INTRODUCTION:‘A MONSTROUS GLINT IN THE EYE’

Like a lot of really, stupid ideas, this project was embeddedin my easily coerced mind by an outside influence - Chris‘Das Reich’ Cornwall (who some readers may recall wasphotographed for an earlier edition of WI at a re-creationof Kursk) - when we were travelling back down from aweekend 25mm Napoleonic game at the WargamesHoliday Centre, in April 2005.

On a three- or four-hour car journey, the conversation can cover a widevariety of topics, with which I’m sure you are all familiar: periods wehave never tried but wouldn’t mind having a go at; how to make nicetrees; Leipzig at one to one in 25mm in a gym … that sort of thing. Now,I had dabbled with WWII rules a while back, but, always having

megalomaniac tendencies (wasn’t that the name of a band?), never really warmed to them for anything more than an occasionalgame. However, all that was to change when I bought a set of Crossfire rules – the lateral thinking aspect of no ranges or move ratesreally appealed to me as much as it seemed to freak other people out. Then, fatefully, in that car in April, Chris remarked, ‘Course,with no real scale, or ranges, you could do a Crossfire game in any scale youwant.’ Hmmmmm, any scale you want, eh? The seed was sown, the scene wasset, eight months of my life was about to disappear …

THE MONSTER IS CONCEIVED

Where to start? What to do? Well, we had a huge topic of discussion for thefinal two hours of our journey! Me, being a rampant, almost nationalistic,patriot (from henceforth this will be referred to as ‘Rule 1’) wanted a Britishforce – not Allied, British – and as late war is where my interests lie (such asthey are, I’m more a Napoleonic buff – Mr Siggins is right, it is the ‘one trueperiod’), ’44 -’45 beckoned. So, by the time ‘The South’ loomed, it wasdecided: a game set in Normandy, inland, with a British force, around theCaen area, nice terrain opportunities (woods, built-up areas, fields, etc.), with

Above: Pak 40, Tamiya.Right: ‘B’ Squadron Firefly, ‘Bouchain’, of the GrenadierGuards (tank by Dragon, crew by Dragon and Ultracast)Below: Coldstream Guards Infantry Platoon, showing flangedaluminium bases (figures by Dragon)Bottom Right: An Opel Blitz pays a visit to the Boulangerie(truck by Italeri, building and road scratch-built)

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a well-dug-in, well-equipped enemy and a variety of interesting kit. Butwhat to do? Various books were read; Max Hastings’ (rather Nazi-cisstic,but otherwise excellent) Overlord had an account of the British GuardsArmoured Division clashing with 21st Panzer and 12th SS Panzer, to theSouth of Caen, around the towns of Cagny and Le Poirier, on the road toVimont. Guards Armoured, eh? Well, my father was a Coldstreamer, sothe infantry element was decided: a battlegroup based around an infantrybattalion of the Coldstream Guards with an armoured regiment of theGrenadier Guards. (Later the division formed battlegroups with theinfantry and tanks of the same regiment, but not in the timeframe of thisgame.) On top of this, some support and ‘add-ons’, 30 vehicles andaround 250 figures – easy! A big table was obviously needed; a quick call to Gerry Elliot of theWHC, a man always open to foolishness, secured his 30ft x 15ft behemoth, to fill with 1/35 scenery (bugger).

THE MONSTER IS BORN

Right. Build! Create! Paint! Dragon makes two suitable sets of British infantry, the Normandy set being the best (natch). Assembling,converting and painting weren’t as bad as I hoped and the firstcompany of infantry came together in about a month or so. Nextcame a painful decision: Rule 1 demanded Cromwell tanks for myarmoured element, and the Welsh Guards Armoured RecceRegiment was so equipped, but there are certain images that shoutout Normandy for me: Typhoons, SS-smocked Germans, Britishhelmets covered in hessian tape camouflage, PZIVs with shützenarmour, and columns of Shermans. The ‘line’ armoured regimentswere equipped with Shermans, and the kits are a lot cheaper! Itook solace in the fact that some were British-designed Fireflies,and began scouring the net; eBay came to the rescue, as Idiscovered that no one really wantsdull Shermans: big, exciting GermanTigers command high prices, butlittle ‘Tommy cookers’ can be hadcomparatively cheaply. This bringsme smoothly to ‘Rule 2’: I find verydisturbing the fawning adulationsome WWII gamers seem to have forall things German (and especiallySS). Sorry if that offends you, but it’sa free country (which, incidentally, itwouldn’t have been if … well, youknow).

