INTRODUCTION

Tri-le-Chesling. Elements of the SS Panzer Grenadier division look to dislodge the US Airborne units from Tri-le-Chesling. The Germans are tasked with two objectives: 1) Take control of Tri-le-Chesling and 2) Kill at least 6 steps of Americans AND inflict more step losses than the Germans receive. The Americans are tasked with preventing the German victory conditions.

SETUP

Americans setup in a roadblock with units on the main approach to the village along with AT Units hidden in the hills. THey also cover the dirt roads leading to town with a sargeant and a platoon of infantry. SS Units setup on the hill south of the road with Mortar support behind. Both Americans and Germans have excellent leaders on the draw.

BATTLE

At 0630, The SS units approach en-masse and come out from cover spread over 1km on the hill. The Americans open fire with OBA and small arms fire to disrupt a few SS units, but the SS units are able to close with the units blocking the road at the bottom of the valley on the road and force the American officers and units to fall back into the light woods. A unit of 57mm AT guns fires from the southern edge of Tri-le-Chelsing at the approaching StuG Platoon. At the same time, another unit of 57mm guns fires from the hilltops on the eastern edge of the valley (hex 1105 board 10), enables cross-fire on the StuGs but is unable to damage them. A company of SS Grens on the far left of the attack formation move up the hill under fire from US Infantry units and are able to assault and destroy the 57mm emplacements, preventing further cross-fires. Meanwhile, the Main SS attack continues to advance toward Tri-le-Chelsing between 0700 and 0830, continuing to approach under OBA and supporting mortar fire as the Americans moved back towards town. By 0845, the ranking U.S. officer and a subordinate were killed along with almost a company of infantry in a vicious assaut and the German troops and armor were on the edge of town. As this assault ended, the US mortar units in the northern sector of town were able to demoralize the the vanguard of the SS attack and stall the advance.

At this point, The Germans were starting to suffer as units were becoming disrupted and demoralized from artillery and would need at least 1-2 turns to recover before continuing. At the same time, The US defense missed several opportunities to cement the victory as point-blank shots would miss. German attacks from artillery and direct fire were hitting targets but the combination of being in town with excellent leaders meant that unless the shot was a step-loss, the Americans would recover fairly quickly. With time starting to slip away making the capture of Tri-le-Chesling all but impossible, the Germans attempted to inflict more casualties in order to secure the minor victory. At this point, I looked at the KIA piles off the board and noticed that the US pile had 3 INF counters, a 57mm counter, a truck and a few leaders. that was 7 casualties plus I knew of a reduced step unit in the town. 8 casualties, not bad, I thought. Then I looked at the German KIA pile...... and saw a single 81mm unit. I knew there were some reduced step units but not really looking, I figured that I was maybe a few units ahead.

In the final few turns, I moved to maximize assault opportunities and provide HMG support but in the end, the assaults fell short and a counterattack by the Americans reduced one final step.

That one step marked the difference between a German Minor Victory and an American Major Victory.

AFTERMATH

This was my first skype game against Alan and he couldn't have picked a more interesting scenario to play. despite the numerical superiority of the SS units over the Americans, It boiled down to the effectiveness of artillery and the morale and recovery checks. The game played very tight the entire time and there was never a clear-cut, run-away victor. As Alan stated in his AAR, several rolls either way would have made the difference. The end of turn 13, had the Americans with a point-blank shot that should stalled an assault and missed. On Turn 14, the Germans had two activations and moved two different stacks to assault and ended up failing both, instead, inviting the counter-attack that caused that critical single German step loss.

I really enjoyed this short, tense scenario and do recommend this as a very interesting FTF or skype game.

Losses:

US: 8 (7 INF steps, 1 AT Gun)

GER: 8 (1 81mm, 1 ENG step, 6 GREN Steps) ,

This was a FtF Skype game played with Tony Langston over three sessions. Tony was a strong contender with the Germans throughout the fight and came one losses away from winning the game. The scenario proved to be a very good FtF game with both sides needing to fight right to the end. Both sides did have chances to put the game away before the end, but the luck of the roll keep the game going.

This scenario has the Germans attacking the town of Tri le Chesling in the middle of the Bugle campaign as a diverting attack from Manhey. American glider troops held the town against a battalion sized SS assault force. The Americans troops just their own support weapons, HMGs, 81mm MTRs, and 57mm AT guns. There is good OBA support from the division level to try to keep the Germans back. For the Germans, they have a battalion of SS GREN's supported by HMG's, ENG's and StuG assault guns. Mortars and one battery of OBA provide indirect fire support.

