Five Men in Normandy - Holding at Varaville

I really enjoyed the first game I played in this campaign. So I very much wanted to follow up with a second game while at least SOME of the rules were fresh in my head!? Alas... it's been FOUR MONTHS... and I'd forgotten everything. 

I finally got this on the table because later this weekend I'm going to introduce the system to a friend and I wanted to have the rules straight in my head, so I re-read all the rules (there really aren't THAT many, so that wasn't so onerous a task as I initially thought it might be... I did briefly consider upgrading to Five Men at Kursk... but that DID look like there's a bit more to it, so I decided maybe that's for some other time and to stick to Five Men in Normandy!) 

Tuesday, 6 June 1944, 08:07am

Somewhere in Normandy, East of the Divette near Varaville 

After figuring out where they were in the last mission. The group set out to rendezvous with friendly forces - ideally BEFORE bridges were blown and they retreated back to the Battalion Rendezvous point at Les Mesnil. 

The going was slow, as they tried their best to avoid large groups of Germans that seemed to be swarming everywhere in confusion. It turned out they weren't as far south as they initially thought, more East than anything! The closest bridge they could get to was the one at Varaville that the Canadians were preparing to blow up. 

The arrived at just before 8am while the engineers were still preparing the bridge for demolition - it would still be some time, as they'd had a hard time gathering enough explosive. Sapper Danforth left the group to join the Royal Engineers working at the bridge.

The remainder of LCpl Ching's group was tasked with digging in near a small crossroads of two secondary roads just north of the bridge on the east side of the river and hold against any counterattacks. 

Dug in at the crossroads - with good sightlines down each road and a good view of the field opposite. 

Since Pte. Constable and Pte. Hughes were still sore at each other they had to be split up. Ching also no longer trusted Hughes to follow orders and maintain fire discipline, so Ching, Hughes and Messier were in one slit trench together. Pte. Constable  and Pte Reddy shared the other slit trench.

They spotted an officer of an unknown unit walking up the road with a mug of coffee. Ching tried to wave him down an urge him to hurry to their position. 

Across the field, however, a patrol of Germans were marshalling in the a small copse of wood. 

The Germans opening fusillade with the MG42s was very effective. Ching and Messier were missed, but they decided to hunker down immediately (and could not be further targeted by fire - until activated and popped their heads up. Pte Hughes was and Private Constable were both Down, Private Reddy Flinched. 

The approaching officer was downed on the road.  

On the Paras turn, LCpl Ching Checked on Hughes and found he'd been grazed. Ching applied a dressing and got him back in action. 

Reddy checked on Constable and also found a great big dent on his helmet that had deflected a bullet! 

Messier popped his head up, reaction fire was ineffective, so he opened up with his Bren Gun and caused one of the MG42 loaders to Bail! 

Somehow I neglected to take a picture of this... 

On the following German turn, the other MG42 team fired back at Messier, missing, but he decided to again hunker down!  

With the English properly suppressed a German squad leader and two privates rushed out towards the downed officer. 

On the other flank, two other riflemen rushed across the field for the cover of the hedges, trying to outflank the English Paratroopers positions. 

Ptes Messier, Reddy, and Constable all popped their heads up (and were not suppressed by reaction fire!) and all fired on the trio moving across the field towards the Downed officer. One rifleman was knocked Out Of action, the other two Down, and the squad leader Bailed! 

The Germans had a Firefight round and started with the MG teams opening up, which got all the Paras heads down and Pte Reddy Flinched. 

On the Paras turn, Messier, Constable and Hughes were up and firing (and not getting suppressed!) and their combined fire KOed one of the MG gunners and the other was Down! 

The Germans returned fire... 

All the Paras Hunkered Down again - except Pte. Messier, who was taken Out Of Action!!!

The German officer checked on the Bailed squad leader and he flinched and fled off the table! 

Others moved out of cover to check on their Downed squad mate in the field. 

On the following Paras turn, fire from LCpl. Ching caused one of the Germans down the lane to Bail, fleeing the battlefield. 

Reddy Flinched when reaction fire came a little too close when he popped up to shoot...  

Constable had another great round of shooting took out another German manning one of the MG42s!? 

More Germans on the move when the Paras heads were down. 

