Utah Beach [Breakthrough]

by GeneralHowitzer | Jan 4, 2026 | 1944, Armor, Artillery, Beach, Big Guns, Breakthrough Game, D-Day, Infantry, Location: France, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Western

Utah Beach [Breakthrough]

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memoir 44 utah beach breakthrough scenario

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At Utah Beach, the Americans did exactly what winning armies do—they adapted, moved fast, and drove inland with purpose.

The sea shoved our boys off target, but instead of whining about it, they took advantage of it. They came ashore where the Germans were weaker, reorganized on the fly, and went straight at the enemy. The leadership of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., made the difference—clear orders, aggressive movement, and no hesitation. By linking up with the airborne troops and punching inland, the U.S. forces turned what could have been confusion into momentum.

Casualties were light because the attack was bold and decisive. Utah wasn’t a grind; it was a lesson. War rewards speed, initiative, and commanders who seize opportunity. On Utah Beach, the Americans did all three—and that’s how you win.

~~ General Howitzer

12 VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies –

Axis – 5* (first turn starts with 4)

Complexity:

4/5

Conditions:

Beach

Context:

Historical

Location:

Normandy

Year:

1944

Theater:

Western

Campaign:

D-Day

Summary:

This is an Breakthrough game, so make use of the Breakthrough Command cards.

Objectives:

12 Medals

Terrain:

Beach terrain

Troops:

Allies – Infantry, Armor, one Destroyer

Axis – Infantry, Armor, Artillery with Big Guns

Special Rules:

1. Destroyer – attacks at 3,3,2,2,1,1,1,1 (with a locked in targeting reticule upon a successful hit)

2. Entry hexes for the Axis (Use one initiative roll [see Overlord rules] before each turn for the Axis.)

3. Big Gun rules – attacks at 3,3,2,2,1,1,1,1 (with a locked in targeting reticule upon a successful hit)

Allied Strategy:

1. You have a Destroyer in the bay. Use it as much as you can to target the enemy Big Guns. Once you hit them once, you can assign a Target Reticule to the hex if you make one hit, allowing you to roll one extra Dice until the unit is eliminated or moves from the hex. Do not move the Destroyer too close, or the two enemy Big Guns can eliminate you.

2. You need to break through all the Infantry blockades in the bunkers and sandbags, and escape out the Exit Hexes as soon as you can before the tanks show up.

3. Take the time to remove the barb wire lining the beach. It will take one turn to remove it, but it will speed up the escape for all the troops who follow.

4. You can win this scenario and never venture beyond row twelve. Make use of the Exit Hexes.

BIG PICTURE STRATEGY FOR BOTH SIDES:

1. This is a Breakthrough version of the Utah Beach attack, so it is long, 12 hexes, and you will need to use the Breakthrough cards, to get some additional movement options for each side.

Axis Strategy

1. You will need to get your troops down to the Allied Exit hexes in the upper part of your left section, ASAP. Move all Armor up the road to block the Exit Hexes. If you succeed in rolling any Armor on your initiative roles, start them at the Entry Hex on your left section to try to get as many forces as you can into play near the Exits.

2. You have two Big Guns alongside the bay. You can wipe out a lot of troops if you use them at every chance.

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link:

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)

The Battle of Sword Beach took place on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) — the easternmost of the five Allied landing beaches during the Normandy invasion. It was assigned primarily to British forces, with support from Free French commandos, as part of Operation Overlord.

By nightfall on June 6, the Allies had:

Landed over 28,000 troops
Secured a beachhead about 5 miles deep
Linked up with Canadian forces from Juno Beach
Held their positions despite German counterattacks

Listen up, men — Sword Beach wasn’t just another patch of sand; it was the gateway to Caen and the key to cracking open Hitler’s Atlantic Wall on the eastern flank. At dawn on June 6th, the British 3rd Infantry hit that beach under a storm of lead and steel. Mines, wire, and concrete — it didn’t matter. They went straight through it, methodical as a tank rolling downhill.

