This scenario, officially G30, came out of one of the recent Generals. Looked light, quick, it came with tanks AND infantry. I wanted to flesh out my recent tank experiences, and experiment with a little combined arms. Ron agreed to play.
Germans enter on the west side of the board, and can win by either breaking all the Americans or capturing a point well east of the American start lines (reachable, most likely, after breaking all the Americans). The Germans enter in four small groups -- using Random Selection to see who's next in the hopper. But the game is longish, and it looked like time wasn't much of an enemy for the Germans. Americans get reinforcements, also at a random time, so all strategic planning is an exercise in reacting to the current situation.
In the Pre-Game Study Phase, I began walking through the American vehicle notes. Lots of options -- smoke mortars, WP, smoke dischargers, smoke grenades, WP grenades, cartons of cigarettes, you name it. Lot's of new toys to try. Ron opted for the German side, and I got the toybox.
Starting line-up has a M4A1 Sherman and a M10 GMC. They aren't bad for medium tanks, and I wasn't going to be facing Panthers and Tigers. 6 squads, two leaders, a MMG, a couple of bazookas. I also got a M8 HMC and some more troops in the reinforcement group. The meanest tank in the German arsenal was a Pz IVH, but he also gets a StuG III, a Brumbaer, and a halftrack sporting a 37mm Gun. Lot's of variety. Neither side was armored enough to be able to drive head-on into the enemy. German squads were also limited to 1944 PFs, and by SSR couldn't shoot more than three of them.
The story puts me defending in a small village. SSR turned all buildings into wooden ones, and the only open area (i.e. tank country) was to the south. Most of the village is filled with rowhouses -- tough terrain to fall back in. The roads of the villiage on Board 10 converge in a central loop, the hub hex surrounded on all sides by stone walls. Ever since I first bought this board I've dreamed of putting a tank HD inside this little home grown pillbox. But having just read up on German PFs and Magnetic Mines, I balked. I finally set both tanks to dominate the "tank country" to the south, and left infantry to guard the town.
Turn 1. Ron rolls Random Selection and gets to bring on two groups. The odds of doing this aren't bad, but I still cursed the Fates. He also got the two mostly infantry groups -- exactly the ones I would have chosen if I were he and I had a choice. My tanks are back, my troops are forward, and Ron hugs the terrain I couldn't cover Ron fears my FP of 6, I fear my ML of 6. His only onboard tank so far is the StuG, who's trying to bully my boys, but can't seem to hit a thing.
I'm quite torn with what to do with my forward bazooka. The squad's concealed in a building (there isn't another terrain type to choose from), and staring at the StuG. If I fire from the building, the backblast will almost surely trash the firing squad. I could hit his tank on a 7 or less -- too close to a coin toss, and I have a graphic premonition about how it will come out. If I had some ML 8 boys I wouldn't hesitate to try it. But the bazooka team stays concealed and draws a lot of ineffective fire, which slows him down. I let them lurk.
One boon for my side -- the Americans get a Sniper level of "5". Whoa. Almost right off the bat, Sniper Boy goes active and kills Ron's sniper. His level was "2", so we don't even check the rules to see if it's really dead or just lowered one notch.
Turn 2. Ron summons up the group with the halftrack packing the 37mm. Some rules checking surprises us -- the HT can't PP troops (no PP# on the counter), and it's too small for Riders. His troops pour in, start forming fire groups that pack enough firepower that they don't give a damn if I'm concealed or not. Ron still shies away from my southern front where my tanks are idling, and masses in the north. My front squads begin to melt from the incoming fire.
His HT swings long around the north and suddenly enters the flank of the village, hoping to get that lethal ROF 3 pointing at my MMG group, and probably hoping to mess with my routing, too. He stays away from a nearby concealed squad -- we've both been floundering through CC vs AFV rules (surprisingly straightforward) and Overrun rules (even J.R.'s article leaves us scratching our heads), but we vaguely realize the potentials. We check Collateral Damage rules again, and I fire on the halftrack with my squad and MMG. I score a MC, Ron gives me a look of "god i hate it when i blow these rolls", and he fails. HT buttons up.
