SP282 THEN CAME THE INFERNO - AAR

[von Marwitz]

SP282 THEN CAME THE INFERNO - AAR



Background:
This engagement takes place in December 1944 in snow-covered Bergstein, Germany. A well led and armed force of Volksgrenadiers supported by a powerful armored force try to push into a village of stone buildings to evict a US force of roughly half the strength in infantry and armor. To reach the buildings of the village, the attackers first face the challenge to cross ground with little cover. Once within the village, they are pressured to force the Americans in the stone buildings into submission quickly in order to meet the objective.

The scenario designed by Evan Sherry comes from the latest Schwerpunkt 24 magazine which features a number of scenarios with the new 537 Volksgrenadier squad type first introduced in the „St. Mère Eglise“ HASL and having fully been added to the canon as part of the „Twilight of the Reich“ core module. I was looking forward to this scenario, because it was the first time for me playing with 537 Volksgrenadiers, which I believe did close one of the (rare) gaps in the ASL countermix. The Schwerpunkt 24 magazine features a nice article covering the Volksgrenadiers in ASL, describing their merits and weaknesses on the offense and defence. The thoughts of this article showed through in the scenario design.

Sidenote:
I may remark that nowadays, Schwerpunkt / Rallypoint is one of the few well established quality TPPs that stick to the concept of publishing straight scenario packs (supplemeted by articles in the magazine only) without introducing their own boards, counters, special rules, etc. With regard to prerequisites necessary to play the scenarios of Schwerpunkt 24, only MMP boards and counters (even excluding SK boards) are necessary. Most of these boards are relatively recent, which help to give them some more play and at least a chance to be remembered before immediately shoved into oblivion by yet more new boards. This is in stark contrast to a recent publication by another TPP, which requires the ownership of no less than 8 MMP Core modules, 1 OOP MMP HASL, 2 TPP Core Modules, 4 extra MMP boards not covered by the listed core modules and 2 extra TPP boards not covered by the listed TTP core modules as a prerequisite, plus two new boards introduced in the product itself. Doing away with all this, keeps Schwerpunkt/Rallypoint pleasantly simple and straightforward to handle while keeping down the price for the product along the way.

At the time of our playing, SP282 has not been listed on ROAR and the ASL Scenario Archive for long and as a consequence, there are not many recorded playings yet: ROAR had it at 2 German vs. 3 American wins and a low excitement rating of below 5. The Archive had it 1 German vs. 1 American win with an exitement rating of 7.5. Obviously not enough data and too early to draw and reliable conclusions from this


The Objective:
To deny the Germans a victory, the Americans need to have at least one Good Order MMC in building location(s) within a three hex radius around a certain hex in the village while maintaing at least one friendly Good Order, mobile, non-recalled AFV with functioning MA. With 5.5 Turns, at hand, this scenario is of the „right into the action“ types.


The German OoB:
The attacking Infantry force consists of 10x 537, 5x 447, good Leadership (9-2, 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, 9-1AL) along with decent and straightforward SW (HMG, MMG, 2x LMG, PSK) plus the SW inherent to the Germans in December 1944. The 537 Volksgrenadiers will ELR to Conscripts and BH back to 537s. This force is supported by 3x StuG IIIG(L) and 3x JgPz IV/70 with strong 14 frontal armor and a vicious 75LL Gun. All German AFV have a sN9 Nahverteidigungswaffe, the StuGs have S8, the PzJg IVs only HE7. Quite a potent support for the footsloggers.


The US OoB:
The American defending infantry consists of 4x 667, 4x 666, led by a 9-2 and 8-1 along with a SW complement of a .50Cal, 2x MMG, and a BAZ44. The US armor support consists of a M4A3(76)W (i.e. 76L Gun, sM8, A4), a M4A3(75)W (i.e. 75 Gun, sM8, WP7, S5), and 2x M36 GMC tank destroyers (i.e. 90LGun, sP5).


The Terrain:
Plain board 12a without overlays. Weather is Ground Snow, no Bore Sighting, no Kindling. A +1LV hindrance is in effect through the end of gameturn 1. Fast, nice and easy! It struck me, that I had never played on this board before.

The American setup area is in the north-eastern village, which consists mostly of Stone Buildings many of which have a 1st Level. Combat there will be at short distances. Vehicular movement within the village is somewhat constricted by Narrow Streets. The Germans Infantry enters from offboard along the south edge, while the German armor may enter from the west and south edges. While some Hedges and out-of-season Orchards are present, the Germans cannot avoid to cross some streches of land without much cover or Rally terrain before reaching the village. The +1LV hindrance in effect during turn 1 is supposed to help them a bit in doing so.


I played the defending Americans in this one.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

American Considerations:
Looking at the numbers, the American Infantry force is roughly half the size of the German's. Something similar can be said about the power of the US armor.

Disturbingly, the Americans have only two Leaders. This is a troublesome point, because if the Americans should lose one of the Leaders, it might have a great impact on the scenario. Better hope that the German Sniper (SAN: 2) or some freak rolls by these Leaders don't screw up things. There is a 9-2 and a .50Cal present, with seem natural companions. Let's see if – for once in a lifetime – such a combo will actually contrive to perform in a game...

With a single BAZ44, the Americans are remarkably short of infantry borne anti-tank assets. This will surely be felt in the game.

Facing the impressive German firepower, the Morale of the G.I.s will – as always – be of concern, but luckily, the defenders will take cover in buildings most of the time.

