Lone Sherman and The Fields of Normandy 2: Two Solitaire Wargames

Lone Sherman puts you in charge of a single Sherman Tank and its crew somewhere in France in World War II, and tasks you with navigating your Sherman through varied and challenging Missions. Whilst this game is not a ‘narrative driven’ game as such, with a little imagination it will provide memorable stories. The Missions allow the Player to invent any kind of back-story they like in order to enhance the feel of the game. Some events are randomly generated, but the Player always has at least some degree of control over the level of risk they wish to take and how vulnerable they leave their Tank to these Events.

The Fields of Normandy 2 (the sequel to The Fields of Normandy) is set in Normandy, France in 1944 and reflects loosely the conditions and situations faced by the US VIII Corps of the United States Army as it pushed inland as part of Operation Cobra. The fighting was intense and incredibly violent. German units were very well dug in and protected by artillery and mines. In the game, you will be controlling small groups of soldiers from a platoon, consisting of three Rifle Squads, a Machine Gun Team, a Bazooka Team and a Mortar Team. As the platoon Lieutenant, it is your job to command these squads and teams in order to clear the German defensive positions.

The aim of this book is to present two clear, accessible, and quick to learn war games, so that players can get into the action quickly. It does not try to replace more complex wargames which often take many hours to learn and to play. Each of the Missions can be played in around an hour and the game provides plenty of 'replayability'.

This games in this book are solitaire hex and counter style wargame. You play the games, and the enemies are controlled by the game book (or the Artificial Intelligence or ‘AI’). You will need to bring at least 5, but preferably 7, standard six-sided dice. Full colour 'Mission Maps' are included. Methods to play the game include:

 Cut out or copy the counters provided on the final page of the book, stick them to card and cut them out with a good quality craft knife or pair of scissors.
 Photocopy the maps and draw/write on the pages lightly in pencil and erase when necessary. You can use any annotations you choose for the units, that make sense to you.
 Lay the book flat (it’s well-bound, it can stand it!) and use cubes, miniatures, or similar tokens for the units.
 Use some kind of acetate and dry-wipe markers.

Take a photo of the maps on a tablet and use the “edit” function to draw and erase.