My half of the turn, and Ron's fire groups show just how dangerous a neighborhood can get. My two lead squads start taking horrific damage -- both get Casualty Reduced, the leader is wounded. I try to look at the bright side -- the leader isn't dead, I'm escaping faster than Ron can cut off my retreat, I still have the bazooka. Sigh. His squad advantage of 2:1 almost leaps up to 3:1, and that's not counting the boys I have yet to rally.
Then I get a sorely needed personal morale boost. My squad down by his now stunned (and still BU) HT strolls over to the vehicle, waits around for CCPh, pull their pins, and toss their grenades over the lip of his passenger compartment. Nothin' but net, and I make the roll to kill.
Turn 3. We discuss how overruns work -- Ron brings on his final group with the Pz IV and Brumbaer, and he's got vengence in his heart over that little spat his HT had with my squad. He charges onboard, my boys stand unconcealed and alone, he breaks them. Parks his tank one hex beyond, moves a leader up behind, and my squad dies for failure to rout. My infantry fire has a heyday pinning Ron, even Sniper Boy pins some guys I couldn't see. He charges onboard with his Brumbaer, and on a tight LOS check I see him with my Sherman, shoot, and score! Ron's return fire is desultory, and he ends his turn making no forward progress. My turn, and I try to get fancy. My M10 pulls into Tank Country, tries a Bounding First Fire across the street, between two buildings, and up the tail of the StuG -- the shot had style written all over it, looked good. Ron misses his Motion Attempt, misses his Smoke attempt. I shoot, miss, shoot with ROF, miss. I'm out of MPs or I would'a IF'ed. Ron misses his infantry's first PF check while my Sherman backs out of range, shooting to cover his retreat. In the DFPh, Ron turns his StuG 180 degrees and misses my M10. Wups. He wouldn't have looked so dangerous if he'd been in Motion or in Smoke .... The rest of my squads skulk -- Ron marvels at how much this makes his turn feel wasted. He's standing basically on the same ground he was at the end of last turn.
Turn 4. Prep Fire, the StuG does to my M10 what I was trying to do to him -- but this time he's not paying no steenking turning penalties. My M10 dies, but the crew bails out okay. I MUST remember that tank combat isn't the same as infantry. If you charge a tank with your tank, he will get two shots (DFPh, PFPh) or more (ROF, IF) at you before you get even one on him without all the penalties for moving. I don't have troops to spare to soak off his shots, either. Ron begins to push hard into my last bastion of strength -- my hiding broken guys become DM from adjacent villians, Ron Advances into the street next to my MG post. He's challenging me to see if I can chase off all of them before he gets to shoot back. Out on the edge of the village, my Sherman shoots Ron's squads with WP -- not only is this a MC for them, but the WP covers a distant rout that otherwise would have been interdicted. I'm pleased with my cleverness, wanting to sew a WP badge on my Blue Blazer uniform. The WP DMs a formerly broken squad, and Berserks the other one. Hmm.
My reinforcements finally come on board. I take this as an omen, and instead of falling back away from Ron I stay to shoot. Three PFPh shots, ranging from good to deadly, and I blow all of them. My reinforcing tank enters with a flourish, though, and scores a BFF CH against the Germans that are flanking my troops -- they break and run. Ron's DFPh absolutely trashes the remains of my defense in the village. Everyone is broken, running, and leaving some casualties behind. If the reinforcements had arrived any later, I might have lost everyone. The board looks like hell -- both sides have broken men scattered everywhere.
Both of us have two tanks each, avoiding the enemy armor. I've begun to think of tanks as being like knights of the Middle Ages -- sure, they could smack each other around, but it's immensely more gratifying (and safer) to slaughter the unarmored peasants underfoot instead.
Turn 5. My only hope for the recently broken -- to rally in spite of being DM. Hey, it can happen, especially with Americans. No luck. And Ron makes no mistakes -- the Germans rush forward in good cover to surround my broken men, so they all die for Failure to Get The Hell Out. I lose the center of the board. There's some straggling troops hiding around my Sherman, otherwise my reinforcements are now trying to make sure the bridge stays held. Ron gambles both his tanks to charge my Sherman, everybody shoots and the Pz IV dies.
Someone on the list had berated Shermans as being pure garbage, but I loved it on a board with no Panthers. I thought the Sherm was a fine match against a Pz IV and StuG. TK numbers of 6 were common for us, and that's always exciting. I like the Pz IV as I like the Klingon D7 Battlecruiser -- you gotta be lucky, you gotta be smart, or you're gonna be dead.