PART 1: THE MADNESS BEGINS! Words and Pictures by John Lander

1st left: An OpelBlitz pays a visit tothe Boulangerie(truck by Italeri,building and roadscratch-built by theauthor)2nd left: Wittman’sTiger amidstNormandyhedgerows Tamiya,hedges by LastValley, Zimmerittingby the author!)

Above: ARevell Typhoonbuzzes Cagny

Left: ‘Cadiz’, a 75mm Sherman, among theNormandy bocage (tank by Tamiya, crew byUltracast, greenery by Last Valley)Above: ‘Cambrai’, a Sherman, edges intoCagny (tank and lampposts by Tamiya, trees byLast Valley, roads and buildings scratch-built bythe author)

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Now, the line between wargaming and modelling was beingblurred here as the three Firefly kits I had to make all requiredthe assembly of separate track links: three parts to each link, 85links to a track, six tracks to make … I cried, I actually cried.Small parts were left off the tanks as I thought they would onlyget broken off anyway, but I did make an effort to use the correctdivisional and regimental markings (see Rule 1) then coveredthem in stowage, track links, hairnet camo (!) and mud madefrom a mixture of brown Humbrol enamel, sand and sisal,which, when highlighted, looks the mutt’s! These were crewedwith Ultracast, ‘pixie-suited’ tankers, suitably named, andfinished with a matt varnish and a bristle aerial. I did these, threekits at a time, to spread both cost and interest over the project asa whole.

The infantry were causing me some basing problems: they havea lot of very fragile gun barrels waving around, and other peoplegrabbing the figures to move them around would result in apoke in the eye from me! This was solved by mounting them onaluminium bases, four inches square for a section (not ‘squad’ –see Rule 1) with half-inch flanges folded up on two sides tomove them, the flanges having green insulating tape on them toblend them in a bit. I placed four figures, not three as specifiedin Crossfire, to a base as, well, it just looked better to me! TheGerman armour gave me a chance to try something new to me,which I had previously considered something of a ‘black art’:airbrushing. I borrowed a mate’s brush and compressor, boughtsome Humbrol yellow, green and red-brown, and just dived in.It was OK, actually, and with a bit of practice the PZIVs, StuGsand Panthers looked great (you can tell, however, which one Idid first and which last!). A bit of foliage, mud and crew, andthey were done.

A bargain presented itself on the net in the shape of Wittman’sTiger. I bought it as he was attached to 12SS for this part of theNormandy campaign. One fateful day I assembled it and,glancing at the instructions for applying the Zimeritt coating,thought to myself, ‘That looks easy.’ … There’s a day of my lifeI’ll never get back! Despite my self-imposed ‘rules’, I have tosay that it looked top cheese. Rule 2 dictates that anembarrassment of German infantry is available from Tamiya,Dragon and Zvezda, so cap-wearing, greatcoated line orsmocked SS were not a problem: eBay for bargains;Netmerchants.co.uk for specifics and, it must be said, fantasticservice.

As I mentioned earlier, ‘cab rank’ Typhoons epitomiseNormandy for me, but in 1/35? Surely not? I had a word withmyself, to the effect that not making one for reasons of insanitywas no longer an option. Revell provided, I built. A base wasmade using some dowel and was given weight by melting downsome ’orrible, no-neck Napoleonic figures someone got mefrom a bring ‘n’ buy because ‘they were cheap’. Themanufacturer? Not saying, but Siggins would weep!

