| In the words of Elliot Gould, "Where is that Bailey Crap" |
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A monster scenario which can you can play in a afternoon you say? Absolutely! You see the Americans need to ferry some troops into the town on Board 12 but the Germans have very little ability to fight this as the Americans will be able to cross some troops by turn 8 or 9 and their artillery is such that the Germans will not want to stick around to feel it. As a result the first part of the battle will last 15-20 turns. After the Germans leave the first hill behind the river town the Americans will wait for the Bailey Bridge because, despite their artillery superiority they do not have the infantry to be able to effectively assault the Germans in Warnach. After 66 turns and the end of the game, I had only managed 27 1's (that is in 198 die rolls) and the bridge remained unbuilt. Clearly there is a game here where the American tries to move forward despite the lack of the bridge and that might be compelling but it would also be suicide. In reality the Americans did spend nearly the entire day of the 23rd placing the Bailey Bridge and did not take Warnach despite a lunge at dark. I give this one a "2" as I did not consider the advance without the mechanized support. With the armor the Americans will have plentiful firepower and with the engineers, assault capability to take the town. Quite a frightening scenario in a prospective sense but quite simple retrospectively. The Americans will cross the river and chase away the Germans with artillery fire in time for the bridge to be brought into place. Then it just comes down to rolling ones. If someone is as lucky as I was unlucky they could have up to 20 turns after the bridge is done to take Warnach. Total losses were quite modest, 2 steps for each side. Oh, for an engineer officer like Gould (Robert Stout in the film) then we could have gone places. |
| 4 Comments |
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Matt, did you really play this in one session, that's amazing its taken me two sessions (about 6 hours) so far and I have not even started the bridge. In fact after reading your AAR. I an going to use the ENG to assist with the INF/HMG only assault on the final town. Possibly doomed to failure but we will see.
Wayne:
It was two sittings comprising about 3 1/2 hours. The Americans can decimate the Germans with their OBA and on board artillery once they can gain a line of sight. I must admit to some very good early crossing rolls after turn 9 which permitted a large portion of the infantry and M8s to cross and clear Martelange. The Germans fell back to the second ridge, which would have forced the Americans to come out of the town onto the first ridge and beyond which could have unmasked the engineers, something I really didn't want to happen so I waited and the Germans waited. Then night fell and no one wanted to move. The bridge equipment got in place and the Germans were comfortable for a while listening to swearing, etc. from Martelange. Neither side had much of a reason to move.
Having read the history on the scenario it seems that my play was very historical as the bridge was only completed late on the 23rd and a dusk attack on Warnach was ineffective. It fell on the 24th. The historical link is in the SOTM thread.
By the way, don't forget that the M8s are motorized and therefore capable of crossing. You have to roll a 4 with an engineer assist but what the heck. Every unit counts if the mechs aren't crossing.
Matt, Thanks for your comments, I had forgotten the M8 were motorized so will get them across if I can. So far in my game the German's held out at Martelange and did inflict acouple of losses on the US including a ENG unit but the US OBA nearly eliminated all the German units as they retreated from the town. I have now moved all of the US INF/HMG units across the river and will use the night turns to move closer to the town and then hope that US firepower will carry the day. I suspect it wont and your result as well as being historical will prove to be the correct one for the US even if they "lose" the scenario.
Remember the night movement rules (i.e. disruption). It can be a painful scenario to play, full of delay and frustration for the American and inaction for the German.