On the Paras turn Hughes, Reddy and Constable popped their heads up to fire and all were suppressed by reaction fire! Reddy and Constable both flinched and would not act in the following turn. Hughes bailed. Because he was in good cover he would have to hunker down and check again on their next turn. 

Checking on the Downed German in the field, he was found to only be lightly wounded and got up to soldier on 

More Germans rushing up on the other flank. 

On sneaking through the woods, approaching Constable and Reddy's slit trench. 

On the paras next turn, Reddy and Constable both could not act, because they'd flinched. Hughes tried to rally, but rolled a BAIL result again, and at that point, he did bail out of the slit trench into the woods behind them and fled the battlefield! 

Ching popped his head up to try and fire, but was immediately suppressed (FLINCH!) by the remaining MG42 in action. 

Two Germans went to check on the downed officer, and as they rolled over the officer he shot one of them with his Webley! The other German then shot the officer. 

The surviving Germans moved into cover on their flank. 

Fire from... someone...? took Pte. Reddy Out of Action! 

on the other flank, a solidarly German soldier rushed Constable and Reddy's trench. Constable poked his head up to see what was going on when he heard the footsteps rushing toward their trench. The German kicked him in the face and followed him down into the trench an bashed him three times with the butt of his rifle to make sure he stayed down, then gave Pte. Reddy a kick to make sure he was staying down as well! 

LCpl Ching popped his head up to see what was happening, but was immediately suppressed by fire from the MG42. 

While the adrenaline was up, the German leaped out of the first trench and charged LCpl Chings position. He put a bullet into Ching and then another and then one into Messier, to make sure he stayed down... 

And that was it... 

They'd been SO CLOSE. 

To succeed in the mission, they had to take out or otherwise render half of the German patrol Out of Action, Down, or fled the field... at the point Ching was taken out FOUR Germans had been taken Out of Action, and two had fled the field... I'd half hoped that Ching might get lucky and take out the German assaulting his slit trench (Ching had the Brawler skill, so it was even odds!) then one more lucky roll taking one down or out of action would have seen the Germans flee! Alas... 

The results of all the pre-game rolls - to determine the mission, etc are outlined below... and after that all the results of the post game rolls...

Pre-Game 

I hadn't ROLLED for Sapper Danforth to leave the section... it just seemed like that was a thing that should have happened when they arrived at the bridge... he was an engineer, elements of his unit were there preparing the bridge for demolition. 

I'd thought of giving the section an immediate replacement - as there would have been other paras milling about having arrived at that objective point... but I didn't... partly because my slit trenches only held three! (I guess I could have broke out the other two-man slit trench... but they all take up a lot of space and i wasn't sure where I'd have put it at the crossroads...) 

I'd set out an alternative elapsed time between missions (normally you roll for how many DAYS pass between missions, I was rolling for how many HOURS!) I rolled FIVE hours and rolled that they'd have made it to Varaville. Everything else was on the tables as laid out in the rules. 

People: Non combat military personnel

Any of the mechanics, administrative personnel, medical staff and other military types required to make a war run on schedule.

The officer with a cup of coffee... I'd planned to come up with a name and occupation for him... buuuuut... 

I did determine before the game that he'd lost all of his stuff in the drop. Some friendly French farmers took him in and hid him from some patrolling Germans, furnished him with some coffee and when neighbours reported there were English Paratroopers a few fields over at the bridge over the Divette, they sent him on his way! 

Mission Type: Military Mission

Location: Crossroads 

Mission: Initially I rolled "Secure" but I thought Defend would be more apropos. 

Objectives: The defenders must render at least half the attack group ineffective (bailed, captured or out of action) at any one time. Once this occurs, the attack is broken up and the mission successful! 

Enemy Force: Rolled on the Force table, but with three extra rolls!

1. One figure with MG42
2. One figure with pistol (that can be the loader for the MG42)
3. Two figures with bolt action rifles, one with G43.
4. One figure with bolt action rifle, one with pistol (officer leading the group!) 
5. Two figures with bolt action rifles
6. Two figures with bolt action rifles
7. One figure with MP40
8. One figure with bolt action rifle, one with MP40

So... 

