Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	plloyd1010
Play Date	2022-02-19
Language	English
Scenario	AAAD012

This was a 4-session, online play-through with me as the Germans and my indefatigable mentor commanding the US Army's 18th Infantry Regiment. The Americans setup a fine defensive position atop Djelb el Ahmera -- Longstop, or Hill 290 on board 76 and awaited the Teutonic wave to wash across the ravine that separates that hill from the lower hill in the southwest corner of board 77 (Djebel el Rhar, Hill 243).

Fierce and desperate fighting ensued that featured some remarkably accurate US Army OBA, as well as decent German combat & morale die rolls -- the latter, being rather unusual for me. Both sides drew decent leaders, and dug-in US M-2 .50 Browning heavy machine guns were as deadly as expected. Slowly, the 3-pronged Axis attack pushed the American line into a smaller-and-smaller area on Longstop through a series of close assaults and short-range direct fire episodes. The fog of war rule shortened 3 turns of the 13 played which significantly slowed the German's left flank (northern) attack that was seeking to eliminate the US on-board artillery contingent to the west of Longstiop. In all, Americans step losses were 27, and the Germans lost 13.

The Final score was: Germans 65; and the Americans; 20, resulting in a major German victory. Our play-through was a pretty accurate depiction of what actually happened on 23 December 1942: American bravery proving no match for German numbers and fire support. This accurate, but unbalanced scenario was quite fun to play for the German side, and not much fun for the US side. I give it a rating of 2.