It was now October, and the game was set for Gerry’s ‘offseason’ at the start of December. Time was fast running out. Ihad been putting off even thinking about the two towns Iplanned to make, as Mick Sewell has set the bar so high on thebuildings front that I had to mentally prepare myself for minenot to be as good (‘Rule 3: don’t beat yourself up over a hobby’may be called for!). So, in the best traditions of me, I dived in,using quarter-inch ply, and bits of cobbled sections and othersundries from a model railway shop. All the buildings were

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based on photos of Normandy, ensuring the room space theycontained was based on five-inch squares, or multiples thereof,to enable an infantry section to fit comfortably. The town ofCagny would be represented by four buildings, and a largewalled courtyard farm would do for Le Poirier. Cagny boasted alarge hotel, the Café Rene (!) and two houses, plus a metalledmain street, with Tamiya lampposts and road signs, a fountain,and WWII French posters from the net, scaled down, distressedand stuck on the walls. Roofs were tiled with squares of card, inye olde Games Workshoppe style; the walls were all paintedwith a paint/sand mix, highlighted and matt varnished. A bit ofbattle damage, not overdone, finished them off. Some large roadsections were then knocked up from hardboard/paint/sand/sawdust for the main drag through Cagny to Vimont. Well, thattook up October/November! S&A Scenics barbed wire andmatchsticks were used to make eight infantry base-sized wirestands to further impede the British advance. In a last-minutepush with which I’m sure other gamers will empathise, thesewere finished the hour before I embarked on the drive toScarborough, the fumes ensuring I drove for four hours atnothing o’clock on that December morning with the windowsfully open!

THE MONSTER WALKS

The British force consisted of an infantry battalion of threecompanies, plus, at battalion level, an A/T company of 3 x 6pdr,three-inch mortar, carrier platoon in two Bren carriers, and anengineer platoon. The armoured regiment had three sabresquadrons, each of two 75mm Shermans and a Firefly. This wascommanded by a headquarter squadron of a command Sherman,complete with Scottie dog-armed colonel in the turret (well, heis a Guards officer!) and a recce troop of two Honeys (notStuarts - see Rule 1). In addition, a squadron of the 2ndLifeguards with a Dingo and two Humber armoured carsprovided extra recce capability, as two Achilles 17pdr tankdestroyers did for heavier metal support. A company of thedivision’s machine gun unit (three Vickers HMGs) with a 4.2-inch mortar and Wasp flamethrower carrier filled out theinfantry close-support weapons. Finally, a 25pdr forwardobserver and RAF ground liaison officer for the Typhoon meantan end to the khaki! I went to lie down in a darkened room.Girlfriend rang bell. I ate food.

The Germans had a less rigid organisation, as the grindingattrition of Normandy had taken its toll. Elements of 21st PanzerDivision were represented by two companies of infantry, withhelp from an 81mm mortar, PAK 40, two HMGs and aNebelwerfer observer. Two PZIV Es provided tank support anda 20mm flak gun to help stave off the attentions of the RAF.12th SS had an under-strength company of two platoons, withan HMG, in Hanomag 251s. No mortars or A/T guns were left,but a very useful armoured force of two PZIV Hs, twoPanthers and two StuG IIIs were available, together with ahalftrack-mounted 20mm flak gun. Wittman’s Tiger wouldturn up randomly, driving to the sound of the guns, or ifsomeone told him there was a column of ambulances thatneeded shooting up (see Rule 2)! A/T capability was providedby an 88mm and a 75mm PAK 43- both utter monsters in 1/35,and deadly in Crossfire!

Phew, finished. But will it be as good to play as it is to look at?Next time: The Game!

Picture Captions. From top left down.Wittman’s Tiger (Tamiya) amidst Normandy hedgerows (by Last Valley,Zimmeritting by the author!)A Panzer Grenadier’s eye view of a Firefly (tank by Dragon)British tank column laagers up in a Normandy village (vehicles andfigures by Tamiya and Dragon, scenery scratch-built by the author)‘Ill Met By Sunlight’: Lifeguards recce squadron hammers up the VimontRoad, with Typhoons in the far distancePicture Captions. From top right down.Guards Battalion commander confers with tankers in a Normandy village(Verlinden officers and tank by Dragon)British tank column laagers up in a Normandy village (vehicles and figures byTamiya and Dragon, buildings and road scratch-built by the author)12SS Panther advances through the bocage (tank by Tamiya, roadscratch-built by the author, bocage by Last Valley)

