Author	goosebrown
Method	Solo
Victor	United States
Play Date	2022-09-30
Language	English
Scenario	IN44006

The Germans have an embarrassingly small force here although they have an 88 which somewhat makes up for it all. The commander, a brilliant tactician, realized that his honor hung on holding St. Pierre du Mont more than anything else. In the difficult bocage, the Americans would have to get close to assault the town even though they had light artillery and on demand airstrikes.

The grenadiers set up in the town holding the eastern most hex with two grenadier platoons and the 88 hidden among the houses and walled gardens against the light wood on the other side of the hedgerow. To support them was a platoon to the south guarding the road. On the north side of town, the Flak battery set up hidden and the remaining infantry and the mortar platoon set up dug in just north of the edge of St. Pierre du Mont.

While the commander would like to have added troops to the flank, there just were not any to place so the defence of St. Pierre du Mont would be in the town itself.

The Americans believed that they could take the town for the major portions of the victory conditions then worrying about exiting forces once the town was under control.

The units from the 29th division aligned along the road leading to town intending to move avoiding the bocage for a quick advance to combat. The Americans sent one platoon of M4s and an infantry company to wend through the bocage on the American left flank to take the crossroads to the south of St. Pierre.

With the M4s moving to the head of the column, the Marylanders proceeded along the road unmolested. As the column moved forward, one platoon of tanks turned left into the bocage with a company of infantry to enter the eastern hex of the town with support from the flanking company on the left flank.

At the same time all hell broke loose on the Americans and the M4s hit the edge of St. Pierre du Mont and right into the hidden 88 lodged in a lovely walled garden on the outskirts of town. At the same moment the German grenadiers on their far left pinned the Americans on the road at a mere 200 yards.

The Shermans were well suited to some things, but not head on confrontations with well trained Luftwaffe gunners with stacks of ammunition and a good initiative roll. The first Shermans arrived from the woods at the end of their turn and stopped adjacent to the gun position in preparation to assault the infantry company in the town. The second platoon of M4s crashed out of the bocage onto the road to the south of the town and moved to assault the same hex from a different direction.

The Luftwaffe gunners kept their cool and used their first shots to dispatch the entire platoon coming out of the woods in the last action segment of the turn. The next turn, cool as cucumbers, they rolled an initiative roll giving them one action segment before the American's could respond. They turned their guns on the Americans as the Americans took aim at them and in the split second afforded them the Luftwaffe gunners fired efficiently into the Shermans at point blank range peeling them open like sardine cans, secondary explosions and smoke effectively masking the entire German right.

With the Americans engaged to the east of the town in the woods and to the north, but with two platoons of armor burning on the edge of the city, the Americans, engaged in the north, left their assault, enduring exiting fire from the disorganized American infantry there and then moved off to the north to meet the road to exit 10 steps off the board where the road led North.

Overall fun. I had to think about where to place the 88 and of course playing solo I could have avoided it, but I think the placement was spot on to hold the town. The only reason it survived though was because of an initiative roll that allowed the Germans to fight two platoons of M4s in consecutive action segments across two turns. The Germans, at a deficit of one initiative point, really rolled right.

Now my regular esteemed opponent does not favor the efficiency rules for ATGs but we use them from time to time. I did in this game and I think that also turned the tide.

The Americans had lots of air power, but that didn't have that much effect on the outcome with two AA guns in play, they just never got the rolls they needed to zap the units in the town.

Enjoyable game but so few Germans that they can't do much but form a concentration and hold it. No forces to guard flanks or to create a defense in depth.

