1. Mission and Opponent Plan.

Mike Pfanenstiel and I will run this as a "Firestrom" campaign/tournament event. More details will follow here as we work them out. At this point, players lsut need to be prepared to show up with a "Normandy" Themed 1500pt army.

2. List Composition

a. Historically Accuracy - If you are using the Battle Front Normandy Books or official pdf's that represent Normandy forces .then you are good to go. A historical themed list using list from another source may be used with prior approval from the Tournament Organizer. Basicallty, if its a realistic depction of a force that fought in Normandy from June 1944 to August 1944, you can expect approval but you will have to provide the history to back up your force choice and list composition.

4. History Scoring.

a. Theme. Needless to say this Tournament is intensely focused on Historical Accuracy and giving all players an appropriate Normandy Campaign feel to their gaming experience on July 11th. Histories, though they are not absolutely required, are highly encouraged. They are critical if you are trying to justify a force or selections not from the sources listed in the registration section.

b. Research. Fortunately D-Day and the Normandy Campaign are well supported with hundreds of books and resources.

A good place to start for German players is:

http://web.telia.com/~u18313395/normandy/index.html

A good place to start for American players is:

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-4/7-4_Contents.htm

There are also may excellent books that are easily attainable. Keagen’s “Six Armies in Normandy”, and Cornelius Ryan’s “The Longest Day” immediately come to mind.

b. History Scoring. A history should be concise (less than two pages), capture a company sized unit in specified historical fight. Division level histories that span he entire war does not really do much to help explain your company size unit on specific date, time and location. It’s important that a history explain how the action your unit fought in contributed to the Normandy Campaign. Actual names of key leaders or heroes always help and especially those cited for the Medal of Honor, Victoria Cross, or Iron Cross. Appropriate photographs and maps are a great help in explaining the unit in the action that your force is modeled after.

Histories will be scored using the following evaluation criteria:

Accurately reflects a unit operating in Normandy from June-August '44 4 pts
Is a total two pages or less (not including reference listing) 1 pt
Captures the unit in action at a specific place and time 1 pt

Includes appropriate photographs 1 pt
Includes a map that help's explain unit's combat action 1 pt
High quality graphic design - themed borders, unit insignias, thoughtful watermarks etc 1 pt
References noted 1 pt

Here are a few histories that I think closely demonstrate what I’m looking for in Unit Histories. Please keep font size to 10 or greater.

c. History Examples. The following two Histories are not perfect (they are missing references), but they may help you get a better idea of what I look for in Histories.

http://www.battlevault.com/Events/Overlord-08/Burgess_Nashcon_History.pdf

http://www.battlevault.com/Events/Overlord-08/Brian-RM.pdf

5. Painting/Modeling Scoring. Painting scoring will be evaluated in accordance with the following criteria:

Base Painting
Appropriate Color Scheme 2 pts
Shadowing 2 pts
Highlighting 2 ptsIntricate Camouflage, other special extra touches, extensive conversions etc 2 pts
Ultra fine details Unit Insignias, ranks, etc 2 pts
Bases
Bases finished 1 pt
Bases flocked 1 pt
Bases textured 1 pt
Bases with special additions (building debris, elaborate flocking, etc) 1 pt
Stunningly themed bases 1 pt

6. Sportsmanship. At the end of the tournament, each player will determine which of the three players he fought against was the overall best opponent in terms of enjoyable gaming experience, proper understanding of the rules, general WWII/Normandy campaign knowledge, and ease of making rules corrections with. The best sportsman will be the player who achieves the most "Best Opponent Votes" and who otherwise is not receiving a higher value award.

7. Award Scheme. The awards scheme and prizes to accompany those awards is still under development as we get closer to our final count of players and we finalize our available prizes. At a minimum our awards list will include the following:

Top Player - Highest VPs* Allied 2IC - Highest Allied Player who otherwise was not the Top Player*
Axis 2IC - Highest Axis Player who otherwise was not the Top Player*
Best Sportsman Award**
History Award***
Best Painting Award****

* Tie Breaker - Sportsmanship, then Painting, then History
** Tie Breaker - VPs, then Painting, then History
***Tie Breaker - determined by the History Judge
****Tie Breaker - determined by the Painting Judge

9. Tables. This is a Normandy themed tournament. There will be some mix of errain types but you should be expecting to play on boards include a good amount of Bocage, Farm Fields, and Towns/Cities. There may be some relatively open boards, but many will generate more close in fights so please plan your force accordingly.