• 8x bolt action rifles
• 2x MP40
• 1x G43
• 1x officer with pistol
• 2x MG42 crew (gunner with MG42 and a loader with a pistol) 

Yikes! 

(Oh... whoops.. I realize now I'd misread my notes before the game and though that was TWO MG42 teams... not two drew with ONE MG42... Eh... probably wouldn't have made THAT bid of a difference...?) 

Battle Condition: Fancy Meeting You Here

A random character known in the campaign is in the battle area.

If they can be reached and escorted off the table, get a positive morale die and a roll on the Specialist Gear table.

I decided this should be the newly rolled Non-Combat Military Personnel (The Officer with the Cup of Coffee)

POST GAME

Well... what to do here... they lost... and were ALL out of action!?

I figured the most likely scenario would be that any that survived would have been taken prisoner by the Germans. 

I did roll for Hughes to see if he was accused of cowardice and court-martialled and he was not, so I said he'd rushed back to the bridge and reported that they'd be overrun. A larger patrol was sent out and only found the bodies of LCpl Ching and Pte Messier and the rest were gone...

Injuries:   

So I rolled to see what happened to all. I decided since they lost, there was a much higher chance they'd have been killed and rolled a kill die for each and on a 6 they were automatically Killed in Action - Ching and Messier were Killed in action. 

The officer miraculously was not seriously injured, physically and made a full recovery, but the violence of the action left him a broken man, mentally scarred for life. He survived the rest of the war in a POW camp, but took his own life only a year after being returned to England... 

Pte. Constable received a serious permanent injury that crippled him for life. 

Pte. Reddy was seriously injured and died in a POW camp.

Morale:   Rolled SIX negative morale dice! Ended with Morale -2! 

Campaign Events: 

War struggle - The battalion has suffered set backs. Roll a negative morale die (no further reduction to morale). Add an additional enemy figure during any missions, until you've won two.

Reassigned - A random soldier is reassigned to another unit, sent home to aid in propaganda tasks or otherwise removed from the campaign. Wish him the best and roll a positive morale die. (this kind of happened BEFORE the game, with Sapper Danforth... and after the game with Hughes rejoining his original unit...!?) 

Well, where do I go from here!? 

Part of me just wants to say "welp, I guess that's it!" and say I've had my fun, I tried it out, and maybe I should go back to playing my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. I'm starting another Five Men campaign tomorrow with Orion, so maybe that's enough... 

Part of me wants to roll up a new squad for Pte. Hughes to join (using Five Men at Kursk?) and follow his path through the rest of the war...? I figured he lied and said both Ching and Messier had been killed before he bailed - and conveniently did have a bullet wound himself! But maybe the -2 morale follows him in the form or rumours that he was a coward and fled a firefight, leaving fellow soldiers to die and be captured...? 

We shall see... 

I've updated the Five Men in Normandy Campaign Page for now...  

September Games

 Well, August was a bit of a bust... 

I had hoped to kick the month off with a bang, heading out to the Warhammer Store to play a few games in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Spearhead league... and maybe get back to playing our Warhammer Quest game... but then life had different ideas! 

Adult Child #2 went in for dental surgery a few days earlier and had ALL FOUR WISDOM TEETH removed!? Things were going... well... as well as they could.. until Saturday evening... when one of the affected areas started bleeding again…. and bleeding… and BLEEDING and it just did not want to stop… and then we couldn't seem contact the on-call dental surgeon on the 24-hour-7-day-a-week EMERGENCY contact line… (because apparently he was very busy in the ER repairing THREE jaws that had been busted earlier in fights earlier in the evening!? I wasn't ever clear if it was one big brawl or three separate incidents?) and we didn't hear back from him until five or six in the morning... Keiran and I ended up staying up most of the night - they were changing gauze pads every half hour or so… I was just up to… I don’t know.. make sure they didn’t drift off in between and choke on clotted  blood and/or gauze… or keep them company? (honestly I'd thought my days of staying up all night with sick/injures children were OVER?!) When he called he said come in around noon... so I ended up staying up until 10am... when I would have been leaving for the Warhammer Store. Amanda took Keiran into the surgeons office and everything was sorted and fine... but I did not get to play Spearhead that day... or Warhammer Quest because it was the long weekend and Maygan was away and just returning in the evening and didn't want to go right out and play a game... 