An interesting question is that of Deployment. Often, it is a good idea to deploy as many squads as possible during a game to multiply movement options and divide the opponent's fire. During the initial two turns in this scenario, you might want to have the longer range of full squads while the enemy tries to close in. Later, when the fight gets close-range and more personal, a larger number of halfsquads might be more difficult to overcome for the attacker rather than few full squads. With only two Leaders, however, you will be short of opportunity to deploy in mid-game.

As an added twist, both sides can initiate Hand-to-Hand combat. Usually, this is always to the advantage of the Americans with their high firepower (leaving out the Japanese for now). But the 537 Volksgrenadiers are powerful at close quarters.

The US armor will be difficult to handle. Only the two M36 GMC with their powerful 90L gun stand a reasonable (but not even very good) chance to take out the JgPz IV/70s. At the same time, any German AFV stands a better chance to take out any US AFV. One has to keep a close eye on this when trying to figure out the deployment of the defending AFVs or movement during the game.

Only close topped (CT) AFV may set up or enter Buildings. Once (set up) within a building, a CT AFV may go (or set up) CE, but no Smoke Mortars (sM) can be fired from within Buildings.

The terrain of the village and its Narrow Streets inhibit effective and quick movement of AFV. Being able to enter from two flanks and having the more resilient armor, the enemy armor sort of has the initiative: If the US AFV set up more exposed, the Germans can enter to gang up on them. If they set up further in the back, the German armor has more leeway to move. If the US AFV set up in a larger group for mutual protection, they will have another flank only weakly covered. If the US armor tries to cover both flanks, then the Germans can elect to outnumber them on one flank while keeping the other in check.

On the bright side, any US AFV is effective against German Infantry. And it is ultimately the German Infantry which will need to win the game. And with 15MP, it is a bit quicker than its German counterparts with only 11MP and 13MP, respectively.

Though it might be difficult to achieve, the Americans will win if the Germans don't have at least one Good Order, mobile, non-Recalled AFV with functioning MA at game end. This means, that the Germans will have to make damn sure to keep at least one of his AFV safe.

As for tactics, the most important and decisive stage of the scenario for the Americans lie in the opening turns. At this time, the German Infantry has hardly any cover and is most vulnerable. Now is the time to hit the attackers hard. This is all the more true, as there is hardly any Rally Terrain and the Germans might see themselves compelled to Rout back to Woods half-hexes on the board edge. Once broken, try your best to keep them under DM. If the Volksgenadiers do ELR (they have ELR:3), which is most easily achieved while out of cover, they will become Consripts, who are even more brittle. The more Germans you can break before they can enter buildings, the better.

If you can take out part of the German Infantry during the opening phase, this will also significantly lessen the pressure on your troops. Unless the German numbers cannot be stopped or at least delayed, they will have a good chance to swarm your defenders. So before the end-game with its menacing CCs and possibly HtH, the German effective German numbers must be reduced. This is even more true, as the German Infantry firepower becomes more effective at closer ranges.

Once the German Infantry is within the buildings with their protective TEM, the tides will turn against the Americans and they have to focus on delaying the Germans.

The most important thing for the Americans to do is to degrade as much of the German Infantry force early in the game to stand a chance of winning the end-game.


German Considerations:
The initial German force looks very impressive: Numbers, firepower, Assault Fire capability, Leadership, potent AFVs, ample SMOKE-making capability, even better than usual CC odds – it's all there. If it weren't for the difficulty of carrying this halfway intact into the village to engage the Americans at close range and with even TEM... The +1 LV Hindrance in effect during Turn 1 (only) is an understated hint to that effect.

Part of the scenario design and its attraction is to cope with this exact challenge: Endure the early pummeling but then take your revenge.

Apart from the rather unlikely AFV-option, it is your Infantry which must win this game. So you need to protect it accordingly. First, you need a good plan how to best cover the dangerous ground with little cover, then you need to get into the good village TEM quickly. From thence, things will tend to go your way if you managed to get across enough of your Infantry in good shape.

So, how to best to go about it?

The first thing to do is to examine the defensive setup of your opponent.

Somewhat unusually, the defender does not get any Dummies at all. So you know that all you see beneath the top Concealment counters is for real.

Because the Defenders have few units compared to you and they need to cover quite an area to hurt you during your entry-phase, it is rather unlikely, that they will stack MMC. Much more likely, they will stack a single MMC with a Support Weapon and/or Leader. It will be comparably easy to make out what the MG positions are and where the enemy 9-2 might be lurking.

Something similar can be said about the enemy AFV: There are not many forward positions that offer good paths to retreat from. Since your chances to kill any US AFV are pretty good if you hit them, the defender will likely attempt to lessen your TH-chances. He can do so by setting up his tanks in buildings – but he cannot do this with his tank destroyers, which might give you some easy insights about enemy AFV deployment. Setting up his tanks in Buildings does offer some decent protection for his large (CA changes incur doubled modifiers, VCA changes Bog Checks on top. Due to the dense village terrain, there are not many paths open to exit buildings for AFV.

So the good news is that you will have a comparably good idea of what to expect. Don't let this mislead you into believing you'll get the enemy dispositions completely right, but still take advantage of what you can glean to the utmost.

