Epic D-Day Wargame (Part 2 of 2)

[@SpringfieldFatts]

"Hello, party supply store? Do you guys sell those little US flags they put in sandwiches? Cool, cool. Say, uhhh, what OTHER countries do you carry?"

[@mattsharman4733]

"Uhh, do you happen to have some Nazi swastikas? Uhh, not for that reason, we're making a semi-documentary..."

[@ashpalmer3409]

The central german commander deserves several medals and accommodations for his stunning performance in this military action.

[@TheArmchairHistorian]

I really love the way you made these two episodes, both very entertaining to watch. Excited for more!

[@henryredcoat3522]

I didn't know you viewed this channel

[@ritaDas-xl4kz]

@@henryredcoat3522 You can see it in the channel tab he is there

[@bruceismay5440]

Gosh you reply to every video that has anything to do with history, it almost makes me want to start a history channel

[@whitneydennard1508]

Hi Armchair Historian!

[@reglavcor]

The miscommunication of the two British commanders was awesome! When this happened, Tony and Chal's reactions were hilarious! Miles seems to truly understand the mechanics of the game. And Ed, you did fine in your first KZbin game. Kudos to you and Miles, for being accepted in the club. Once again, this channel is fantastic. It is such a shot in the arm, to other wargamers, like me, out there. And once again.................... GENERAL D'BRIGADE!!!

[@B.Huntley_Sharpe]

When I'm Emperor, first thing to do is appoint Miles my Field Marshal. Very decisive, slightly unorthodox, and, (need I say it?) quite dashing.

[@matthewlebo1841]

I hope we can see more wargames like this and Marengo, where you do the entire campaign as opposed to one individual engagement. Something like Vicksburg would be an awesome campaign to watch!

[@barneythepurpledinosaur7002]

Miles was by far the MVP

[@nicklemming2556]

When we were playtesting Rommel for Sam Mustafa, we had a *lot* of supply points overrun, so I really feel for the Commonwealth players in this part.

[@rcspaintserviceandgaming]

This is how war games always should be played! Get your war game buddies together and play a D-Day scenario!!!!!! I want this in Copenhagen, Denmark!

[@deepyamandas1192]

Oh yeah. I was waiting for this for long. Is has been one week but it feels like one month has passed.

[@gaslightstudiosrebooted3432]

That is has

[@llewev]

"Daylight failing" at 18:00? In this part of the world in June it's light up to 22:00! .

[@yaitz3313]

Woo! Second half! I've been waiting for this.

[@gaslightstudiosrebooted3432]

At some point (perhaps when your finances are in order) I'll have to give you guys a tour of Normandy or Flanders. The entire crew.

[@LittleWarsTV]

We would love to take you up on that someday!

[@gaslightstudiosrebooted3432]

@@LittleWarsTV I hope that wasn't purely tongue in cheek....

[@ElRojo651]

@@gaslightstudiosrebooted3432 it doesn't look like it was

[@gaslightstudiosrebooted3432]

@@LittleWarsTV there's always season 3....

[@tabletopgeneralsde310]

Oh man, you made my son happy, because you all together sold me 6mm wargaming. It was amazing, thank you so much and keep going.

[@Nigel296]

Really good show chaps. Especially as Great Britain and her Empire put on such a good show. Three cheers for King George etc....

[@colmhain]

That game table is freakin EPIC! Can you do a vid on how it was built?

[@LittleWarsTV]

The ground cloth is a giant piece of felt with hand-painted roads and town sectors. We made a large amount of hedgerow terrain to mark the 70 grids of hedgerow country, and that is the subject of a terrain tutorial coming in a couple weeks.

[@steveweaver1554]

Thoroughly enjoyed this two parter. The pacing was just right and the game was a desperate battle for both sides it seems. Very appropriate, especially the miscommunications and the use of supply loss. Good stuff.

[@shawnscott1489]

You guys are such an inspiration! I wish I could find a gaming club just like yours!

[@hernandotorres1234]

These two videos are superb, news reel style commentary, sound effects, the lads doing their best to win whilst having fun, great stuff

[@billburnside4364]

Fantastic, Brilliant and Stunning, Thank you L W T V, will be very interested in the Rommel rule's review . At the moment I play Rapid Fire WW II rules

[@chrisrobinson196]

Really enjoyed that, happy to see the Canadians do well on the left. Now looking at Rommel with 3mm figures, so this could be an expensive couple of videos for me...

