Doug Leslie
Elder Member
For my most recent game, I wanted to try something from Journal 10. I had only played a couple of scenarios from it, both of which had been excellent, and I was keen to explore further. The problem was that, going by ROAR and Archive data, a lot of the scenarios looked to be a bit one sided. One exception was "Cradle to Grave" which looked to be pretty even, so my opponent and I decided to give it a try. My last game against the same opponent had seen me come to grief as the attacker in "Last Train to Leningrad". Let's just say that the Russians missed the train. This time, it was my turn to defend.
The defenders in this scenario are a mixed bag of US troops and Maquis partisans. The Americans are described on the scenario card as "cooks, clerks and other rear area personnel" which sounds as if it could describe the performance of just about any scenario OB that I get the chance to mangle. In this case, it translates to three first line and three second line squads backed by two second line HS, two heavy mortars and two M10 GMC tank destroyers. They have to set up in and east of the village that has to be defended. They receive reinforcements in the shape of a couple of M3A1 tanks and an infantry platoon on Turn 3 which, curiously, enter from the same direction as half of the German force ie the north. The partisans comprise a couple of 527s and 6 337s led by a 9-2 and 8-1 leader. They can choose extras which essentially boil down to a choice between some mines and some hidden SWs. They set up north of the village. How far north? Well, that is the question.
To win, the Germans have to control more stone building hexes than there are partisan CVP on board at game end. To achieve this, they enter from two different directions with a force comprising two Panthers, two Mk IVS, two OT assault guns sporting 150 mm guns, an SPW with a heavy mortar, an SMG HT, fourteen squads and four leaders.
Before I did my set up, I did an internet search to see if I could find any pointers that might assist me. I seem to recall that Toby Pilling once stated on Illuminating Rounds that he never bothered looking at previous defensive set ups before devising his own or reading tips by other players on the basis that such tips were of little use unless the players that gave them were of a similar standard to him. When you are Toby Pilling and apply such a philosophy, this means that there will be very few scenario guides by other players that will be of much use to you. When you are Doug Leslie on the other hand, you need all the help that you can get and the field of people who can offer useful advice is almost infinite.
Imagine my elation when I found a very detailed AAR by the redoubtable Von Marwitz on this very forum. As those of us who take an interest in such things will know, an AAR by Von Marwitz is invariably full of useful and very detailed analysis. If you want to read something insightful about this scenario, I can only recommend that you follow this link
J154 Cradle To Grave - AAR | GameSquad Forums
If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to succeed by sheer luck despite one bone headed play after another, then this is the AAR for you.
I noted with interest the suggestion by Von Marwitz that the allies could make it very difficult for the Germans to win by setting up the partisans as close to the village as possible and retreating into the protection of the stone buildings as opposed to setting up in the northern woods as they did historically to be either butchered by the Germans or alternatively ignored completely while the Germans drove straight for the village. This all seemed pretty sensible to me. I duly came up with the following defensive set up and despatched it to my opponent.

Basically the US forces are set up to meet any German units entering from the East edge of the board while the partisans are ready to run back to the village The mortars obviously set up HIP and all units start under concealment counters. There is an HIP 9-2, 337 and LMG in 10O3. It was time to put Von Marwitz's theory to the test!
Somewhat to my surprise, my opponent replied to the effect that he was conceding because, in what would undoubtedly represent a "first" for me, my set up basically broke the scenario. He alluded to having read the Von Marwitz AAR and indicated his view that the plan that he suggested made the scenario unwinnable for the Germans.
Well, I was shocked to put it mildly. I had no idea that my opponent was trawling AARs before we played. My trust in human nature was well and truly shattered.