The Americans have setup with control of the town and the key terrain to the town. For the defense the Americans have three lines, the first on board 9 that consist of a couple of INF's and leaders, the second line is the main defense line. This line is on the south edge of the ridge on board 10. Here the Americans have dugin INF's and support of an HMG. Just to the east an INF and a hidden 57mm AT covering to American positions and the road. The final line is the town. Dugin INF's cover the advances to the town with an HMG sweeping the open hexes. The American mortars are in the town providing support fire.

For the Germans they begin on board 9 grouped south of the crossroads. They will look to advance up the road to try to push the Americans out of town, or at least eliminate more units than they lose.

The first three turns begin with the Germans slowing advancing against the American pickets on board 9. The Americans slowing move back with the OBA and mortars without effect. The Germans push up the road and surrounding woods with the GREN's, ENG's and HMG's while the mortars setup to provided support. Turn four continue with the same process but the American OBA take the first German casualty with a step loss to a GREN. American pickets moving back are close to being cutoff from the second line, but they are able to work there way through the woods on board 9. They eventually make it back to the second line, but are able to slow the Germans down.

Turn five has the Germans hitting the American second line. OP fire and mortar fire take a toll on the Germans advancing up the southern slopes of the ridge on board 10. But the bigger issue is the failure of morale checks by the Germans. Leaders and units fail the subsequent morale checks forcing the Germans to recover the units the next turn. Turn six has the Germans continuing the advance just to the east of the road. American OP continue the kills and morale checks that force the Germans to stop the advance and recover. But the Germans get their first kill on an American INF and mortally wounding the leading LT.

At this point the Germans are force to stop and recover units before continuing and they bring up the StuG's to reinforce the assault on the hill. At this point the Americans begin to retire the second line to the town and the final line. Renewing their attack after recoveries the Germans push the retreating glider troops, but American OBA scores another kill on the German ENG's. But by turn nine the Germans have closed on the defensive line in front of the town. They get a chance to assault the American's and with a big attack, are able to score a two step loss as well as a kill on the American commanding Major. But the Americans fight back with 81mm mortars scoring a kill on the assault group. Resulting morale check demoralize the leading STBNFR and StuG, slowing down the German attack. Other German units move forward, but American OP fire score morale checks that the Germans fail at key points. But now the Americans are paralyzed for the next couple of turns.

The Germans look to recover the troops and push for the town, while the Americans cannot move. But the Americans are in a good defensive position and will rely on OP fire to keep the Germans back. One American unit is stuck outside of town begins to digin. To the east the Germans have two full strength GREN's begin to advance toward the east side of the town. OP fire from the lone INF, demoralizing one advancing GREN, the second with there leader advance beyond the Americans. German fire into the town, disrupting and demoralizing the American units, but with the town bonus the Americans recover.

American AT fire throughout the battle was sub par. Several 57mm shots on the StuG's missed as well as a crossfire shot. The last big misses were point blank shots on the StuG's missing and giving the Germans a strong assault force to go after the town. But the Germans have morale issues with their leaders. Key American fire keeps the HPSTNFR's and STNBFR out of the action and the OSTNFR's need to lead the fight.

A big push by the Germans to kill American troops results in some assaults on the American positions, but result in units locked in assaults. The Americans take a chance and counter assault a StuG and supporting INF. Hoping to get the bazooka's going against the StuG's the American suicide attack begins badly as the AT teams fail to appear. The low odd's attack just yields a morale check that disrupts the leading OSTFR. The counter attack by the Germans scores a two step loss, killing the INF. The remaining LT escapes into the town, but this leaves the German assault group with a disrupted leader making it tough for subsequent attacks, but a lead in the casualty count.

On the final turn of the game, the Americans even up the casualties with a step loss in a counter assault attack. The Germans make more attempts at killing American units but windup only with morale checks leaving the game with an 8 to 8 tie in casualties. The Americans also hold the town giving them a major victory. But this could have changed to a German minor victory with just one more American step loss.

*As I stated in the beginning this is a very good FtF game, with both sides in the game to the end. A couple of observations about the flow of the game, first there was several points in the game that both sides could put the game out of reach of the other. American AT attacks on the StuG's could have has demoralizing effect. Followup German assaults on successful assaults could have killed more American troops and key morale failures and OP fire keep both sides slightly off balance and having to react to the situations.

