Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Close German Win!
Author petermc
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2007-10-19
Language English
Scenario NoWi001

Interesting scenario...in fact most of the 10 provided here look pretty good or better. The Germans have some high firepower SS units and assault guns, but morale 7/6 and alot of ground to cover at night. And, the US artillery will prevent them from executing any attack quickly.

The US are spread thin and a little desperate, but time and terrain are on their side, not to mention some late arriving reinforcements that can easily tip the game in their favor.

Finished Turn 11 of Scenario One (North Wind). Great scenario. It is interesting to play this type of organized night assault, with an interesting mix of forces. The German morale (7/6) means they have to find ways of minimizing American artillery effect. Spread out to some degree, but also hit hard and fast. A slow methodical assault will get ground up by arty and mortar fire.

I got the US reinforcements on the first possible turn (in this case turn eight) so it is a close game. If it ended right now the Germans would lose 30-20.

I played only 3 more turns, through 14, and the situation is changing drastically. A clumsy German assault left 6 units demoralized, but an initiative win and some fast arty shoots reversed the situation, along with some accurate StugIIIG firing.

Now the Americans on Board 9 are on the run. The VPs right now are 36 (USA) to 32 (Germany), but, the Germans are likely to clear the northernmost east-west road, which will tilt the total from 36-32 to 31-42, respectively.

There is a large US reinforcement group, basically a battalion plus sized formation, heading right up the gap between Boards 9 and 17. They will make a serious push for the road or victory town hexes (TBD later).

Finally tally was a minor German victory, 45-39 on points.

Germans scored 12 points for town hexes, 10 points for one east-west road free of US units, and 23 points for various US step losses. That last tally is impressive for a 24 turn night scenario...about 1 step every turn, or 1 tank step every other turn. The StugIIIs did take out 2 steps of M4s, and the demoralized remnants of those units spent the rest of the game failing recovery attempts.

US scored 15 points for town hexes, 10 points for two roads with US units, and 14 points for step losses...most of those came from arty, although one lucky AT shot did take out a single StugIII step.

The US made some last ditch desperate attempts to reclaim the road and some town hexes, but they were cut down badly by well placed MGs.

This scenario is very, very good, and balanced. It can change wildly depending upon the US setup and the German approach. I went with a "picket wire" US setup, which tripped the Germans early and brought US reinforcements on at the earliest possible turn. But it allowed the Germans to get some easy early step losses, which the US never really recovered from (and the difference in the final point tally was steps).

Probably a better US setup is to hunker down in the towns, and let the Germans have thier nighttime march and infiltration party. They'll spend a third of the game or more just marching into position. When they finally attack they will be pressed for time, and you will be defending in town hexes.

From the German pov I'd say my attack plan was poor...instead of charging the towns on board 17 it is probably wiser to either charge up the road on board 9 first, or infiltrate board 9 and beyond for a massive assault on the N/S road. Either way you can sweep onto board 17 later, which is nearly impossible for the American to reinforce if you control board 9.

Probably the most important hex in this scenario is board 9: 0509. Seizing it early will allow you to dictate the flow of the battle.

But it is unpredictable...being at night, I hit the 15+ FOW alot, and the more the game dragged on the less I could accomplish each turn. A couple recoveries and a couple arty shoots and wham, turn over. So you really need to keep a central force and a reserve, so you can act with some decisiveness at the end of the game, not just the beginning.

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