This game was played on Skype with Alan Sawyer. I apologise in advance for the long report, but it was a game of many twists and turns. It was chosen by random-selection and is probably the first chosen as such that I have been really disappointed with. Like all upcoming scenarios I have impending, I scanned the forces, initiative, morale, troops types and numbers and VC's. My heart sunk when I saw it was a 30 turn game where the US opponent would get 3 x 55col OBA per turn and yet I was 'armed' with just 15 GREN's as my main component. On the plus side, there were PzIV's and Panthers available, but like all armour, I figured these would need infantry support.

It asks the Germans to advance south along 2 x longways boards, with a front of 2 x boards. One end is pretty open using boards 6 & 15 (the latter has a big block of forest 3/4's up). The other side of the map is 2 x BotB boards with lots of woods and light woods. VC's are awarded for step losses (a big worry for the Germans against that OBA), road control (the Germans have to clear and hold a 2 board long road, the US need to have just one unit on it at game end). Town control and for the Germans, points for exiting off the south edge.

The German advance certainly got off to a fast start. Kicking off at 0700 hours with trucks, tanks and APC's, they chewed up around 75% of board distance by 0830 (turn 7). However, the Americans did funnel this advance somewhat as their forward minefields restricted certain avenues of approach to the Germans. More importantly, the Americans had made the target town pretty much a fortress. Protected in places by mines, GI's dug-in around the perimeter. Fortifications set up in its streets and 3" artillery guns and tanks positioned inside. Any hope of a serious capture attempt by the Germans under what would be the most intense OBA bombardment seemed a riduclous idea to even try. Furthermore, this town also covered the target road that needed clearing. This early advance by the Germans cost them just 4 steps in casualties and the US lost 3 steps. This would prove something of a mirage for the Germans as what was to come mid-game.

From 0830-1000 hours the Germans fruitlessly tried to form powerful firing lines to the north-east of the town in an area of light woods. Here they hoped they could lay down enough DF to start breaking the American front line in and around the town. Frantically, they had to pour fire into the town, but it was never at the level they were trying to achieve. The US LT COL was also holding his men well together here and their morale held up and casualties were very light. In this phase, the Germans suffered 10 step equivalents, including a PzIV step to just 1 American step (a gun). It simply was not working and to make things worse, the German engineers had been badly mauled in the bombardments, halving 2 x platoons. Any town fighting would be hamdicapped without them.

As German commander, it was obvious I was staring a major loss in the face. Always wanting to play at least 75% of any game turns allocated in a scenario, I set thought to minimising the loss to a minor defeat. I still had 17 steps of tanks and some fresh GREN platoons were making their way up front. With the town on my right flank, I eyed the left flank. There was some horrible horrible open ground to cross and this would make a target rich environment for US OBA. There were also some scattered US AFV's protecting parts near the large woodland on the left too. But ... but if I could get some of the men across plus the AFV's, I might score enough VC's to change the level of defeat rather than banging my head against the fortified town. But the change of tactics ought not to be too obvious for fear of the Americans releasing troops to block the left.

From 1015 hours, the German panzers began edging to the left, slowly driving a subtle wall between the right and left flanks. Meanwhile, German infantry and APC's began switching their line of advance to the left, leaving a small force to front the town as a feint of having interest in it. Before setting off across the open ground, I made sure that the US OBA of 3 x 55col attacks was expended elsewhere so as to give the 'exiters' a head start. Then, with the order passed, the race began! These troops received plenty of OBA attention and were also faced with an enemy tank force lining the edge of some of the forest. I backed the infantry with the Panthers so that if the American tanks fired at the GREN's, they'd receive a flurry of German 75mmLL. Realising the same, the US tanks backed off and the first of the German infantry reached the woods. From here on, it was a terrain hopping exercise, using fields, a lone village and woods to stay in limiting terrain. This had to be done by employing trucks when extra speed was needed over vaster stretches. The Germans also managed to force another village on the extreme left knocking out enemy tanks and AT. They also used their OBA when able to, to crash down on lone open-topped M18 tanks when the opportunity presented itself. By 1045 hours (turn 16) US steps losses had risen to 13 against 16 German losses.

1100 hours seemed to spell the end of German fortune. US OBA was pinpoint, claiming 7 steps in just 5 x bombardments. A hellish casualty count that almost drove me to believe the game was up. Unknown at the time, but this was to be the US high-tide. By then, the German exit strategy was in full swing and by using APC's and even trucks, the exiting was soon to begin. The Germans area of exit was in the far south-east corner where the other end of the forest ended near a field/farm area. Here the Germans kept piling their troops through whilst their tanks continued to police the front to the west, hoping the Americans would not try and make some kind of move to push through. They also took out some US AFV's when the chances presented themselves. Over the next two and half hours (till turn 28) the exiting trickled through. The German AFV's slowly pulled back in sections. As this went on, the Americans contented themselves with wiping out the 'feint' force that had been left to the front of the town.

By turn 28, the US conceded the battle. Although no accolades were given, for me, this proved to be a very unexpected and surprising win indeed. Especially from what seemed a hopeless position at the time. I didn't think they would have got the forces through to exit as they did and it also meant conceding 32 VC's immediately by forsaking the town and road.

The final tally of points went as this:

US - 12pts for holding the 6 town hexes 20pts for having at least one unit on the east-west road 35pts for German steps eliminated TOTAL 67pts

GERMAN 31pts for US steps eliminated 55pts for units exited TOTAL 86 pts

German Major Victory

For what seemed a close, tense game until the last 2 turns .... And it was ! I only rate this a '2'. Seems harsh, but in all honesty, with just 15 grenadier platoons with supporting MG's and ENG's, it really was not fun for that amount of time getting stiffed three times a turn with the 55col bombardments. In fact, it was quite a depressing experience simply because I could never raise a fight face to face with the enemy. It would have spelt death and defeat. Also, its an awfully long board when blocked by mines and the like to wind your troops through under that torrent. So despite the unexpected win, it was not my greatest PG experience. Alan on the other hand said he WOULD like to try it again and see how a different set-up and tactics play out. Whilst not wanting to play again, I would eye future head-to-head results with interest indeed. In fact, I'd quite enjoy hearing about another German players experience under that OBA with so few troops