One effect that both Tony and I noticed was in the losses. With the Germans they lost 8 steps but only one unit, a 81mm mortar was in the KIA pile, all others were unit reductions. While the American losses were whole units. So when the Americans lost units they lost big and had a large KIA pile off the board. Lastly, morale was the keep to the American victory. German leaders as well as units were disrupting and demoralizing at a higher rate. They would recover but this burn 3 to 4 turns in the game that the German forces were diminished in there attack. This left me with the experience that this game is all about the morale of the troops.*

Author	treadasaurusrex (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States
Participants	CavDo
Play Date	2022-12-26
Language	English
Scenario	WiSo019

This was a tense 3-session play-through with the rapidly-improving, CavDo, who led the aggressive German attack force. I played the beleaguered US glider troop commander, barely holding on in Tri-le-Chesling. We used the excess initiative, extended assault, smoke and consolidation optional rules in this short, 14-turn scenario, and ignored the dreaded FOW rule. At the to beginning of this battle, the US side had a significantly better leader draw. I will only summarize the action as others have already insightfully commented on this scenario in great detail.

The attacking Germans moved-to-contact in a compact mass on a relatively broad front. Dug-in US AT guns were able to take a toll on the approaching SS armor using the advantage of cross fire, until they were decisively engaged by close assaults. The US side fell back successfully in most cases during this play-through, thanks primarily to the extent of demoralizations & disruptions that befell the onrushing tide of Germans, and the slow pace of their morale recovery due to the relatively poor leaders involved. Surprisingly, in the end, there were only 5 steps of US losses versus 13 for the Germans and the garrison in Tri-le-Chesling was still in-place, ensuring a US victory in this very close contest that could have swung either way. Luckily, the PG fates were on the side of the Americans, as the Germans threw a total of 9 combat 7-die rolls - all at critical junctures - versus only 4 for the US side. The Germans also lost 4 leaders, to only a single leader lost for the defending Americans. Final step losses were 5 for the Americans, and 13 for the Germans.

This older scenario was fun to play and I recommend it for shared, online play. It got a 4 from me, thanks to its balance, and the fun that we had battling it out in the Ardennes.

This is still a work in progress, but it's looking good for the Germans (I'll finish this tomorrow). After three turns (and now night is lifting), Germany has killed four US steps with two others in an assault.

US set-up was perhaps not so great, although initially looked good. Das Reich must advance northwards across hilly, wooded terrain with a single road. US sets up 2xINF just north of the road junction on the southern board; sets an HMF+INF in two adjacent hexes (1208/1209) guarding the road on the southern 20m hill line of board 10. Mortars and two other INF in Tri le Chesling. Lastly, an INF+57mm dug-in to either flank, each 4 or 5 hexes E/W of the road.

At first, plan looked great: for two turns the first road block held tough against massive DF (note: -1 col shifts for: night; lt woods; hill; dug-in to compensate for the +2 adjacent bonus). With some concern, an assault went in using the Stugs + 2xGren ... surviving the US First Fire, the Germans "did their thing" with a combined arms assault (rolled '6').

2xGren groups also went after the US flank groups and have tied up those units.

As other SS units advance to the board edge, the two US HMG+INF groups decide that fighting it out in the town may be the better part of valor.

To be continued/ended tomorrow ... but wondering whether I might should have held the US force in a single grouping (or at most two). It seems that whilst the "road block" scheme might appear to slow down an advance, experience seems to suggest that, on average, division of force this way seldom seems to prevail (outside of the vagaries of die rolling).

So, after some unpleasantness ...

Turns 6-8 are mostly consolidation and Germans attempting recoveries from effective US artillery strikes.

The approach and assault on Tri le Chesling begins in earnest on Turn 9. The 2nd SS splits up to attempt an approach from the West (taking advantage of lt woods and hills) and also from the east to avoid the US being able to focus +1 combat modifiers on a single axis.

At turn 9: step losses => Germany = 1 US = 9 (but Germans had suffered a serious amount of morale failure which broke up the attack rather nicely).

At turn 12: step losses => Germany = 8 US = 15

At turn 14: step losses => Germany = 10 US = 17 Two hexes of Tri le Chesling were contested in assaults; one hex controlled by the US with a DIS-INF(R); rest controlled by Das Reich.

Thus, a minor German victory achieving "Eliminate at least six American steps whilst losing fewer German steps than US."

Game note: surprised by the 8/6 US morale as 82nd Airborne is usually depicted as 8/8. Perhaps as explained in the scenario notes, this is due to fatigue post march.