An Army At Dawn: scenario #25: None Returned

This one looked very good on paper so I had a go at it and was in the mood for a desert battle. The Germans have a small blocking force with some Infantry and a lot of AT guns of various sizes while the American have a very large mobile force of all kinds of armor with 22 steps of Sherman tanks as well, plus Infantry on M3 halftracks that enter on the west edge of the map on turn one. The Germans have sizable reinforcements including armor that can arrive on turns 3 and 8 with the right dice rolls.

The Americans have a large enough force, that I divide them into three groups; the north flank, the center and the south flank, so they have room to maneuver. Maybe they can exit units off the eastern edge of map 79 for victory points, and control the center trail on maps 77 & 78, eliminate enemy steps and control the town hexes on map 79 for more victory points. The Problem, the Germans roll well for their reinforcements and neither group was delayed, with one coming on from the north and the other from the south, while the center German group that started on the map delayed the Americans. The Americans now became a sandwich on three sides. The Germans also rolled well on activating first many times and the German Luftwaffe made two airstrikes with three counters or air-group at the prefect times.

Not much to say after this, the Germans finished with something like 71 points to the Americans 39 points for a major German Victory. I even quit one turn early, as the Germans would only get more points and could have move onto the trail on map 78 to subtract another 8 points for the Americans, but there was no point in this at this point.

With all this said, this is a fun scenario to play, as the American didn’t have very much luck with both German reinforcement groups coming in without delays and the Germans rolling so well on the activation dice, that I wanted to break the dice. I really believe the Americans need to use the upgraded, 4 valued armor factor, Sherman tank counters to have a better chance in this scenario. Someday I might try it out. But like the scenario title is called: None Returned, at least I had some retreat home but not many.