Beginning with 15 squads and 4 Leaders, you have a decent foundation to begin the game with a sufficient number of wretched „volunteer“ halfsquads. Probably, the 447s are a little better suited for this – they do have a little further range then the 537s, but you the latter would lose more FP and, more importantly, Assault Fire capability. Yet still, try to use your „volunteer“ halfsquads with care, because if they ELR, broken Conscript halfsquads might never come back in time to have any meaningful impact any more. Consider the „volunteers“ not only valuable in drawing fire but also in order to impose target selection limits on the not too numerous defenders.

How to best get your Infantry across the dangerous ground depends on the individual circumstances: Which areas are not covered by US Gun tubes? And can if you face US AFV set up in Buildings, your JgPz IV/70 might dare to risk shrugging off their shots. Such thoughts might help you to determine to which areas you can advance your AFVs to, possibly using Armored Assault, and let them use their Nahverteidigungswaffe to place Dispersed SMOKE covering follow-up Infantry moves. Using Riders into the teeth of an enemy defence is bound for the disaster most of the time, so it is unlikely you could use this tactic to your advantage here. You might want to have your StuGs end up in positions, from where they can fire SMOKE at the start of your next turn to neutralize US firebases which would mess with your Infantry advance. Make the best of dancing around Residual FP and Fire Lane FP and attempt to provoke the enemy to fire at places which leave gaps in his Residual FP screen after having exhausted his Defensive First Fire. Eventually, this will point out the ways along which lies the most promise and least (immediate) pain.

Check if you can reach positions from which to take advantage of your Assault Fire capability. If you reach such positions, try to dish out: A 537 will have 2.5FP rounded up +1FP = 4FP for Assault fire, which is as good as a German 2nd Line 447 during Prep Fire.

Some of your units will likely be broken after the initial moves. Due to layout of the terrain, there are decent chances for them not to be interdicted while routing. With some luck, you might be able to inhibit Rout Paths of the defending Americans as well. Depending on the positions of your AFV, units might consider Low Crawling benath an AFV. The same way, some of your units might want to Advance beneath AFV for extra cover and the chance for an Armored Assault during your next turn.

In all this, be aware that you can set the Schwerpunkt of your AFVs. The US AFVs will likely be dispersed or deployed in mutually supporting teams of two somewhat to the back. The scenario design offers the „historical“ option to likely flank the village from the west mostly unimpeded.

This does provide some possibilites on how to tackle the most difficult initial phase for the Germans.


The nature of the scenario will change to your favor (unless you gacked the opening phase, that is), once your Infantry has gained access to the village buildings and thus to all important protective TEM. This is the second phase of the game.

Now, you are at even terms with the US defenders but (hopefully) have superior numbers to push the Americans hard. Likely, your 9-2 Leader has already been forming some sort of „Death Star“ to take out key enemy units before. In this phase of the game, the 9-2 paired with firepower is the tool with which to overcome the US defenders in Buildings. Possibly, the American 9-2 paired with the .50Cal will try to do the same with your attackers. Once the Americans break, they will have unlikely much ground left to fall back to. They will rally quicker than your own guys, though, so keep them under DM if at all possible.

Also keep in mind the somewhat risky proposition of VBM-freezing American Infantry. With a Morale of 6, they are more likely to fail their PAATC than not. And this may open a path for follow-up friendly Infantry because the VBM freezed Defenders are bound by Target Selection Limits. You might have an opportunity to fire Point Blank during the AFPh at the locked Defenders, possibly lessening their chances in the ensuing CC with your AFV. CC vs your AFV will be sequential, but if at last the turn is yours, the Nahverteidiungswaffe might be devastating. Note the obscure Narrow Street CC DRM of B31.132.

Later in the game, when most of the US armor is (hopefully) down, a single German AFV in the back of the American Infantry with its single BAZ44 may pay dividends by messing with Rout Paths. German AFV could further be useful when there are only few American units remaining to foil the „have the broken unit block the access to the upper level“ tactic which makes it impossible to get at the Good Order enemy holed up upstairs. An ADACENT AFV will scare any would-be blocking brokies away from the Ground Level, clearing it for a subsequent friendly Infantry advance or assault.

After this lengthy mulling of possible tactics for both sides, let's see what really happened.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

How the Game Played Out:


American Defensive Setup:



For the setup of my defence, I determined two most important points:
a) The Germans need Infantry to win the game (aside from the unlikely tank-option).
b) The German Infantry is most vulnerable in the opening phase before they gain the TEM of buildings.

As a conclusion, my plan was to hit the German Infantry as hard as possible in the opening phase to reduce and wear it down as much as I could. Afterwards, hang on and hope for the best. The 9-2 Leader would be assigned offensive tasks, while the 8-1 would be kept in relative safety. As the German Infantry would only be able to enter from the south edge, most of my firepower would be directed there. The American AFV would assist in this task, with luck being able to pick off one or the other enemy AFV, and try to slink back if pressured.

I found that my AFV were insufficient to cover both the southern and western flanks, so I settled to place them to concentrate mostly towards the south, where the enemy Infantry would enter. To make maximum use of their MG armament, all AFV would set up CE. To lessen enemy TH chances and provide some Sniper protection, the tanks would set up in Buildings.

Regarding my Infantry force, I determined that I could not afford to lose the MGs and the key .50Cal., so I set them up in places from where they could retreat. Weighing the option of Firelanes vs. wider fields of fire across Hedges, I mostly opted for the latter, because this allowed more flexibility to react to the German entry moves and maybe possibilities to keep broken enemy units under DM. Note that by SSR Bore Sighting is NA.

