Well now, this first “real” scenario of BoftheB caught me off guard a little. Right away, you need to understand LOS and hill terrain, as I just learned. Steel rain hurts…

Knowing the Amis could not move at all, I plopped 2 groups east of town behind the woods on the 20 meter hill that overlooks a peaceful (yeah…) valley shadowed by the large hill just east of town. That big hill encompassed a crossroads that I knew would be the gateway of my friends, the Jerrys. As they marched up the east side of that hill (I assumed) I waited. As turn 3 came along, I ran the trucks up into those woods east of town just in front of the other units, the idea being that as soon as I could spot something, I would reinforce from there. I then realized I forgot one horrible detail that is not always obvious when playing a game on a flat board. The Jerrys will higher than me and had a farther LOS!! Even with rolling a limited 5 hex sightline (per scenario), they could still see me planted there with my at gun BEFORE I could see them! Uh-oh… Not only did they roll an 11 with a really good offboard arty call (!!) but I had both units in the same hex with the trucks and with an 11, I lost all units!!! (remember the mg’s come in down a step). Even rolled out the leader…so…by the time the other Amis moved, there was nobody there to reinforce.

I admit I didn’t totally finish the battle, but the Amis were being quickly mowed. Even as the town treats as a 20m hill, the Jerrys just marched into the nearest set of woods and just rained steel so bad I gave up the scenario. I will replay a second time and note that stupid hill.

Played solo.

Interesting small sized scenario which was decided only an hour before game's end.

Only an hour or so into the scenario the Germans field promoted a private to Sarge (event 9) and more events were to come..

Soon the fight developed as an ordinary city slugfest with tremendous losses on both sides, losses which the Americans couldn't afford. The Germans were assisisted by their frequently available artillery, something the Allies lacked on crucial turns. On top of that, at 11.30 their communications to the artillery were cut and no arty was possible for 3 turns.

At 11.00 New Orders were issued to the Americans losening the victory conditions to occupying all but one city hexes, but shortly after that the amount of losses were to high to gain a victory. The fight ended with both sides losing 12 steps, which is huge compared to their starting OOB. It resulted in a Major victory for the Germans. They occupied 3 hexes at game´s end as well.

Noteworthies: - The Germans used their artillery about 70% of the time, the Americans about 20%.. - At 12.00 a thunderstorm developed which lasted until game's end - Both sides lost 2 leaders.

Gedurende het hele spel bleven de Amerikanen in het dorp (sommige units bewogen een beetje over en weer), over t algemeen bleven ze hun positie houden en wachtten de aanval van de Duitse units af. De enige units die wat bewogen waren de troepen die op t kruispunt zaten.

Eens de grenadiers oprukten, was de rechterkaart nutteloos, op geen enkel moment was er nood om units naar daar terug te trekken. Volgens ons was t mogelijk om heel dit scenario op 1 kaart ipv 2 te spelen.

Hoe evolueerde dit scenario voor ons? In beurt 1 had ik t ongeluk om een unit hmg's kwijt te raken aan Amerikaans opportunity fire (x2). een paar andere units moesten een motivation check doen, maar lukten daar vlot in. Alle Duitse troepen bewogen richten dorp.

Beurt twee begon met een bombardement dat een Amerikaans units HMG's beschadigde (x) en een truck vernielde. Alle troepen bleven de volgende paar turns naar t westen trekken, richting dorp. In turn 4 richtte 2 Amerikaanse offbnoard artillerie aanvallen wat schade aan (x, en 2 demoralized units), maar alle duitsers bevonden zich in het bos ten zuiden en zuidoosten van het dorp.

Wegens slechte zichtbaarheid (2 x spotting range 1) slaagden de Duitsers erin heel dicht bij het dorp te komen zonder veel risico's te lopen.

Uiteindelijk werd de missie door de Duitsers gewonnen door een (riskante) aanval te lanceren. De Amerikanen hadden de pech om zelf een 1 te rollen voor hun assault, gevolgd door een 6 van de Duitsers. Onmiddellijk daarop vielen de Duitsers aan met een 6, en de Amerikanen verdedigden met een 1. In beurt 11 was alles voorbij, de Amerikanen verloren morale, en namen nog wat slachtoffers toen ze de assaulthex moesten verlaten, wat genoeg was voor een Major Victory voor de Duitsers (destroyed 6+ American steps).

al bij al geen slecht scenario, hoewel (zoals hierboven al gezegd) de rechter kaart weinig verschil maakte, en t voor de Amerikanen vooral afwachten/reageren op wat de Duitsers deden.

The Germans wasted several hours approaching the town from the South. Once set, they assaulted the town from two different avenues. The Americans repulsed them and the Germans retreated to regroup in the neighboring woods. The Germans reformed and set up a firing squad around the South side of the town. The Americans were pretty beat up by the combined fire and retreated to the center of town to regroup leaving the outskirts lightly defended. The Germans seized this opportunity to once again assault the town. Their initial assault was ineffective and the Americans quickly regrouped and fortified their defenses, once again, driving the Germans from the town. The battle ended in a stalemate.

