Shad's Note: I'm dumping in a bunch of my old BGG AARs. If you've followed my "work" on BGG then you've read these before...

Conflict

The battle of the day was to be Scenario 29: Kampfgruppe Beinsen, wherein a pathetically small force of Americans consisting of 2 INF, 1 INF(R), 1 HMG, and optionally a 57mm AT platoon hide in the woods around a crossroads and try to slow down what begins as 3 GREN, 1 HMG, & a Hetzer platoon but swells into 11 GREN, 3 HMG, an 81mm, and the Hetzer all sniffing about in the woods for G.I.'s to kill.

The Americans have to inflict 5 steplosses to win, and the Germans need to finish the 18 turns without Americans within 2 hexes of any of the roads.

As the Americans I chose to setup in 3 small groups, 1 near the entry point of the Germans and the other two as far away from them as possible. With pitiful firepower and vastly outnumbered, my goal from the outset was just to hold on until the end and force a draw.

My faithful partner, Liverpool Dave, would again be leading the Germans...

Play proceeded as expected, with the initial German formation fanning out and uncovering my men group by group. The Hetzer, whose steplosses count TRIPLE against the Germans, walked right into my 57mm guns but the one shot they were able to take missed and it quickly retreated to safety. Unable to move, they were soon overrun by infantry and lost.

Despite the odds, the Americans did manage to bravely hold out against assault after assault until the last turn, when - surrounded and badly wounded - the remaining men and officers were all cut down in a hail of Nazi lead.

Epilogue

Neither side rolled particularly well, and had the Americans been hot on the dice they certainly could have forced the draw. I think it would take a tremendous combination of strong leadership, careless German advances, and great rolls for the Americans to escape with the full victory though.

The following diplomatic exchange, completely authentic and unedited, was conducted via text message later in the day, once the smoke had cleared from the battlefield:

Shad: Panzer grenadier is totally better than class, but I want a scenario with more fucking US forces next time. I'm tired of this "run away from the godly Germans" shit! ha

Dave: I think you should have put the gun near the road.

Shad: I think you should shut your goddamn Nazi mouth.

Dave: Well you big dumb yanks have no idea how to use your big gun.

Shad: LALALALALALALA cant hear you LALALALALALA

Keep on gamin..! ;-)

In this scenario, the Germans need to get the US off the roads. The US must eliminate five German steps to win. At the start, the US forces were hidden in the woods, waiting for the Germans to approach. The Germans aggressively moved into position as the US took some ineffective potshots. The US then retreated slightly to form a defensive line east of the crossroads.

The shooting really started at 1315, but neither side was making progress. At 1400, German reinforcements were on the way. Perhaps they could dislodge the pesky Americans.

At 1430, the Germans had eliminated a US HMG platoon, and the reinforcements had arrived on the scene. They had about an hour to clear the crossroads. The US leaders saw the woods filling with Germans and slowly withdrew to the west along the road. It did not look like the US would be able to achieve victory, but they could attempt a draw.

The Germans had taken the crossroads by 1515, and the US Captain continued to withdraw to the west. It did not look like the Germans would be able to move those US units away from the road during the chase. The German deadline to clear the area was 1545. They were finally able to get units around the US forces and initiate assaults, but it was too late. In the end, the Germans controlled the crossroads, and were assaulting the surviving US INF platoons, both of which were within two hexes of the road. The Germans were effectively victorious, but they fell short of meeting the scenario’s victory conditions. The encounter ended in a draw.