Turn 6. Sherman fights his way clear. German infantry approach from everywhere to be ready to swoop in on the last turn. I don't know why Ron was bothering to be cautious -- he could throw an empty beer can at my troops and they'd break. He often did. I couldn't keep my 666's focussed on the end game no matter what I tried. An unusual twist came out of the rules. For me to win, I had to have a non-broken MMC on board 10. A tank is not a MMC, but the crew is. How many tanks in the same hex would it take to be considered a MMC? Given my situation, and incredible lack of coherent troops to command, my M8 makes a break up the woods road and through the town hoping to make it to the border. He dies. The Sherman makes a break, and runs away (blowing all his BFF). My hope was to get my tanks somewhere "safe" so the crew could get out. I start Low Crawling my broken troops out onto the approaches to the bridge -- the road is only one hex wide unless you want to wade through the marshes. If my boys are in such a hurry to break, I can choke the road to the bridge with people eager to surrender. Ron can't get through them all in time to get to the bridge.
Turn 7. Sad turn. Ron moves to mop up any of the rabbits I've got scurrying around. My long shot hopes are all taken out back and shot. Ron charges the Sherman with the few men that can catch it, I do him the courtesy of missing and missing and missing. The final roll of the game is to see if the Sherman crew can get out of the tank, they are shot with 6 FP *3 [TPBF], then -2 for Hazardous Movement. God I wish I'd scored even one hit on those guys.
They didn't make it.
Cool scenario -- the randomness of unit entry makes any planning a fun exercise in frustration. We tried some new rules, learned a little more about why when you come into town you should leave your tanks grazing outside the city limits.
Tom "Mad Dog" Huntingto
Dave and I decided to try Morgan's for our IRC tournament first round match.
**** Short Plug ***** If you are short of local FTF opponents or find yourself in need of more ASL time, and are tired of the time it takes for PBEM, by all means try IRC! I have played email for nigh on 10 years, and I have had a real blast transitioning to more and more IRC play. It's easy, and it's the next best thing to FTF! Even if you get plenty of FTF, you can get a game with some new faces fairly quickly using IRC play. Give it a try! ***** End of Short Plug *****
We diced for sides, and Dave picked up the Germans. This was an excellent game from my side of the table, and I enjoyed it immensely. As I am going to present the game through the American view, I hope Dave may decide to put out a contrasting view with the German spin...
For those not familiar with the scenario, the scenario portrays a counter-attack by the Germans of a small American bridgehead over the Moselle in Sept of 44. The seven turns of this match are played on the R-GG halves of boards 10 (village) and board 7 (river). There is a 3 hex one-lane wooden bridge across the river in the normal place (where the road goes). All of the buildings are SSR'd to wooden.
The Americans are defending the board 10 village initially with 6.5 1st liners, 9-1 and 8-1 leaders, a MMG, 2 Baz44, an M4A1 and a M10 GMC. Their setup is restricted to within 4 hexes of a hex of the largest building in the town (10z6). The M4A1 and M10 suffer from ammo shortage. Their are reinforcements of 2 squads, a leader, a Baz, and a 9-1 Ldr'd M8HMC (RoF 2 with an Armor leader...baby!). The reinforcements arrive on rolling a dr 1 less then current turn number. Not too shabby of a force, although 2 leaders initially is fairly brittle IMHO. The ammo shortage on the setup Armor will make you think twice about taking low-odds shots for Acq. Their mission: Have an unbroken MMC on board 10 at game end AND keep control of the entrance hex for the board 7 bridge. .
To pound on (and through) this gaggle from the US of A, the Fatherland receives 4 groups, one per turn on the first 4 turns. The group received each turn is selected randomly. All told, these groups give 7 fist line squads, 7 2nd liners, led by 2 8-1, an 8-0, and 7-0, an MMG and 2 Lmg, and (the heavy hitters) SPW250/10 (37L with 3 RoF HT), a StuG IIIG, a PzIVH, and a StuPzIV!. Lots of armored muscle. On the downside, the German infantry is limited to 3 total panzerfaust shots.
