Planning a solo commando raid game - Part 1

Back in January 2020, I played a solo wargame of the St. Nazaire raid using the scenario from Donald Featherstone's book "Battle Notes for Wargamers" as inspiration. In the game, all of the opposing force's actions were determined by the dice. I have added the post of the game report in the featured post section on the right bar of this blog.

Anyway, I was thinking it would be fun to play another solo commando raid game and rather than simply replay the same game, I have decided to create a fictitious raid scenario. In this blog post and a couple of follow-up posts, I will be writing about the background of the raid, introduce a few characters from the raiding party to add some interest to the battle report, and describe the scenario setup along with special rules for using dice when determining the defender's movement and shooting. Finally, I will post a battle report.

RAF reconnaissance run over the target.

The first step in preparing the game was to decide on the setting and background narrative for the raid and I came up with upon the following.

Background

The Germans have been using a small French harbor called Sol-le-Marin as a base and center of operations for their coastal defense units. Sol-le-Marin is responsible for defending an area of the French coast from Allied attacks. In addition, the local French Resistance has reported that a new advanced radar installation is being built on the cliffs above the town.

The purpose of the raid is to destroy the radar installation, damage the railway sheds, disable any coastal defence ships, destroy the gun emplacement on the cliff, and gather intelligence from the coastal defence HQ building.

Aerial reconnaissance photographs

The mission is planned.

Mission

The planned raid, code name “Thunderbolt”, has a small commando force, led by Major John "Houdini" Smith, landing on the coast half a mile north of Sol-le-Marin where there is an area of unguarded marshland. Local Resistance members will then guide them through the marshlands to the harbour, where they will launch their attacks:

• Objective 1 - Damage the rail shed and search the costal defence HQ building for useful intelligence.
• Objective 2 - Destroy the radar installation and gun emplacement.
• Objective 3 - Raid the town and ships.

The commandos will be picked up from the harbour by motorboats, so removing the gun emplacement threat is essential for their safe recovery. Any commandos who are unable to be picked up will attempt to avoid capture and make their way south to Spain.

Commandos undergoing training for the mission.

Raiding Force and Characters

The raiding force is divided into three groups:

• Group A - Led by Captain William Jones, Group A is responsible for destroying the radar installation and gun emplacement. The group has four units, including a demolition squad.
• Group B - Led by Captain David Brown, Group B is responsible for raiding the town and ships and holding the road south of Sol-le-Marin. The group has four units, including a demolition squad.
• Group C - Led by Captain Michael Williams, Group C is responsible for demolishing the rail sheds and searching the Coastal Command HQ, then holding the road to the north of Sol-le-Marin to prevent enemy advances. The group has four units.
• Raid Commander - Major John "Houdini" Smith, the commander of the commando raid. Smith will also bring a 2-inch mortar. He will attach himself to Group B.

My commando force. The demolition squad in each group is represented by a base of Airfix commando figures.

The Tabletop

I had terrain for most of the features required for the game, but I didn't have a radar installation. I quickly made a scratch-built radar tower using thick card and added a couple of pump houses made for my St. Nazaire game.

Two pieces of 1mm card were used to make the installation and slotted together.

Painted a dark grey and a simple superstructure roughly painted.

A couple of buildings are added to the radar installation positioned near the gun emplacement.

A full view of the tabletop.