I hope this information helps you better prepare yourself and your force the gaming on July 11th. If any thing is not clear, please drop me an e-mail and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Firestorm Rules:

The stage is set for approximately 11 July 1944. D+35. The allies have secured a foothold in Normandy but have not been able to break out into open country yet. Meanwhile German forces are digging in while looking for opportunities to exploit with local counter attacks and even major thrust if possible driving the allies back into the sea (Mortain Counter Offensive).

The front line extends from the from the English Channel across Normandy to the Atlantic Ocean. The zones 24, 25, 22, 21, 12, 13, 14, 18, 31, 37, 35, and 35 are currently contested by both sides including the key junctions at St Lo and Caen.

65 years later we are picking up where the combatants left off on 11 July 1944 to see if history can be changed and to determine the best Flames of War warriors among us!

Assigning Players to Battles.

Round One.

The 24 players have been already allocated to fight in one of the above contested zones. Players have been placed on the map for the first round as best we could to match their historical unit’s battle history in Normandy.

There are no Firestorm units allocated in the first round. There are no attack arrows placed by each side in the first round. The first round is simply to gain control of the 12 zones that make up the initial line of contact.

Rounds Two and Three:

There will be 12 “Attack” arrows placed each round. Mike Pfanenstiel and Tom Burgess will serve as the Allied and Axis C-in-C’s. They will bring in the Firestorm Troops at the end of Round One and move them to the front along the supply lines (Air Support may be placed anywhere). They will then place Attack Arrows in accordance with the normal Firestorm Rules. Ties in initiative rolls will go to the side that won more battles in the last round.

Now the board is set for the next round with Battle Areas and determined and Firestorm troops positioned.

1) Group the score cards in VP "bands" ...1VP, 2VP, 3VP, 4VP... etc.
2) Shuffle the score cards within each band.
3) Starting with the lowest band of score cards and working our way up, we will pull a player score card one at a time.
4) That player then goes up to the map and picks what battle the wants to fight in. So he will have his pick of what is left and thus a crack at fighting on the best terrain for him, or with a Firestorm Troop he really wants, or even against the opponent he wants to play if that opponent is already assigned to a Battle. The only restrictions here are that a player cannot choose a battle that already has a player assigned to it for his side, or from the other side that they have already fought in the Tournament/Campaign. Additionally British players can only be assigned to the British Sector and the US players in the US Sector.

As we move up the score cards...they guys at the top will get what is left as their battles choices will get fewer. Ultimately we expect that the players who come out on top in the “tournament” part of this event will have done so having fought outnumber and/or on terrain not of their choosing in rounds two and three. They will be tested and worthy of any accolades they achieve.

Firestorm Troops. There are four Firestorm units per side. Only one from each side may be involved in any given attack arrow. They are limited so generally the players with lower VPs from the previous rounds will have a chance to use them. In this way they are sort of a “handicap” to help keep lower scoring players “in the hunt.”

Allies
US P-47 Priority
US 1 Platoon of 4 x M4A1 Shermans (CT)
US 1 Platoon of 3 x M4A1 Shermans (CV)
Brit Typhoon Priority
Brit 1 Platoon of 3 x Cromwell +Firefly (RV)

German
1 Platoon of 1 x Tiger I (FV)
1 Platoon of 3 x Stug-III (CV)
1 Full Platoon Gepanzerte Panzer Grenadiers (CV)
1 KG w/ Full Grenadier Platoon (CT) and Recce Plt w/ 2 x SdKfz 231's (8-Rad) (CV)
1 Wespe Battery w/ 3 x Wespe, Cmd, Staff, Truck, Observer & SdKfz 250 (CV)

Firestorm troops (with STAT cards) will be provided for use by the tournament organizers, players are welcome to use their own models for Firestorm troops if the have them assigned in a given round.

Campaign Victory Points. There are several areas that are assigned victory points. They include St Lo, Caen, and three supply points for each side. Additionally, any area that is cut off from supply and subsequently forced to surrender due to battle loss will yield the victors five Victory Points, 10 points if a Firestorm Troop was forced to surrender.

Fate is Fickle. There will be special event cards that can be played by players for minor effects during the tactical games. These will be explained in further detail on the event day.

The Laurels of Victory. At the end of the campaign the winning side will be the one that earns the most campaign victory points.