This is a micro scenario that is very fast moving. With only 11 total units, there is not much thinking about the battle. The Americans must move quickly to take hex 0412. The Germans must hold control of the hex at the end of the game.

The scenario doesn't get started until turn 3 as the Americans must double time it down the road to make contact with the Germans. This first contact is with a strongpoint, in this case the 4-3 strong point. The Americans are able to get next to it without adverse Op fire. The assault goes well and destroys the strongpoint with a double demoralization, but at the cost of time. Turn 10 starts with the Americans moving down the road to assault 0412. The second strongpoint is empty, so it will just be the GREN to defeat. Turn 13 has the GREN running as it attempted to rally from a demoralization. At this point the Americans should have the scenario as a Germans assault would be suicide. It takes 2 more turns before the Germans are fully rallied and that seals the game.

A good scenario, very quick. I believe it is balanced as there is one condition that was not met in my play. German reinforcements appear in 0409 if the hex is not captured by turn 10. If this occurs it means the Americans are too slow or had some very bad luck.

I commanded the American Airborne in this scenario. Primary objective was to capture the town across the river.

First orders were to clear out the first strong point. We were able to move into the city unscathed and found the first strong point to be empty. Lucky us. The next order was to assault as quickly as possible the town across the river.

Everything started great, the Germans opened up opportunity fire on us and all of it missed. We were able to get into the assault at full strength. The Germans held tough however and the game ended in a draw with both of us in the town.

This scenario was one long assault and was a great lesson in assaults. What this game looked like in the assault was Germans get demoralized LT rescues them. Americans take a step loss or become disrupted. We all morale back to normal and repeat.

This small scenario caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting much from it but got a good hour's enjoyment out of it.

In my solo play the Americans spend the first four turns (08:30-09:15) cautiously approaching the first anticipated strongpoint which turned out to be unoccupied but the Gren unit had advanced to it's location before the paras got there, hoping it was occupied. The German/Russians fail to get any results from their opportunity fire and did not think to attempt to dig-in so they are left there standing in the open. At 09:30/turn 5 the Americans get the initiative and fire away on the direct fire; 4 column and roll "snake eyes" getting a M1 result. The hapless defenders fail morale checks leaving the LT disrupted and the Gren unit demoralized. However the LT recovers to good order and the Gren to disrupted status. At 09:45/turn 6 the American para units advance adjacent while the Gren fails to get back to good order status. At 10:00/turn 7 the paras have the initiative and waste no time in making an assault and the Gren unit becomes demoralized again. However, return fire also demoralizes the reduced step of American HMG. At this time the second strongpoint's status is revealed and is indeed occupied with a 4/4 rating. What ensues over the next hour is the slow reduction of the Gren unit but it refuses to go down until 11:30/turn 13! Meanwhile, the demoralized American HMG unit has only just now finally recovered to disrupted status. Now there are only 45 minutes/3 turns left to advance on and take the town with the strongpoint. The German LT also managed to weasel his way out of being captured three times or get eliminated and makes it to the strongpoint/town hex. The paras have to go at it alone without the assistance of the hapless HMG unit but manage to shrug off opportunity fire.

11:45/turn 15 - the paras desperately, to no avail, try to weaken the strongpoint with direct fire before attempting a last ditch assault. The German/Russian defenders also fail to get results with direct fire. 12:00/turn 16 - a Hail Mary assault into the town which only results in the paras being disrupted from return fire but they are in Pouppeville so it ends in a draw. At first I thought that as long as the Germans weren't dislodged from the town and had originally occupied it that they would achieve a victory but after reading 3 different AARs it was deemed a draw by others that had the same results. So I had misunderstood the definition of the town's control status. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with this one but it would of been an entirely different story if the first, eastern strongpoint had been occupied. I did not look at the strongpoints after drawing and placing them though I well could have. Neither one was flipped until American units were three hexes away or spotted. This also made the scenario a lot more enjoyable as there was an element of the unknown. This should of been an American win but bad dice rolls or luck plagued them and cost them precious time. Having the reduced and demoralized/disrupted HMG sit out most of the battle did not help either; in fact it didn't return to good order until the last turn! The German/Russian defenders, on the other hand, had ridiculous luck in recovery attempts and not giving ground for over an hour when they should of flopped after the intial assault and failing to think to dig-in (-blame it on the vod.). I think this scenario makes best for solitaire play and that different people, with different plays will rate it accordingly. I went into this one expecting a '2' or worse and got a '4' out of it. Also, because of it's brevity, it is my second scenario for the day and still have time left over to start a third.

