Assaulted in the Bocage country: Like it or Hate Bocage.

[DonWPetros]

LOS between adjacent hexes is N/A if across a CP or NR hexside. Why not stay in the CP?

The rules for something like this would need to be fleshed out by guys smarter than me!

 

[wrongway149]

Indy and I visited Normandy a few years back and we both reached the immediate conclusion that normal AFVs could not drive through it. It'd just be impossible (and impassable). Like, before you even reach the bocage, there was a trench on the road-side of the hedgerow that was about ten foot deep and wide minimum. I think a lot of photographs/depictions of "bocage" are actually just Normandy hedge-row. The bocage we saw was astonishing.

We don't have a good map for the swampy bocage of the Cotentin area,. Don? Tom?

 

[Tuomo]

Not from me. That almost sounds unplayable.

 

[wrongway149]

I. Like, before you even reach the bocage, there was a trench on the road-side of the hedgerow that was about ten foot deep and wide minimum

Refer back to my 'roads w/drainage ditches' terrain need.

 

[wrongway149]

Not from me. That almost sounds unplayable.

Well I have a title for the first scenario; "The Norman Jungle" As General 'Lightning Joe' Collins thought it was harder to attack through than Guadalcanal.

So your sentiment is well considered. Maneuver would not likely be the main feature.

 

[Ric of The LBC]

That's how I feel most of the actual roads in Bocage country should be depicted, rather than the pseudo-boulevards we now see.

This is where my mind scales the terrain up or down depending on the board and scenario. I've always seen board 4 as a much smaller scale, say 1:2 vs board 3.

Playing the bocage scenarios, I envision the roads being much narrower (visually a larger scale) than the standard scale but the fields are larger (smaller scale). Two scales in one board.

YMMV

 

[wrongway149]

Not from me. That almost sounds unplayable.

I could probably do something with board 74 and some bocage overlays: (But yeah it takes a lot of the maneuver away and makes for 'bottle necks' on an attacker. )



Advance vs difficult terrain!

Overlays are kind of tough as they 'lay over' the hexside terrain. Some larger bocage overlays with marsh /streams in the center or running through?

 

[von Marwitz]

View attachment 34977
I've wanted to use something like this to depict the narrow cart-paths in Normandy. It's a stretch, but possible?

My gut feeling tells me this would open a can of worms with regard to rules mechanics like there ever was one.
No idea how to address this - maybe with some kind of modified inverted Rice Paddy Bank.

von Marwitz

 

[DonWPetros]

We don't have a good map for the swampy bocage of the Cotentin area,. Don? Tom?

Nope, me neither. But easy enough to do. Could do some large Overlays for an existing board.

 

[DonWPetros]

My gut feeling tells me this would open a can of worms with regard to rules mechanics like there ever was one.
No idea how to address this - maybe with some kind of modified inverted Rice Paddy Bank. von Marwitz

I would have to agree. But.. would the benefit outweigh the trouble?

 

[Robin Reeve]

WO Bonus pack 4 (2013) provided a large Marsh overlay, used for "WO10 All along the Merderet", with boards 54 and 66 featuring Bocage.
So there has been some thought given to the swampy terrain of the Cotentin Bocage.

Here is a video explaining that there were quite different Bocage types in Normandy (it divides them into four categories):

So, if we wanted to represent them, we would need a series of different rules.

BFP introduced, in Beyond the Beachhead/Operation Cobra, Light Bocage, with slightly changed rules.

 

[kdalton]

I know a crusty old guy who was assaulted in the bocage country. I mean assaulted!
He won’t play bocage.

1. Do you play Bocage scenarios?
2. Do you enjoy Bocage scenarios?
3. If given a choice of playing a Bocage scenario or a non-Bocage scenario which do you choose?
4. Would you rather play a Bocage scenario or have your feet swatted by an enemy interrogator?
5. Do your ASL buddies have to hold you at gun point to get you to play Bocage?
6. Would you like to see the Bocage section of every ASLRB ripped out and burned in the street?

Bocage is not that hard. I played bocage for the first time last year and did several scenarios with it. It just "straight-jackets" your LOS. Expect things to get very up close very quickly. Movement is life. Key is to get close to the objectives before the defense has time to move and react. It cuts both ways.

 

[FrankH.]

Maybe you should make a poll for this.