J5: Bizory Loves Company
Is this an unbalanced dog or what? ROAR showed 29 German wins to 11 for the Americans. So I took the Americans, checked AARs, and strove to compensate for reported weaknesses. My dice were good! I made a few mistakes, but so did the other guy (John Stadick). In the end, he won half way through the penultimate turn (7) with enough VP still on board to possibly break the balance provision too. Nuts!
I staffed the northern crossroads with dummies. It worked; the Germans approached with caution and I lost only those two required HS sentries. My 10-2 and .50 cal, entrenched in woods about mid board, broke a 6-5-8 that ran into their bore sighted hex. From that point forward, the Krauts stayed off that central road. Their infantry came forward with tank support through the leafless orchard while those awesome AA halftracks and captured US halftracks drove in circles behind. Further south, American infantry dashed across the central road to set up an MMG and bazooka in that lonely stone building overwatching the open ground.
The paratroopers stuffed the German advance in the woods with lots of point blank fire and gave as good as they got in close combat. In the end, that fight was a wash; each side lost about four squads and the Germans moved too slowly to exit.
The open area was predictably different. Even with the 10-2, .50 cal and the MMG, protected by earth and stone, the Americans were no match for those THREE AA halftracks and two MMGs directed by the German 9-2, just too much long-range firepower. Yes, those AA halftrack are vulnerable, but they can easily stand-off beyond U.S. rifle range and just accept the penalty of firing through three hexes of orchard to whack their entrenched/stone target with a 20+5/+6 shot at ROF 3; that’s like 4 or 2 flat over and over again, certain to succeed, eventually. In essence, the Germans can create FOUR bases of fire each capable of cranking out 20 FP with high ROF! All screened by SMOKE from the tanks. For the most part, I skulked to avoid all that flying lead. My .50 cal, however, stayed put in a foxhole until it broke around turn 4 under one of many 6 or 8 shots (+1 to +3) from infantry brave enough to put their chin on the hedgerow at mid-board, or tanks with machine guns. The looming threat of my bazookas held the tanks at bay. And, I did manage to immobilize an AA halftrack and KIA a 6-5-8, along with a few breaks. But at some point, you have to face the music, otherwise the Germans will just cross the open ground. And that’s all it took, one German fire phase on turn 5 to obliterate two Bazooka teams and the MMG team, opening the path for German forward movement.
From then on, the Germans rushed the board edge to exit. Those captured U.S. halftracks just drove off, and even if I had another bazooka, and it hit, I could only have stopped one. My last bazooka did fire on a tank, but missed. It later hit an AA halftrack while the rifle squad whiffed a 7 FP shot at another. Alas, the Germans exited enough to win with a full game turn remaining.
One could rebalance this by giving the Germans normal VP, rather than double, for US casualties and/or deleting one of those AA haltracks. As is, the Americans are bringing a knife to a gun fight.