Major Issues
Elder Member
Played this at WO against John Meyers. He had the Germans, I had the Americans.
Americans have a small infantry force with a MMG, a 9-2 and two M51 meatchoppers.
They get 4 M10s as reinforcements. The Germans have a lot of infantry, and get three King Tigers as reinforcements.
VC are to wipe out all infantry adjacent to the road that parallels the west edge, or control all buildings adjacent to the road. If the American loses more M10s than the Germans lose King Tigers, it reduces the number of buildings needed. Because, as you well know, they are evenly matched.
German entry area is pretty terrible, with a lot of open ground and grain if they are going to do more than assault move. There is a LV hindrance to help them the first two turns.
I set up most of my infantry in the upfront buildings to get shots as the Germans entered. A lot of his infantry broke the first turn. A 6+2 shot on his concealed MG kill stack broke everyone. The next turn, another 6+2 to DM them reduced both squads, and a third shot eliminated them, leaving him just a broken 8-1 in the hex.
His tanks started blasting away when they came in, and 1-1/2 squads and my 8-0 broke. A platoon he snuck through the woods on my right eliminated a 666 in CC.
When my M10s entered, I planned to commit two of them to taking side shots at one tank. The first one hit and killed it, so all three others went to engage his infantry on the right. Most of his other infantry was broken.
One King Tiger had gone CE and parked adjacent to my stone building, but with the CA the other direction. I couldn't pass up the chance to AM adjacent with the 9-2 and two 667s. He turns and shoots, misses, but keeps rate. Second shot hits, effects roll is snakes - 2 KIA! 9-2 and one squad die, along with their chance for cardboard glory. The second squad is broken.
A 346 HS and my M10s shoot up all his infantry on the right.
In the center, he finally gets some infantry into the buildings. One squad gets broken by a meatchopper, but MG fire from one tank breaks the crew. Better camouflage might have helped.
One M10 goes charging around to DM all his broken infantry on the right. The other two go Tiger hunting. I get one hit, but it bounces. I lose both M10s the next turn, but he did prep his lead squad and 8-0 while looking for PFs. This kept them from moving, so it wasn't all bad.
John conceded at the end of turn 4. He had only two squads left that could try and take buildings, and while I didn't have much infantry left, it was enough. I also had a 346 and a still-HIP meatchopper in the woods on my right, which he would not have been able to take out to get the road control VC.
Neither one of us had a high opinion of this. With only 5-1/2 turns, the German infantry has to keep pushing forward, while a 9-2 is blasting away at them. I don't like that the Americans can win just by keeping one or both M51s HIP. That was part of my plan with the one setup on the right, but his infantry was so decimated that I never had a shot anyway. The Germans don't have the time for a bug hunt.
My shooting was better than average in the beginning, but his snakes vs. the 9-2 evened that score. I would have needed a 9 to hurt his King Tiger in CC with the 9-2 and one squad.
An interesting setup for the Americans might be to set up a picket line of HSs in woods hexes along the east board edge. (They are allowed to set up anywhere.) If the Germans try to run past them, they get 6-1 shots. If the Germans wait and advance onto them, they might die, but they will still have held the German first turn move to 1 hex. If they figure that they are dummies and move into the hex, the Germans get bounced back to offboard. I'm not clear what would happen then. My assumption is that the bounced Germans would be allowed to advance onto the board. Throw one or two dummy stacks into the mix, and the Germans have hard choices for their entry.
Americans have a small infantry force with a MMG, a 9-2 and two M51 meatchoppers.
They get 4 M10s as reinforcements. The Germans have a lot of infantry, and get three King Tigers as reinforcements.
VC are to wipe out all infantry adjacent to the road that parallels the west edge, or control all buildings adjacent to the road. If the American loses more M10s than the Germans lose King Tigers, it reduces the number of buildings needed. Because, as you well know, they are evenly matched.
German entry area is pretty terrible, with a lot of open ground and grain if they are going to do more than assault move. There is a LV hindrance to help them the first two turns.
I set up most of my infantry in the upfront buildings to get shots as the Germans entered. A lot of his infantry broke the first turn. A 6+2 shot on his concealed MG kill stack broke everyone. The next turn, another 6+2 to DM them reduced both squads, and a third shot eliminated them, leaving him just a broken 8-1 in the hex.
His tanks started blasting away when they came in, and 1-1/2 squads and my 8-0 broke. A platoon he snuck through the woods on my right eliminated a 666 in CC.
When my M10s entered, I planned to commit two of them to taking side shots at one tank. The first one hit and killed it, so all three others went to engage his infantry on the right. Most of his other infantry was broken.
One King Tiger had gone CE and parked adjacent to my stone building, but with the CA the other direction. I couldn't pass up the chance to AM adjacent with the 9-2 and two 667s. He turns and shoots, misses, but keeps rate. Second shot hits, effects roll is snakes - 2 KIA! 9-2 and one squad die, along with their chance for cardboard glory. The second squad is broken.
A 346 HS and my M10s shoot up all his infantry on the right.
In the center, he finally gets some infantry into the buildings. One squad gets broken by a meatchopper, but MG fire from one tank breaks the crew. Better camouflage might have helped.
One M10 goes charging around to DM all his broken infantry on the right. The other two go Tiger hunting. I get one hit, but it bounces. I lose both M10s the next turn, but he did prep his lead squad and 8-0 while looking for PFs. This kept them from moving, so it wasn't all bad.
John conceded at the end of turn 4. He had only two squads left that could try and take buildings, and while I didn't have much infantry left, it was enough. I also had a 346 and a still-HIP meatchopper in the woods on my right, which he would not have been able to take out to get the road control VC.
Neither one of us had a high opinion of this. With only 5-1/2 turns, the German infantry has to keep pushing forward, while a 9-2 is blasting away at them. I don't like that the Americans can win just by keeping one or both M51s HIP. That was part of my plan with the one setup on the right, but his infantry was so decimated that I never had a shot anyway. The Germans don't have the time for a bug hunt.
My shooting was better than average in the beginning, but his snakes vs. the 9-2 evened that score. I would have needed a 9 to hurt his King Tiger in CC with the 9-2 and one squad.
An interesting setup for the Americans might be to set up a picket line of HSs in woods hexes along the east board edge. (They are allowed to set up anywhere.) If the Germans try to run past them, they get 6-1 shots. If the Germans wait and advance onto them, they might die, but they will still have held the German first turn move to 1 hex. If they figure that they are dummies and move into the hex, the Germans get bounced back to offboard. I'm not clear what would happen then. My assumption is that the bounced Germans would be allowed to advance onto the board. Throw one or two dummy stacks into the mix, and the Germans have hard choices for their entry.