Bah... 

Monday was Labour Day, though... I'd hoped maybe we'd get a game in then... but everyone was just too tired... 

The following weekend was the Warhammer Store's First Anniversary event.. I wasn't thinking there'd be much gaming, but I'd planned to head out there on the Sunday... but then the temperatures soared above +30°C and I just hid indoors and didn't go anywhere?! 

And this was all very disappointing and lead to some mind wandering... but I swear, I did get to some gaming EVENTUALLY!? 

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

I rode out to the Warhammer Store and played a minigame of Warhammer 40,000 (10th Edition) - Knight Fight - where my Shadowsword took on a Knight Valiant! (The Shadowsword won!) 

(still part of their First Anniversary Event!) 

Thursday, 12 September 2024

The following day, I rolled back out to the Warhammer Store and got in a game of Spearhead with John. 

Game Report:

Age of Sigmar: Spearhead - Heodnites of Slaanesh Versus Stormcast Eternals

Sunday, 15 September 2024

On Sunday I rolled out to the Warhammer Store AGAIN!? Originally hoped to get in a game with Sean, but he wasn't able to make it out, but Orion showed up a bit later and we had a bit of a rematch with our Blades of Khorne and Soulblight Gravelords. 

Game Report:

Age of Sigmar: Spearhead - Blades of Khorne Versus Soulblight Gravelords... Again...

Tuesday, 24 September 2024

I was feeling a little sad about not getting in so many games over the summer and this past month... so I started casting about looking at Solo games again. Got things ready to pick up the Five Parsecs from Home campaign I'd started ages ago... Picked up a copy of Devilry Afoot and got very excited about that for a few days... But then, somehow, I ended up downloading a copy of Five Men in Normandy - .30 Cal Edition - from Wargame Vault on Monday. 

On Tuesday, I played my first game of  Five Men in Normandy - .30 Cal Edition. The game is from Nordic Weasel Games - who also originally published Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands. It was a lot of fun and got me very excited about running a short (or... not-so-short...) campaign!?

Report of Game One of the campaign:

Five Men in Normandy - Landed and Lost!

Sunday, 29 September 2024

I rolled out to the Warhammer Store for one last game for the Spearhead League and finally got to play Sean... and he brought Maggotkin of Nurgle, which just made my day - as I'd brought my freshly painted Sylvaneth and the two are narratively a classic match-up. Super fun game. I lost, surprising no one... 

Game Report: 

Age of Sigmar - Last Spearhead League Game

And... that was it for September... 

Five games... 

One was a five minute mini-game... 

Another was a solo game (I don't know why, but there's something in my brain that still clings to the idea that solo games are "sad"... I know I need to move beyond that... but I kind of feel like I need to acknowledge it's there... and not true... to be able to move PAST it....). 

I am a little sad though... I mean it wasn't THAT many years ago that we had a family tradition/challenge to play a game EVERY DAY through the month of September. Very often we succeeded. Some years the challenge was to play a DIFFERENT game every day!? (This was because we noticed the game-playing usually dropped off over the summer as we got out and did stuff outdoors... but wanted to kick off the fall game-playing!)

I guess there's always OCTOBER!!

I guess a more positive thing to consdier is I've done a LOT of painting. I got excited about something that had faded in interest. (though I maybe spent a bit too much money and acquired a few too many things...). I got interested in some NEW things and tried out a new game (Five Men in Normandy) and got stuff ready for ANOTHER new game (Devilry Afoot!) that I'll HOPEFULLY get to in the next week (or two...?) along with some others...? 

More on this in the Game Plan 2024-Q4 which will be posted shortly after this!!

Five Men in Normandy - Landed and Lost!

Well... SIX Paratroopers in Normandy...

I'm off on ANOTHER tangent for the moment. I can't even begin to trace the route that brought me to here, but I ended up picking up PDFs of Five Men in Normandy and Five Kilometres from Leipzig - both from Nordic Weasel Games on Wargames Vault. Both authored by the same designer that did Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands. 

(The Anachronistic use of Kilometre in "Five Kilometres from Leipzig" only bothers me a little...)

For some reason, Five Men in Normandy struck me as something that NEEDED TO BE PLAYED!!!