Since I had no Dummies, I tried to create numerous stacks of two units to create a minimum of guesswork for the enemy to the positions of my MGs and the BAZ44.

Two approaches for the enemy Infantry attack seemed most likely:
a) Towards the M8 building and then through other buildings into the village with Q7 being the only Rally Terrain outside the buildings.
b) Along and parallel to the Q15-H10 road aiming to enter the village at K11 with intermediate firebase in N12, from which the enemy could provide flanking support for the first approach.

Two approaches for the enemy armor seemed most threatening:
a) Likely the Schwerpunkt from the South supporting the assaulting Infantry and providing cover for it.
b) Some enemy AFV assaulting into the „soft“ western flank to get into my back.

The most important hexes to cover with fire for my defenders were N7 and N8 along with O7, O8, O9 behind it. My eastern flank would likely be sufficiently covered by the 667+MMG in I4 1st Lvl and the M36 GMC in J4. The western flank was rather scantily covered by a 667+MMG in K11 and the M4A3(76)W in J10, with a 666 & 346 in F9 posing as a MMC/MMG combo threatening to lay down a Firelane along the road. For some time I considered the 1st Level stacks of 9-2, 667+.50Cal in J8 and 667+MMG in I4 to switch places. Initially, the 9-2 & .50Cal would likely be more useful in I4, but I decided against it because I determined that I could not afford to have this key stack move in later turns more towards the center rather then to fire it.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

German Turn 1:


GAME START - Red arrows indicate German directions of movement, blue arrows indicate US directions of movement.

Looking at the German setup, what I saw was mostly what I expected: A force aiming at the M8 building supported by two AFV, with a diversionary unit to skirt my eastern (left) flank. A force apparently aiming at the N12 firebase with somewhat more units than expected. A push with three AFV into my open western flank where I had expected only two AFV.

I think that the three AFV from the west entered first taking up positions in my flank. I realized, that these German AFV had pretty good LOS into the village, which would make movement of my own AFV much trickier than I had thought. Clearly an oversight by me, but on the other hand, I don't know if the attempt to address this in my defensive setup would have been the better decision. Maybe not.

Next, the Germans assaulting the M8 building came on. They had to go into the teeth of my defence and really needed the +1LV Hindrance in effect during the first turn. Luckily, it did not help them much. Maybe my opponent did not expect a full 666 squad defending the M8 building. As soon as the first German „volunteer“ HS drew ADJACENT, I claimed WA rather than the Building TEM in order to deny the Germans WA in N7 and N8.

While I had no opportunity to fire at his AFV (one StuG, one JgPz), my opponent's Infantry got quite a beating. After the smoke cleared, he had lost an 8-0 Leader to a lethal Wound after rolling boxcars. One of the accompanying 537s was broken and ELR'ed to Conscripts, the other broken. My 9-2, 667+.50Cal broke his 8-1 along with another 537+LMG, the latter ELR'ing to Conscripts as well. The M4A3(75)W in the J7 building broke two 537s, one of which ELR'ed, by MG and MA fire. One of the M36 GMCs in Bypass of J9 hit another 537 with its 90L Gun to Casualty reduce it, keeping ROF. However, when trying to finish off the surviving halfsquad later in Final Fire, it malfunctioned its MA, which was really unpleasant, since this way I was deprived on 50% of my Guns effective against any German AFV. The lone flanking 537 was stopped short in O3 as well.

There was not much I could do against the Germans moving towards and around their new N12 firebase, but I still managed to break yet another 537+LMG.

The broken Germans routed back to the Q7 Woods and Q12 Woods, the former with broken Leader, the latter with a Good Order Leader. For the time being, roughly half of the German Infantry was out of commission. That was a very good start which took out a lot of steam out of the German attack.


American Turn 1:


End of German Turn 1

German Rallies during my first turn were hardly successful. Nor was I in the attempt of repairing the MA of the M36 GMC. But my 8-1 in J5 had deployed a 667 into two halfsquads. One of which I planned to take over the nearby MMG from a full squad, the other one was supposed to stay where it was for the time being.

During Prep Fire, I re-DM's the Germans in O3 and the broken German stack in Q7 to keep them out of the game as long as possible. Unfortunately, I was not successful to harm the Germans still approaching the M8 building from Q8, and I realized that it was nigh impossible to harm a JgPz frontally with my BAZ fired by a 346 halfsquad from L8, which kept its Concealment as a consequence.

Despite the German Infantry having been hit hard the previous halfturn, my opponent was still able to dish out some serious fire.

I found my M36 GMC with its malfed MA in peril: If it stayed where it was in Bypass of J9, it was in the beads of the German 9-2 led killer stack. If it tried to move out, basically every Location was covered by a German AFV, which forced me to conclude that this M36 was basically lost. So I decided to try making the best out of this desperate situation by buttoning up and attempting a mad unexpected dash into the German rear on the board edge of Q13. A German StuG, the field of fire of which I had to cross opened up but missed. The German 9-2 directed a PSK shot at the M36 which also missed short by a single pip, so it did arrive at its destination, re-DM'ing broken Germans in ADJACENT Q14 to the frustration of my opponent. To add insult to the injury, the missed PSK shot had triggered the US Sniper, who killed the German Sniper. For my M36 I hoped for the improbable of being able to repair my MA and then cause trouble in the German rear.

