Barkmann's Corner - ASL D15
I played this one last Friday with the notorious Jim Doughan, of bocage fame. After all that bocage talk, we had to try something from Hedgerow Hell. I took the Germans, and set up an ambush in the center of the road the Americans must toil down in column/convoy. After making a bonehead move that must rank in my top five (and believe me, it's a competitive list), the fur really started to fly and Jim ultimately emerged with the victory. My error was in placing my gun crew under a concealment counter (after demonstrating its 'realness') to strip concealment from Jim's boys as they wandered past. One of the criteria for breaking up a column is a LOS to a Known enemy unit, so I thought I was safe, but I assumed Jim couldn't shoot while in column. Unfortunately, this appears to not be the case, and he peppered my crew, breaking it, and breaking the column status once the crew became Known (by jumping up and down and scrambling for cover). My personal ELR shattered, since this was a whopper of a screwup - I had no need to reveal Jim's troops, since I could have done that the moment I started shooting, which I wanted to do the next Turn, during his MPh. But, I decided to stick with the game.

In the ensuing CCPh, I managed to slightly turn the tables by wiping out one of Jim's squad as it attempted to capture my 50L (I had a HS sharing the hex for a little added protection). This turned out to be a huge plus, as the HS found the 50L during my RPh and proceeded to go on a nonqualified-use-adjusted ROF festival of fun, nailing two Sherms and a HT before calling it a day. PFs nailed another Sherman, and Herr Barkmann himself bagged one. The last wasn't cause for joy, however - the superfluous TK roll (anything but cars kills) was snakes, Jim made his Sniper roll, and naturally the CE tank commander went to the great Location in the sky. The balance of the game consisted of Jim creeping past my few remaining good order troops, losing a few squads in the process, and scampering off the edge. He made his VP total, but just barely, by virtue of a leader created in CC knocking out the Panther.

Has anyone else on the list played this one? It really looks like a German hose job - if I hadn't blown it by starting things off a little early, it wouldn't have been close. As it was, I suffered some bad luck to go with my stupidity and still came close to winning. With a sensible setup and decent shooting, the Germans can whack 40 or more CVPs in the first fire phase they open up, and fifty shuts the Americans out... Jim's job was made tougher by the FBs showing up early, adding 10 VPs to his needed total. This really looks tough for the Americans against competent German play. Any comments regarding the Ami's chances would be welcome. Take it easy,

(the other) JR