The first German strongpoint was taken out with not much of a problem. The second strongpoint and German platoon held out and hit the US platoons hard. Good rolls meant they eliminated two US steps. They Germans held the objective. German victory.

All you gotta do is cross the causeway, and take the town before the Germans get reinforced on turn ten, which is just what the Troopers managed to do, thanks to a roll of 2, against the German strongpoint just in front of the town, and AGAIN during the American assault on the town a couple of turns later, with the reduced US HMG and Colonel holding the German's reinforcement hex, that was that. I will try this one again as I believe the natural order of things (read as "without rolling dice out one's butt", should be a draw most times

The Americans are coming from the east. If the east end of the causeway is taken, the reinforcements will not “arrive”. There are strongpoints at both ends, but unbeknownst to the Americans, the east end strongpoint is unoccupied.

Consequently, the GREN decides to advance to the east end of the causeway and take up position in the houses nearby.

The GREN fires at the advancing Americans to no effect.

PARA (led by Captain) begin circling around to the north, while the HMG (led by Col) go south. The HMG passes a morale check and the Americans discover the east strongpoint is unoccupied.

PARA enters the marsh to the north of the east end, out of sight of the GREN.

HMG comes under fire again, but pass their morale check as they begin to head back around to the north to take the east end.

PARA advances through the wet ground onto the middle of the causeway.

HMG are disrupted by GREN fire.

PARA advances toward the objective (west end) and hit the ground when the occupied strongpoint opens fire.

HMG rallies.

PARA advances into close assault against the strongpoint (no effect)

HMG advances towards the causeway.

The assault continues to no effect (5 vs 3 strength)

HMG continues to advance towards the reinforcement point under fire.

PARA disrupts the defenders in the strongpoint, but the successfully rally.

HMG advances to the east end and comes under heavy close fire from the GREN. But they stay strong.

German reinforcements are denied by the presence of the HMG.

No change at the objective.

GREN assaults the HMG (to stop them aiding the PARA against the objective). The HMG is disrupted but rallies.

PARA is demoralized assaulting the strongpoint! (The troops in the strongpoint probably should have counter-attacked at this point, instead they kept their heads down)

At the east end, the assault in the open ground was brutal. The HMG was eliminated and the US Col fled into the marsh. Although being successful, substantial casualties to the GREN demoralized them.

It would be a race to see who rallies first! The PARA or the GREN?

The PARA fails to rally and flees into the marsh. The strongpoint defenders shoot ineffectively at their fleeing enemy.

The GREN rallies to a disrupted state.

Things are looking up for the Germans.

PARA rallies (to disrupted state). Strongpoint misses.

GREN fails to regroup.

The Tension begins to mound.

Strongpoint misses!

PARA rallies!

GREN rallies!

PARA re-assault the Strongpoint (no effect) as the GREN advances to aid in its defence.

GREN joins in the assault, but the GREN is demoralized and the Strongpoint is disrupted! The PARA tries to “finish” them off but can’t

The whistle blows and both sides shake hands. The skirmish is a draw.

Aftermath

Another bizarre scenario in the Panzer Grenadier: Airborne (Introductory Edition) pack. But, it was actually amusing nonetheless. As can be expected, the scenario played extremely quick.

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.

Deployment

The Germans have no flexibility in the set-up. I didn’t look at the strongpoints until after I set up the Americans, who I decided to have charge full speed down the road. Even the most dangerous strongpoint only has 5 fire factors, so I could risk that shot and come straight at the town. This is a tiny scenario, and with only 2 American units, its not like there’s going to be a lot of big maneuvers going on.

As it turned out, both strongpoints were unoccupied, which is only a 1 in 5 chance.

Turns 1 -3

The Americans advance towards the causeway, cautious of the strongpoint, and using the hedges for cover. I split the HMG and the PARA, just to give the German more avenues of approach to cover. With the town in visibility range, the first strongpoint is revealed as unoccupied.