[@ArkanorTheRed]

These have always been my favorite war gaming videos, keep up the good work!

[@EtzEchad]

I want to play! These are truly epic games you guys do.

[@kommando293]

Will you per chance be doing a Stalingrad or a Kursk game in the future? And if you do, will you keep them at 6mm scale or bump them up to a bigger scale as needed?

[@officialteaincorporated243]

Stalingrad would be amazing

[@ritaDas-xl4kz]

Their ww2 games look best in 6mm.

[@chuckleloaf]

Excellent two part series. Miles for MVP!

[@hexesandsoldiers6032]

The "Fateful 8" does it again! Great playthrough sirs...

[@drfoxcourt]

How wonderful to watch the game with you fellows! Both sides played to their best and there was much cleverness on the part of the Axis. Looking forward to many more Little Wars.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Cleverness and boldness, yes. But ultimately, defeat for being a bit too aggressive!

[@russby3554]

I'll be with you chaps in a moment. I'm currently watching They Shall Not Grow Old and its smashing good!

[@LittleWarsTV]

A fantastic documentary! It gave us some inspiration for a game coming up later this season on the channel.

[@russby3554]

@@LittleWarsTV now you have me all excited! I tip my tea (or beer stein) to you good sirs!

[@stevep5408]

It was great in 3D at the theater!

[@DeePsix501]

Glad to hear that! Can’t wait to see it!

[@SHJarlsson]

@@LittleWarsTV Hey Guys, great scenario, and reminded me of playing "The Longest day" by Avalon Hill, way back in the day when I was at Secondary School (High School?, I'm British) I loved the strategic element, yet still having the Rommel rules to give 'tactical flavour', E.g. flamethrowers,off-shore bombardment etc However, cutting to the chase, I know it only has British (And Irish), French and German involvement; but... How about either doing the First day of the Somme, or maybe the First battle of Ypres? Lastly, do you have any preferred WWI rules you use for battalion level and above? Please keep up the brilliant work, and good wishes from the UK.

[@StackingLimit]

Fantastic video. I love Little Wars TV!

[@yaitz3313]

Well, you weren't lying about that being epic. :D

[@thomasward963]

Little wars I think doing the battle of Leipzig during the napoleonic wars would be an awesome 4 vs 4 battle

[@MrCaptbear42]

another game for the record books, excellent game. Enjoyed it very much. Looking forward to the next episode.

[@HerooftheTable]

Another great video. This has reminded me that I have a copy of these rules on my shelf and I've dug them out and am re-reading them. I'm working on a game to play with my group.

[@LittleWarsTV]

They are pretty easy to play. We have a PDF for free on our website that explains the handful of rule tweaks we made to do a scenario of this size, because the normal game scale for Rommel is only about a division per player.

[@HerooftheTable]

@@LittleWarsTV I just downloaded your scenario and the operational level rules. Thanks for sharing!

[@grindstone4910]

You can tell how things are going by the state of Tom's hair

[@LittleWarsTV]

Hah very true! By the end it's looking pretty disheveled. Tom had a stressful day on D+1...

[@farfarawaywargames]

Great two-parter. Thank you.

[@FingonNZ]

Fantastic work folks! Whew what a battle! Like many of us I've read extensively on the landings & the Normady campaign but this really gives an interesting perspective & insight into the challenges and ebb/flow of the battle. It also highlights some of the less concentrated on but vital issues of supply, communication & flank security.

[@andymoore9977]

I agree, reminds one that warfare at this level is not just all about gung ho 'shoot em up'. Logistics can be sooooo boring but are the reality of it all. 'An army marches on its stomach', etc

[@paulmcnutt4657]

love this pair of videos, my only complaint is that the Canadian flag used as markers in your maps was not the flag used at the time.

[@MaverickCulp]

Miles the strategic genius! Haha that was a great game

[@TimDutch]

Very well produced. It was a joy to watch!

[@JohnLaudun]

You guys are such a delight.

[@Doc_Tar]

I've been waiting since part I to find out what happened on Omaha Beach and all those trapped paratroopers.

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

This large scale operation is very entertaining.

