WuWei
Elder Member
J60 Bad Luck
Merzig, Germany, 21 November 1944. I am the German attacker (conducting a counterattack) and win at game end if I have more squad equivalents on the lower map than the Americans, without suffering 19 or more CVP.
This is the setup:
My opponent used two of his ?s to pose as an additional tank. This as a really good idea, making my approach much more uncertain.
My plan is to move slowly and carefully, especially with my tanks. They count as two squad-equivalents for victory conditions, and they are worth a lot of CVP.
German turn 1:
I move forward. The Americans manage to break a leader and a squad, but that's an acceptable number of casualties. I break an American squad in return. The Firefly on the hilltop fires at my Panther, but it can't penetrate my frontal armor.
American turn 1:
My leader rallies. The American Prep Fire PINs a squad and DMs the already broken one. In the MPh, the HD Firefly tries to retreat, but my Panther lands a turret hit. I only roll an 11 for the TK, enough for a kill, but not enough to set it on fire. The crew survives. The Sherman on the left moves forward, the rest of the squads shuffle a little bit. In the DFPh, I manage to eliminate a Dummy stack and set up my 81mm mortar. The rest of the turn is uneventful.
German turn 2:
I roll a 12 for my self rally and the squad casualty reduces. In the PFPh, I break the squad beneath the Sherman on the left. My mortar and tanks are ineffective. My Panther moves to the left to counter the Sherman there. The American sniper gets my halftrack. That's bad.
American turn 2:
The Sherman shoots WP and breaks a squad. The other Sherman, on the right, reveals itself and eliminates my squad that had moved adjacent. One squad of mine rolls heat of battle and becomes berserk. In the DFPh, my Panther kills the Sherman. This time it burns.
German turn 3:
My berserkers charge and are mowed down. Disappointing. I make a bold move with my Panther to capture a broken American squad. It works, but it was a dumb move, because the guards are only a halfsquad, so they can't shoot. Had I moved differently, the Americans would have been eliminated for failure to rout. My Panther is pretty exposed in its position, as well as the guard HS with it's prisoner.
At this point, we stopped playing.
All in all, I'm pretty content with the situation. My Panther was lucky, and three tanks against one is a comfortable situation. The loss of the halftrack hurts, but it doesn't count as CVP. So far, I'm at 5 CVP, 18 are allowed. As long as I don't lose a tank, I'm safe. Should I lose the Panther, though, the situation will get critical.
Ok, next session:
American turn 3:
Not a lot of action. The attack on my Panther and my guard HS doesn't happen. That's a big relief, because now I can continue playing it slow and safe.
German turn 4:
I prep fire my PzIV at the bazooka squad+leader in the open: Machine guns hit, main cannon hits, they fail their MCs and are gone. With that, my Panther is safe! In my MPh, I move my other PzIV forward, too. I try to manhandle my mortar, but doesn't make the roll. My squads on the right shuffle around a little bit, the squads on the left move forward. One eats a 6-2 shot and breaks. In the AFPh, the PzIV first hits the MG crew in the foxhole and strips their concealment. Then, the main cannon lands a critical hit and kills it.
The broken American squad adjacent to my tank routs away and casualty reduces due to interdiction.
American turn 4:
The broken American HS rallies with snakeeyes. The leader that is created is only a 6+1, luckily.
Prep fire is ineffective, the Americans even break their mortar. There is a little infantry movement, but the important thing is the Sherman: It moves into my back and prepares to fire at my PzIV. I shoot first. I need a 6 to hit, and roll a 6. A hull hit! I need a 6 again to kill the Sherman, and get snakeeyes! At this point, my opponent concedes the game.
I didn't play bad, I think, but I won this game mostly by luck. I landed two low-odd hits against hull down tanks with my Panther early on, and the second session saw me rolling low and my opponent rolling high the whole time. I guess the scenario favors the German side a little bit (although ROAR doesn't support this view), but it's a good scenario, interesting, with lots of possibilities and no clear winning strategy for either side.
