That’s right, only 10 turns left. If you remember, by turn 10, General Cota hadn’t even made beachfall yet, and by now, he’s been fighting for HOURS. There are Units that have been on the ground since Turn 1, though not many (since those were Tank units, most of which didn’t make it out of the water), but we have also lost quite a few Units. Thankfully not enough to cause me to instantly lost the game. But that’s not out of the question yet. East Sector is putting up quite the fight so far, and it’s going to take me a few turns to get into position to knock out the last German resistance. In that time it’s possible for me to take enough casualties to have command pull the plug on this side of the invasion. I have a feeling that won’t be the case, however, as I have a wave of Units coming in to knock the Axis silly. It’s just whether I do it in time to get the Victory Points needed to win the game or not.

Judging from history (MY history, not the actual history I’m playing out here), no, no I will not win the game, but hey, you never know.

So I do have a Amphibious Operations Phase as some Infantry is dropping on the East Side, including the last HQ chit (hooray!). And that’s a good card as nobody explodes on landing, nor does any artillery rain down. Excellent.

As for new Units, I just get one bit of Armor that’s also arriving on the Eastern Sector. I’ll have it come up on the Western Draw behind the HQ, so that if it gets set up as a Command Post, I’ll have something with a range of 5 able to back up some Infantry.

But let’s see what Events we get before the pain comes. Unless the Event is the pain, of course. Nope, just more Reinforcements that I can’t place, so we get to the firing:

Looks like some more Reinforcing and maybe some Advancing in our future, and let’s hope I don’t have any Triangles in any danger.

Note that 2/1/726 did not Advance, even though the Hex it’s on has an Advancement arrow. This is because of the obscure rule: Only units from the 352nd Division with Depth markers Advance. Since this one is from the 726nd, it’ll stay put. *shrug*

Pretty painful with Red firing this turn, causing 3 total Steps lost, including I/3/116 being wiped out entirely. Nothing from the other colors, however.

The Second Event is…um….uneventful?

So now I have my HQ/Engineers doing….things. Sadly in East Sector, I still have my one HQ section pinned between two lovers…I mean, German units. The other one just hit the beach, so it has to move up and find a space to set up its Command Post. Out West Side Command Post is doing pretty well, the other one is heading up the road, but can’t go much futher until that Blue Bunker goes away. Where should I set up the post, though? I kinda want to set it up right where the Blue Bunker is! Do I wait that long, though? For now, yes.

I increase the eastern most Engineers for each sector and hope that gets me somewhere. Now to the Action Phase.

Some big gains as the Western flank s finally cleared up and our first Artillery finally make topside, earning us some nice VP there. Big hits in the middle clearing up space to make that Draw passible once the Engineers are done. Just need to get the eastern side better, so I’m doing some maneuvering for that.

This was mostly maneuvering as I need to get MO onto the Blue Bunker. Also need that for the Red one I learned as well, so there we go. The Red Reinforcement has to wait a bit as it takes a while to get through the bocage so they can get flanked and properly shot at. And over there in the West everyone is getting in position to take down that Red hex and then I can start getting everyone out of that exit for max VP.

But that’s for a later turn.

Speaking of turns. It’s now turn 24.

I’ve got one lone piece of Artillery about to make landfall, so let’s see what happens there. No effect. I’ll be damned, it actually lands without hassle. And no new units approach.

As a matter of fact, no new units will EVER approach. What you will see on this board, is what you will ALWAYS see now. I can put away these Amphibious Landing Tables for good. Except the US Weapons Chart and Barrage Tables are on the other side, so I really can’t, but the sentiment is there.

Well that’s a fun one! Sadly it hasn’t fired, but I’ve also taken out that Bunker already (it’s the Brown bunker on the back of the Eastern Draw of West Sector), so no big deal. But still, fun to think that if they made a big show of force, they get blown away!

Both Red’s unDisrupt, and Brown fires to no effect. No problem there, I think.

And, um, absolutely nothing happens in West Sector. Green could have Ambushed, but there wasn’t any Circles available for them to shoot at, so I got lucky. Beyond that, there just wasn’t anything activating. Huh. Lucky draw.

I keep going with my same plan on the HQ and Engineers, so their halos just keep growing, second Event:

Huh, the Navy’s getting all sorts of uppity this turn! Let’s pull a card and see which position it is: Diamond, so WN66S.

GET MY BROWN PANTS!

No effect but probably startled a few people.

Actually no units were in any of those three spots, but still, fun to think about.

Well, that Red Reinforcement continues to harass me as it requires AR, which neither unit has, so it remains stubbornly. I’ve got more units coming out of the Draw, so that Blue Reinforcement should be folding up soon, so I hope overwhelming force should finally get it to go soon. Jeeeeeeez. Then I’ll be able to have the actions to spread my units around to take all those tasty VP spots along that main road there.