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INTRODUCTION

In the last issue of WI I told of the eight months of work thatbrought me to the Wargames Holiday Centre, on a freezingScarborough Sunday morning, with a car groaning under theweight of assorted figures, vehicles, trees, buildings, aircraft,roads … oh, and some clothes for the three days! This game wasa huge step into the unknown as, I believe, we were stretchingthe Crossfire ruleset to its limits: it could all be over in twohours or it might take a week! I had invested a lot of time in thisand wanted it to be a great game.

We now come to that most dreaded of articles: the battle report.I’ll try to keep it flowing and, I hope, interesting. I’ll try toremember what happened. Did I take detailed notes as we wentalong? Naaaa, too busy laughing and pointing!

‘MEET THE GANG, COZ THE BOYS ARE HERE’

My erstwhile colleagues for this venture were Chris ‘Das Reich’Cornwall, Dave ‘The Cravat’ Kenyon, Gerry ‘The Guvnor’ Elliot,and me. Mike ‘Just Mike’ Ingham would drop in tocomment/abuse/laugh/point/etc. as he saw fit. I took the role ofumpire, as I had planned hidden set-ups, minefields, Typhoonstrikes, and so on. Dave would be the British player, with Chris andGerry portraying the dastardly Hun. The table was as follows (see map): Cagny to the east of off-table Caen, and a largewooded/broken ground area to the west of Cagny; a long, wooded ridge overlooking the Vimont road, with Le Poirier to the south-west of Cagny. The secret of Crossfire is to break up really long lines of sight (no range restrictions, remember) so I spent some timejust tweaking woods (oo-er!) to close these off. The Germans had two four-stand barbed-wire lines, three mined areas and twobunkers, one housing a PAK38 and the other an HMG; these could be positioned anywhere on the board the German player wished.

‘YOU WANT TO PUT THAT WHERE?!’

Dave was banished to Gerry’s garden as theGerman set-up was revealed. A company of the125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment from 21stPanzer Division would occupy Cagny, withanother in Le Poirier. The Cagny garrison wouldbe further bolstered by two short 75mm PzIVs(from the 100th Panzer Regiment) hidden in thewoods at each end of town, and the NebelwerferFOO on the roof of the hotel, giving a good line ofsight (LOS) to the approaches to the town. The20mmAA gun was situated in the walled orchardto the rear of the town, to help if the RAF decidedto ‘alter’ the architecture with 60lb rockets.

Above and Right: 12thSS move up throughNormandy bocage (PzIVby Italeri, Panthers byTamiya and Dragon,hedges by Last Valley,roads by the author)

Right: Panthers of 12thSS emerge from LePoirier woods to engagethe Grenadier GuardsArmoured Regiment(Panthers by Dragon/Tamiya, woods by LastValley)

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The Poirier force would have support from an 88mm PAK43 and aPAK38 in a bunker with an HMG covering the approaches to the town.In reserve, behind Le Poirier, would be elements of the 25th SS PanzerGrenadier Regiment from 12th SS ‘Hitlerjügend’, waiting to see wherethe main British thrust would develop. The other 88mm was in coverin the woods on the ridge, covering the Vimont road out of Cagny.Finally, the three road sections leading to Cagny were mined. All of this wasunknown, with nothing on the table, as Dave deployed his forces – very disconcerting, and nothelped by Gerry and Chris sniggering like schoolboys each time a British platoon or squadron was set up. TheBritish plan? I quote, ahem, ‘Go hell for leather up the Vimont road with my fastest stuff to flush the bastards out!’Now that’s what I call Guards Armoured! Dave, I salute you.

‘KEEP TROTTING. IF IN DOUBT, CHARGE!’