Turns 4 - 6

The PARA attempts to flank the town to threaten to head to the objective through the swamp, while the HMG heads for the town, surviving opportunity fire. The Germans, knowing the 2nd strongpoint is unoccupied and will not stop the Americans, have to decide whether to retreat to get back to the objective, or attempt to hold onto 0409 and that the 2 new platoons will be able to dislodge the PARAs. They choose discretion, and plan a fighting retreat, surviving opportunity fire from the PARA.

Turns 7 - 9

On turn 7, the HMG moves into town, and the PARA and GREN exchange fire, neither being able to damage theother. On turn 8, the Americans realize that they will only dislodge the Germans by assault and move into 0409. The GREN fires opportunity fire at both, on the 22 column! (base FP of 6 + 1 for the leader gives them 7 FP points, plus 3 right shifts for adjacent and opportunity fire. The Americans get a bit of luck when the roll against the PARA is 7, however the PARAs roll an 11 and are disrupted (saved from demoralization by the leader). The HMG also enters and survives a shot on the 22 column with only a disruption. On turn 9, the Americans recover while the Germans pull back closer to the town.

Turns 10 - 12

Nothing happens on turn 10, as the Americans must physically occupy 0409 to prevent the German reinforcements from appearing, and the Germans don’t want to advance. On turn 11, the Americans advance to 0410 and survive opportunity fire, this time on the 16 column (the embankment provides some cover) with only a disrupted colonel, despite the HMG and captain producing an M2 result. The Germans get the initiative on turn 12 and retreat to town, awaiting the American assault. The Americans approach, except for the Colonel who is recovering from disruption. This reveals the strongpoint as unoccupied.

Turns 13-16

The Americans begin their assault on turn 13, rolling on the 9 column (10 firepower points, adjusted +1 for leader, +1 for higher morale and -2 for the town) and miss. The Germans respond on the 9 column (7 firepower points, +1 for leader) and produce an M result which disrupts the PARAs. On their impulse, the Germans pass, not wanting to give the Americans the defensive benefit of the town. On turn 14, even with the disrupted PARA, the Americans hear the clock ticking and assault again, now only on the 5 column and miss. The Germans rake fire into the streets, demoralizing the Colonel and PARA and disrupting the HMG. Seeing the Americans in confusion, the Germans leave the safety of the houses and assault back, however they are unable to cause further damage.

The Americans spend turn 16 recovering, and everyone improves one step. The HMG rolls a 9, over the morale of 8, however even a disrupted leader can help units in the same hex, so it does improve. The Germans have lost the assault advantage and pass. On Turn 16, the Americans make a final assault, determined to eject the Germans, and instead run into a hail of small arms fire. The PARA is reduced and demoralized, the Colonel is killed. The Germans are disrupted, however it doesn’t matter. By holding onto the town, the Germans have won the scenario.

Final Thoughts

A very small scenario which played quickly, and even so it presented challenges. With only 1 unit, the Germans had to be on the defensive, and the hope of holding out for reinforcements was small. The Americans had enough time to circle through the swamp to the town, however that would subject them to direct fire in the swamp from Germans in the town or on the road embankment which could have been disastrous. So, a direct assault seemed to be the best method. Poor luck on the assault rolls doomed the Americans, as even though they had superior leadership and numbers, they were never able to do more than disrupt the Germans. This was fun and I think it’s a better intro scenario than scenario 1.

The Americans advanced west along the road until they ran into the eastern German strongpoint. Luckily it was unoccupied so they didn't have any trouble with it. As they advanced along the causeway, the Germans in the western town drove them back with heavy small arms fire. The US troops rallied, but upon advancing adjacent to the Germans, were eliminated in a hail of fire.

Play: solo Time: ~25min

my third scenario in a day! damn does it feel great to be playing again!

Initial Deployment

Setup is pretty much fixed, though as I was playing solo I flipped all the strongpoints to their unknown side, shuffled them, then diced for which to use. That made my approach as the Americans somewhat tense.

Opening Moves

The Americans won the first turn initiative and marched straight down the road towards the first strongpoint.

The lone German platoon took up position in the town adjacent to the strongpoint to await the Americans.

On Turn 2 the Americans came in sight of the strongpoint, which turned out to be empty! Lucky Break #1! With only the lone German GREN platoon in the town, the Americans decided to bypass it completely and head for the objective town at the other end of the bridge.

