Tuesday, 16 June 2026

Foy-Noville 1945 (with less snow...)

Using the next level down of the Field of Battle hack (Goose Green had bases as platoons) - where one base is a squad, and maneuver elements are platoons/companies, we tackled the 'Foy-Noville' scenario - free at the 'Little Wars TV' website - written for Crossfire and of course featuring the famous attack on Foy, made famous by 'Band of Brothers' - both book and TV adaptation.

...some unexpected close assault action in Foy

   Great rules - sequencing and covering fire that gives a real ebb and flow of battle, with many surprises and a tight narrative.

German defences: 9th SS with armour in the centre of town, with Volksgrenadiers...and yes, not snowy enough

Easy company make a direct approach - and interestingly, I Company make a flanking move to their right (not a big company - more a platoon strength unit - but manages to do very well...and not around the back of the village this time...)


I Company flanks the 'building with the caved in roof'

Easy take plenty of casualties, stumbling into a minefield

Intense fire from the buildings, with heavy HMG assets

The flanking move by I Company works! ...initially

Easy Company start getting pushed back, quickly reduced in strength in the open...some make it to their right flank to support I Company

That Panzer IV has its engines revving for something - adding to infantry fire from the Volksgrenadiers - who have managed to flank Easy Company!

Remnants of Easy and I Company close assault the right of the village...


...in a fairly bloody action...

They manage to take it ...but

...a turn of initiative and close assault comes across the street from the German units straight into the shattered remnants of Easy 

with armour in support

Outside Foy - both sides are now deploying reinforcements - the side that gets to the town first will win the battle...

...as I Company retreat to the churchyard - after having been forced out of the town sector

US reinforcements however, have not only managed to move more quickly, G Company have ambushed the advancing German reinforcements in the flank, and in the open...hitting their morale deck hard"!


REmnants of Easy Company seize their chance, and ambush the German armour

..and it's all over - as the German's morale deck is tipped, and they fail their morale roll when it comes...another great game...except...more snow needed.


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15 comments:

  1. Jonathan Freitag18 June 2026 at 03:43

    Excellent action, Darren!

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 09:48

      Many thanks Jonathan - it was a (very) tense game.

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  2. James Fisher18 June 2026 at 04:11

    Brilliant as ever. I saw the Little Wars TV fellas version when they posted it and I reckon that yours easily eclipses it (don't tell them that!).
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 09:48

      Oh? Many thanks James...shhhh...they had better snow ;)

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  3. rross18 June 2026 at 08:13

    A great little game and the Americans got lucky at the end - it looked like they were going to be repulsed

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 09:49

      So close - Easy took terrible casualties - Winters would have kicked my ass! The advantage of the rules, and the way that initiative worked though, was that the US reinforcements' narrative in terms of how they ambushed the German units moving toward Foy, looked, and felt, like a WW2 battle narrative. great stuff.

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  4. Martin Rapier18 June 2026 at 08:19

    Excellent and thanks for the link to the scenario. I need to give that a go myself.

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 09:50

      It would be great to see that Martin. The LWTV guys pulled a neat little scenario out of this action. Lots to play with.

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  5. Jeffers18 June 2026 at 13:22

    The state of that MkIV! 🤣

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 13:56

      I know right? They kept telling the crew; 'you need to have a service record, if you ever want to sell it again, especially if you bought it as a previously leased vehicle..." Did they ever take to an authorised dealer? ..pffft...of course not.
      Typical - insurance job - they just wait for it to take a bazooka hit, and declare it a write-off - scam I tell ya!

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  6. Neil Patterson18 June 2026 at 18:24

    Great stuff Darren! The German counter attack was weighted in their favour - metal v plastic!☺☺☺
    I did think there should be some snow......
    Neil

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    1. Duc de Gobin18 June 2026 at 21:34

      Thanks Neil. To be fair, I had a white sheet picked out for this, though the Duchess took great exception to my proposal to spray roads upon it - the 'frosty fields' option saved a lot of headache in the end ;)

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  7. Sgt Steiner20 June 2026 at 11:19

    When dropping down to Platoon Level did you keep MGs & Mortars (Support stands) as abstracted assets ie UP1 modifier ? Good looking game

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    1. Duc de Gobin20 June 2026 at 14:30

      It's a little different yes:
      HMGs become assets that support an attack/defence (hence an Up1 to an firepower roll - though bear in mind this is a resource - the Germans had more MG assets here, since they had more 'active' MMGs/HMGs in defence - we can argue that the sustained fire MG42 operates like this etc - hence more tokens/assets - though, as I maintain, MG ammo was a definite issue for German units from '44 onwards).

      Winters placed the US 50 and 30 cals in a field to support the attack in reality (also briefly mentioned in the episode). Other MGs (BARs/moving 30 cals where practical - are part of the squad element rating - 12 for the paras).

      60 and 81mm mortars operate as 'artillery' almost - firing in the gun fire phase on a single element - with rules for misses affecting 'danger close' allies. Assets stay once posted - and affect one roll, like a 'tactical advantage'.
      ALL assets can be replenished/recovered on the COMMAND card - with a chance - depending upon type - of losing permanently. Having the asset 'bowl' filled on a COMMAND card is actually a pretty significant thing here.

      Works beautifully - the number of assets in this scenario - when we consider the Band of Brothers episode/chapter for instance as a 'rough ' example is significan;, when Winters talks about the MGs in support from the field on the right flank, it's similarly managed - I imagine in reality this only got to support the initial attack by Lt. Dyke (who in reality was wounded), and suppressive fire against the 'building with the caved in roof' (note that this also received US mortar fire in reality (cite Spiers) - and support for I company's flanking move).
      The Germans would therefore receive more asset/management since their positions are (relatively) fixed, but not many more.

      This works beautifully - as the single biggest bugbear i ever had with Rapid Fire (as example) was moving the MGs/remembering to take a turn to set them up/take them down ...meh. At the level of command that this is concerned with (effectively a company then battalion level attack here), I simply need to know that my company commanders are using heavier support effectively - I do not need to know where they are or where the model is - just that they are operating as a 'fighting asset'.
      Abstracted - a little - but more representative of what's important; preferable to the 'detail-tastic' blandness that some rules like - certainly.

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    2. Sgt Steiner22 June 2026 at 10:05

      Interesting

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