True to his word, Dave sent a recce squadron of the 2nd Life Guards to ‘have a sniff’ up the Cagny road, the mission brought to anabrupt end by Mr Teller’s favourite invention as the lead Humber armoured car was destroyed by a mine. The trap was further sprungby a hidden PzIV letting fly at the next Humber, but missing! Discretion being the better part of not getting one’s plastic head blownoff, the other cars left the road a bit sharpish for the cover of a grassy knoll, a reactive shot from the PzIV missing again. This putthe German tank on a ‘no fire’, leaving it open to a shot from the lead Sherman of ‘B’ Squadron, Grenadier Guards ArmouredRegiment, which was following the Life Guards up the road; ‘Barrosa’whackeda 75mm shell through the front of the Panzer, brewing it up. Honours even.‘A’ Squadron left the road, leapfrogged ‘B’ Squadron and moved, morecautiously, towards Cagny, taking ‘A’ Company Coldstream Guards with it.A battlegroup - consisting of ‘C’ Squadron, ‘C’ Company, two Vickers

PART 2: THE MADNESS ENDS! Words and Pictures by John Lander

Above Left: Adreaded 88mmcovers theVimont road(Tamiya)Above rightand right:88mm PAK 43in Le Poirier,(Gun by AFVClub, crew byTamiya)

Left: British sectionsmove on Cagny (Figuresby Dragon)

Right: British platoon inwoods at Cagny (Figuresby Dragon)

Left: StuGs guard the rear of Cagny(Tamiya)

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BRITISH

PAK Bunker

MG Bunker

Le MessnilFrèmental

To Caen

To Vimont

To Frènouville

Le Poirier

Cagny

27'

15'24

guns and mortar support – moved east, swung south and inchedits way – two platoons up, one back, in textbook style – coveredby the leading tanks, to the outskirts of Cagny. The Germanswere holding fire, but a Nebelwerfer FOO had other plans …

The Guards of ‘C’ Company continued a slow advance into thebocage hedges on the outskirts of Cagny, coming face to facewith a concealed PzIV from 21st Panzer, which let fly,suppressing the lead section. The initiative won, the Panzershelled the lead section again, gaining another suppression andtherefore a kill. An MG42 in an upstairs window opened up,suppressing the second section, while a platoon crossfire fromthe hotel suppressed the third, and removed it outright a secondlater. A heartfelt ‘Oh, pants’ signalled the British dilemmaperfectly. Another burst from the HMG missed, passing theinitiative to the British. Dave moved a Sherman from ‘C’Squadron to cover the withdrawal of the survivors of the leadplatoon, only for a hidden PAK 40 anti-tank gun to roll doublesix, and well and truly wallop it, ‘Cadiz’ buying the dirt farm.The remaining men of the company all dived for cover and theattack stalled.

A section had gained line of sight to the town, forcing Chris toplace eight stands of barbed wire along the front of Cagny; thiswas not going to be easy. Meanwhile, the FOO couldn’t believethe amount of targets for his battery of Nebelwerfers. I haddecided that the ’werfers hit everything on a three-foot board,with four dice, deducting for cover, and coming in after a diceroll over three, then D10 minutes later; but they only hit thetarget board on the nine or ten of a D10, the remaining one toeight corresponding to one of the boards around it. Deadly, butvery inaccurate. As umpire, I rolled secretly for the time delay,so neither side knew when the ‘moaning minnies’ would arrive;in this case, it was a delay of only four minutes. Chris rolled forthe board that would be hit, knowing only a roll of one wouldmean a ‘friendly fire’ incident. The curse that is ‘anything but aone’ duly struck and, along with another British section, aVickers team and a platoon commander, the PAK40 wasknocked out. Ignoring his role, Chris’s words were more AngloSaxon than Teutonic, with not a ‘Dummkopf’ to be heard!