[@HethwillWargames]

What a great pair of episodes LWT team :) Really liked that it could still go either way. The build up for the taking of Caen was cautious but despite the comms fog of war ( chuckles! ) it definitely paid off :) ( hair raising for Mr. Tom as we can see on the camera debrief :D

[@DH.2016]

Thanks for sharing this. Most impressed by your hard work behind the scenes researching, setting up and running a game like this. What I was going to say next is that I like the fact that a lot of your games feature miniatures in the smaller scales (looks like I just said it) and not so much in 28mm ..... until I saw your sponsorship plug at the end .... Oops! 8-) [p.s. I like Fife & Drum miniatures.]

[@georgeanderson6349]

Superb entertainment, thanks.

[@13thLegio]

Great job guys. Loved it. Best thing on KZbin.

[@andrewrolph5785]

Nothing much to say on this. Excellent. Thank you. More! Cheers Andrew

[@Cursed110011]

So with the Red Baron game ending the second season, I think that is what you guys said in its video, then is it possible that we could see an Operation Market Garden game in the next season? It would be an exceptional good pick for another large scale operational/semi-operational level game where you guys could test out some of the things I saw people suggesting to help improve the Rommel experience like using a hex grid instead of squares or limiting tactic uses. Though frankly even if you guys used a completely different rule set I'd be pretty happy watching to see if the allied players could effect a change to the historical outcome of Market Garden.

[@LittleWarsTV]

I think it's very possible you'll be seeing a Market Garden game in the future. Very possible indeed....

[@flipgalaxy711]

Amazing!

[@joaocarlosguimaraes5655]

Amazing game guys!🎯🎲

[@Docleegb]

Interesting choice to use square grid rather than hex grid. Why did you all choose that and how did that affect movement, flanks, ZOC, etc.?

[@mitchhead3099]

The Battle of Austerlitz for sure!

[@chipbrenner9981]

Great game guys. Really enjoyed the videos.

[@Anvilarm07]

Well done. One of your best.

[@sparkieT88]

now i want to see this setup but for market-garden

[@gromuk]

Awesome episode guys as usual ! I would love for more napoleonics this season, general d'armee or blucher would be perfect ;)

[@LittleWarsTV]

If you like Napoleonics then you should love the next main episode of this season!

[@gromuk]

@@LittleWarsTV thanks ! i love all your episodes so far but glad to hear one about the napoleonics is coming soon ;)

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Fantastic - nice work gentlemen

[@davefranklin7305]

I'm not generally a big fan of WWII at a scale where a stand is larger than a platoon, as it seems to become more of a board game. That being said, the table and miniatures looked great, and it appeared to play very well. REALLY loved the classic blunder along the British/Canadian Corps boundary. You read about such things in the history books, but it so rarely happens in a game due to the "10,000 ft tall general" syndrome.

[@andymoore9977]

yes, even as a child of 12 or so (50 years ago) I saw how the problem of standing over the table seeing everything was an issue. Then we slowly discovered how to use 'markers' but it was never quite like reality.

[@christopherwebber3804]

At Villiers Bocage, the British had seen a gap in the German line and were about to break through when Wittman arrived... here it seems the same thing happened only the Germans weren't able to stop it, interesting!

[@nemo35383]

Amazing game. Keep up with the great videos.

[@DG-ky2cu]

Gentlemen. This has been epic. Very well done.

[@hamm6035]

Excellent game. Love the multi players. As it should be.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

You know what you should do is give to the Generals back packs that add counter weight for everytime they have loss of troops . It would give a growing burden to their overall thoughts rather than the reality of just losing plastic markers .

[@jacencade4019]

A full 44-45 campaign of ww2 would be really cool.

[@pbeccas]

I would really like to see an up close vid of the Miniatures you used in this game. The scale and how you based them to represent units for this game. Great vid.

[@pbeccas]

Tony Marano thanks Tony. Definitely impressed with your collection.

[@MadMonk_]

Whoops, loosing Arromanche and Gold beach. The whole Mulberry harbor and future reinforcements not being able to land…. I love these what if’s of wargaming

[@dueces1640]

felt like forever for this to release

[@sovietonion3937]

You guys rock

[@jamesrobinson46]

Stellar work gentleman

[@LittleWarsTV]

Thank you James!

[@garyclark8539]

I noticed in the OOB contained the "Funnies". What were the rules and stats for these units? All that I see is an armor value of 2. I am planning on running this at Bayou Wars in Biloxi this year. Gary

[@bismarck0052]

More Napoleon like austerlitz love the Chanel

[@rodneip7077]

What can I say.....102%!

