FT240 COMMANDO BEACH 1

Michael R

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Scenario FT240 COMMANDO BEACH 1 comes from issue fourteen of Le Franc Tireur that featured the Italian military, so of course it has Italians. The designers are Steven Swann and Xavier Vitry. I do not know of any Italian beach landings, but of course the Italians were at the receiving end of seaborne assaults. This scenario has Royal Marine commandos landing in Sicily against Italians that had no interest in quickly surrendering.

The battle takes place on half of board 18 with board LFT1 providing the ocean and beach hexes. There are several hills on board 18; the victory goes to the side that controls two of three specified hill hexes.

The Italians start with two 37L AT guns in grey pillboxes, two medium mortars and two squads. On turn two, they receive substantial reinforcements of 14 squads with machine guns and light mortars. By SSR, the Italians are fanatic, which makes them as good as any Axis Minor troops.

The British force is not huge; it fits in four landing craft. The British have ten elite squads, some 648, most 458 as well as a crew to operate a medium mortar. The troops have some light machine guns, several DC, and a radio to call in battalion mortar OBA.

The scenario gives both sides the possibility to improve or add to their OB. One of the British choices, however, is so beneficial that I cannot imagine anyone not taking it. That option is ⅝" smoke counters on six beach hexes during the Prep Fire phase of British turn two. With the mild breeze, the British will have the cover they need to land on the beach in relative safety. The other British options are more troops in another LC. I had the British and I chose the smoke. Magnus Rimvall had the Italians; he chose the option to upgrade six 3-4-6 to 3-4-7 in the turn two reinforcements.

Two of the three possible victory hills are relatively close to the beach. They were my choice for the British assault.

On the run-in, before my smoke came on board, one of the Italian mortars obtained a CH against a landing craft. The effects roll was good enough to inflict two damage points and the CH added one damage point for a total of three. That LC DP limit is three, so it became immobilized. Here is where I tell you to read the LC vehicle notes BEFORE you play a scenario that has LC. This landing craft, an LCA, has a partial roof; the notes say to reduce the damage points inflicted by one for indirect fire. The collateral attack eliminated a leader and a two HS; two HS with DC were stuck floating on the LC for the rest of the game.

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The smoke allowed for quick and safe unloading of the other three LC when they hit the beach. The turn two Italian reinforcements have no worries as they run to interfere with the British plans.

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The British defeat the nearest Italians and push slowly inland. On the right hill, however, I can see things will be difficult with the number of concealed units there, combined with the reverse slope to hide from the British. I got lucky with the SSR dr for the OBA. I needed to roll less than the turn number to bring on the OBA. The OBA caused some damage to the units on the rear hill, but also caused HOB for the Italian 9-1, which became a 9-2. This image is at the end of player turn three.

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As the British first try to occupy the victory hills, they are broken and rout back. On British turn five, their radio breaks. I unknowingly put a unit in a position on the right hill that causes a full squad to surrender after it breaks while trying to place a DC. The second push for the left hill is successful. The Italian mortars have some success against my units on the right hill. This image is at the end of player turn five.

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The British received air support on turn four, but I have no note or memory of what it did. Looking at the final image from the game (in British turn seven), I believed it might have broken some of the Italians along the hedge between the two hills. On the Italian sixth turn, however, they moved their MG teams with leadership onto the right hill and outnumbered the good order British there. I needed a good rally phase in turn 7, but I did not receive it, so I conceded.

I liked the scenario. Although it is a sort of vanilla seaborne assault, that makes it more accessible. If two players met up knowing the seaborne assault rules with their setups prepared, I believe they could finish in about six hours.
 
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