‘IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY …’

With the attack on Cagny stalled for the moment, Dave sent therecce troop of two Honeys into the woods to the west of Cagnyto start an outflanking manoeuvre. The carrier platoon and A/Tcompany lent their support, with the 6pdrs unlimbering along ahedge line to cover the back of the wood. No fire wasforthcoming, so the carrier platoon skirted the wood and movedon to the next, only to receive an 88mm shell from Le Poirier’sPAK43. Sledgehammers and nuts sprang to mind, as the carrier,and its complement, were totally destroyed. With initiativegained, the 88 had a pop at one of the Honeys, and missed. Theother end of the wood was hidden from further 88-relatedattentions, so the remaining two sections of the carrier platoondebussed and hunkered down in the wood. This action drew theattention of a hidden PzII, which fired at the leading section,suppressing it. The German players had carried out theirdeployment well: with overlapping fields of fire and obviousroutes covered, this was going to be bloody going for the Brits!Gerry, deciding that the best form of defence etc., and with theBritish on the back foot, sent a company of 12th SS in 251halftracks, with two Panthers, two PzIVs and a 20mm flak, in acolumn to the ground between Cagny and Le Poirier, to link up

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the German defences. This movement brought a hopeful ‘parp’from the surviving Humber’s Besa machine gun, whichpromptly suppressed the leading SS section. With a three foot-square board full of deploying infantry, halftracks and armour,Dave begged for an opportunistic Typhoon pilot to spot this. Irolled, but to no avail.

Taking advantage of an unexpected initiative win, Dave moved‘B’ Squadron up to the woods and carefully inched his Shermansround it, avoiding the 88mm’s ‘lane of ouch’. Ever thefool/optimist/master tactician, and against the practice of the era,Dave led with the Firefly, only to advance too far and receive a75mm present from a lurking Panther, which glanced off thefrontal armour (diaries of the time always mention the smellinside a tank – this sort of thing cannot have helped!). Pushingits ‘tommy cooker’ luck, ‘Bouchain’ squared up to the Pantherand let it have a 17pdr poke in return. This missed. It now had tobe played out, and, with neither side backing off, misses,bounces … all were suffered, with both Dave and Gerry gettingmore anxious and tension rising. ‘Bouchain’ finally had the lastword and destroyed the Panther, to much cheering from Daveand, it must be said, me. (Impartial umpire? See rules 1 and 2 inlast month’s instalment!) This victory left the flank of a PzIVopen to the same Firefly, which it duly brewed up. Realising that‘Bouchain’ was probably pushing its luck, Dave pushed it evenfurther, destroying a 251 and shooting up its infantry; then itscrew reversed out of harm’s way to have tea and, no doubt,congratulate themselves.

‘YOU DIRTY RAAAT’

With the 6pdrs covering, the flank of Cagny was secured, so theBritish 25pdr observer called in a smoke mission just beyond thebarbed wire covering the approach to the town. Under cover ofthis, the battalion’s engineers set about clearing a path and,despite the attentions of a sniper, this was achieved. Theengineers withdrew – no doubt with a jerked thumb and an ‘Overto you, mate’ – and the infantry of ‘C’ Company, ColdstreamGuards, readied themselves for the assault.

More smoke was laid, and the company set off down the lanescleared in the wire, covered by the guns of 21st Anti-tankRegiment’s Achilles tank destroyers. The Firefly of ‘C’Squadron inched around to flank Cagny, with the otherremaining Sherman trundling up to the edge of the main street todraw some fire away from the infantry. This it did, to a welcomemat of two Panzerfausts. Both missed. Covered by the 75mm ofthe Sherman, the infantry attacked the hotel and first house, theSherman’s HE helping to clear the way. After about two hours’close-in fighting, the hotel and house were cleared. With‘Corunna’ of ‘C’ Squadron knocking out a 21st Panzer PzIV, theeastern flank of the town was looking cleared: good work, fella!An over-zealous Achilles moved to flank the next building andwas promptly brewed by a hitherto hidden StuG and the Firefly,next initiative, by a Panzerfaust. Oooooo, not so good!

Chris and Gerry had also slipped in a platoon of 12th SS toreinforce the garrison; these wasted no time in counter-attackingand ejecting the British from their tenuous hold of the firsthouse. This heralded a time of attack and counter-attack, finallybroken by a Wasp flamethrower carrier braving ‘Panzerfaustalley’, as the main street had become known, to help eject theGermans to the rear of the town. This was shaping up to be agreat game!

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The battle of the woodlands on the approaches to Le Poirier wasbogging down, with slow progress from the British, a Germancounter-attack was stopped by the A/T company, ‘Bouchain’claimed another Panther before a PzIV halted its heroic run, anda Typhoon strike mauled the half-tracks – these boys are walkingfrom now on!