Big gains here, Vierville-sur-Mer is quickly going to be cleared out, and we have more Artillery making topside. Red Bunker has been cleared out and I have an HQ one turn away from making it out of the Draw. Blue Bunker should be cleared out too, barring any weird events. I’ve got that Red Reinforcement surrounded, so I think that should be going soon, too. Now it’s just logistics on getting those sweet, sweet VPs.

But now it’s Turn 25. 14:30.

No need to do Landing Checks anymore, so we can skip right ahead to Event Phase. Which doesn’t do anything, so let’s get to the shooting.

Lost a Unit on the back road, also wounding F/2/18 there. Luckily I have all those Units around General Wyman who can rush up and flank and offer additional support.

Lots of unDisrupting (I dunno, I kinda enjoy my weird capitalization with that word) and K/3/115 loses a Step. Could make for some problems depending what’s on that Depth Marker. Hrmph. Still doing okay, though.

Second Event has me removing all Disruption from German Units, but as you can see, that was happening anyway from the German Fire cards, so…nyeah.

In the Engineer phase, I raise the range of the two Engineers that are desperately trying to get in the range of those WN’s that could still get Reoccupied. Which would stink, right? The one on East Sector is still in blocked communication, but West Sector actually has two that could have some sneaky enemy come in and start shooting. I’d rather not have that happen.

Still don’t have my HQ where they need to be. I feel like I’m failing in that regard. Seasoned players are probably laughing at me. Or cursing that I’m borking a rule really really badly anyway and stopped reading weeks ago. *shrug* Either way, no changes there.

Let’s get to our Action Phase.

Dangit, forgot to move that tank (1/A/741) again before taking the picture, so I moved it AFTER, sorry ’bout that. Anyway, finally was able to knock the Depth marker out of the Green Reinforcement way to the south that Spalding had been working on for hours. Got people into position on the Brown Reinforcement on the same road. Also got everyone on position to take out the Blue one on the end of the Draw there. Will take all my Actions next turn, but should get everything freed up to move and take positions on all those VP hexes just south of them later.

I look like I’m fighting a lot of my own Units here, but after destroying the Germans, I was able to move my own Units into the hexes they occupied afterward, so it makes it a bit confusing. But hey, look, I have my HQ where I want it to be! The Red Reinforcement in the middle requires AR, so that’s being a right pain, but luckily I can get Gen Cota to bring that armored monstrosity to bear and help take it down. Now to get as much on those VP hexes as possible, as well as getting them off the board! I might not even bother with some of the enemy who are left, depending on my Action economy, but we’ll see what the Events/Fire Cards have to say about that. You never know what the game may throw at you.

Turn 26.

Huh. Ya don’t say?

Looks like a man named Schwartz proved himself finding out that they might need Artillery:

But:

Two big hits on the East raises my Casualty count (at 9 of 14) and an Ambush Disrupts a Unit as well.

Over on the West side, even this far away, these shots Disrupt G/2/115. And finally for the Event I have to add a Depth Marker to a Unit in each Sector. Woof. They’re digging in and holding position as best they can. They’re not giving up easy.

But hey! I can start another Command Post! Hooray! We can say Laurent-sur-Mer has been Liberated!

And next turn I should be able to get my first Command Post set up on the East Sector. Nice.

This one was a bit tough due to Action economy as the Engineering bubble only gives you free Move actions, not Attack actions. Also a bit tough on the Attention economy as my cat wouldn’t leave me the hell alone as I was trying to figure out what to do. Like, all those Units in the middle of Draw E-3 I forgot to move before doing that picture, so I just drew an arrow on them and moved them later. Sorry ’bout that. (NOT NOW KITTY!)

I was finally able to take down that Blue Reinforcement (needed FL and RD on that Depth marker), and I used General Wyman to get a free attack on the Green Reinforcement down south and get rid of it’s Depth Marker. My last Action was spent trying to spread some Units around on the West to get some sitting near the VP positions for end of game purposes.

More Maneuvering to take main roads here. And also finally taking down that Red Reinforcement in the middle with General Cota and Shwartz’s help. Also getting a few units ready to exit the map out of the ‘G’ exit off on the right there.

But that ends the turn. Bringing us to turn 27.

15:30. School’s out? Wait…(counts on fingers)….no, not yet. Close, though.

Nothing from the First Event, and the East Fire Card merely unDisrupts our Blue Boys. West Fire Card unDisrupts the Red’s as well.

The Second event gives me a Naval Fire Marker…but I already have one. And I really don’t need it at this point as now it’s mostly a logistical game. At least, I think it is.

I make my new Command Post a bit bigger, and try to even out my Engineering posts.

But now the Actions….as much as they are at this point.