I setup the Americans conservatively, preferring not to stick anyone too close to the German entry areas, as I was worried about getting cut off by AFV. The bulk of the Infantry and MMG went into the Z6 building area, with 1.5 squads and one of the Baz covering from the v7 building and nearby orchard. My M10 took point in the town-square/Hull-down-heaven, and the Sherman setup in cc7 to cover the American north flank. I had a couple of tricky boresights figured, but Dave never obliged me by entering them... 8^)
Turn 1
Dave's group selection gave him the Brummbaer, the PzIVH, and 2 squads. He entered them, staying out of LOS on the far north end of the village. No significant action during remainder of Turn 1.
Turn 2
The SPW250/10 group with 2 more squads came on next. Dave continued to build up his forces in the northwest corner, using the rowhouse for cover. The Brumbaer showed it's impressive Smoke ability to place Smoke in the north-south road being covered by the Sherman. In the American 1/2 of the turn, the gods seemed to be smiling, as the reinforcement group arrived on the first turn possible. However, the gods showed how fickle they can be... The infantry in the group raced along the road across the bridge, and the M8HMC chugged along behind... but when the M8 pulled onto the bridge they learned an object lesson in French bridge maintenance.... [COLLAPSE, Ker-Splosh!]! Spray flew for the rest of the game from that cannonball. Dave wanted to claim mist... 8^). I was just happy I moved my infantry over the bridge before the collapse. First casualty of the game.
Turn 3
Dave receives the all-infantry (best) group including 5 squads, an LMG and two leaders. He continues to build up the northwest corner, and manages to push a squad across the Sherman guarded street (within 2 hexes), and also brings the Brummbaer up where it threatens the Sherman. The SPW250/10 zooms around the north edge of the American line, taking advantage of the previously laid Smoke. American fire to this point has been limited, and ineffectual for the most part at the skillfully concealed Deutsch infantry. I neglected to get the Sherman in motion, and would pay for it! The American Sniper manages to pick off one of the German 8-1 leaders. To this point, the American lines have not really changed much. The Germans continual threat of reinforcements turning a flank have frozen most of the squads not currently in action to their assigned place. In the American 1/2 of the turn, Dave makes me pay for letting a couple German squads advance within 2 hexes of the Sherman, and serves it up a faust. The M10 abandons the hull-down-heaven lest it suffer the same fate. I skulk with most of my force, but am getting a bit worried, as I have only the M10 (with Ammo Shortage) left for Armor support, and Dave has all of his AFV still safe. . The StuPz makes sure that habitation of the front hexes of large building would be hospitable, and the SPW250/10 threatens the north/northeast woodsline from fairly Baz safe distance. I decide to stay skulked, and cover the terrain on my side of the street with Point-Blank rather than risk the (now) considerable Prep Fire ability building on the German side. The only exposed positions are to the SPW, and these are concealed.
Turn 4
The last of Dave's groups, the StuG and 4 more squads toting the MMG enter along the south-central area, keeping my flank in danger, and not allowing me to consolidate vs. the majority of his force in the north. Most of the German infantry move into the street and north area woods/wooden buildings, all set to advance next to the concealed Ami's in the APh. My first big break in the game comes when an Inherent FP shot vs. the SPW crew causes a Casualty MC, and that puppy is now total-recall. After the APh, the Germans have multi-hexes of the big building and outer woods-line stacked with concealed squads and MGs point-blank to my stacks of the same. In the Ami half, I go for some damage... but get terrible results, and Dave's troops shrug off the low morale checks with ease. Uh Oh! One of the Baz manages to break a squad in a building, but Dave still has lots of meat left to retaliate. I pull out of the Z7 hex of the big building in MPh while there is still time. He get's some high MC's on the up front squads, and I fail most of them. It's looking grimmer and grimmer for the Amis. At the end of turn 4, the Germans have their entire force, save an 8-1 and 1/2 squad casualty and 1 or 2 broken squads (who are in good rally position). The Ami's have taken 1/2 squad infantry casualties, but have all of the northern part of board 10 except hexes bb9, bb10, aa9, aa10, z9, and z10; and have 1.5 squads defending (still ?) in the v7,w8,x8 rowhouse. The M10 has pulled back to 7y3 to cover the bridge approaches, and split the road with the AAMG. I am encouraged by the lack of infantry casualties, but concerned that my force is just too brittle to stay unbroken while Dave's Armor moves up.
