Is DASL-30 "The Road to St. Lô" broken...or do I just suck?

Kijug

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We played DASL 30 FtF today, "The Road to St. Lô", pushing cardboard warriors. I thought it would fun to defend as Americans or take the hill as Germans--I ended up with the Americans. The SSR indicates there is no bocage on the hill or around the hill, so in theory that should aid the Americans at shooting the assaulting Germans as they come towards the hill. You'll see in the attachment I tried to create the map and manually erased the bocage for clarity--so the map looks a little dorky...bear with me. It was hard enough to envision the "no bocage" as we played.

Always a touch choice at setup. Do the Americans congregate on the hill, easy targets for the ENEMY, or spread out and leave the hill slightly undefended in an attempt to slow down the ENEMY? (I opted for the latter.)

The Germans get 12x 5-4-8 and lots of toys to include 2x FT. The Americans have only 10x 6-6-6, HMG, MMG, and mtr, which sounds good, but obviously the 6-6-6s break easy and there is just about one place to route to on the hill. The problem is that the Germans also get 3x Pz IVH. The German bad guy, the ENEMY, they guy I was supposed to blow up today, found himself in a couple good spots where he could just pound on the mountain with impunity (see attached map). Once the Americans broke (turn 1), he rushed his 5-4-8s on turn 2.

If the Americans leave the hill to go BAZ the Panzers, then the Germans take the hill. If the Americans stay on the hill (even in Foxholes or not) then the Panzers just pound the Americans into submission. (One American sniper [5] did manage to recall a CE Panzer...the biggest American victory of the scenario.)

I see ROAR has the original version of the scenario as pro-American and the updated version is still slightly pro-American. I'm not a great player, but I just don't see any way the Americans can hold the hill. The Panzers have several good spots to just pound the hill and break the Americans. The Germans take the hill. Done.

It's always fun, regardless...but I think the scenario should ditch at least two of the Panzers. Or...what things might the Americans do? Any familiar thoughts or comments?

Thanks!
 

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Doug Leslie

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Haven’t played this scenario, so this is just a general observation. What is the US set up area? If they can set up behind the bocage that does exist, that looks like a good place to start. There are also plenty of spots on the hill which can be used for a reverse slope defence behind the level two hexes. In general, set up out of easy LOS or concealed behind bocage. A firelane from fJ1 is worth consideration.
 

Robin Reeve

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Some Americans can set up on 1 level hill counting on a plateau effect.
K3 Orchard blocks LOS on the left from 0 level fire.
Reverse slope defense (keeping behind the level 2 crest) is also a good option.
Using a couple of American units up front as speed bumps also can be a useful tactic: having the Germans run out of time rather than hoping to prevent their capturing the hill summit could be the way to go.
 
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