My M4A3(76)W in the J10 Building was in dire straits as well. Before realizing my error, I had somehow been convinced that I could reverse out in Bypass of the I10 building, taking advantage of the Wall along teh I10-I11 hexside. But there was not enough space for that. Since I had traded shots with an opposing JgPz, which was nearly impenetrable to the Gun of my tank, I would now face trouble getting out of the building anyway. To reverse out into the place vacated by the M36 would incur a Bog check for turning the VCA. If I moved out forward, I would end up in the sights of a StuG. It turned out that my tank did not even survive the Start MP – instead it went up in a Blaze killed by the JgPz from I13. I have definitively misplayed that tank.

The second M36 GMC sallied forth from J4 to O5 into the back of the German StuG in N6 and JgPz in M7. The Stug turned to fire and miss, the JgPz did not dare to turn to face it because then it would have exposed its brittle back towards my still Concealed 346+BAZ in ADJACENT L8.

Now it was time to pull back with my Infantry in the center. The 9-2, 667+.50Cal, already acquired by a JgPz, carefully Assault Moved downstairs and arrived there unscathed. My valiant 666 which had created so much havoc among the Germans who had attempted to evict it from its M8 building tried to Assault Move back to L8 when the ADJACENT JgPz which had not fired at my 9-2 now pulled out a HE round to break my G.I.s, which were subsequently eliminated for Failure to Rout. The buddies of the German 9-2, which could luckily no longer take advantage of his leadership for it having already been used to direct the PSK shot, unconcealed my 346+BAZ halfsquad when it Assault moved back to K8, defiantly passing its Morale Check.

During the AFPh, my M36 GMC in O5 showed a display of marksmanship by destroying the StuG in N6, the Crew of which unfortunately survived, seen to be pulling some PFs from the Wreck.

With regard to my AFV, I had been more or less reduced by 50% with only one enemy StuG to show for it.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

German Turn 2:
I seem to recall that none of the Germans rallied with the exception of the 9-1 Leader and a 447 in Q7 – good... Alas, I was unable to repair the MA of my M36 GMC in Q13, albeit of course, my odds to do so were only 1:6.

There was no PrepFire by the Germans who went straight on to Movement.

The first thing they did was to send ond JgPz IV/70 off to park in P13 next to my M36 GMC hapless to defend itself without its MA. Another JgPz IV/70 popped Smoke into M7 to cover the approach of the surviving German Infantry into the M8 building. Then it stopped in L7 to threaten my Sherman in the J7 building. The one rallied German 447stole from Q7 to Q5 intending to engage my nearby M36 with Panzerfausts, without my G.I.s being able to stop them. 1.5 German squads finally took the M8 building and continued on to M9. It seemed that the central push by the Germans seemed cursed, as the ADJACENT 346+BAZ fired to break them.

Now the brunt of his intact Infantry moved from the N12 firebase area into the village proper. One StuG led the way along the road leading towards H10 with the intention to cover it by popping Smoke. Unfortunately, I misplayed my 666 in F9, which was a little too trigger-happy firing at the StuG in L12 to place some Residual FP to inhibit the follow-up German Infantry. What I should have done was to wait one more hex and fire into K12 instead, because my 9-2, 667+.50Cal covered L11. Had I played correctly, then the access to the K11 Building would have been poisoned by Residual FP. Now, there was a gap in K12, through which the Germans could slip into the Stone Buildings in force. Now, there were plenty of Germans around the J11 area.

The Germans were out of luck as well during AFPh. My 346+BAZ survived enemy fire in Good Order. When his JgPz in L7 tried to get its beads on my Sherman in the J7 building, the Gun malfunctioned. The other JgPz missed the ADJACENT M36 on the board edge as well. Finally, the 447 on the board edge in Q5 searched twice to find a Panzerfaust against my other M36, but failed twice to find one.

During the RtPh, much to the annoyance of my opponent, the broken and DM'ed 537+LMG with Good Order 8-1 Leader had to rout away from Q14 next to my M36 to Q17 waay in the back. Even worse, the German 1.5 broken squad equivalents in L8 had to surrender to my 346+BAZ in K9 for Failure to Rout, as both M36s prevented them from falling back. Because the Bazooka guys would have been overburdened by guarding 1.5 squads, they gave No Quarter when they thought nobody was looking...

The Germans with the recently captured US halfsquad advanced inot L8, while a 537 reached the J20 building and the German 9-2 killer-stack entered the K11 building. Now within the protective cover of buildings, things were going to be harder for the US. It was a relief, though, that I had beaten up and degraded half of his Infantry force at this point.

There were neither Close Combats nor Concealment Gain.


American Turn 2:


End of American Turn 2

During the Rally Phase, unfortunately I was unable to repair any of the two 90L Guns, but the Germans didn't repair their Jagd Panzer's 75LL Gun either, which likely meant the survival for my remaining Sherman. Plagued of being constantly DM'ed, none of the German Infantry rallied.

To keep it that way, the first thing I did in Prep Fire, was to hand out DM counters to the Germans which they had just lost. The German squad in O3 got one. Next, my M36 GMC in O5 tried to save its brother which was threatened by the JgPz in P13. This first shot against the latter missed and the Intensive Fire shot malfunctioned the Gun. With the AAMG, I it tried to affect the nearby 447, alas without effect as well.

During the ensuing MPh, my priority was to save my Sherman tank and retreat my Infantry from exposed positions.