Tuesday, 6 June 1944, 2:56am

Somewhere in Normandy

Due to some wild evasive maneuvers the plane had to make and high windspeeds, LCpl Ching's stick ended up scattered far and wide and, and no where near their official drop zone. For starters LCpl Ching landed in swamp. He did not remember seeing any swamp on any map he'd looked at in any of the weeks studying them before the drop. 

He found on member of his section that had been hit by some shrapnel that had taken half his head off... He found another trooper he did not know who had gotten tangled in gear and parachute and  got bogged down in the thigh-deep water and drown.

When he finally found a member if his section - Pte Messier, the section Bren gunner. LCpl Ching nearly got shot, having started Pte. Messier when he dove into a ditch beside him. They were unable to locate the No. 2 or No. 3 from the Gun Team - with the barrel bag and all the extra ammunition for the Bren. The two could not figure out where they were, but decided they were, at least, a fair way south of where they were meant to be. Pte. Mesier kept wanting to charge off in the direction of any distant gunfire they heard. LCpl Ching had to reign him in and point out they had no idea who was shooting at whom, or how far away they could be. They needed to focuse on rendezvousing with their own units to carry out their mission objectives for this first day on the ground in occupied Europe! When they could make out the moon, they tried to head north, which they hoped might bring them into contact with other members of their unit - or, at least, to the coast!?

They eventually they ran into a few other riflemen. One, Pte. Reddy, was from another platoon in the same company. Another, Pte. Hughes was a rifleman from C Company. The third, Pte. Constable was from one of the British 8th Parachute Battalion!? Finally they ran into Sapper Danforth from the Royal Engineers Who was very dismayed about losing all of his demolition charges that he was to bring to the train bridge at Bures!?

At one point they ran into two American Pathfinders!? Neither party was sure of where they were - and neither was sure which group was further off course, but at least ONE of them was way off, for sure... The Americans and Canadians (and British) eventually parted ways, the Americans heading West, the Canadians continuing North. 

Later they ran into a Lieutenant commanding one of the other platoons in their company. He also had little idea where they'd ended up, but at least he had MAPS! Regardless, they did not seem to be anywhere near any of the bridges they were tasked aiding the Royal Engineers in destroying. They eventually came across another group of Canadian Paratroopers near an abandoned farm. The officer decided to set up a CP and tasked groups to go out in different directions, locate others and send them back towards the CP, determine any enemy locations and troop strength, and report back ANY sort of landmark that might indicate where on Earth they were?!

To the west it looked like there was a low hill that might have a good vantage point to observe things. Also a road wound in that general direction. LCpl Ching's group was tasked with scouting ahead to the hill and see what they could see and keep an eye out for any road signage that the Germans hadn't already destroyed. 

Ching's group stuck to the fields alongside the road, where they could, as much of it was thick mud. As they approached the hill they realized there was a building and a crossroads nearby that could be investigated. But also it looked like there might be Germans guarding the crossroads... 

Approaching the hill and crossroads from the East. LCpl Ching broke the unit up into two groups. Sapper Danforth, Pte. Reddy, and Pte. Hughes would approach the crossroads through the woods on the north side of the road, while Ching, Messier, and Constable would approach through the woods and fields on the south side of the road. 

He'd given the groups strict orders to approach stealthily and NOT to engage if there were Germans present until the Lance Corporal could assess the situation and numbers of enemy. Only on his signal (by opening fire) would they assault any position. Otherwise they would regroup back at a burnt out barn a half mile down the road to the east they'd found in their approach after an hour. 

LCpl Ching's group moves to the edge of the woods. 

DAnforth's group does likewise on the other side of the road... they spot sentries that were on the top of the hill having a good look at the chaos in the distance! After a moment they headed back down the hill. 

When the Moon slipped behind some thicker clouds and all got very dark. LCpl Ching ordered his group to try and rush forward across the field to the hedgerow. 

The sentries gathered at the sandbag emplacement for a brief discussion. 

When the Sentries started down the road away from them, Danforth, Hughes and Reddy moved out of the woods, using the crest of the hill as cover, maneuvered to the top of the hill.

