With Bulge season upon us, and having recently acquired the Winter maps for Elsenborn Ridge, it was time to break them in. First up was Twin Villages: Finale

The opening "alternating" setup ended with the Americans holding three hexes of the large town (opposed by Army units in the other two) and one of the smaller town (opposed by SS units,) Allied M4's were split among the town hexes while the Germans started their panzers outside, to move where needed, and also to confront the roaming M18s (which both set up under cover of light woods,) The balance of German forces set up in the cover of woods near the towns, while one American INF and a leader set up on the hill to act as a reserve and spot for artillery.

Early on, the Hellcats played "shoot and scoot," managing to take out a step of Panthers. While the rest of the Panthers did what they could to stalk the M18's (after disposing of the M4 unit in the three-hex town), eventually taking them out with no further loss, the PZ-IV's helped the SS clear the three-hex town, then moved up to the 5-hex town to aid the faltering German army units, which were shoved out amidst multiple morale failures - then suffered worse from the "wrath of God" US artillery after being ejected. One step of PZ-IV fell victim to Shermans in the northern town but, after removing the M18 threat, the Panthers erased the rest of the US M4's. This complicated the town assault, as several hexes of the five-hex town accumulated three wrecks, denying the German tanks entry.

By the end of Turn 6 the US had no vehicles left - but then the artillery took charge. SS attempts to move infantry to the northern town were fractured by the American guns, as was the Army contingent trying to recover and get back in the fight. With no infantry readily available the PZ-IV's entered a town hex alone, but were sent packing with the loss of another step in the assault combat (one half-strength PZ-IV was demoralized, fled to a light woods haven, and spent almost the entire rest of the scenario recovering.) As the Panthers blasted away at town hexes from point-blank range, accomplishing a little but not much, SS infantry occasionally made it to the town (and even briefly in the town) but was eliminated or sent packing. The town combats were not without loss for the Amis, and one platoon that fled into the open was destroyed by German artillery, but in the end - as the scenario "conclusion" notes - the Germans were doubtlessly relieved to see the Americans pull out.

At game's end, the Germans had three town hexes, the US four, with one in dispute (a reduced SS PZ-IV plus a reduced Army HMG and one leader.) So that was a 12-8 VP lead - but losses negated that. German losses were staggering - only 3 tank steps (2 PZ-IV, one Panther) but a whopping 15 Army GREN, 1 Army HMG, one SS HMG and 8 SS GREN. The Americans lost all 10 AFV steps, plus 7 INF and 3 HMG. (The Germans also lost 6 (!) leaders - 3 SS, 3 Army - to the USs 1, but no VP for any of those.) When the smoke cleared, it was a draw at 34 VP apiece.