While I have my Winter Elsenborn maps out, I figured it was time for a couple of Winter Soldiers scenarios. First is a small, short one from December 23, 1944: If at First You Don't Succeed. In this one, elements of Task Force McGeorge are looking to clear the one-hex town of Les Tscheous, and the road nearby, of a small contingent from Kampfgruppe Peiper.

The Germans set up 1 INF and one GREN in town, with two GREN dug in adjacent to both town and road, and the two 81mm platoons behind the heavy woods. There was nothing for it but for the US to charge ahead over open terrain, hampered by the deep snow. The Germans lucked out by having their armor support (a platoon of PZ-IVH) show up on Turn 1, though the Americans had a bit of luck of their own when their Sherman platoon immediately took out a step of the panzers. Meanwhile, the GI's were able to close on the defenders with no damage and only a modest amount of morale setbacks - very shortly the three M3 halftrack platoons and some infantry Assaulted the dug-in units, and after surviving some point-blank fire unscathed, other US troops jumped into town after US artillery had Demoralized all 3 units (HMG, GREN and leader.) Meanwhile, a third US combat group infiltrated past the main defenses and locked the rear-area mortars in Assault.

Of the three assaults, only the one on the dug-in units outside of town went well, and it took much of the game to succeed. In the first round one of the M3 platoons was eliminated; the other two soon fell prey to the PZ-IV, which first had destroyed the Sherman platoon. Eventually, though, one GREN was wiped out and the other demoralized and sent packing. But the town assault saw the attackers eventually whittled down, especially when the PZ-IV moved in to aid the defenders (who themselves had rallied after suffering just one step loss, on the HMG unit.) The third assault, though it sent one of the mortar platoons fleeing, never succeeded in eliminating any of the weak defenders.

Losses were - German: 1 PZ-IV, 1 HMG, 2 GREN, 0 leaders. US: 2 M4, 3 M3, 5 INF, 0 leaders. But losses don't matter for VP in this one; the only requirement is to clear the Germans from town and road, and in this Task Force McGeorge failed.