[@dickiedontnuts9470]

Well done gents. Great game and great video

[@Perponcher]

As always, terrific. Are the minus GHQ, Baccus, H&R,...?

[@GumboGalahad]

They are H&R. It is very briefly mentioned in the first video.

[@officialteaincorporated243]

They are H&R I think. Baccus is a lot bigger

[@raaven616gaming6]

Great job all.

[@nicklemming2556]

The defences (bunkers etc) look really good too - who makes them, or are they home-made?

[@deathguarddavegoogley2022]

Nick Lemming I think the buildings are 2mm or 3mm terrain from Brigade Models (U.K. supplier). Not sure if the bunkers are too?

[@LittleWarsTV]

One of our guys scratch built the bunkers with extra pieces and parts he had laying around. They worked great!

[@nicklemming2556]

@@LittleWarsTV Yeah, they really look the part.

[@ericloken7445]

Those kind of miscommunications are all too real in actual war as well, and can have devastating results. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. It would be very hard to use the 12th SS worse than they were historically, but trying to drive them through Caen is perhaps close. Having watched a few videos today, I've come to the conclusion that Miles is a real risk taker, big on the high risk = high reward strategies. Although taking Gold was less a risk than a "well, if they aren't going to defend the beach, it would be stupid NOT to take it!"

[@Marshal_Windsor]

Love to be able to set something up like that

[@captainfalcon9685]

Great content as usual, can’t wait to see what battles y’all fight next! I do have a question though since I’m interested in doing similar scenarios but don’t have the stuff do so. Where do you all acquire the small models at. What website do you get them from? Much appreciated and can’t wait to see the next bloodbath played out!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Captain--it depends on what period/era you're talking about. For WW2, you can get 6mm scale models from a variety sources. GHQ is an American company that does very nice stuff, but all the models you saw in this video were from a UK outfit called Heroics & Ros. Not as good casting quality as GHQ, but much cheaper to buy. For some of our other games fought in 6mm scale, the minis are usually from a UK company called Baccus. In all cases you can order online.

[@michaelmcfadden965]

I think that I see each player had their own command post, or Ops Sheet - or did each side have three command posts?. Did players keep synchronized with one another on the turns? If doing it again, would you choose each side to have just one Ops Sheet (as in the Rommel rules for club games with one person managing the Command Post)? Sorry for all the questions...

[@Kili121416]

Please Sir, I want some more !

[@douglasstrother6584]

Wow! This was really compelling. How was Naval firepower included?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Each allied player was given three free "tactics" for Naval Support. It basically allows the allies to " up shift," or do more damage in combat in the context of the Rommel rules.

[@christopherwebber3804]

The effect of air attacks and naval gunfire was only mentioned once each, how were they simulated?

[@PCardon13]

No surprise that Utah beach was such an issue if he had to land at the real Utah beach - if I recall correctly, Theodore Roosevelt jr.'s craft got taken off-target by strong currents, and the entire force he commanded was landed off-center, in an area where there was such little fire from the germans that he could wander around with his walking stick and not get shot.

[@Nico-ig1mr]

Did you guys forget about point du hoc? Great vid guys very enjoyable!

[@LittleWarsTV]

No, if you download the scenario from our website you'll see the Rangers do land at Pont du Hoc, but in our game it was entirely uneventful. There were no German units anywhere near the area, so the Rangers came ashore unopposed.

[@Nico-ig1mr]

@@LittleWarsTV oh ok

[@jwilder47]

This brings up an interesting scenario. In the game, taking Gold and Omaha beaches prevented XXX and VII corps from landing their whole force. Would that have really happened, or would the allied commanders have moved the remaining troops to one of the secured beachheads?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Agreed, a tough and interesting "what if." It seems quite likely that the Americans would have shifted to Utah, though we allowed the American player to re-open Omaha again the following day (by then the Germans had largely vacated the sector anyway).

