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D-Day Anniversary VLOG! The Battle Of Villers-Bocage In 15mm – Planning WW2 Armies | Part 1
May 16, 2024 by johnlyons
Join us for the start of a brand new VLOG series where Gerry and John dive into a discussion on planning the 15mm World War 2 Flames Of War armies and more for The Battle Of Villers-Bocage as part of our D-Day Anniversary coverage.
Watch The Entire D-Day VLOG Series Here
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Learn More About The Battles Of Villers-Bocage
With the upcoming 80th anniversary of D-Day approaching John and Gerry have decided to commemorate the event that defined a century with a series that will lead up to the anniversary of Villers-Bocage.
Here the guys talk about the plan for the series, the scenario that they intend to play out on the tabletop and what the main focus will be drawn from Battlefront Miniatures. The British forces are arrayed against the German counter attack lead by the Tank Ace Michael Wittmann.
Expect a little more historical context in this one folks as the guys want to explore not just the miniatures but also the context of the fight and what happened in reality.
Will you be joining us for this D-Day Anniversary VLOG series?
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Well good luck… been there several times, its an interesting engagement.
I’d recommend the new Dan Taylor book for the historical view of it.
A pair of old and well loved books, staff also.
Looking forward to this gents, Bon chance!
I played it, but disguised game so players wouldn’t spot it, to the Russian Front. Initially it went as the Historical battle, but the Soviet player kept his cool and overwhelmed the German.
Looking forwards to this one. I must admit “refighting” historical battles with the OOBs, maps etc is THE aspect of the hobby that keeps me enthused. I hate the points based/tourney style games where the historical aspect of the game/period is sometimes ignored to “get a game in”.
I did see John wrinkle his nose with the mention of the PIAT, however it’s got a much maligned reputation. YES, it was rather inaccurate compared to the Panzerschreck and the Bazooka. BUT it had one feature that is usually ignored by all wargames rules, it was the only man portable AT weapon that could be fired from a doorway/window. The other AT systems had a back blast that could (and would) affect burns on the crew unless they had checked that they had room for the exhaust of the rocket to be channelled away from the firing point (in fact many positions where these weapons were to be used required the troops to remove internal walls to enable the position to be used as a firing point).
It was designed really FOR urban combat compared to the extended ranges the Panzerschreck and Bazooka offered, but it did suffer from dodgy fuses (only about 75% of the bombs actually went off IF they managed to hit the target (typically within 100m). And even a skilled user could only hit a target at 100m 60% of the time. The other misnomer is the “spring” being difficult to cock making the PIAT ready for use. It WAS, however the reduced blowback blew the spigot from the round back into the PIAT from the weapon firing which did effectively re-cock the spring (so it only had to be manually cocked prior to the first shot, after that the rounds could be inserted without having to manually cock the spring again).
But for we “wargamers” I’ve yet to see a set of rules that deal with the backblast from most manportable rocket AT systems (particularly with skirmish rules where the ranges would mean we should be modelling it). So most rules effectively repeat the “flaws” of the PIAT without modelling any of the advantages (which to be frank is usually the case for most Allied weapons while the German weapons tend to be rather overstated in their effectiveness within the same set of rules). Even a rule that states “Panzerschreck/faust and Bazookas can not be fired from within a structure UNLESS it counts as a prepared position” or anything like it has yet to appear for any set of wargames rules as far as I know.
….and there I go “counting rivets” again 😀
Interesting battle, Whitman caused chaos intially, but the 7th when defending later returned the commpliment when a handful of British tanks and Antitank guns chewed up German attacking armour in the town.
Think your plan to stick to the one book for the reference for your re-fight , is the best plan, although there are more upto date books now on the subject, you can drive youself nuts with different interpretations of the action. Even the recent video drive through of the area that I put the link on weekender cant really make up for the photos you probably have in that book, as the town obviously has been re-built since the war as it was a bit bent after that and proceeding battles.