Merzig, Germany, 21 November 1944. I am the German attacker (conducting a counterattack) and win at game end if I have more squad equivalents on the lower map than the Americans, without suffering 19 or more CVP.
This is the setup:
My opponent used two of his ?s to pose as an additional tank. This as a really good idea, making my approach much more uncertain.
My plan is to move slowly and carefully, especially with my tanks. They count as two squad-equivalents for victory conditions, and they are worth a lot of CVP.
German turn 1:
I move forward. The Americans manage to break a leader and a squad, but that's an acceptable number of casualties. I break an American squad in return. The Firefly on the hilltop fires at my Panther, but it can't penetrate my frontal armor.
American turn 1:
My leader rallies. The American Prep Fire PINs a squad and DMs the already broken one. In the MPh, the HD Firefly tries to retreat, but my Panther lands a turret hit. I only roll an 11 for the TK, enough for a kill, but not enough to set it on fire. The crew survives. The Sherman on the left moves forward, the rest of the squads shuffle a little bit. In the DFPh, I manage to eliminate a Dummy stack and set up my 81mm mortar. The rest of the turn is uneventful.
German turn 2:
I roll a 12 for my self rally and the squad casualty reduces. In the PFPh, I break the squad beneath the Sherman on the left. My mortar and tanks are ineffective. My Panther moves to the left to counter the Sherman there. The American sniper gets my halftrack. That's bad.
American turn 2:
The Sherman shoots WP and breaks a squad. The other Sherman, on the right, reveals itself and eliminates my squad that had moved adjacent. One squad of mine rolls heat of battle and becomes berserk. In the DFPh, my Panther kills the Sherman. This time it burns.
German turn 3:
My berserkers charge and are mowed down. Disappointing. I make a bold move with my Panther to capture a broken American squad. It works, but it was a dumb move, because the guards are only a halfsquad, so they can't shoot. Had I moved differently, the Americans would have been eliminated for failure to rout. My Panther is pretty exposed in its position, as well as the guard HS with it's prisoner.
At this point, we stopped playing.
All in all, I'm pretty content with the situation. My Panther was lucky, and three tanks against one is a comfortable situation. The loss of the halftrack hurts, but it doesn't count as CVP. So far, I'm at 5 CVP, 18 are allowed. As long as I don't lose a tank, I'm safe. Should I lose the Panther, though, the situation will get critical.
Ok, next session:
American turn 3:
Not a lot of action. The attack on my Panther and my guard HS doesn't happen. That's a big relief, because now I can continue playing it slow and safe.
German turn 4:
I prep fire my PzIV at the bazooka squad+leader in the open: Machine guns hit, main cannon hits, they fail their MCs and are gone. With that, my Panther is safe! In my MPh, I move my other PzIV forward, too. I try to manhandle my mortar, but doesn't make the roll. My squads on the right shuffle around a little bit, the squads on the left move forward. One eats a 6-2 shot and breaks. In the AFPh, the PzIV first hits the MG crew in the foxhole and strips their concealment. Then, the main cannon lands a critical hit and kills it.
The broken American squad adjacent to my tank routs away and casualty reduces due to interdiction.
American turn 4:
The broken American HS rallies with snakeeyes. The leader that is created is only a 6+1, luckily.
Prep fire is ineffective, the Americans even break their mortar. There is a little infantry movement, but the important thing is the Sherman: It moves into my back and prepares to fire at my PzIV. I shoot first. I need a 6 to hit, and roll a 6. A hull hit! I need a 6 again to kill the Sherman, and get snakeeyes! At this point, my opponent concedes the game.
I didn't play bad, I think, but I won this game mostly by luck. I landed two low-odd hits against hull down tanks with my Panther early on, and the second session saw me rolling low and my opponent rolling high the whole time. I guess the scenario favors the German side a little bit (although ROAR doesn't support this view), but it's a good scenario, interesting, with lots of possibilities and no clear winning strategy for either side.