As they marched past the town the GREN took some op-fire potshots and managed to steploss the American PARA, a costly loss in firepower for the Americans that would come back to haunt them.

Nevertheless, the Americans were soon on the bridge and - what's this? - the second strongpoint was also empty! (Shad's note - what amazing luck!)

With no one to stop them, they walked unopposed into the victory point town and set up camp on Turn 6.

The German GREN platoon, outgunned and outmanned, decided to wait in the first town until the 2 x GREN reinforcements showed up on Turn 10.

Slugging Match

With the arrival of German reinforcements on Turn 10, the Americans quickly found 3 x GREN platoons staring them in the face on the swamp bridge. A long series of brutal firing, disruptions, demoralizations, and rallies commenced until Turn 15 rolled around and neither side had yet given an inch.

On paper, the Americans were in bad shape with only a reduced PARA HMG and reduced PARA, but their officers (including a 2-10-1 !!!) and the cover of the town were keeping things from getting out of hand.

Realizing that a victory was going to be impossible, the German commander (Herr Shad) ordered his men to assault the town and try and contest the hex to force a draw. One GREN platoon had to stay behind because it was disrupted, but the other two rushed in.

The Americans cut them to pieces, but were unable to finish the job on Turn 16 because the Germans - having entered the town - now got the -2 column modifier for assault defense. The reduced-state of both American platoons just wasn't enough firepower to clear out the town.

Final Result

• Draw
• At the end of the scenario the town is still contested.
• 2 German steplosses
• 1 American steploss

Shad's Thoughts

This was a quick playing scenario, but was interesting despite the paucity of pieces. Watching the Americans try and bypass the German platoon in the forward town and getting hammered for it (opfire snake-eyes!) was pretty exciting.

Both strongpoints being unoccupied was a tremendous stroke of luck for the Americans, and no doubt had a large influence on the outcome of the battle. I think if either of those strongpoints is occupied the Americans are in big trouble. If they both are, heaven help you.

I'm not going to play this again. But it's another good solo scenario if you want something small to run through quickly.

Enjoyable! 3 / 5

The Axis unit started in the town at the east end of the swamp. The US units split and attacked through the hedge rows. With the US HMG distracting the Axis the US paratrooper infantry took the strongpoint at the east end of the swamp. God was on the side of the US, they rolled extremly well while the Axis rolled extremly poor. The Axis never got their reinforcements. The US took no casualties while the Axis got wiped out. US victory.

This was a game of "divide and conquer" with some close in DF to soften up the soon to be assaulted hexes. At 1000, the US assaulted hex 0409 after having spent two turns softening up the hex with DF from the town hex at 0509. Overall result was a US win in that assault due to rolling well on the 18 assault column resulting in a step loss and the loss of a disrupted strongpoint when it was all said and done. This was a key outcome of this scenario as it voided the ability of the GER player to receive their reinforcements on turn 1045.

Having removed that strongpoint, and the GER reinforcements, the US turned their attention towards the main objective town hex across the causeway. The US Paratroopers stormed up the causway and survived 2 rounds of OPP fire from the town to make it to the adjacent hex unscathed. The next turn at 1030 began the direct assault of the main town hex and US objective.

Nearly 8 rounds of assault and a few counter-assaults ensued into the town with both sides suffering some poor morale rolls and a few step losses here and there. For instance, on turn 1030, the assaults started on the 9 column for the US and the 13 column for the GER. By the 1200 turn, the tied had turned in the US's favor with a dead even 5 column vs. 5 column assault. At the end of the 1200 turn the GER players failed morale checks on demoralized units and should have been forced out of the town to retreat. However, there was no where for them to go based on the scenario constraints. So, the DEM GER units just hunkered down in the town hex where they stood. At 1215, the US PARA's threw everything they had in on last valient assault on the town hex. On this last turn of the scenario, and on the last set of die rolls, the GER suffered more lost morale checks on their DEM units and ended up being "eliminated", or in our minds the Russian prisoners just gave up the fight and surrendered to the US paratroopers.

In the end, this was a fun and QUICK scenario. Pretty straight forward and not a lot of complexity. Pretty much a mad dash and some quick "softening" of the hard targets with some DF before an eventual assault. The GER player almost held off long enough to cause a draw while holding the main town hex objective. However, the end results showed the nuances of this system and the power of leaders and the morale system.