While naval guns thundered from offshore, the Royal Engineers cleared obstacles like veterans of a hundred storms. And those Free French commandos — they fought like lions, linking up with the boys from Pegasus Bridge to lock down the flank before Jerry could regroup.

The Germans tried to hit back with their 21st Panzer Division, and for a moment, they even reached the coast — but our airmen and artillery smashed them flat. By nightfall, the British held Sword, linked up with the Canadians at Juno, and built a bridgehead five miles deep.

Caen didn’t fall that day — but Sword showed the world how an army fights when it’s trained, disciplined, and led with purpose. That’s how you take a beach — with steel in your hands and fire in your gut.

~~ General Howitzer

VP’s

12

Card Balance:

Allies – 6

Axis – 4

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Beach

Context:

Historical

Location:

Normandy

Year:

1944

Codename:

Operation Overlord

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.

1. Once you have gotten your forces out of the water, then you can encircle the enemy at the three Permanent Medal Objectives at Casino Riva Bella, Strong-point Trout and the Chateau. Those medals are almost a given, so do not lose an excessive number of forces attacking them before you are out of the water.

3. Get your Artillery out of the water as soon as possible. They will be vital to breaking through the strongholds of the enemy on the beach. It will be especially important to take out the Artillery in the bunker as soon as possible, or it will destroy your forces.

Axis:

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

1. You have Armor stuck in your lower left flank which you need to get forward to the beach as quickly as possible. Practice some delaying techniques for a couple of turns to allow your Armor forward. You will be in a much better position to repel the enemy forces.

2. Two approaches to deal with the enemy forces in your lower right flank:

Option A: Eliminate the enemy forces on your lower right flank along the Canel de Orne as quickly as possible so that you will not have to worry about a rear-action attack. Then you can move your forces forward towards the beach.

Option B: Surround them and slowly pick them off throughout the game, saving the coup-de-grace for the end, when you can kill off the final Infantry for one Medal, and then move onto the bridge for two Medals. This will earn you three! medals in a single turn. Save it for last to win the round.

Author: Days of Wonder

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. Your forces 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.

3. The airport is a Permanent Medal Objective for the enemy. Hold it as long as you can. Make them pay for it with a lot of units.

4. Your Artillery in the center frontline is your strongest asset. Use it at every opportunity.

5. You have many assets stuck in the forests and marches in the back. Get them out as quickly as possible and forward to provide additional attack strength and support with your forward Artillery.

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:

France

Year:

1944

Codename:

Operation Bluecoat

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

Special Rules:

1. Allies do three Paradrops around the stars on the map.

2. Nightime Rules: Then once daylight appears, you may be given a chance to do a fourth paradrop, using lost figures, up to three total over the town of Les Forges.

3. Blowing up Bridges – once Allied forces are adjacent to a bridge, they may have an opportunity to blow it up, for a Permanent Victory Medal.

Allies:

1. Big Picture Strategy: This scenario is about consolidating and coordinating your forces. Because of the paradrops, they end up scattered across the battlefield in a semi-random formation. You need to pull them together and then make a plan to target sets of the enemy forces, sector by sector: isolated, attack, destroy, move to the next sector.

2. Note that you have three Temporary Medal Objectives, made up of two bridges and one town. You also have two Permanent Medal Objectives if you can blow up the designated bridges of Pont-l’Abbe, and Beuzeville.

Axis:

1. Be aware the the two bridges across La Douve River are each permanent medal objectives for the Allies. If they succeed in destroying your bridges, they will gain one Medal for each one, plus any forces you have locked behind the river will be stranded as the river is impassable.

2. The other two bridges with the marked Allied Medals are temporary objectives, in which the Allies must remain on the hex to keep the medal.

3. Because this is an 8 medal battle, you will need to eliminate almost all of the Allied units to win.

Author.

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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/