The Blue Boys are finally gone, so the Red’s should fall soon after. Having trouble with Action economy as I’m trying to spread everyone around to get the VP spaces, and the Brown Reinforcement in the middle requires Artillery…because of course it does. I’ll have to send Spalding in to take care of it, even though I was happy having him hold C4 and C6 for those 2 VP. Smith is holding 2 VP on the West there, so I was going to send H/2/18 down south on that Road to grab more VP down there, but ran out of Actions. I also have quite a few steps of Artillery about to make topside out of Draw E-3, so I’m looking forward to that.

Had to zoom out a bit here as I’ve got a few Units happily taking that Southern road out of St Laurent sur Mer there, but things are clearing up quite nicely to wrap up the game(ish). Even have a few Units ready to leave the map out of exit G there. Of course, I have to make sure I keep Communication up to exit G at the end of the game or it won’t count, but if I keep, say, B/1/115 where it is, it’ll have communication in all the hexes around it, which connects it to the HQ field and makes it a nice bubble that makes the exit permanently open (unless something horrible happens).

And as I reshuffle the cards to form the Draw Pile for the last time, this is where something horrible happens on Turn 28.

I mean, can they at this point? This is just where I lay my chits down and see if I got things where they needed to be, right?

Right?

Wow! Nice! See, Butterfield likes you! Not like that Matt Leacock guy….

OW!

Oof!

Okay, maybe it’s not all cleaned up yet.

And the Second Event isn’t anything.

And now I finally have a Command Post on the East Sector.

It ain’t much, but it’s paid for.

Ah, I finally get to do something that I haven’t been doing. Don’t know if it’s because I’ve been forgetting, or if I’ve just never gotten the opportunity:

If a Tank Unit starts and ends on a Major Road – it can move FOUR hexes in a turn. YEEEEEE HAAAWWW. Oh wait, dang, that’s still a Secondary Road. Phooey.

Anyway:

I’m sending Spalding over to take out the Depth Marker on the Brown Reinforcement and eventually to hold the VP hexes on C7 and D5. I’ve got smith holding D8 and D7, and an Infantry unit following up that road to take the VP hexes at the end of it. I’m bringing in some Artillery to the HQ I’ve got set up so when the sphere of influence overlaps IP/352 there, I can rain hell down on it. Then I’ll fan everyone out there to get some points down that road.

Oops, forgot to move Morse before I took the shot, but picture him and his mates standing on G1. Anyway, a lot of spreading out here to hold on to as many hexes as possible. That single remaining Brown Reinforcement needed to be Flanked (no big surprise there), so I’ll get C/1/115 to do that in a few turns. But hey, I got my first Infantry off the board! Woot!

But you know what this means now?

It’s Turn 29.

29, 30, 31, 32. That’s all we have left.

*GULP*

Remember, since the one Event that would add the extra German defenders has not been drawn, we’re starting out at a negative eight point deficit. I honestly think I’ve been doing very well this game….a lot, though, coming from luck of how most of the Reinforcements came early in the game, so I was able to point my Units where I needed them too…and come to think of it, I haven’t had to deal with any Re-deploy actions, no weird Mortar attacks….nothing really debilitating. It’s been pretty by the book. Except for a few nail biting moments at the beginning when the Casualty count was getting high, this has been pretty by the books. Sadly, not a great showing of the “Beyond the Beach” Scenario, sadly. Usually it’s much more dynamic, with units flooding in from the South, moving and dodging and all sorts of things, but many of those units were already here before the Scenario already began! Hmmm…

Well, let’s not count our chickens. Let’s see what the cards have for us now.

The Event has us adding Depth Markers, but all my Germans have great depth. They’re talking Durat and…okay, I can’t think of timely German Philosophers.

And all the Fire cards did was Disrupt one Unit from an Ambush. I can deal with that.

Oh jeez….I hope that’s one of my HQ’s that’s not that big yet….

Ouch. That’s going to smart. That’ll make my West Sector turn…..sticky.

I’m able to get one of my Engineering bases to its largest ranges…which is kinda nuts. No reason why anything should be left on the beach over there. Everything else kinda stays in limbo because of the kinda logarithmic scale of those range tracks. Heck, it looks like the range goes out and hits the Navy!

But anyway, let’s do these Actions!

All of the Actions were outside the edges as I moved Units to get them where they needed to be. The combat will be once the HQ sphere overlaps as I said last turn. Won’t make it ’till next turn.

Didn’t do much here as two of my Actions that would have been free in HQ 116’s radius had to cost me this turn. Hrmph. E*F/5R moved after I took this shot…because apparently I have to forget to move one Unit per turn? Yeah, let’s go with that. Oh! I just noticed I can move 58AFA, too. Though there’s no way for it to get topside by the end of the game, but at least it’ll look a little better.

And we just made it to Turn 30.

The countdown to the end of the game.

What do you think, have I made the 40 VP for a success? At least over the 19 to not be a crushing defeat? Did I do better than that? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out!

Or not.