At start of the third and final scenario of the Omaha battle game, the German player can not win... But it could be a draw if my US troops do not reach objective one : controlling St Pierre du Mont on the far western end of the boards. Within the battle game perspective, we don't care anymore about the scenario victory conditions: only St Pierre du Mont matters. The German player has hidden units and, among them, the dreadful 10-1-2 German leader and a 88mm AA section. My US troops will advance along the central road and along the northern side aswell: I need to conquer the central hill on board 106 to have a clear LOS all around and threaten the Germans troops with artillery (2X10). 26 turns seem confortable but there's a long way to go.... The first resistance is encountered in hexes 106 0612 and 106 0913. The German mortar is hidden in 106 0617. However, the US infantry efficently seconded by the Sherman platoons erase all the dug in opposing units. While the survivors run desperately (these hedges make it so slow) back to St Pierre du Mont, the US troops take time to gather again before assaulting again. Meanwhile, US aircrafts inflict more damage to the Germans. In the final assault on St Pierre du Mont, one sherman step was destroyed by the 88mm but, again, the assaults were mostly "killing German" parties... In the end, the US lost only 3 unit steps and all German forces were destroyed. Total victory for the US : scenario + battle game .

This is an AAR from a game played quite a few years ago. Overall, this was a very good and evenly matched scenario when one has the ability to spend enough time to complete all the turns. We had to call the game before this due to time availability. However, we agreed that the game could have gone either way, although the US was starting to make inroads and significant progress by the time we had to call the game. Was a very fun afternoon of gaming on this particular scenario!

AAR NOTE I am just now pulling these games off the shelf and recording our shared play results with my gaming buddy here in town where I live. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact date of play on some of these games. However, I do know if we played them "pre-pandemic" vs. coming "right out of the pandemic lockdowns". If you see a play date of 2019-06-01, this is for a pre-pandemic game and AAR. 2022-06-01 is for our post-pandemic gaming reboots at our local game and magic card store.

The German forces set up in and around the hills where the maps meet, so the first few turns were uneventful as the US forces moved forward cautiously. As platoons of Sherman tanks carrying troops advanced down the road close to the map seam, things went sideways quickly for them as some 88's located on top of a hill blasted the lead platoon reducing it to half-strength. Suddenly the tanks and troops were mired in the bocage, leaving the 88's to be dealt with via artillery strikes and air strikes... with no effect. As the tanks worked their way through the bocage, the tanks were picked off at distance until only one half-strength platoon remained. As the infantry fought forward, the Germans fell back to St. Pierre du Mont. The 88 position was finally taken out by an artillery strike, and the 20mm FLAK platoon was caught by the remaining Shermans and destroyed. From there, the US troops tried to assault and take St. Pierre du Mont but were continually disrupted and demoralized as they moved into position for assault by German direct fire attacks. Finally two infantry platoons led by Sgt. Nicholson worked their way around the town and exited the map along with the Sherman platoon to obtain one victory condition by exiting 5 steps off the map. St. Pierre due Mont remained firmly in German hands. The Omaha battle game victory went to the Germans also.

I don’t see what Germans can do there. Americans have firepower, pretty easy task and more than enough time. To take town they need some luck, but it’s very easy to exit north road with some of the unit's and secure minor victory, and then try to take town with rest. Step losses does not matter there, so why not. Inside battle game scenario have much more sense, but I believe Germans should play for draw there, because overall battle game victory is almost impossible for them. Because of balance issues, scenario probably better solo, but it’s actually very fun to play.

During set up I should have conceded the own on map 106. The 88 Flak I would put in hex 0207 dug in w/a leader. One of the objective is for the US to exit 10 steps along the road. 2 hexes either side or the road. Therefore setting u p int te woods and town on map 107 is where the Germans should defend.

The US has 3 planes, one for 3 turns of the US choice. 2 X 10 OBA. This means I should not have worried about mortars and small arms firing due to spotter planes for this scenario. Yes the plane get +2 on the DF chart for being adjacent. Woods and dug in give a -3 shift. Net -1. The Germans have 2 AA units that give a minus one shift on the DF table also even if not revealed for spotting purposes.

Unfortunately I tried set up on board 106 and too many units around the town. More in the woods. 2 hexes set up hidden. This scenario has 26 turns so the US can take its time. My opponent, Bruce, has not mastered patience, yet. Later on he used his artillery when available to hit positions.