NOTE: For a long time, I played the morale rules wrong, with units just needing to roll their morale or less to recover, not less than their morale. This is reflected in some of the commentaries.

Initial deployment

This is a very small scenario, and rates to be confined to a small part of the board. The Germans start just outside or inside the swamp, and the Americans are in the swamp, so visibility is essentially 1 hex until untis start firing. With the +1 shift for direct fire into a swamp, there are going to be a lot of high column shots from relatively low firepower. The Germans have to take 1013 or inflict a lot of casualties to win, so subtlety is not an option. They are just going to charge ahead and hope they can pass the surrender rolls.

The Americans do very little here. They are going to sit back and wait for the Germans, hope to inflict some casualties or demoralizations, and force the Germans to surrender.

Because of the small number of units in the scenario, I did not use Fog of War.

Turns 1-3

The Germans advance adjacent to the paratroopers, and the GREN and HMG platoons that enter 1011 from 1010 promptly get demoralized. The OBA is ineffective; however the German mortars do manage to disrupt a paratrooper platoon.

On turn 2, I decided against calling for surrender. Even with a +1 to the die roll, with a “9” leader floating around, that would require rolling a 10 or higher (1/6 chance) or have the Germans add 1 to their initiative. As it turns out, the Germans get initiative this turn anyway and start to recover units, and the Americans don’t get their OBA. By the end of the turn, some paratroopers have shifted to face the Germans who are coming down the south side of the lock.

Turn 3 sees the US receive OBA again and grab the initiative. They manage to kill off a step of German heavy machine guns, and are otherwise are unable to harm the Germans, who are now in contact with most of the American force.

Turns 4-5

The Americans get their OBA again on turn 4, making it 3 out of 4 turns they have made a 1 in 3 chance. They also get the initiative and a lucky break when a shot from the paratrooper platoon in 1013 (the reduced platoon is digging in and doesn’t fire) kills a step in 1013 and demoralizes the grenadier. The units in 1012 fire at 1112 on the 30 column and also kill off a step of grenadiers and demoralize the major and one of the grenadiers. The major ends up routing back to 1111. At the end of the turn, all US units have been spotted and several of the Germans have recovered. However, the major and a reduced HMG are still demoralized at the end of the turn.

On turn 5, the Americans call for surrender. German initiative is zero, and there is one demoralized leader and one demoralized German unit on the board, for a +2 to the die roll. The major was the highest ranked German leader, and since he’s demoralized, his morale is only 8. So, if the German rolls 7 or higher, they surrender. There is no question as a 6 and a 5 are tossed, and the scenario ends in an American victory.

Final Thoughts

As can be seen by the brevity of this session report, this is a very quick scenario. I have a hard time seeing the Germans winning without some luck. The Americans just have to time their surrender checks carefully and I think they should wait until at least 2 German steps are dead to reduce German initiative to zero. Unless the Germans have a leader with a 10 morale, the US probably won’t need to roll more than 7 or 8 for the surrender. On the other hand, with a little luck, the Germans may be able to get a couple of very high column shots at the paratroopers, and the loss of just 1 or 2 could be a disaster for the Americans.