But before that, I tried some heroics with my M36 on the board edge under a looming Acquisition counter of the ADJACENT JgPz IV/70. First, I tried to go for the Smoke Pot without effect, same thing for Vehicular Smoke Grenades (not 100% sure if it is legal to try for both – anyway, no harm done...). Then, on the Start MP, I fired the AAMG to re-DM the German stack in Q7 for a discouraging umpteenth time, planning to bypass the ADJACENT Q14 Woods, which would force the JgPz to turn its CA twice for a shot, and then continue on to re-DM the Germans in Q17. It would have been too good to be true – instead, as was to be expected – the M36 was fired at, hit and destroyed on the expenditure of its Start MP. Yet considering that its MA had been malfed in turn 1, it did cause some considerable fuss to the enemy.

With the MA of the JgPz in L7 malfed, this was the golden chance for my surviving Sherman in the J7 building to beat a charmed escape to safety in G5. A yet concealed 666 Assault Moved from J9 to I9. The 346+BAZ found out to its disadvantage, that someone HAD observed their recent atrocity, so they were viciously fired at and broke while trying to pull back via K9. My 9-2, 667+.50Cal, who had so far only performed in rolling 10s slunk back from J8 to H7 1st Level. A 667+MMG scurried back from I10 to H8, a concealed 346 and 666 threatened by two StuGs in F9 dispersed to E10 and G9. My 8-1 Leader got out of sight to G6. One of the two 347s moved to I4 1st Level with the intention of taking over the MMG to allow the 667 currently manning it to advance away later.

This left the Germans with precious little targets for their Defensive Fire. However, one prime target remained in the form of my surviving M36 with malfed MA in O5. With a malign grin, the 447 in Q5, which had previously failed twice to find a PF, now proceeded for the kill – failing to find a PF for the third and fourth time. With relief and mirth, the crew of the M36 learned a good number of German curses emanating from behind that hedge...

With most Americans now hunkered up in the victory area, there was hardly any Advancing Fire.

The atrocious broken 346+BAZ routed back to J7 – it seems, that the worst people always escape justice somehow.

During the APh, the 667 in I4 1st Level transferred the MMG to the 347 and advanced to I5 1st Level.

The Germans would have to move into the sights of the awaiting Americans next turn.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

German Turn 3:


End of German Turn 3.

It seemed that my US defenders had put the fear of God into the broken Germans still lingering close to the board edge. None of them, shivering under their DM counters came back. Nor could the JgPz IV/70 repair its Gun. The same was true for my surviving M36 GMC which was by now quite lonely way forward in O5.

During Prep Fire, the StuG fired SMOKE from I11 into H9, which was a very good spot to hinder American fire. Then, there were the Volksgrenadiers on the board edge, who had been vainly searching their kit for a Panzerfaust no less than four times. They tried for the fifth time and - at long last for the sixth time – to fail.

On to Movement! As the Germans, for some unfathomable reasons, appeared to be irked by that obnoxious survivability of my M36, the Jagdpanzer, which had just destroyed the other M36 had had enough and revved up its engine to charge over stopping in P6. The 9-1 Leader in Q7, at long last determined that his broken charges were worthless rabble, abandoned them to run forward to the M8 building in order to try his luck with a broken 237+LMG halfsquad.

The turn before, the 8-1 in Q17 had already come to a similar conclusion and reached J12. From there he now set out to help flank the village, which a 537 had already begun to do by dashing from I12 to G11, triggering a Fire Lane by the Americans in H8. Maybe a litte overeager, said 8-1 discounted the FL 2-0 attack while passing H13 only to be Pinned for his audacity. To maintain appearances, a StuG moved up from G11 to G10 to support the flanking effort.

Now came the vital center. In a nice move, the JgPz with Malfed MA moved from L7 to I7. Having only a single MG FP, this appeared somewhat daring at first. However, it would seal the fate of my atrocious broken 346+BAZ in I7. Besides that, should any American unit break in the H6 building, it would be unable to rout downstairs, nor could it remain in Ground Level playing the „blocking the way up with a brokie“-tactic. US units are not renowned for their facility with PAATCs and even if they passed one in order to engage the AFV in CC, they would expose themselves to the risk of being attacked by its vicious Nahverteidigungswaffe in case they could not have immediately destroyed it.

A German 447 Assault Moved ADJACENT to my 666 in I9, which held its fire for more juicy targets. These appeared in the form of a 537+PSK and a 447, which entered J9. Alas, the Defensive First Fire was without effect. Enter King Kong 9-2, 447+HMG, 447+MMG J8. In this climatic clash of titans „High Noon“ moment, my 9-2, 667+.50Cal opened up from H5 1st Level: „This town is too small for both of us...“. With ice-cold consistence, my 9-2 stack rolled another 10 to no effect. The damn impostor of a cowboy hadn't even managed to get ROF a single time in this game, much less devastating results to be expected from a gunslinger. Sigh. Can't we just agree to add a rule to the ASLRB to forbid such „killer combos“ once and for all to save us from recurring fits of frustration?!

During Defensive Fire, the 347 in I5 put the „traditional“ DM counter on the German O3 brokie. My obnoxious M36 did the same with its AAMG to the Germans in Q7. Likely, because eager to observe future frustrations of the forever PF-searching 447 or simply because discounting it as completely useless, the fire of my 347+MMG in I4 1st Level did not affect it.

