5th Corp Campaign Game Board: D-Day - Omaha Beach, Dog Red Sector Part One

So here we begin the journey that my Dad and I started down a few months back to build a WWII themed game board. I have let my father make many of the decisions on this project as it was originally his idea and he is mostly doing it to spend time with me and my hobby. He is not a gamer but loves history so my job is to assist him as much as possible while considering the gaming aspects of the board and help him make decisions that make the board playable while still reflecting history as much as is possible.

As I mentioned in the last post on this topic we will be following 5th Corp on Omaha Beach up the D-3 Exit in Dog Red Sector up to St. Laurent-Sur-Mer (passing Les Moulins). Some progress has been made on the table itself but I will cover that a bit later. Right now I want to talk about the table design. Like I said before there is a lot of conflicting information regarding what was were, not only in regards to units but the defenses as well. When I designed the map we will be using I tried to incorporate as many as the elements of the defense as possible without over crowding the table (mostly I am talking about the bigger elements like bunkers). There is still a lot going on to the table though. Here is the map that inspired my own...

The map from the German perspective. The legend is in French and not all the elements could be identified but it gives you an idea of what a daunting task taking the beach was for 5th Corp.

And my version from the American perspective. You can see that there is significantly less to the Resistance Nests here.

We have already started on creating the bluffs on the table getting the basic shapes and elevations worked out so now its about shaping the edges making them cleaner and working on the roads and pathways that run inland from the beach. The hill on the right in my drawing is WN68 which was positioned on a very steep bluff while the other bluff was more manageable. Apparently the fire from the defenders was so intense the Americans were forced to assault the position at WN66 (on the left) directly up the hill. Finally on to the part you have all been waiting for... the pictures!!!

The beach area is on the bottom right and will rise up at to a shale embankment where the seawall will be located. In the background you can see the first section of the bluffs. In all the elevation will raise from sea level up to 40m.

The bluff are nearly complete rising up from 10m to 40m in all. Each elevation change is 10 meters and will be represented by a section of 2" foam. Things are starting to take shape now!

Damn this is going to look sweet when its finished!

A daunting task awaits the American invaders! [pic taken from beach level]

The road to St. Laurent shall be costly for 5th Corp. At least it looks that way from this vantage point.

Army 5th Corp in Europe

Company E, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division disembark from an LCVP assaulting Omaha Beach Easy Red Sector on the morning of June 6, 1944. Photograph by Robert F. Sargent.

 So in a previous post I mentioned that my Father and I wanted to build a WWII series of game boards that took the Allies in Europe from Normandy all the way to the invasion of Germany. The plan is to follow the exploits of the American Army 5th Corp in Europe. What battles and actions we are going to cover remains to be seen but there are a number of options including actions of the 1st Infantry Division, 29th Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Division, 82nd Airborne Division which were all assigned to 5th Corp.

5th Corps Shoulder Patch

So like I was saying many, many options. Some of these campaigns and operations I am unfamiliar with so that in itself will require some research on my part. Personally I am up for the challenge and if anyone has some suggested reading I would appreciate it. Needless to say the obvious first choice is Omaha Beach which we have already started to plan out. The area we want to cover is the Dog Red Sector D-3 draw up the beach from Les Moulins to St. Laurent-Sur-Mer. At the moment we are planning to do this with the Crossfire rules although there are a number of issues that would need to be addressed in my opinion so that is not set in stone yet. Just for the record there is a lot, and I mean a lot of conflicting information about which units where were on Omaha Beach so unless someone has a definitive guide they could recommend most of the decisions made will be chosen around what will be easier to model/field. Stay tuned for further updates over the next few days as work has already started on the boards.