Normandy '44 any good?

[Paul]

I would consider playing the large campaign hotseat against yourself; while I don't own Normandy, I've done this a few times with East Front titles and the grand campaigns are big enough, with enough units, that you (or at least I) can't really remember what you were doing with each unit on each side every turn.  Not perfect, but better than playing against the AI IMHO.  This probably wouldn't work with smaller scenarios...

I have read of a few people who have suggested that, but I haven't yet given it a go. I do prefer PBEM but perhaps this might be the approach for such a large scenario.

I have played this by pbem and it can work with the right opponent. I went into the game without the expectation of going the whole campaign! The enjoyment being in the gameplay not the result.

[CountryBoy]

Thanks guys, bought it anyway and am playing the 750 turn scenario via PBEM.

[jonnymacbrown]

Thanks guys, bought it anyway and am playing the 750 turn scenario via PBEM.

Very courageous!

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Tried a team game a couple of times. One went 30 turns before the Germans quit. You probably have to have a house rule of no advancing on night turns and only combat with units that started adjacent when the night started. Fire, no assaults. Can withdraw from combat, but not advance to it. The allies can get after it. Might be too advantageous.

Allies were an easy split. We had 4 way split and it was 1 for U.S. AB and Utah Beach, 1 for Omaha Beach, 1 for Gold and Juno Beach and 1 cfor Sword Beach and Brit AB. Eventually, it was U.S. 4th Army, U.S. 1st Army, Canadian 1st Army and Brit 2nd Army. Germans would have to split depending on how many there were.

[CountryBoy]

Well, we've made into the evening of the 6th of June and the game is going well. It's quite interesting how the game so far is mimicking real life. The US forces have really battled to get off Omaha and took some horrendous casualties in doing so, just like the real thing. Likewise the British forces are nowhere near Caen at the end of day 1, just like the real thing.

I'm playing as Axis and the striking aspect of this game is the level of Allied air interdiction (again, just like the real thing). Moving units to the front is terrifying, with many units arriving with less than 60% or 70% of their TOE. Allied airpower in general is insane. A German infantry unit was hit with two airstrikes, causing losses of 42 and 49 men respectively, in a unit of around 150 men. Ouch.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

You take the risk moving in travel mode in the daylight in Normandy. Alternative is either leaving them in place or moving them one hex at a time until night when it is safe to move in travel mode. But, you will give up a lot of territory.

[CountryBoy]

Yep, I have elected to push forward, regardless of the air interdiction. I figure getting the reinforcements in place, even if they arrive beaten up, is better than not getting them at all.

[CheerfullyInsane]

If you're playing the Germans, I have one word of advice: Run!

While admittedly a little flippant, it's not totally wrong.
You desperately need defensive terrain, and you need to get the hell away from the Allied naval guns.

The west isn't too bad, lots of lovely bocage and as long as you blow up every bridge you can get your grubby little hands on, you can slow the Allied advance to a crawl.
Granted, Cherbourg will fall, it's only a matter of time. But you can certainly frustrate the Allied player as he attempts to get there.
East of Caen is unlikely to see much action. Too cramped with too many canals, and not a whole lot of VPs over there.

Which brings us to the center, Caen to Carentan.
Don't even attempt to hold a line here. It's fairly open farmland, you have very few forces there, and you're within range of Allied naval guns.
You cannot hold there, and trying to do so will only lose you forces you desperately need.
Use some low-value units (e.g Ost-battalions) to try and delay/annoy the Allies, but everything else falls back to Caen and the bocage-line, and starts digging like their life depends on it (which it does).

Speaking of terrain, don't be afraid to give it up, even Caen if need be.
Granted, Caen is nice to hold due to the road-network, but not at the expense of your army.
Force-preservation is much more important than some arbitrary point on the map.
Lost terrain can be retaken, lost units cannot.
And in campaign-games VP locations aren't that important. Caen is 4-500 VPs which is nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Allies will lose more than that just in the initial air-drop alone.

Finally, don't overlook the importance of fatigue. It is much more important in campaign games than in the scenarios where you pretty much have to push constantly.
Medium (yellow) fatigue will drop your combat effectiveness by 10%, high (red) by 20% and max fatigue by 40%.
But it gets worse, since each level of fatigue also drops your morale, further decreasing your combat-power.
Short version, once a unit hits yellow fatigue (100+), it's time to get it out of the line and replace it with a fresh one.

[CountryBoy]

Thanks for the advice CheerfullyInsane. At the moment we are halfway through June 7. Unfortunately the majority of bunkers and pillboxes have been neutralised and Allied infantry and armour is spreading far and wide.

The big issue is the dreadful quality of German troops, bar the panzer divisions. This past turn I had two infantry companies dug in a trench in bocage - a unit from 101st Airborne waltzed over and disrupted both with 2 attacks, losing only 1 man itself. Even when my units get to fire at a unit it T mode they do almost no damage.

I hear what you are saying about the area from Caen to Carentan. At the moment I have the 21st Panzer and the 12th SS in that area, however they will get ground up by the Allies, so I will try and conduct an orderly withdrawal.

It does take a while to do my turn though - nearly 15 minutes just to watch the replay and usually over an hour to do my turn. At 750 turns it is going to be longer than the real thing!

[Kool Kat]

Thanks for the advice CheerfullyInsane. At the moment we are halfway through June 7. Unfortunately the majority of bunkers and pillboxes have been neutralised and Allied infantry and armour is spreading far and wide.

The big issue is the dreadful quality of German troops, bar the panzer divisions. This past turn I had two infantry companies dug in a trench in bocage - a unit from 101st Airborne waltzed over and disrupted both with 2 attacks, losing only 1 man itself. Even when my units get to fire at a unit it T mode they do almost no damage.

I hear what you are saying about the area from Caen to Carentan. At the moment I have the 21st Panzer and the 12th SS in that area, however they will get ground up by the Allies, so I will try and conduct an orderly withdrawal.

It does take a while to do my turn though - nearly 15 minutes just to watch the replay and usually over an hour to do my turn. At 750 turns it is going to be longer than the real thing!

Gent:

Don't worry. The match will be decided long before you reach the 750-turn limit. Either both players will agree to end because the campaign battle has been decided by x-number of turns played or both players will agree to end because of lack of interest in continuing.

Also, real life has a way of making it's presence known... and has often been the deciding factor in a game ending!