For wargamers interested in WW2 and particularly North-West Europe in 1944, there comes a point where recreating D-Day (at least in part) has a strong appeal. We are no exception.

Our collections are mainly 20mm (1/76th) and while visually appealing, this scale for D-Day has some specific challenges. Recreating the landing craft and fortifications – an essential part of the appeal of this operation – require resources that have a limited use for other more general scenarios, so clarity on what we wanted to achieve was essential.

We decided early on to focus on the British beaches first. This enabled us to break the tasks down into more manageable chunks. With some small additions, the Canadians can also be covered.

Fortunately, the enthusiasm of the club members enabled us to spread the workload and arrive at the required models and terrain in a reasonable timeframe. We also had the excellent: Battlegroup rules publications and the Overlord supplement. These are the rules we use for these games, with slight changes to the points system and force selection options, changes we made to better reflect our expectations of how the battle would play out.

As any wargamer knows, playing games in a set period generates excitement and enthusiasm for that period and so while we have played several games resulting in both Allied and Axis victories, like any self-respecting wargamer, we have of course continued to add models to our collections.

The Americans are now gaining strength on the paint bench, and we want to include the airborne elements soon, so….

On to Paris!