A quick little scenario ideal for "fill in" when there is no wish to start a larger scenario. As all smaller games it can all depend on dice and in this one there is no real stratgy choices, the US Para's have to trust to thier morale and close quickly with the German uniformed Russian's, then just trust to luck. I noted Vince rated this a 1 but as I won this one I will give an extra pip for a 2!

As in other Airborne scenarios, the forces on hand for the Americans seem hardly sufficient for the job. They are charged with capturing two strongpoints, one by the tenth turn to avoid significant German reinforcements and the other by the end of the game.

In this play the Germans were hampered as the first strongpoint was unoccupied and thus fell easily to the American attack. They also lost their mobile infantry at that point and were forced to fight the rest of the battle with the second strongpoint only. Luckily it had some firepower.

The Americans were able to close on the strongpoint without losses and assaulted. At one point the Germans were demoralized but they made the recovery roll and that was that. There is no real subtley or maneuver in the scenario. It is critical for the Americans to avoid the German reinforcements so they must capture the first strongpoint by the end of turn 9 or they will lose the scenario.

I give it a "2".

There are so few units involved in this scenario that I found it hard to keep going with it-2 combat units on the US side vs. 1 unit and a couple of strongpoints with 2 combat reinforcements available to Germany depending on ownership of hex 409 at turn 10. The Germans begin digging in at 409 while the US moved up to the hedgerows a few hexes to the front. After unsuccessfully attempting to soften up the German positions, the US units worked around to the left and occupied the town alongside hex 409. A direct fire battle began as the US units tried again to soften up the Germans. After a couple of turns of this, the Germans won the initiative and used it to assault into the town, keeping the US units occupied until reinforcements arrived, suffering a second step loss and being eliminated the same turn that they arrived. Another direct fire battle began between the US HMG platoon and the adjacent Germans as the US paratroops tried to move through the swamp and up onto the raised roadway to reach and occupy hex 412 before the last turn. Unfortunately for the US, both the paratroops and HMG suffered disruption and could not obtain the objective. Not a bad battle when it happened, but there are so few units it is not an interesting scenario. I wouldn't play this one again.

Game was played ftf with Wayne Baumber. I am using these tiny Airborne scenarios as "throw away" games to be played after any early ending 'main event' scenario. Therefore, any seriousness towards them is very light indeed. That said though, they do provide some quick-play PG fun

Sparse Attackers v Even Sparser Defenders

This scenario has a few variables. As in all PG scenarios, there are the officers. Unfortunately, the Hiwi officers here for the 'German' forces turned up without a morale modifier shared between them. Also, of the two pillboxes, one was empty ! Not a great start. Reinforcements for the 'Germans' consist of two more platoons, BUT ONLY if a certain hex is held onto by the none-to-keen Hiwi infantry. Not that the US Paras are awash with troops either. They will be forced to take some calculated gambles, but at least they have some decent officer support in our particular match-up.

To Battle

The ‘German’ forces here were very light indeed. Just one platoon, a few pillboxes and even some of those unmanned. Officer quality amongst these Ukrainian Hiwis was very low too. Therefore, when the American Paratroopers advanced to within site of the marshy outskirts of the area, they were instantly able to see that the furthest most sections of pillboxes were completely unmanned (and so the strongpoint disappears in game terms). Without wasting anytime, they set about attacking the lone platoon and the pill-boxes nearest them.

The assault went well. The Hiwi platoon were forced to make a run over the causeway to the furthest reaches of Pouppeville as the forward pillboxes put up little resistance at all. Expected German reinforcements failed to arrive and this left the Paras free to finish the job off by taking Pouppeville. Bravely, they charged across the causeway as the Hiwi Mauser fire was delivered at them. But the fire was poorly directed indeed and the Americans closed in on their enemy. In what was a brief fight within the buildings, the Paras overwhelmed the Ukrainians and succeeded in taking their objective just within the time constraints allowed. Casualties amounted to around 40 Ukrainians (1 GREN step and 2 x strongpoints) and 25 Americans (1 PARA step).

Not enough going on here for me and simply rated a 1 as really not that interesting. I hate giving '1' ratings as I still have fun, but it does rate very low in my alltime PG play. OK, with a mate its 'amusing', but has little else going for it. Don't recommend as a starter game for a newbie, it simply does not show the charm of the system