[@dongilleo9743]

If the Germans had actually overrun any of the Allied beaches, it would have been quite serious. It wasn't just a matter of landing troops and vehicles. Each beach had a dedicated organization to keep the beachhead running smoothly. There were beach masters to keep the flow of men and vehicles moving. There were supply troops trying to establish the beginnings of a supply network. There were engineers trying to remove obstacles and clear the exits from the beaches. If a German unit, even some third rate infantry, were to overrun a beach, all that organization would be thrown into turmoil or possibly destroyed. Even if the Allies almost immediately recaptured the beach, the damage would be done, and it could take a day or two to restore order and get things working right again. A delay would give the Germans time to move reinforcements up. In addition, the Omaha and Gold beaches were designated as the sites for the two Mulberry artificial harbors that would be needed to land follow up forces and the supplies needed. Work on the Mulberry harbors began almost immediately. Any delay would have seriously limited the Allied advance. The Allies would still win, but it might be an even more vicious and hard fight than the historical outcome. Anyway, very interesting and entertaining game.

[@jefflamb5218]

Damn boys....step 1) SECURE the bridgehead!

[@malcolmgordon3372]

How many game turns did you play for each day’s fighting and how long did a turn represent? Splendid work by the way!

[@LittleWarsTV]

We have all the scenario information available on our website for free. A turn represented about one hour in our scenario, though.

[@Beltayn7272]

So now I've gone back and watched all of your content that is still relevant. (I didn't watch giveaway results) Id like to see some more "historical" games. Run Mortal Gods, Saga, or Dead Man's Hand and the like. Something historical, but with legendary flavor.

[@TheUSMCDevilPup]

By chance could you tell me who you purchased the miniature set from?

[@somenorwegianfarmer592]

Can you do a battle of kursk or seelow hights id love to see some more eastern front action!

[@ethanmathers8914]

I NEED MORE MAP TUTORIALS

[@brandonmcdaniel4216]

Were you guys using 6" squares on your table? For scale reference, what size bases are your models on? I'm trying to plan out my own space for play.

[@LittleWarsTV]

4" squares with 1" round bases in this game.

[@ferroangelusprimarchoftheII]

Watched parts 1 and 2 on the 80th anniversary

[@nicowars_gaming]

Is there a way to get this game, if so, how? Thanks!

[@LittleWarsTV]

You can buy the Rommel rules from a variety of distributors, or you can get them directly in print or PDF format from the author on his website, www.sammustafa.com. His company is called Honour Games and we play a number of his rules.

[@Zhenya07]

Hi Guys what level were you playing this. Was one base = battalion or regiment?

[@LittleWarsTV]

One base in Rommel is typically a company, but for a game of this scale we went with a battalion.

[@rzu1474]

Wonder how the miscommunication could be explained IRL. Misunderstood orders?

[@pacificostudios]

How did you handle naval fire? In the real Overlord, one German unit actually fought to a beach, but naval gunfire forced it to withdraw. So why did that static German unit live to capture a British or American beach?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Yes, the Allies in the scenario have off shore naval gunfire support they can call in as an asset. But it’s not unlimited and they had already called in most of their barrages when the first beach was counter attacked!

[@pacificostudios]

@@LittleWarsTV Do you think you included an unrepresentatively low amount of naval gunfire? The Allies not only had a huge number of destroyers, cruisers and battleships, but also barges loaded with rockets. Ernie Pyle was there and he reported that some destroyer skippers risked running aground to shoot more accurately. I understand that the game designer wants to balance the game, but Overlord was not designed as a fair fight.

[@garyclark8539]

A wonderful game and I may run it at Bayou Wars but.... How long did it take to play the whole thing? I wonder if it might be to big (time wise) for a convention game. People like to do more than one thing on a convention day. I have the forces and every thing other than the map ready. Any thoughts?

[@LittleWarsTV]

I took us about 7 hours to run this game, but that included a lot of filming-related breaks. I think it would absolutely be possible in a convention, especially if you break it up into two sessions. Due to the reduced number of turns we played, it's still a huge number of units on the table, but not that many turns.

[@garyclark8539]

@@LittleWarsTV OK. I am going for it. I have some questions though. What do you think about 3 inch grid instead of 4 inch? This would make about 8x3 instead of 12x4. One problem might be cramped space for all the players. I have had some good games with cramped space but I am undecided. Another question I asked before is the values and any special rules for the 'Funnies'. I see some comments about the use of events. Should each player have access to all events on their 'command posts'. Some events are only usable once per game. This could make each available 4 times. I am thinking that each player could only use events in their own sector??? Last observation. The scenario says each Allied player gets two naval tactics but in the video I see that they had Three. Thank you.

[@tonyruiz2390]

You should do one French and Indian Wars