Sword Beach (Breakthrough)

by GeneralHowitzer | Sep 23, 2025 | 1944, Armor, Artillery, Beach, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, D-Day, Infantry, Location: France, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Western

Sword Beach (Breakthrough)

historical description

VP’s

12

Card Balance:

Allies – 6

Axis – 4

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Beach

Context:

Historical

Location:

Normandy

Year:

1944

Codename:

Summary:

12 Victory Points:

12 Medals, including Permanent Medal Objectives for Allied control of Casino Riva Bella, Strong-point Cod, and Strong-point Trout. Also a 2-Medal Temporary Objective for which ever side controls the Orne River and Canal. Finally, massive 3-Medal Temporary Objective for whomever controls the two Hexes representing Caen. Initially the Axis player gets these three medals at game start.

Terrain:

Countryside and Beach

Troops:

Allies – 8 Infantry including 3 Elites, 5 Armor, 2 Artillery

Axis – 10 Infantry, 3 Armor, 2 Artillery

Allies:

Big Picture Strategy: Like all beach scenarios, the number one primary goal for your forces is to Get Off the Beach!. Do not pause to capture the three frontline enemy medals. You can encircle them and then attack from all sides.

Axis:

Big Picture Strategy: Get your forces forward. Bring the battle to them.

Author.

URL

The Tatsinskaya Raid

by GeneralHowitzer | Sep 22, 2025 | 1942, Armor, Artillery, Breakthrough Game, Infantry, Location: Russia, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Eastern, Winter

The Tatsinskaya Raid

By late December ’42, Paulus’ 6th Army was choking inside the Stalingrad pocket, and the Soviets slammed the door tighter with Operation Little Saturn. They tore through the Italian 8th Army like paper, and Badanov’s 24th Tank Corps drove a steel fist 150 miles deep into German lines. His T-34s rolled right onto Tatsinskaya airfield, smashing up Junkers 52s that were the lifeline to Stalingrad.

The Germans scrambled the 11th Panzer and 306th Infantry to hit back, and they hit hard. Badanov’s tanks took a pounding, but he held that airfield for four bloody days before clawing his way back to his own lines. The cost was high, but the result was clear: the German relief effort was crippled, Stalingrad was left to rot, and the mighty Wehrmacht had been dealt another hammer blow on the Eastern Front.

~~ General Howitzer

VP’s

10 including the Airport Permanent Objective Medal

Card Balance:

Allies – 4

Axis – 5

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Winter

Context:

Historical

Location:

Russia

Year:

1942

Codename:

Operation Little Saturn

Summary:

Victory Points:

10 Medals, including the airport Permanent Medal Objective

Terrain:

Winter terrain

Troops:

Allies – Infantry, Armor, Artillery

Axis – Infantry, Armor, Artillery

Allies:

1. The Allies have a massive armor advantage over the Axis in this raid scenario. You need to coordinate your efforts and arrive at the frontlines of battle together.

2. Your very first challenge is to deal with the Artillery and Infantry hidden in the forest right in the front center of the battle field. Until you deal with them, they will hamper all of your attack efforts.

3. If you can deal with the Artillery quickly, before the Axis bring down their other units, you can gain a couple of medals very quickly, as that Artillery is the key defensive point on this end of the battlefield. But if you do not have the cards and forces to take it out quickly, you will destroy several units during the attack. [Athafil, Italy]

4. The airport is a Permanent Medal Objective. You don’t need to stay on the hex, so you can just grab it and then leave to a more defensive position.

Axis:

1. This is primarily a defensive scenario for the Axis. You need to engage the enemy, but if you attempt to battle the massive armor forces out in the open, your forces will get decimated.

2. Your forces are stuck behind the forests. You need to get them, especially the armor, forward as quickly as possible to support your advance forces which are defending the airport.

Author.

URL

Coldstream Hill

by GeneralHowitzer | Aug 20, 2025 | 1944, Armor, Artillery, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, Infantry, Location: France, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Mobile Artillery, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Western

Coldstream Hill

Hill 309 in Normandy wasn’t just another patch of dirt—it became Coldstream Hill because the 4th Battalion, Coldstream Guards, stormed it on July 30, 1944, and planted their flag in blood and steel. This was part of Operation Bluecoat—launched while the Germans were shuffling their tanks west to plug the hole blasted open by the Americans in Operation Cobra.

Make no mistake—this wasn’t some grand “battle” on its own, but a vicious, close-quarters fight inside the bigger Normandy campaign. Grabbing that hill gave the British a grip on key ground in the bocage, helped stabilize the line, and reminded the Germans that every inch of France would be paid for with their retreat. Coldstream Hill stood as proof that the Guards didn’t just hold tradition—they made history under fire.

~~ General Howitzer

VP’s

12

Card Balance:

Allies – 6

Axis – 5

Complexity:

3

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

Somewhere

Year:

Sometime

Summary:

Victory Points:

12 Medals

Terrain:

Open terrain with a few hills and towns

Troops:

Allies – 10 Infantry, 8 Armor, 2 Artillery

Axis – 10 Infantry, 3 Armor, 1 Artillery

Allies:

1. Big picture strategy: You need to get your troops untangle, uncluttered, and mobilized before the Axis show up. They have a few advance troops you will have to deal with as your mobilize your troops.

2. Get your engineers into action so that they can clear those mines which are blocking your trooops from getting out.

Axis:

1. Big picture strategy: You need to do two things at once; get your forces down the battlefield as quickly as you can, and also use your advance forces to attack, harass, and slow down the enemy’s advancement.

Author.

