campaign
How the mini campaign works
The campaign mode is optional and if you do not like it you can leave it out enirely and play each scenario as a stand-alone game.
This is what we call a serial campaign. That means the scenarios are meant to be played in sequence, one after the other. You will have to note down certain things at the end of each game because the result of one scenario will have an effect on the setup of the next one(s). The scenario description will tell you which things you will have to keep track of.
During D-Day
The ranger scenarios are designed to be played in a small campaign. The first scenario deals with the ranger's attack on the point immediately after their escalade on the clifftop. In the second scenario the advance group of the ranger force makes its way towards the highway south of the point. The third scenario is a German counterattack on the US position on the point carried out in the afternoon of D-Day.
The three scenarios are connected as follows:
If the rangers perform well in their assault on the point (scenario 1) they will be able to send more forces towards the highway (scenario 2). Additionally, they are assumed to have taken better defensive positions and gain an advantage facing the German counterattack in the afternoon (scenario 3).
Night on the point
As night approached the ranger force consisted of a mere 200 men with almost a third wounded or killed. They had not yet received any message from Omaha Beach and were split in two groups: one at the clifftop and one along the highway. The Group on the point was under some pressure from German forces still on the point and the area between the two forces was infiltrated by enemy snipers.
Although both forces were in danger and might be cut off from each other, the southern group was left at the highway to maintain the road block over night. The rangers dug in along the hedgerows and prepared for German attacks. The next two scenarios deal with the three German night attacks on the highway position.
The fourth scenario is a German attack against the southeastern corner of the ranger's defense. The last scenario is a depiction of the final German attack which originally forced the rangers to withdraw north to point du hoc.
At nightfall the rangers near the highway had made several preparations to defend against a probable German counterattack. The greatest threat was assumed to come either from the south or west of the American positions and the forces were deployed accordingly.
The 85 men of the highway group set up in a rectangular formation south of the highway with defensive lines running alongside of small farm roads. There the soldiers found sufficient cover in road ditches, thick hedgerows and German prepared positions.
The right flank was defended by men from Company D which were scattered among 250 yards of road running from north to south. The main defensive line was held by men from Company E spread along a road running in west-east direction. Company F constituded the protection of the left flank and was set up in two groups. The main force stayed in line with Company E on the west-east road and only a small group remained further back on a road running back towards the highway.