In the AFPh, the German 9-2 tried to „retaliate“ against my 9-2 cowboy without effect. In all fairness, since having moved, he could not include the HMG and MMG in this, this was not too surprising. The 666 in I9 was duly broken, though, and routed back to G7. The broken atrocious 346+BAZ was brought to justice and eliminated as well by the vengeful Germans (Note: not a No Quarter situation – I might have previously pieced something together not precisely.). The 447 Grenadiers advanced to take over their position in I9. The „obnoxious“ M36 got its attention by the nearby Jagdpanzer, which unsurprisingly missed but gained Acquisition.


American Turn 3:


End of American Turn 3.

Alas, my M36 was not successful in repairing its MA, but as we shall see later, it had not exhausted its „obnoxiousness“. The broken 666 in the village did not self-rally. Maybe out of a sense of fairness, the MA of the Jagdpanzer in the village did not repair, either.

During Prep Fire, my I4 flanking MMG re-DM'ed the Germans on the board edge in Q4. Very likely, these were now effectively out of the game even without further attentions. But hey, what of the epic duel between the two 9-2 King Kongs?! My cowboy 9-2 had learned his lesson and didn't even try. We all knew that this wouldn't work, right? Instead, he directed his 667+.50Cal to fire at two squads+BAZ in J9, which both duly broke. The 666+MMG in H8 tried a 20FP @+3TEM shot vs an ADJACENT 447 in I9 without effect.

Movement Phase. I promised you about that „obnoxious“ M36 with malfed MA, didn't I? Take this: My tank destoyer was in 2 hex range of the notoriously PF-less 447 and Acquired by a JgPz IV/70 with an 75LL Gun and a TK of 24 at this range (i.e. enough to punch through no less than three times), which had killed the other M36 buddy just before. That's what I call a pinch. But sometimes, a pinch is just what you need to wake up from a nightmare. So here we go. At first, my M36 contrived to pop its Smoke Pot (sP5). After having searched every satchel, pocket, and even their boots for Panzerfausts in vain no less than six times, the 447 was just in the process of walking away in distgust, when one of them finally tripped over a damn Faust, falling heads on into a heap of snow. Boy, this really triggered them, believe me! They took up the PF fuming in anger, fired – and missed by one pip. At the same time, the Jagdpanzer openend up only to roll boxcars malfunctioning its MA and missing. Hey! My plan had been to reverse-start and edge out of LOS behind the Hedge and out of PF range. But now, the M36 crew was just feeling the itch of „obnoxing“ a bit, so they spent a (forward) start MP instead, tipping their helmets to the infuriated 447 as the latter rolled a 6 to Pin and fail to find a Faust. The M36 lurched forward passing ADJACENT in between the 447 and the Jagdpanzer to add insult to the injury and on to Q6 in order to re-DM the Germans in Q7 (It's the tradition, you know...), about turn, pass between the 447 and the Jagdpanzer again while conducting a drive-by shooting with the AAMG vs. the 447 (which was unharmed, but I felt somewhat lenient for the moment) to continue on to I3, re-DM'ing the German brokie in O3 (Already told you about the tradition...) while at the same time having moved out of LOS of the Jagdpanzer and out of PF range of the 447. Gee, that was fun!'

Since my 347 was no longer needed to re-DM the Germans in O3, instead I Assault Moved from J5 to J6 with the plan to later Advance into J7, recover the BAZ there to threaten the ADJACENT JgPz (also with malfed MA) or the ADJACENT 9-2 and just to be in the way and a pain in the a** for the upcoming German turn. My surviving Sherman in G5 revved up, passed by the same said JgPz to pull up in its back in L5. The Jagdpanzer somewhat spoilt my plans by automatically succeeding in a Motion Attempt turning its almost impenetrable frontal armor towards the Sherman and the to be recovered BAZ. But on the other hand, I could try to hit its rear target facing now at one hex range with the .50Cal, which would add up to a basic TK of 5 @+2 for range against an AF of 3 reduced to 2 for the rear CA. Not the best of chances, but still. My 8-1 assault moved to the un-DM'ed brokie, another 667 assault moved towards the victory area.

In the DFPh, the German 9-2, 447+HMG, 447+MMG was naturally eager to take out my cowboy counterpart. Their roll was mediocre at best – it did break my 9-2, but the 667+.50Cal came out of this unscathed. A 8FP @+3shot by the 447 Volksgrenadiers against my ADJACENT 667+MMG in H8 also failed to make an impression. One of his StuGs Area Fired against ADJACENT a concealed 346 but did nothing except gaining Acquisition.

The Sherman tank fired at the Jagdpanzer to acquire it but besides that, there were no attacks during the AFPh.

With the Jagdpanzer ADJACENT to the H6 building, my broken 9-2 had no choice but to stay upstairs in LOS of the opposing killer stack. While the German broken stack stayed in LOS next to their 9-2 Leader well aware that I would have to take care of him before everything else, the O3 brokie finally was forced to rout from this hex electing to Low Crawl into the Gully.

In the APh, my 8-1 moved to the broken un-DM'ed squad in G7. A 667 advanced into H6, being part of the victory area. The 347+MMG shifted westward to I5 to cover the front of the H6 building. And the 347 HS followed up on its plan advancing into J7 hoping to recover the BAZ in the upcoming Rally Phase. The 667+MMG skulked back from H8 to G8, with a concealed 346 taking its place in H8.

There were no CCs.

(To be continued...)