The moon came out from behind clouds and the whole area lit up... There were three German soldiers in plain view down the road clear in the open... they weren't going to get a better chance... so Hughes opened fire, the other two on the hill followed suit. One German was killed and another winged and knocked down in the road. Two others were set to flight by the sudden violence - running all the way back to the building they were billetted in. One of the two broke and fled out the back door running for his life. 

 Pte, Constable moved up to the hedgerow. The German in the street who had been injured was just recovering. A few shots from Constable encouraged the German to scramble over/through the hedge. 

Ching moved up and sprayed the hedgerow opposite which set the German to flight, around the building and through the fields opposite... 

Pte. Messier joined the other two at the hedgerow and observed the building to see if anyone popped their head up. One did and threw a grenade at them! It sailed far over their heads and exploded harmlessly out in the muddy field behind them - spattering them with a bit of muck. Fire from the Bren and Sten guns encouraged the German to hide back inside the house. 

Meanwhile down at the crossroads, Hughes asked the others to cover him and he rushed down and tossed a grenade into the sandbag emplacement. 

When Hughes snuck up to peer into the emplacement, the Feldwebel, hunkered down within took a shot at him with his MP40! Hughes ducked and then put a bullet through the German. And then three more, just to be sure! 

Hughes started taking more fire from the second story window of the house. 

Ching and Messier took this as an opportunity to climb over the hedge, one at a time while covering each other... hoping the occupants were all distracted by the explosions and fire at the crossroads - at least one was firing that way... 

A second German was clearly still in the house and popped up at the window to shoot at Messier, hitting him in the arm!

At the crossroads fire from the house had obliged Hughes to fall back across the street and take cover with Constable. 

Meanwhile Ching charged into the house! On the main floor he filled the German crouched by the window full of lead. Then he charged up straight up the stairs to engage the German shooting out the Northside window. So startled was the German he couldn't even react and Ching took him down with a short burst from his sten gun. 

LCpl Ching and Pte. Messier made a quick search of the house. They found some old letters that were left behind when the place was abandoned - confirming the address. Searching the bodies of the "Germans", the papers they carried seemed to indicate they were actually Polish...? 

Constable and Hughes did a quick search of the crossroads and sandback emplacement. The Germans had indeed torn down the road signage... but being lazy, had just tossed it in the ditch where it was discovered by Constable. This further confirmed their location. 

Still up on the hill, Danforth and Reddy had a good look around and were able to identify a few features in the distance and take a bearing on them.

The group regrouped and compared notes and decided to head back. LCpl. Ching expressed his disappointment at the group on the hill NOT waiting for his signal. After it was determined it had been Hughes that had opened fire, he and Constable got into a heated argument, Constable insisting it was a rash decision that could have gotten them all killed! 

They bickered all the way back to the temporary CP at the farmhouse. 

More troops had made their way there and with the information that LCpl Ching's group was able to provide, a route of march was established and the lot of them moved out to the Northwest to try and regroup with the 8th Parachute Battalion which should be trying to blow up bridges across the River Dives.

What's going on...? 

I played out this scenario using Five Men in Normandy from Nordic Weasel Games. I picked up the PDF the other day and it seemed really interesting and I had a lot of stuff I could just use right away without any modifications (though I DID rebase the Paras, so I could put names on the bases... It's something I want to get to anyway...)

I thought the system would be fun to play out a little campaign of Canadian Paratroops in Normandy - given the chaotic nature of the drop, the system seemed perfectly suited for playing out the adventures and escapades of a small group of troopers dropped way off course and deep behind enemy lines.

I started with rolling up a random section and got two with sten guns, three with rifles, and a bren gunner. 

I called these guys "seasoned" even though they'd never seen actual combat - I figured it would reflect their more intensive training. 

I rolled for some specialist equipment and got a Medical Kit and Boots that Actually Fit. Both are one use and then gone and can be used by anyone in the section.

I rolled for skills and got Alert and Brawler. I assigned Alert to the Bren gunner and Brawler to one of the troops with a Sten Gun and called them a Lance Corporal. 

Rolling for known people I got two Allied Soldiers and one Officer from Own Unit. Initially I wasn't clear if these joined the unit...? but later I found events that allow a known character to join a unit, and so these are just people that have been met that COULD join in... 

There are backgrounds and motivations that can be rolled for. It is suggested that at least those characters with skills be rolled for and others can be rolled for later as they are "revealed". 