SHERMANS IN THE MAIN STREET

Wittman’s Tiger now showed up and clanked its way to coverthe rear of Cagny, along with some more 12th SS and a StuG.Its arrival was welcomed by a 75mm ‘hello’ from ‘Cambrai’,the remaining tank of ‘C’ Squadron, which had advanced alongthe main street. This shot bounced off the front of the Tiger,causing it to veer into some woods, taking another round in theside, which also bounced off. While Wittman changed hisundercrackers, the British infantry finally cleared the lastbuilding (the Café Rene!) of its troublesome MG42. TheColdcream boys had taken Cagny but, with a trail of burningShermans and depleted platoons, had little to hold it against acounter-attack that was brewing in the woods beside theVimont road. A Kampfgruppe of 21st Panzer infantry, a Tigerand a StuG wanted Cagny back, and against a PIAT, a depletedcompany and a lone Sherman, it looked as though they weregonna get it. Until, in a moment of pure drama, the hard-pressed Guardsmen heard the sound of tank engines as ‘A’Squadron roared across the roads of the Cagny approaches(losing a Sherman to a mined road section, but let’s not spoilthe moment) to lay one into the StuG and shoot up a lot ofstartled Germans. Dave, obviously having done his WWIIresearch, decoyed Wittman’s Tiger with ‘Alma’, flanked it with‘Arras’ and, still needing a good dice roll to penetrate, rolled adouble six, to send Tiger 007 to the junkyard. Now Dave is awell-spoken, ex-public school chap, so to see him cheering anddoing the ‘orang-utan victory dance’ is a sight that will staywith me for a long time. With the British occupying Cagny, butnot reaching Le Poirier, we decided it was honours even andthe game was declared a draw. It was, historically, horrificallyaccurate, with a high toll of both tank and infantry lost inwinkling out a well-dug-in opponent. Kudos, and massiverespect, to all those who had to do it for real.

‘I’D LIKE TO THANK THE ACADEMY …’

We were all absolutely knackered – always the sign of a good,hard-fought game! Thanks have to go to Gerry Elliot of theWargames Holiday Centre for the use of the table, and to theplayers for a fantastic game, played totally in the right spirit.Now before this becomes an Oscar speech, and I start thankingGod and my parents, and start crying, I’m off.

POSTSCRIPT

In true, crap-horror-film style, the relentless killer is presumedfinally dispatched and the surviving teenagers smile weakly attheir good fortune… but the beast refuses to die! Aaaaargh! Run!

So it was that, as we were loading up my car with all the kit,Gerry smiled and said, ‘What a stunning game. Do you knowwhat would look even better?… D-Day!’ Thus another seedwas sown. So, I’ll see you on Sword Beach, at Salute, in April.Roll credits.

Picture Captions. Previous page from the top:1) An infantry man eye view of Cagny (Buildings scratch-built by the author,greenery by Last Valley)2 and 3) Sherman Firefly ‘Corunna’, of the Grenadier Guards ArmouredRegiment, inches into the outskirts of Cagny (Firefly by Dragon)4) Sherman in the main street! ‘Cambrai’ firing into Cagny. (Buildings androad scratch-built by the author, greenery by Last Valley)Left hand page top to bottom:1) 12th SS move up through Normandy bocage (PzIV by Italeri, Panthers byTamiya and Dragon, hedges by Last Valley, roads by the author)2) British sections move on Cagny (Figures by Dragon)3) Cagny (Greenery by Last Valley, terrain boards by Peter Gilder - all hail! -buildings/roads scratch-built by the author)4) Michael Wittman rocks up! (Tiger by Tamiya, Zimmeritting by the author)Left hand page top to bottom right:1) ‘Cambrai’ bats way above its league and has a poke at a Tiger (Sherman byTamiya, buildings and roads scratch-built by the author)2) British engineer platoon clearing lanes in the wire, under cover of smoke(Figures by Dragon, S&A Scenics wire on scratch-built bases)3): PzIV (Italeri)

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