I suggested to my opponent that he was perhaps conceding a little prematurely. I didn't mention at that time that I had read the same AAR but suggested that this seemed to be a scenario where results were pretty close and some of the allied players must have used a similar plan and set up. Besides, he had seen me play before. In an effort to persuade him that he was not being lured into a cunning trap, I said that I would have been happy to play the Germans if it had been my turn to attack. This was really bravado on my part and not based on any detailed analysis as opposed to the historical win/loss ratio. The next thing I knew, I found myself in the situation of having switched sides and looking at this opening set up by my opponent.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that my defensive set up couldn't have "broken" the scenario since my opponent had made no attempt to copy it. His defence had the partisans in similar positions to mine but the hill was less strongly defended. Clearly my opponent's pessimistic take on the Germans' chances was based on what Von Marwitz had said as opposed to anything particularly scary about my defensive set up.
The first order of business was to find out if the heavy mortars were located on top of the hill, so I deployed a HS on the German left flank to enter the gully and scout the defensive positions. I had designated the elite German units and most of the armour to enter in the vicinity of the hill while the first line Landsers entered from the North with the support of the mortar HT and one of the assault guns. I planned to have a Panther overrun whatever was sitting on the summit of the hill and, if appropriate, deal with the mortars if they were there. The MkIVs were to move onto the Q2 hill to interdict partisans trying to run back to the village.
Turn One
My scouting HS entered the AA1 gully and went into crest status and this resulted in HIP mortars being placed under concealment counters on Z7 and Y7. Those are commanding positions and removing them would be first task for the Eastern attackers. A Panther ran to the summit hex on 18X5 which turned out to have a concealed 236 HS which failed its PTC and was placed onboard under a pin counter before breaking to the OVR attack. The Panther stopped and I made my first boneheaded move of the game by swinging its turret one hexspine to the left which overlooked that the M10 size concealment counters in 10U1 might contain an M10 which had LOS to the Panther's location. The second Panther took up position to its left and the SMG moved to 18P6 and stopped out of the normal range of a suspected 337/9-2 HIP position in 18R9. It came under fire from a 527/LMG position in 18R8 but survived unscathed.
In the US DFPh, the Panther on the hill summit got the bad news that there was indeed an M10 in 10U1 which swung its turret to acquire it. The Panther couldn't change its TCA due to having used its turret weapons in the OVR and it now needed to survive a possible APCR shot in the next turn or alternatively a turret hit with regular AP either of which were likely to kill it.
This was the situation at the end of the German Turn One, at which point we adjourned for a week.

To be continued...
The defenders in this scenario are a mixed bag of US troops and Maquis partisans. The Americans are described on the scenario card as "cooks, clerks and other rear area personnel" which sounds as if it could describe the performance of just about any scenario OB that I get the chance to mangle. In this case, it translates to three first line and three second line squads backed by two second line HS, two heavy mortars and two M10 GMC tank destroyers. They have to set up in and east of the village that has to be defended. They receive reinforcements in the shape of a couple of M3A1 tanks and an infantry platoon on Turn 3 which, curiously, enter from the same direction as half of the German force ie the north. The partisans comprise a couple of 527s and 6 337s led by a 9-2 and 8-1 leader. They can choose extras which essentially boil down to a choice between some mines and some hidden SWs. They set up north of the village. How far north? Well, that is the question.
To win, the Germans have to control more stone building hexes than there are partisan CVP on board at game end. To achieve this, they enter from two different directions with a force comprising two Panthers, two Mk IVS, two OT assault guns sporting 150 mm guns, an SPW with a heavy mortar, an SMG HT, fourteen squads and four leaders.
Before I did my set up, I did an internet search to see if I could find any pointers that might assist me. I seem to recall that Toby Pilling once stated on Illuminating Rounds that he never bothered looking at previous defensive set ups before devising his own or reading tips by other players on the basis that such tips were of little use unless the players that gave them were of a similar standard to him. When you are Toby Pilling and apply such a philosophy, this means that there will be very few scenario guides by other players that will be of much use to you. When you are Doug Leslie on the other hand, you need all the help that you can get and the field of people who can offer useful advice is almost infinite.
