J143 Circle of Doom (Nuremberg Trilogy Part 1)

xenovin

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JRV and I decided to play the three linked scenarios from Pete Shelling's "Verdict at Nuremberg" mini campaign (Journal 9). I have the defending German's on the last dying days of the war in Europe. As part of the CG, each side has three secret CG force pools (Groups A, B & C) that can be used only once for each scenario (so I picked Group B in J143 meaning no other Group B can be used for the later scenarios). Each scenario also has another secret force added to either the at start or reinforcement elements. I chose the MMG/PSK infantry force with the better leader and another PSK as the US was entering with a large mech force plus I had a concern about the US flanking my town defense and getting into my rear area. The US objective is to destory the three German AA guns (2x88L, 1x37L) provided the Germans amass less than 40 CVP.

J143_VM_setup.JPG
My plan was to fall back and defend the 22V8 Gun by turning building 22W8 into a strongpoint (My 9-1 and MMG was in the upper deck cover the town frontage). I was using the stream as a defensive barrier and loaded up my right flank "convincing" the US my open left flank was a better option as it would take a little longer going that direction and would run into my Turn 1 armor reinforcements. I also took the CG force pool infantry package as the Germans are infantry poor to delay in the Board 24 village and not even try and hold the 1 CG VP 24M4 building. The lone PSK was my AT defense on that flank. The 88 in V7 had good LOS to any frontal attack from the north, a LOS to both bridges, and the 24U8 forest gap that looked like a good way to infiltrate my front lines. The other 88 was on my far right flank holding down anything entering along my right flank road. The 37L was in 24P7 covering the Board 24 roads against any US HT rush and the 22R7 bridge approach. He was not expected to live long but to delay the US advance. Finally, I had a few HS "skirmishers" north of the stream making JR think twice about any made armor dashes. My big screw up was the dummy gun position in 22U5 as I thought it was concealment terrain (no its wide open) so I forgot to strip it once JR had LOS to it later in the game. However, he had already figured out that I had not chosen the CG secret force pool Option A gun (giving me a 4th objective hex). But, when you know something is a dummy you tend to forget about it....

We played this one about 2 months ago so a little fuzzy.
J143UST3.JPG
So out of the gate JR completely surprises me and attacks my strong right flank. You can see in US Turn 3 above that I kept intensive firing my 88s and broke both of them but my scrub Conscript/2nd Line force stood tall and was delaying JR's advance at the 22K2 bridge. I think it was Turn 4 that I rolled a 6 for my repair of the 88 in 22V8 (good bye!) but a 1 for the 88 in Q3 that ROARed (get it) back to life smoke 2 Shermans and blasting a building full of Amis.

J143UST5.JPG
Here is Turn 5. The US was stuck trying to cross the stream and my armor was counterattacking. While 2 of my 3 guns were kaput, the US was at 35 CVP and about to lose some more so JR threw in the hat. Thanks to much heroics by some not so great forces in the 22N2 building and the Knights Cross winner at the Q3 88 I was able to bleed the US advance for a win.

This one is a challenge for gun placement as you can try a bug hunt hiding them around but with so limited resources you will not be able to defend them as the Germans so I chose the mutually supporting configuration above. JR told me about somebody (Tater?) suggesting placing the guns in the NW corner of the board and that sounded promising as you could delay the US advance through the Board 24 village and hopefully run out the clock. An interesting challenge for the Germans and I won by a whisker.
 

jrv

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The guns can't be HIP, so it isn't a bug hunt scenario in the strictest sense. However Aaron Cleavin suggested putting the last gun in 24J0 (or somewhere back in that corner of the map). With the right covering force getting to that last gun is going to be a bear.

When the gun in 20Q3 broke I tried to rush across the bridge to exploit the breakdown. Its repair resulted in two dead tanks and perhaps put the game out of reach. There was a squad in 20N2 too that held out for several turns under a vicious thrashing, and that delay caused me no end of frustration. The 37L in 24P7 caused me many breaks but I finally broke its crew and drove them away. While it was still standing I was unable to get past the Gun in 20V8. I should have dropped more SMOKE in the 20M5-ish area to allow crossing the bridge.

Not that the dummy gun in 20U5 is illegally set up as it is not in concealment terrain. Setting out a fourth dummy gun hides what purchase has been made. That had no impact in our game as I couldn't get past the 20Q3 gun, but be careful if you set up such a dummy. A legitimate gun could set up there (guns are not HIP by SSR), but not a dummy.

JR
 
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