Turn 5
The German Armor moves up into Infantry pounding positions, especially vs. the southern rowhouse. The brunt of the German infantry assualt moves and closes with the Ami northern woods defence. Some break and conter-break on both sides. A German Hero makes his appearence. Ami's self-break out of potentially bad CC situations. The M10 X's the MA trying to put some HE on the Germans in the y7 building, and is now under Recall. Not good. Down to the 3 Baz for Armor protection. The recalled M10 makes it way onto the (now-broken) bridge, then the crew abandons. A squad and HS manage to rout with a Baz and MMG to the woods mass south of the bridge road in a fairly sheltered location.
Turn 6
In the German 1/2, the Infantry slugfest continues in the woods to the north of the bridge road. Germans reduce the Ami's down to holding 10z10, 7aa1, and 7z1 with 4 squads, a Baz, the 9-1 (Morgan), and an 8-0, but also generate an American Hero. The StuPz pounds on the southern rowhouse until the Baz/346 is broken, then the PzIVH overruns the 666 remaining in v7, staying in hex in Motion afterwards.. The 666 fails his PAATC and goes PIN, but survives the Overrun unbroken. The StuG moves behind the rowhouse to the wall south of the bridge road, putting more pressure on the main Ami Infantry force remaining. The Ami's X a Baz in Defensive Fire vs. the StuG. The squad and IVH don't damage each other in CC, but the American wins a crucial CC in AA10. Bottom of the 6th sees 4 Ami squads remaining in the northern woods clump with the 9-1 and a Baz. The 8-1 tries to rally the 1.5 DM squads, Baz, and MMG in the v1 southern woods clump, but fails. The Ami Hero try to dash across the bridge road with the Baz to get a side shot on the StuG... no way... he goes down. Baz #2 now unpossed in street. Ami morale is plummeting. The 666 in v7 rowhouse makes a run for nearby wooden building, but gets broken.
Turn 7
Dave decides to for the 'no unbroken Ami MMC on board 10' win, and pounds hard on northern Ami main group. The 8-1 manages to rally one of the squads in the southern woods group (7u2), and the rallies in the northern group bring the Ami squads to 3. However, at end of German turn, I have no squads on Board 10, and Dave formed a German wall with multi squads in 7aa1, and 7z10, The StuPz moves up to 7y1, the Stug to 7x1 a squad in 7w1 and 7v0, the IVH in U1 (accessed in MPh via road), but immobilized there due to the ESB to get there and stop; and a covering 7-0, and 247 in t0. All of the AFV went CE. It was pretty late, and I knew Dave wanted me to conced at that point, but I knew I had one slim chance.
Bottom of the 7th...
Ami's northern group does some actions to try and draw fire... they get shot up good for their efforts... all are broken. My desperation plan then kicked in... I had the single squad left in the southern woods mass drop the MMG, and assault move to 7U2. This position was adjacnt to the immobilized, CE, IVH, and in LOS of only the 7-0, 247 in 7t0, but not in position to advance onto board 10. Dave didn't see any point in firing (or maybe was concerned with possible SAN). My AFPh shot with Baz was a miss. APh: I passed my PAATC, and advanced in with the IVH... I think Dave could smell my plan now... CCPh: 666 rolls to ambush the IVH with a +2 modifier for vehicle... I roll a 1... Dave does not.. The 666 advances to 10u10 for the Ami win.... 8-*
I just gotta say that this win was very satisfying for me for several reasons.... the foremost being that Dave Connell played an excellent, tenacious game, and I always felt behind the power curve. The other reason is that I can never seem to play the Americans well, so I feel that I was able to push up my skill with them a notch. And finally.... I didn't give up, and it paid. off. In the last phase of the last turn of a game that looked like a pretty solid defeat. That's what the game is all about. 8^)
Well, as I said before, it was an excellent match, and I cannot thank Dave enough for his cheerful, jibing play. Look out whoever plays him in the IRC tourney next!
We finished up about 2:30 am local time, and as I said at the very beggining of this note, this day will go down in the annals for me... but the real reason is not the ending of the Morgan's stand match. No, the real reason is that at 5:00 am that same day my 8+ month pregnant wife wakes me up and says: "Honey, it's time...", and sure enough at 11:30 a.m I had my 2nd son, Keegan in my arms!!!!
What a damn good day!
Mark