This scenario sees a German infantry force assualting a town held by an equal sized American force. The time limit is generous for the Germans, and the VCs make the Americans play very cautiously to prevent step losses. The Germans' real advantage is artillery in this fight, which they get in varying strength depending on a die roll at the begining of the turn. The Americans receive artillery as well, but on a lower probability.

The Germans advanced through the woods and dug in 3 hexes away from the town, on what is elevated ground. This let them sit tight and trade ineffectual fire with the Americans while waiting for some results from their OBA. When they disrupted all the American HMGs and demorilized one INF unit on the frontline, they advanced. Americans recovered their moral, and were able to luck into a timely initiative win and poured point blank HMG fire into the exposed Germans. The attack broke off and the scenario was called.

I could see this one going either way, based on the limitations to American casualties. It seems quite unlikely however, that the Germans would be able to get a Major victory unless luck was on their side. Manuever doesnt play a huge role in this scenario despite the visibility restrictions, as the Americans have enough units to completely fortify the town.

This is a 28 turn scenario. I called it after turn 18. Why would I do this? Because the Germans had achieved a minor victory with 6 step losses to the Americans and there was no way they were going to take 2 town hexes for a major victory...if, indeed, that's the major victory condition. I don't think it is, even though that's what the scenario book says. However, a minor victory is 6 US steps lost and controlling all town hexes. I suspect its supposed to be a minor is 6 US step losses and 2 town hexes, and a major is all town hexes.

The Americans were mostly in the town, but had 3 Inf platoons on the flanks. This was essentially the entire game. The Germans had very poor luck with OBA, the Americans decent luck. Visibility was always 3 hexes or more on 1d6, which I think hurt the Germans. Essentially, though, once the Germans were able to close with the US forces on the wings and assault them, the game was over. Eliminating these 3 platoons was 6 step losses and the US had zero chance of victory. Meanwhile, murderous fire from the US HMGs and OBAs when it arrived kept the Germans at a respectable distance from the town. Of course, to win, the Germans never had to approach the town!

This isn't a bad scenario, its just not a great one. The best strategy for the Americans is probably to just cram everyone into the town hexes and dare the Germans to come for them. If the Germans survive to get close, though, it will devolve into big assaults, and more likely than not the Americans will eventually lose the 6 steps. I think this is a very tough win for the Americans. The 3 rating I gave it may be a bit generous, its probably closer to a 2.5.

This was a quick solo play of the scenario, using Laska's Rock 'n' Roll rules variant from the AP website.

With visibility and artillery support varying from turn to turn, the Germans opted to go for a direct assault on Holzthum. This met with little initial success, and the Captain and Lieutenant leading the assault were both killed in the first wave, leaving the Germans decapitated and unable to move. The Americans capitalised on the opportunity to launch a sortie from the village, inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans. The survivors fell back under fire as soon as they were able, taking further casualties and becoming disrupted. Failure to recover from the disruption caused yet more casualties, and the game was called on Turn 10 (Turn 20 in the conventional rules) due to the Germans being too severely disorganised to mount a realistic 2nd assault.

As the Americans sustained only two step losses (both in the initial assault), and retained control of the village, the game ended an American Major Victory

This is an interesting scenario and the elevation on the south side of the map is key. The Germans can advance along the tree lines corridor, depriving the US the ability to move for several turns (until the Germans are spotted as they emerge from the forest. From there, it's a party with the .50 cal and the periodic morale check by Germans in exploding trees. Good Bless the 105.

It's quick and a nice scenario for newer players.

This was an interesting game. The German side had the plan to close to Holzthum from the south side, being covered by the woulds. Then they would wait for strong fog (=low spotting range) and than close in for the kill. The American commander got wind of this and decided to use the reinforcements as scouting units, moving them forward to spot the Germans, so than the large force around Holzthum could react. Of course this included the risk of an early step loss with the scouting units, endangering the whole battle, and this was exactly what happened. But at this point I learned how important even a lone surviving leader can be, they are quite hard to eliminate, IMHO. The American leader survived, rolled for great artillery support next turn, gained the initiative against all odds and had two direct hits against two German stacks. That slowed down and disrupted the German advance greatly and the Americans moved boldly forward to finish them off in an engagement in the woods south of Holzthum. This was probably too bold, because as the fighting developed into vicious assaults and counter-assaults losses mounted, and after loosing to many man the American commander decided to withdraw (6+ step losses led to a German minor victory at least, I stopped playing at that moment because of limited time (bad me)).

The Germans must take part of the town to win, while the US must maintain control of the entire town to win (apparently very difficult for the US). The Germans decided to use the cover of woods and changing visibility conditions to approach the east side of the town undetected. The US plan was to stay in the town and force the Germans to assault.

The German plan went fairly well. They were able to control three town hexes (despite stiff US resistance) and were assaulting two others by the end of the scenario. They eliminated nine US steps while losing six of their own. The German met the conditions for a Minor Victory (I believe the scenario victory conditions requiring the German to eliminate six steps or control the entire town should be and).

Artillery was not a factor, most likely because (1) I was worried about friendly fire, (2) it was available only about half the time for the Germans, and a third of the time for the US, and (3) spotting distances were often very low.

This one is just about right as to length. The Americans hold out in the town, at last.