Imagine my elation when I found a very detailed AAR by the redoubtable Von Marwitz on this very forum. As those of us who take an interest in such things will know, an AAR by Von Marwitz is invariably full of useful and very detailed analysis. If you want to read something insightful about this scenario, I can only recommend that you follow this link
J154 Cradle To Grave - AAR | GameSquad Forums
If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to succeed by sheer luck despite one bone headed play after another, then this is the AAR for you.
I noted with interest the suggestion by Von Marwitz that the allies could make it very difficult for the Germans to win by setting up the partisans as close to the village as possible and retreating into the protection of the stone buildings as opposed to setting up in the northern woods as they did historically to be either butchered by the Germans or alternatively ignored completely while the Germans drove straight for the village. This all seemed pretty sensible to me. I duly came up with the following defensive set up and despatched it to my opponent.

Basically the US forces are set up to meet any German units entering from the East edge of the board while the partisans are ready to run back to the village The mortars obviously set up HIP and all units start under concealment counters. There is an HIP 9-2, 337 and LMG in 10O3. It was time to put Von Marwitz's theory to the test!
Somewhat to my surprise, my opponent replied to the effect that he was conceding because, in what would undoubtedly represent a "first" for me, my set up basically broke the scenario. He alluded to having read the Von Marwitz AAR and indicated his view that the plan that he suggested made the scenario unwinnable for the Germans.
Well, I was shocked to put it mildly. I had no idea that my opponent was trawling AARs before we played. My trust in human nature was well and truly shattered.
I suggested to my opponent that he was perhaps conceding a little prematurely. I didn't mention at that time that I had read the same AAR but suggested that this seemed to be a scenario where results were pretty close and some of the allied players must have used a similar plan and set up. Besides, he had seen me play before. In an effort to persuade him that he was not being lured into a cunning trap, I said that I would have been happy to play the Germans if it had been my turn to attack. This was really bravado on my part and not based on any detailed analysis as opposed to the historical win/loss ratio. The next thing I knew, I found myself in the situation of having switched sides and looking at this opening set up by my opponent.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that my defensive set up couldn't have "broken" the scenario since my opponent had made no attempt to copy it. His defence had the partisans in similar positions to mine but the hill was less strongly defended. Clearly my opponent's pessimistic take on the Germans' chances was based on what Von Marwitz had said as opposed to anything particularly scary about my defensive set up.
The first order of business was to find out if the heavy mortars were located on top of the hill, so I deployed a HS on the German left flank to enter the gully and scout the defensive positions. I had designated the elite German units and most of the armour to enter in the vicinity of the hill while the first line Landsers entered from the North with the support of the mortar HT and one of the assault guns. I planned to have a Panther overrun whatever was sitting on the summit of the hill and, if appropriate, deal with the mortars if they were there. The MkIVs were to move onto the Q2 hill to interdict partisans trying to run back to the village.
Turn One
My scouting HS entered the AA1 gully and went into crest status and this resulted in HIP mortars being placed under concealment counters on Z7 and Y7. Those are commanding positions and removing them would be first task for the Eastern attackers. A Panther ran to the summit hex on 18X5 which turned out to have a concealed 236 HS which failed its PTC and was placed onboard under a pin counter before breaking to the OVR attack. The Panther stopped and I made my first boneheaded move of the game by swinging its turret one hexspine to the left which overlooked that the M10 size concealment counters in 10U1 might contain an M10 which had LOS to the Panther's location. The second Panther took up position to its left and the SMG moved to 18P6 and stopped out of the normal range of a suspected 337/9-2 HIP position in 18R9. It came under fire from a 527/LMG position in 18R8 but survived unscathed.
In the US DFPh, the Panther on the hill summit got the bad news that there was indeed an M10 in 10U1 which swung its turret to acquire it. The Panther couldn't change its TCA due to having used its turret weapons in the OVR and it now needed to survive a possible APCR shot in the next turn or alternatively a turret hit with regular AP either of which were likely to kill it.
This was the situation at the end of the German Turn One, at which point we adjourned for a week.

To be continued...
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