Singling in the Rain....

The Purist

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🎼... just Singling in the rain". 🎼

Old joke, I'm sure.

Anyway,.... LDM and I got together to start our Singling CG with VASL (we both have the map set up as well - for LOS, etc.)

This first post covers just the first turn as we kicked off the game.

American armour is flooding onto the map with the infantry mostly deployed in HS. German OBA actually killed a Sherman on a 16 FP attack with a DR of 3 while a Pz V bagged a second. The OBA stunned a second M4 while the German sniper managed a stun on a fourth Sherman.

German gunnery so far has been below par with 5 shots managing just 1 hit in two fire phases,... and the TH #s were not that bad. American HE rounds lobbed at the panzers has forced them to button up rather than risk a 'stun' result.

On the German right a 548 missed its PAATC and a PF shot went whistling into the atmosphere to land 'over there somewhere' with a "crump".

Thankfully, the only 76mm armed Sherman with LOS to a PZ V was knocked out and the WP and Smoke will help me as much as the Americans.

The fire in Bldg M9 is spreading rapidly and has even managed a near miraculous spread to the out-of-season orchard in Q10. If it keeps spreading at this rate the town will be burned out rubble by the second CG date.

Onwards.

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The Purist

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LDM and I managed to get the first CG Date done last night.

Despite some early losses of tanks to Pz Vs, some with just a hair's clearance with LOS, the Americans were pressing forward quite well on their right. A sudden German turn with GUSTS really pushed the fire along, driving both side's infantry out of the buildings and orchards.

Three American tanks with the bulk of infantry were pressing into eastern Singling, the tanks doing a good job of covering each other. One Pz V and the JgPz IV remained in the village covering approaches as I tried to draw back my infantry and consolidate. I brought in the JgPz IV L70 mainly for its 9-1 AL and small target modifier, which joined the left (eastern) wing. The 9-1 AL and fighting BU largely offset the NT penalties while 75LL is as good as the Pz V gun. The TD also gets a small target modifier vs the Pz Vs large modifier, so,......

It was only on Turn 5 that Lee overstretched his tanks by just a touch, having the M4a3 (105) slip down onto lower ground in the north. Combined with Smoke and Orchard Hindrances it created an opening that I couldn't pass up, especially as I needed to disrupt the advance.

American Def Fire was too accurate considering they all +4 and +5 TH DRM during my MPh but thankfully the turret armour on the Pz Vs deflected each hit. What should have been three kills for my tanks in the eastern part of town turned into just one as the 75LL from the JgPz IV L70 decided to skip off the curvature of side turret armour of the Sherman in W7. The other JgPz IV (75L) 'Shocked' an M4a3 (76)W in V12, which had the nerve to recover immediately after the Turn, and scenario, ended. Only the M4a3 (105) was killed.

The American attack on the west side of town was held up by the artillery. The 80+ Bn Mor killed one tank, stunned a second and then immobilised two (including the one that was stunned). The light screen of just four mixed squads and a SMC was backed by the second Pz V and the StuG III. As on the east side of town the American tanks were covering each other and two of the three mobile tanks carried 76L so I had to exercise caution and kept my own armour in town.

Similar to the eastern battle the Shermans in the west got a bit too spread out on their Turn 4 move, which gave me an opening. A new OBA fire mission on Turn 5 was brought down as Smoke, blinding the recently immobilsed 76L Sherman on the edge of town. I sent infantry into the smoke to finish it off but they failed to kill it despite some very good CC modifiers. As the infantry managed to ambush they all retreated, maintaining "?" against the scenario ending.

The Pz V rumbled forward as per the black arrow below and drew the fire from the Sherman in H3. A motion attempt may have been a better option for the US tank but considering open terrain and the available StuG III the Sherman was in a bad spot no matter what it did.

The shot hit the turret and was deflected. The Pz V then stopped w/o the BFF shot and the StuG III moved in from its opposite side, giving the Sherman no good options. The StuG stopped and its shot brewed up the M4a1 76.

The scenario ended at the end of Turn 5 with six US tanks knocked out (one crew survived). The US also lost an 8-1, Hero and 347 vs the German's loss of 3 HS. This gave me a solid win but also gave Lee an avalanche of 96 points for purchases. He can max out his Midday CG Date purchases for 70 PP and still retain the other 26 for the third scenario.

Needless to say my own German reinforcement DR were depressingly average, although I did have one Hero BH a 436 to a 447.

The map below shows the situation after Refit but before purchases.

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The Purist

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Disaster befell the US armour as six of the better models of Sherman tanks tried to get the attack on the village moving again. US reinforcements brought up four of the M4a3 (76)W, an M4a3e2 (L) Jumbo w/ 76L gun and an M4a3 (75)W supported by two platoons of US armoured Infantry, backed by 100+ OBA. The Germans managed 3 Pz IVH (one 9-1 AL), three 447 w/ an MMG and Psk, led by a 7-0 and with more 80+ Bn Mor in support.

The JgPz IV (75L) had to finish its fight with the M4a3 (76)W in V12 which it did but this meant it could not get back to the German line before the US tanks would arrive. It loss was expected.

The Germans managed to shock an M4a3 in CC6 despite two new Mk IVs being at point blank and both scoring hits. The shock did not wear off in GT 2 and the Sherman was soon dispatched. Both Mk IVs then turned their guns on the approaching US tanks.

As the US armour approached the JgPz went into Motion and fired its Snuffleupagus 7 in order gain some cover. Three US tanks sought acquisition versus the JgPz (one Sherman suffered an MA Malf'n) while another Sherman got into a gun battle with a Pz V (the Sherman lost). The Jumbo tried to assist but its LOS was blocked by just a hair. The last Sherman was supporting the infantry attack up the main road, causing German conscripts and 2nd Line squads to withdraw.

One Sherman disabled its MA during the German Turn 2 RPh, placing it under recall, and the battle moved on.

The German Turn 2 response saw the JgPz IV charge forward, overrunning a US 667 w/ Baz 44, breaking them. The two US tanks with acquisition both fired at a range of 1 versus the moving, small target. Both Malf'd their guns. The JgPz then drove through the US tank line and pulled up to engage them from behind. A supporting shot for the JgPz IV (75LL) resulted in a MA Malf'n while a Mk IV Smoked the Jumbo. The second Mk IV took another Sherman under fire.

Over to the west, the second Pz V swung south and took up an HD position versus the last mobile US tank in the area (also HD), while the third Pz IV began shifting from the west side of the village to the east. At the same time the German infantry was beginning to shift eastwards to reinforce the line facing the reinforced US infantry.

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By the end of the US DFPh they had broken four more MA including the Jumbo's. The Germans finished their turn by consolidating their infantry and pulling in their defence in the east.

The American RPh was depressing as all four Malf'd guns came up Disabled despite Lee changing both dice and dice tower. With five of the six new tanks under recall, the six destroyed and only two of the original thirteen still mobile, Lee failed his PMC. Even with a pull back to consolidate what ground the US had gained the US would be unlikely to hold against the six German tanks and TDs available as well as more than a dozen German squads.

The third CG Date (Afternoon) would have seen the US armour outnumbered and the Germans likely holding the best of the defensive terrain. With this in mind, Lee conceded the CG.
 
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The Purist

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Gusts and 11s and 12s (and ECs don't apply 'inside' buildings). The real miracle was the spread to the orchards but it happened.

[Ermmm,... we did make a mistake early on in the first scenario that we didn't catch until later but it was mainly the Gusts.]
 
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