URL

Drop in the Night: 82nd

by GeneralHowitzer | Aug 11, 2025 | 1944, Armor, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, D-Day, Infantry, Location: France, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Western

Drop in the Night: 82nd

In the dead of night before D-Day, the All Americans of the 82nd Airborne didn’t tiptoe into Normandy—they dropped in like thunder. C-47s hauled them over the Channel, and under flak, wind, and pure hell, they jumped straight into the enemy’s lap. The plan was simple: grab the crossroads, smash German lines of communication, and choke off any counterattack toward Utah Beach.

They got scattered to hell and gone, fighting in small bands with nothing but guts and rifles. But by God, they took Sainte-Mère-Église—the first French town freed—and held the line until the rest of the army came ashore. It was messy, it was costly, but it damned well crippled the Germans and locked down the flank for the greatest invasion in history.

~~ General Howitzer

VP’s

8

Card Balance:

Allies – 5

Axis – 5

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

Normandy

Year:

1944

Summary:

Victory Points:

8 Medals, including some objectives for capturing towns, bridges, and permanent medals for blowing up bridges.

Terrain:

there is a lot of terrain here with the battlefield being a breakthrough that is 17 rows deep, composed of countryside, rivers and marches.

Troops:

Allies – 10 elite Infantry units

Axis – 10 Infantry, 1 Armor

Allies:

1.

Axis:

1.

Author.

URL

Battle of Dubno – Brody

by GeneralHowitzer | Aug 4, 2025 | 1941, Armor, Artillery, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, Infantry, Location: Russia, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Overlord Game, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Eastern

Force vs. Finesse: Battle of Dubno - Brody

The Battle of Dubno–Brody (June 23–30, 1941) was one of the largest tank battles of World War II, fought during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa between Germany’s Army Group South and the Soviet Southwestern Front.

Results:

German Panzer forces decisively defeated the numerically superior Soviet armored units, destroying or capturing thousands of tanks.
Soviet forces suffered catastrophic losses and were forced into retreat.

Strategy:

The Germans used fast, coordinated Panzer thrusts and encirclement tactics to neutralize Soviet armor.
Soviet forces, hampered by poor coordination, mechanical breakdowns, and weak communications, failed to execute an effective counteroffensive.

General Howitzer summarizes its impact:
That win at Dubno–Brody blew the road wide open for the Germans into Ukraine and straight toward Kiev. It showed the Soviets their armor doctrine was a mess, and they paid for it in steel and blood. But they’re stubborn—those losses lit a fire under them, and the lessons they learned there would come back to bite the Germans hard later in the war.

24 VP’s (!)
[ This is a ‘break-lord’ scenario ]

Card Balance:

Allies –

4 cards for each half of the board

Axis –

6 cards for each half of the board

Complexity:

5

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

Russia

Year:

1941

Theater:

Eastern Front

Campaign:

Codename:

Operation Barbarossa

Summary:

Objectives:

24 VP’s, plus many other conditions. Read the PDF special rules.

Terrain:

Countryside with rivers and roads

Troops: (check the PDF for specific the specific troop deployments)

Allied Strategy:

1.

Axis Strategy

1.

Author:

Willem Boersma

Complete Scenario Link:

https://generalhowitzer.com/bsk-pdf-manager/battle-of-dubno-brody/

Battle of Abbeville

by GeneralHowitzer | Jun 28, 2025 | Armor, Artillery, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, Infantry, Location: France, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Western

Battle of Abbeville

The Battle of Abbeville was a hard-hitting brawl that showed just how unprepared we were for the kind of fast, mechanized war the Germans were waging. After their lightning dash to the Channel, the Germans dug in around Abbeville, threatening to cut off our northern forces. The French, led in part by de Gaulle and his 4e Division Cuirassée, threw in the big boys—those heavy Char B1 bis tanks and Hotchkiss H35s and H39s. The Brits rolled up with Matilda I and II tanks, tough as hell but slower than molasses in January.

We launched a series of assaults to punch the Germans off those Somme bridgeheads, but coordination was lousy, the terrain was brutal, and too many tanks broke down before they even fired a shot. The enemy wasn’t sitting on their hands either—they had Panzer IIIs and IVs guarding the line, with light Panzers filling in the gaps and 88mm Flak guns ripping through anything we sent their way.

Despite brave pushes and a few local breakthroughs, we couldn’t dislodge them. The Germans held the high ground, held the bridges, and held the initiative. That failure didn’t just cost us a patch of land—it helped seal France’s fate. The Germans kept their corridor, tightened the noose, and by the end of June, France was on her knees.

Abbeville wasn’t the biggest battle, but it damn sure mattered. It reminded us that guts alone wouldn’t win this war—we needed better gear, tighter coordination, and leaders ready to move fast and hit hard.

~~ General Howitzer

10 VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies – 6

Axis – 6

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

France

Year:

1940

Theater:

Western

Campaign:

Codename:

Summary:

Objectives:

10 VP’s, including two Temporary Objective Medals.

Battlefield:

A countryside with a stretch of river across one end.

Troops:

Allies – 10 Infantry, 3 Artillery

Axis – 10 Infantry, 6 Armor, 2 Artillery

Allied Strategy:

1. Big Picture Strategy: You have 5 Armor to the enemy’s none, but they have three well-entrenched Artillery, which give them a strong defensive advantage. You will have to bring your two Artillery forward to provide some balance; at the same time, using your Armor to attack their many Infantry and keep them back as you move your Artillery into range.

Axis Strategy:

1. Big Picture Strategy: Consolidate your forces and remain in a defensive stance. You have an Artillery advantage. Use it.

Battle Reports

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link: