#1 - In the Picking Up The Pieces (Normandy scenario), the British objective is to "occupy the neutral objective marker by the end of round 6" to "immediately win." Am I correct in deducing "British" here refers to the British troops landing on the beach and not to the three 6th Airborne units?

#2 - In this scenario the British are given the American Air Support Deck I and start with 2 strategy cards. However, I see no way the British can ever gain command points in the scenario. Am I missing something here...?

I would proberly make the scenario better ballanced if it were british squads bases that were supposed to get there. The scenario though, indicates that the american bases mearly represents the brithsh 6th airborn, or a 3ed british division. The rules themself also sttes that the british and american as allies share control. So any hex controled by the paras would also be considered controled by the british on the beach. This would actualy give the british access to the (2) command points from the objective.

Hefsgaard said:

Right - the 3 squads with American bases are actually a "3rd British division" - i.e. British troops not American. The problem with the way the scenario is stated is that if these 3 squads (the 6th Airborne) qualify to capture the objective - the scenario is over on the first move every game since the British are given opening initiative and have a squad located 2 hexes away from the objective (and keep in mind occupying it is an immediate victory). Which means the 2 Command are superfluous. In fact, the Germans won't get a turn. (In fact, why bother setting up, etc.?)

This is why I deduce (despite the wording in the objectives) that the victory-objective must be occupied by one of the British "beach units" to simulate the hooking up of the beach forces with the paras. BUT, this still leaves the question - why are the British given strategy cards when they can never obtain Command points? I'm still looking for clarity on this one....

Notice that it is only on turn 6, and at the end of that as well, that the british Immidiatly win by taking control of the objective. It proberly means that they win by controlling it, even if the germans have driven the paras out of the two maps. But the entire wording is vague. Didn't the proofreader know the game?

As for commandpoints it is safe to assume that the para captures the 2 marker, thus giving the allies 2 command each turn.

I read it as turn 6 and not immediately.

That said, I too feel that it is simulating the linkup of the beach units with the airborne and could use some errata.

kmedlinnc said:

Well, the problem is that the objectives state: "If the British are able to occupy the neutral objective marker by the end of round 6, they immediately win." In any other TOI scenario I've ever played (or read) - that statement means that occupying the objective at any time before the end of the final round is an immediate win (i.e. game over right then). I don't know how to interpret this sentence any other way.

However, given this discussion, I'm beginning to think that the error lies not in the Command/strategy cards, but in poorly articulated objectives. Thus I suggest that the Objective should read:

The British win if, at the end of round 6...

1. they are occupying the neutral objective marker, AND
2. they have kept at least 2 paratrooper squads alive and on boards 27B/25A.

The Germans win...

1. immediately if they eliminate 2 British paratrooper squads, OR
2. if the British do not occupy the neutral objective marker at the end of round 6.

Strategically , then, this would mean:

1. British paratroopers should immediately occupy the neutral objective marker and begin earning Command to take advantage of the Artillery Deck
2. the Germans are faced with an evil choice - either pull back (quickly!) from the beach to eliminate the paratroopers and occupy/guard the objective - or try to mow down the British beach-forces first, then going after the paratroopers - or divide forces, attempting to pursue the paratroopers while moderately defending the beach
3. the British beach-forces must react quickly and accordingly to the German-player's choice - tie up the German defenses (suppressive fire, etc.) - or quickly push up to rescue the paratroopers

Now that sounds like a good scenario. (And that's how I will play this in the future.)

Definitely makes the most sense.

Should we be getting together some kind of scenario FAQ to tide folks over until a new official FAQ can get released?

I played this scenario last weekend and came to one question: Is it possible for any player to assault a bunker hex (which is considered 2lvl terrain) from a beachhex? I know that the british have the scaling cliff operation card which enables them to go from 0lvl to 2lvl using 3 MP however I am not sure if this enables them to assoult a bunker.

Since we couldn't find anything due to lack of internet at home we decided to allow them the assault resulting in a quite unbalanced scenario where the germans hadn't any chance. At the end of round 3 only 2 officers were left.

I think that it would be more realistic to have to climb up the cliffs walk arorund the bunker and then assault it from the back so it can be entered and it can't use its heavy machine gun. I even think that it shouldn't be possible for a squad to leave the bunker hex and move directly into a beach hex. I think the squad should leave to the back (1lvl hex) and then move wherever it wants.

Any suggestions or experience to this topic/scenario?

Hi,

It says right on the Scaling Cliffs card that you can't assault while scaling cliffs. So, no, you can't assault bunkers from the beach.

As for the victory conditions, I agree with others here...the British can collect the command points from the neutral objective with the "American" Paratroops. However I took "immediately" literally, meaning that the Brits win immediately when they control the objective, so they can do it on any round.

This is a pretty OK scenario. Pretty biased toward the offense, but still quick and fun. I'm a little confused by its inclusion in the Normandy set though, since it would appear to be totally for beginners. No squad specialization, no vehicles, no novel rules. Also I'm not a fan of scenarios this short, because my setup/put away time is greater than the game time itself. Also it's too similar to the following scenario.

BuddhaBob74 said:

Thanks, BuddhaBob, for checking that operations card.

The problem with taking "immediately" literally, though, is that those paratroopers begin the scenario 2 or 3 hexes away from that objective AND the British are given first Initiative. The British player needs to do nothing but move the paratroops into the city (objective) as his first action - game over, no further actions, no German turn, nothing. I have to conclude this can't be how the scenario's supposed to be played.

Hey Guys! We were facing the same problems and questions as you are. One additional problem was the firepower of the paratrooper squads (dispalyed by the American elite infantry). With 8 FP per squad it was for the German player unpossible to defend the beach and to attack the paratroppers. Did you have the similar problems or did we have only the wrong strategy?

Secondly, as I read the ongoing discussion about this scenario, I am very disappointed with FFG because of their apparently insufficient playtesting and their inability to provide an appropriate FAQ solving or at least clarifying the difficulties we all are facing.

So, please FFG: Pimp up your FAQ!

Blackbert

Hey mates. From the scenario background: "6th Airborne awaited relief..." "...British commandos have to eliminate targets in Ouistreham and eventually relieve the 6th Airborne".

I say then that the task is clear. The commandos from the beach have to occupy themselves the 2-point objective that would simulate the relieving of the 6th airborne.

Further arguments for that statement:

The elite paratrooper figures are *American* squads. Why is that? To distinguish them from the commandos that have to occupy the objective.

Further, in special rules: "No more than one green squad may leave Ouistreham." If the objective would be to capture the objective with the paratrooper squad, why on earth would they be leaving Ouistreham? No, it means that the American may use only one of the paratrooper squads - to simulate retaining control over Ouistreham - to disrupt the German rear and help the commandos from the beach.

Is it clear?

No it is not clear - it is valid reasoning, but still only our take on it.

The passages about driving the airborne out of the two boards gives the germans an extra set of victroy conditions.