I rolled Farmer for the Lance Corporal and Working Class for the Bren Gunner. 

For motivations, I rolled Family for the Lance Corporal and Glory for the Bren Gunner... 

Then I started weaving the narrative together... I decided the Lance Corporal and Bren Gunner would actually be from the same section. The others would be from other units that were equally lost behind enemy lines and were met up with and formed an ad-hoc unit to carry out actions. 

Just to make things interesting, I decided the Bren gun would have low ammunition. 

I thought the first batch of scenarios could be follow-up scenarios - representing a series of encounters through out the night of the drop and following day or so until the unit made it to the Rendezvous Point at the Le Mesnil crossroads. 

As follow-up missions, the troops don't really get to rest and recover or gain new equipment between action scenarios.. Although... reinforcements could be found in the form of just finding other lost Paratroopers... resupply could be in the form of looting corpses...? I don't know... we'll see.

Currently I'm working with the following rule I made up: At the beginning of each scenario I'll roll a d6. If the number is LESS than the number of scenarios played I'll say they've made it back to the RV point and get some limited rest and resupply... 

Also the first scenario(s) are in darkness. I thought I'd roll for a random visibility as the moon slips in and out of cloud cover at the beginning of each turn (3d6"). Targets that shot in the previous turn, but are beyond the current visibility range, may be shot at, but only with Shock Dice. 

Instead of 1+d6 days between missions, these first ones will be 1+d6 hours. Sunrise is 6am. 

IF the unit survives these initial missions and makes it back to the Rendezvous Point, the riflemen will return to their respective units and I'll roll three more times on the Force tables to see how many of their original section made it back to the RV to reunite with them. At this point one of them will gain a skill and backgrounds rolled and new specialist equipment acquired - if any of the initial equipment has been used.  

For the first scenario I rolled a Military Mission (decided that the Officer from their own unit would direct them to do something). I then rolled a Scouting mission - the objective of which is to get within 3" of each of three objectives. Thinking of the terrain I have access to, I decided this could be the top of a hill (to get a look and see if they can figure out where they are), a crossroads (to see if there is any signage that might indicate what road they are on), and a building to see if there is anything that can be found there. 

I decided to add Search Rolls at each - to see if any clues are found. 

The Opposition I rolled were six sentries... that would be sitting on each objective. Two at the crossroads, two on the hill, and two in the building. In my minds eye, I imagined a bored squad of wehrmacht conscripts (possibly from occupied countries in Eastern Europe) being tasked with guarding a cross roads on the night everything went to shit. Three were probably sleeping in the house - which I decided had been abandoned - while the other three were at the crossroads until all the shooting and explosions started. Now two remained at the crossroads, which two went up to the top of the hill to see if they could make out what was going on around them. The other two are still resting in the building. 

There is a squad leader with an MP40, the rest have bolt action rifles.  

For circumstances I rolled a Stealth Mission - so our heroes are sneaking up on the sentries who have to check to see if they spot them... 

The battle was then played through using the Five Men In Normandy rules. I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow, roll-by-roll of what happened when I've already wrote a narrative description of what went down... which I hope is more interesting anyway. 

AFTER THE BATTLE

There were NO INJURIES to roll for the unit! I had an extreme run of lucky rolls... and catching people at less than 12" and in the open was very handy! 

I did roll for ONE event - Argument - Hughes and Reddy - they don't like each other anymore... but it didn't come to blows or lower the morale of the unit. 

Rolling to move the clock forward, the next action wouldn't be until after 8am - well after sunrise. 

Rolling for morale - I had five dice for a successful mission and not taking any casualties - which resutled in a +2 morale. These are points that can be expended each game to prevent a figure from hunkering down or bailing. 

I've started a page to keep track of all the battles and Characters:

Five Men in Normandy - Campaign and Characters 

I'm really liking this system so far. It has fair bit of similarity with Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands (and Five Kilometres from Liepzig!) - all of which I would like to explore further... I think I might carry on with this campaign for a bit though, as I've got it started and some momentum and have VERY LITTLE I have to do for prep for any scenarios as I have LOADS of painted WW2 figures and vehicles. 

Just wish I had some better buildings...