesand demolish fortifications.
~-
Light Mortar teams are made up of a miniature armed with a light
mortaranda loaderon asmall base.
LIGHTANTI-TANK LightAnti-tankteamsareinfantryteamsmadeupofaminiaturearmed
TEAMS with aweapon likea BazookaorPIATandaloaderonasmallbase
Artillery batteries and machine-gun, anti-tank gun, and infantry gun platoons combine command infantry teams with
gun teams. Information on basing gun teams can be found in BasingYour Miniatures on pages 10 to 13 ofthe rulebook.
Essentially, Man-packedgun teams are mounted like infantry teams on a medium base facing the wideedge, anti-tankand
infantry guns are mounted on a medium base facing the narrow end, and artillery is mounted on a large base facing the
narrowend.
PLATOON DIAGRAMS
Each platoon diagram indicates the required squads and teams you must have to make that unit combat-worthy. Troops in
blackare the coreofthe uniL Troops ingreyare optionalsupportingtroops, weapons, andvehicles thatyou can add to give
them more punch or mobility. Manyplatoons also include options that allowyou to improve the equipmentorcapabilities
ofsomeofthe teams. Theplatoonentrywillalso list thespecial rules that the platoon uses. Thefollowing exampleshowsan
ArmoredRiRe Platoonfrom page 240and how to assembleit usinganArmored RiRePlatoon boxset (UBX01).