Second Crack at Caumont is rough to set up as the Germans. You've got that beautiful 88LL that normally deserves to be the linchpin of any defense, but here it's just a source of agony and frustration. There simply isn't any good place to set it up. There's several fair places, but each one has its downsides. So I found myself just setting up the infantry and planning the defense that way, then doing the 88 and the JgPzIV at the end. One covered one side, one covered the other, and it was actually the JgPz that I set up first, wanting it behind the Bocage in 53Y5. So, yeah. I know it's a Chas Argent scenario, but it definitely felt like a Pete Shelling twist there - "here's a scenario where you get one of the most powerful units in the game, but you don't get to enjoy it."
My advice? Set it up last in one of the "fair" hexes so that nothing else in your OB plans on supporting it, and hope it bags 2 tanks. Beyond that, don't hope for much.
Reading up on the scenario, I had to agree with jrv about Rubbling a building with the DC. The benefit of knocking down one VC building - forcing the Americans to take a multilevel building on the SW side of town - seemed tremendous, and that DC really doesn't have much else to do. I liked trying to Rubble O5 (rather than jrv's choice of R8) because if that goes down, the P4-O6 street is blocked so that the Shermans have to go around, but more importantly, LOS from P4 and Q3 to N7 (one of the Germans' prime skulking hexes) is also blocked.
The odds of success? If you take a 468 and bring the 9-2 along (kind of mandatory, IMO), you have:
- 83% chance of Setting it (leader-modified US #)
- 92% chance of passing the TC to detonate it (leader-modified)
- 78% chance of rolling the KIA necessary to rubble it (need a KIA on the 30 column with a -3 DRM)
All told, that's a 60% chance of really swinging the game in the Germans' favor. Worth it, IMO - the defense of the town can just barely spare the 468 and 9-2 for those 2 turns, and when you're done, they're already sitting in the Alamo, ready to defend.
But alas - rolling an 11 on the 30 column doesn't rubble a building, it turns out. Whoda thunk?
During the replay, Dave conveniently forgot to comment on this moment from our game:
German turn 3. In the CCPh of the previous turn, the 247 had Ambushed three squads and a 9-1 in Q5 and brazenly withdrew to the middle of the street. In the G3 Prep Fire Phase, in full view of both armies, he calmly reached for a Panzerfaust. dr of 1! OHH MY. Somewhere off in the distance, an eagle cried. Selecting his target with care, he knelt down in the hot dusty street and took aim. To Hit DR.... 10! Miss! AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!
He died ingloriously, but MAN did he have a moment.