Morgan's Stand (G30)
View attachment 48207
This seems to be a classic also previously published as ASLUG#14 which ROAR has very balanced. So why not play it?
I had the attacking Germans. Their objective is roughly to push the US out of the village and/or secure the bridge exit hex. The Germans enter in four distinct groups, one per turn, the order of which is random. You might get a lot of infantry first but no AFV, or two AFVs with only token infantry support. As the Germans enter from offboard, the US will be concealed at start and thus makes them difficult to get out of the buildings in the beginning. Due to the odds, CC against the US squads is no good idea either. Beginning on turn 2, the US rolls for reinforcements that arrive if a dr is less or equal to the turn number. To become effective, the US reinforcements need to cross a wooden bridge (the particulars of which one should look up) to be of effective help. That said, the scenario will have a good replay value because the order of the entry of the German forces and the time of entry of the US reinforcements will vary.
There is not that much you can plan as the Germans at start because you will need to see what you get. I got the "Brummbär" and PzIV plus 2 squads first - the group I wanted least at start, because you will need the infantry to guard the tanks from being rushed by BAZ or US AFV. At the same time, all US units are still concealed, so attacking them with tanks is more difficult. So the German entered to find a position which was not much threatened and could hopefully reinforced by more infantry. The US immediately moved to seal off this group, which would make it hard to redeploy the two most powerful German AFVs.
For the first couple of turns just NOTHING would work. I just could not harm the US units, which in turn inhibited my movement and cost me valuable time. I had Group 4 followed by Group 1 in the north. Group 3 entered after that from the west but was quickly broken almost entirely. With two tanks bottled up and significant reinforcements broken, it took long to build up momentum. I had to move offensively with some "volunteers" to force the US to lose concealment - of course at some cost.
US reinforcements entered on turn 4. At this point, I was in no position to interdict their successful crossing of the bridge in any way. Something had to happen, so I moved the "Brummbär" into the sights of the US tank destroyer hoping to survive its fire and to retaliate in AFPh. This worked out, and at long last, the Germans were able to move and put some pressure on the US, which had, by this time killed the German halftrack. By means of a sneaky LOS and moving into a somewhat position next to an 8-1 led US squad behind a wall, which had survived about half a dozen attempts to break it, I was able to take out the Sherman in German turn 4 - he never knew what hit him...
During turn 4 and 5, the Germans at long last could move and put pressure on the US. In turn 5, I moved my "Brummbär" into a menacing position putting tough decisions on the US, ready to wreak havoc as a bounding firer and afterwards to freeze some Americans that would then be hapless against German infantry pulling up adjacent with dangerous fire. Good plan! Went up in smoke, when his darned BAZ rolled a critical hit vs. my "Brummbär". When I thought I had the four-hex building secured at last, the broken US HS in there battle hardened and created a leader. When I finally broke a squad in my back and forced it to surrender, the US Sniper broke the German guard.
It was hairraising: Whenever I thought a problem settled, the improbable put me on the tip of my toes again. It did not help, that I misread the VC thinking that the US (and not the German) would win if he had control of the bridge exit hex. This "forced" me to a reckless move of my StuG and PzIV. Both died, because the freaking US M8 found special ammo and had ROF...
During German turn 7 I had finally managed to push all GO MMC American units off board 10. I deployed my infantry in a way, that would force the surviving 9-1+666 supported by the M8 to move and risk dangerous Defensive First Fire from multiple locations AND require a successful infantry OVR to have a chance to make it back onto board 10.
In the MPh of the final US turn 7 the freaking M8 had ROF again and by means of overcoming the odds of IF, turning turret, hindrance, and TEM hit and then broke a German Squad+LMG each in two separate locations on a DR of 4 & 5 for effects. I STILL had a HS and a vehicular crew to put some fire on the moving 9-1+666 Americans. Managed to cause a PTC, which both passed thus having theoretically enough MF to reach board 10. Afterwards, they passed the TC for the infantry OVR.
What shall I say, it was not to be - US win. I felt like I was fighting improbability constantly forcing me to sacrifice units and to take otherwise unneccessary risks. Small wonder that I came so close after initial setbacks. Ups and downs with tons of fun!
A recommendable scenario that I would play again.
von Marwitz
