Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Kind of like stuffing a phone booth
Author Matt W
Method Solo
Victor Draw
Play Date 2012-03-21
Language English
Scenario AirI004

I'm old enough to remember when trying to stuff an entire frat house full of inebriated college students into a phone booth (heck, I'm old enough to remember phone booths) was the height of pranks. This scenario tends to replicate the process if the Americans try to win.

As in nearly all Airborne scenarios, the Americans are understrength for the task. They need to clear out a town and push along the road to clear an entry hex. They do not have a force advantage and do face some bombardment. On the other hand they have a slight morale advantage and (after playing enough of these scenarios) a fatalistic approach to the idea of assault.

The key here is that it is only necessary for them to contest the control of the town or the exit hex in order to get a draw. I felt that, if the town was to fall, it would best be done with all the force available. It would almost certainly require the use of the 1 step engineer to get the column adjustment so that they would be no more than one column down when attacking the town.

In the end, all the Americans and all the German direct fire forces ended up fighting in the town. The battle swayed back and forth but ultimately the Germans were able to hang on in the town and keep it contested. It seemed as though every time the Americans were able to cause a step loss or get the Germans demoralized, they too became demoralized or lost steps.

With everyone stuffed into the town, little else could happen but the surpise was how close the Americans actually came to winning control of the town. Had they been able to do so they might have won the scenario as the Germans had totally committed to the defense of the town and had little to stop the Americans if they were pushed out.

Although small the scenario has some interest as they Americans could also run for the exit hex and try to sweep the Germans from that direction. As stated before, I felt I had to take the town while at full strength but that is not a requirement. I give is a "3".

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