 

[von Marwitz]

German Turn 4:


GAME END - During Prep Fire Phase of German Turn 4.

The Germans could fix neither of the Jagdpanzer's malfed Guns, no other unit rallied with the exception of one 537+LMG in M8. On the American side, the Gun of the M36 was disabled – how „obnoxious“! The cowboy 9-2 could not self-rally, but the 666 squad in the building behind came back.

This left the Germans only five Good Order squads within the village proper and one more (probably still searching for Panzerfausts...) on the entry edge. The Americans had 6 squad equivalents in the victory area with an MMG and the .50Cal operational and another 347+MMG flanking the approaches. One Sherman was still operational opposed to three Jagdpanzers, two of which with malfed Mas and two StuGs. The Germans would need to keep pushing this turn despite not having the best of odds.

To pave the way, the German killer stack led by the 9-2 opened up against my 667+.50Cal, broken 9-2 with a 20FP @ +1 attack. They rolled boxcars and malfed the HMG. What did I tell you? Those killer combinations never ever perform when you most need them against their enemy counterpart.

At this point, my opponent conceded. American win.

There were only two squads in the immediate vincinty which could have carried forward the attack in this turn. He could have used some of this AFV to VBM freeze and use the sN to Smoke me, which would probably have been the most promising approach to cover his assault. Even if he had succeded in this after the boxcars of his killer stack, I don't think that he could have prevented my 667+.50Cal to re-DM his stack of three broken squads it had in its LOS. To get these brokies back into fighting shape and have some more Infantry run up from the rear would probably have been to late to have decisive impact with the remaining time at hand. My tactics for the remaining turns would probably have been to spread out in the victory area to force my opponent to divide up his forces while maintaining the ability to „blob-fire“ in defence in the hope that he would not be able to get my 6.5 remaining squad equivalents in non Good Order. In our playing, my opponent's forces had surely not been blessed with performing well in Morale Checks.


Review:
I believe that the scenario did quite well in conveying the the historical situation in the scenario description. The initial struggle to cross ground with little cover and significant losses, the flanking of the village by the German AFV, and the shift to close range and close quarter fighting worked.

By looking at the scenario, my gut feeling would have told me that the Germans might have the better odds, but our game included, ROAR has it 2:4 in favor of the defending Americans. Of course, with the low number of playings, it is much too early to draw conclusions of any consequence.

From the game mechanics point of view, I see two potential difficulties in the design. It needs to be seen by future AARs of others, if their experiences support or attenuate my concerns. The first point is that the Americans have only two Leaders. If they lose one by some freak event, then this might shift the scales irretrievably. The second point concerns the „death-star“ teams of 9-2, squad+.50Cal on the American side and its likely German counterpart of 9-2, 2x squad+HMG+MMG. A -2 Leadership paired with ROF 3 heavy MGs going on a tear can break the back of either side with no time to recover.

With regard to the orders of battle, the scenario is interesting.


von Marwitz

 

[jimfer]

Great report, the point by point was fun. The 9-2's are both on latrine duty for their performances. I liked the play by play. Thank you for sharing.

 

[von Marwitz]

For those interested in playing this scenario:

There is a VASL file for this one (seen in the opening post) made with VASL v6.6.9 and and VASSAL v3.7.15 which can be downloaded from the ASL Scenario Archive website under this link (if you are logged in there, I suppose):

https://www.aslscenarioarchive.com/viewFile.php?id=40060

von Marwitz

 

[Michael R]

You wrote:

As soon as the first German „volunteer“ HS drew ADJACENT, I claimed WA rather than the Building TEM in order to deny the Germans WA in N7 and N8

That strikes me as illegal; your unit would need to be HIP to claim WA in that manner.

 

[von Marwitz]

You wrote:

As soon as the first German „volunteer“ HS drew ADJACENT, I claimed WA rather than the Building TEM in order to deny the Germans WA in N7 and N8

That strikes me as illegal; your unit would need to be HIP to claim WA in that manner.

You are correct.

But when do I need to place the WA counter? Isn't this in the moment when WA can be contested?
In other words, if the unit had WA all the time (while in a bulding hex with a hedge), is in that case the placement of a WA-counter mandatory from the start to signifiy this or is the WA counter only placed when an enemy unit could contest that WA by moving adjacent to the hedge?

von Marwitz

 

[Michael R]

There are several moments when one places a WA counter. In this particular case, you should have placed it during the Rally phase, or at setup. A journal had a good summary that I scanned. I will place it here when I return to my computer.

 

[von Marwitz]

There are several moments when one places a WA counter. In this particular case, you should have placed it during the Rally phase, or at setup. A journal had a good summary that I scanned. I will place it here when I return to my computer.

Over from the rules section:
A WA counter is placed unless there is mandatory WA.
And there are five listed instances, when WA can be claimed (as per A9.322).

So with regard to our game, I should have placed the WA counter at start for the Hedge TEM instead of the Building TEM and thus a mistake has been made.

The question is, if it has practically affected the game. I believe that my opponent would have moved into the said hexes regardless of whether I claimed Building TEM or Hedge TEM. In fact, after I placed (illegally) a WA counter when he moved into an adjacent hex, he did move into a second adjacent hex withanother unit (and the WA counter on board at that time). But theoretically, he could have tried to run up a StuG to BFF at my unit across a non-Hedge hexside.

von Marwitz

 

[Michael R]

As mentioned: