Musings on Normandy

[CheerfullyInsane]

Okay, for some reason I'm not able to quote anyone, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't respond with your names.

So yes, using only the recommended ORs does solve the problem. But it adds another one (at least IMO).
By deselecting Alt. fire for artillery, once the Allies are ashore, any German AT-gun becomes a munition-magnet.
I really don't like the ability to target a single unit in a stack.
After having played Mius as the Germans against a good Russian commander, I've been using Alt. fire religiously to avoid just that. In real life, the Germans would've spread those AT-guns out along the battalion line.
They were unlikely to be clumped together with a 6ft neon sign saying "Shoot me, please"

Then there's the assault itself.
Against a human player, getting off the beach might be possible without Alt. fire. I'm sure it CAN be done.
But you'll need an atrocious amount of luck.
Not only do you have to Disrupt the defenders, who are entrenched, which is hard enough. These are 1st line units with C Morale (might even be B Morale, can't remember), so they won't just roll over. Plus, you also have to Disrupt the guys who can cycle into the vulnerable hexes. And they're also entrenched.
Not to mention that nobody can actually spot the units for air/artillery until the first wave has landed and taken both Reaction-fire and Minefield attacks.
In fact, aside from the Colleville hex which is a Trench, everybody else is in Bunkers/Pillboxes of varying strengths.
Plus, there are only three hexes that you can even assault into, everything else is behind escarpment hex-sides.
And those three hexes are protected by not only minefields, but also AT-ditches that have to be breached first.
All of which means that the engineers will have to stay undisrupted for a minimum of 2 turns in order to breach the AT-ditch. And this is disregarding the mine-fields.
And since the Engineers don't have the moxie to take out the defenders alone, the Allied player also needs a fair amount of the 2nd/3rd wave to stay undisrupted for long enough to actually assault.
Especially the armor, since this is using the Alt. Assault rules. Did I mention that the armor lands in company-sized units, and thus take 3 times as much fatigue? ;)
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the tips.
But I know how to maximize my assaults, I just need my troops to stay alive for long enough.

Without Alt. fire it becomes doable. Not easy, but it's no longer collective suicide.
Usually you can get through at Coleville, and once you get armor out of the minefields you can start clearing the rest of the enemy bunker-line without having to be in 200% terrain.

Simply editing the terrain modifier for the beaches is probably the best bet.
Once ashore, it's not as if there's an abundance of beach-hexes to be fought over.

EDIT: Figured out why I couldn't quote anyone.....Human error as usual.