This past weekend, for the second consecutive year, I drove up to Schenectady, New York for the annual big D-Day in July Bolt Action game sponsored by the Schenectady Wargamers Association. En route I stopped at a brand new Capital Region Visitors Center and was surprised to see a number of historical and media displays. One case (pictured below) had replicas of a Brown Bess long pattern musket (like the one I have at home in my closet) and a French and Indian War coat of the 55th Regiment of Foot. This area of upstate New York was quite active in the French and Indian War (Seven Year's War) and is one of the reasons James Fenimore Cooper set his classic American novel "Last of the Mohicans" in this area. Not too far North of here is Fort William Henry on Lake George where the atrocities against British and Provincial troops and camp followers were perpetrated by French sponsored Huron tribe allies (as is described in the novel and shown in the film). Fenimore Cooper's house is about 2 hours North of my place in Cooperstown, New York. Also in the case (and also pictured below) are two musket balls fired at the American War for Independence Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777 which took place not far away. In regard to the American Revolution, Saratoga National Battlefield Park is not far from this location as well.
As to the actual wargame itself, the table is over 20 feet long and represents area from the beach head back well inland to allow room for the U.S. parachute attack and German counter attack. Here are some photos looking from the inland dispositions toward the beach head.
While I loaned my U.S. First Infantry Division to another player, I was assigned the German defense of the inland artillery positions. Half my troops were off the board and had to be activated by die roll once the landings on the beach were confirmed (a total of 750 points, no armor allocated to me). On the whole, the dice Gods did not smile on me on Saturday. I had one squad that simply refused to enter the fray turn after turn (clearly they were enjoying their beer and knockwurst at the HQ and were loath to leave it...). The die rolls got so bad for me at one point that one of my opponents actually said "Wow, that's really remarkable!" Here are some photos of the initial dispositions of the troops I was permitted to have on the board at the start of the game. Most allocated in and around the guns, although my machine gun team was guarding my right flank (to the rear of the landings). U.S. parachute troops were landing to my front, to my left (toward the beach) and to my right (toward the rear of the table). I was quickly surrounded and outnumbered.
Overall, given my rotten luck with the die rolls, I was satisfied with the day's outcome. Of the four gun positions I was defending, two remained securely in German hands, one was lost to the Americans, and one remained a contested objective at the end of the game. This was a great day's fun with quite a few fellow wargamers. I'll be returning to the scene of the crime in the fall for a full weekend when the Schenectady Wargamers Association puts on its 42nd annual Council of the Five Nations Wargame Convention where Peter (Teaticket) will be putting on mulitple Wings games and I will be running a Sails of Glory game.
Thanks for listening !
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