Author	goosebrown (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	treadasaurusrex (AAR)
Play Date	2022-05-14
Language	English
Scenario	AAAD007

As German commander faced with a wily and expert armor commander, I took quite some time setting up. The board is small on this scenario and the germans can begin dug in anywhere over three hexes from the Western and Southern edges. My force contained a couple PzKw IVs, a PzKw IIIj special with the long 50mm gun. I also had one PAK 40 and two platoons of infantry to be the wood ticks dug into the hills that the Americans needed to pry out.

The American's victory conditions are to take all the hill hexes north and south of the transaxial road across the board. Also to preserve as much force as they can during this attack.

In reality the attack was launched on the prepared German positions before General Robinette arrived on the scene so this was, as my opponent noted, much like the charge at Balaclava a century before but with much more flamable mounts in the M3 Stuarts of Blade Force than the horses of the Hussars and Lancers of the earlier age.

It was a disaster as American wrecks littered the valley before the German positions and after losing too many lives, the American's withdrew.

I set up on the hill with the PzKw IVs on my right covering the south and east edges of the board. The PAK 40 covered the center of the field, able to respond to advances on either the center or the right. The PzKw IIIj covered my left flank in case of a rush by the batallion level force of the Blade Force with the Stuarts and various tracks mounting a dizzyiing variety of random guns and mortars.

The Americans entered the battlefield from south and east with both armor prongs aimed at the southern hill mass as a start. Knowing he was at a dire disadvantage with his M3 Lee and M3 Stuarts, The American player chose to cover the ground as quickly as he could to limit the damage the Germans would be able to inflict.

It turned out not to be fast enough. The Lee's moved to the base of the hill in the first two turns and started to recieve, calm, well aimed fire from the PzKw IVs that started to inflict step losses and more severly in this case moral losses that proved very difficult to come back from.

Along the east, the Stuarts charged across the valley directly toward the southern hill. In turn two and three as the Stuarts set up an overwatch position to force German armor to take cross fire shots on the PzKw IVs, my PAK 40 was able to relocate to a better covering position on the northern hill mass to cover the southern hill's left flank and to pour enfilade fire into the Blade Force's right, their overwatch. At the same time the PzKw IIIj moved from behind the northern hill and attacked the American right and rear inflicting significant damage and step losses to the overwatch position.

By turn 5, the step losses were piling up on the American right and that position was failing. The Americans to keep the pressure up and do something other than provide targets charged to assault the DAK infantry and started a bitter fight on the edge of the southern hill while the German armor poured fire into the Assault and the Lees on the southern flank of the hill.

Having taken a step loss one of the PzKw IV withdrew back to the north but remained on the crest of the hill inviting the Lees to crest the hill to close for an attack at point blank range where the low velocity 75mm might have some chance of penetrating.

At turn 7, the wheels fell off the bus for the Americans as the last of the Stuarts engaged, blew up and the Lees had lost several steps which combined with the ongoing morale problems on his left made the attack clearly futile.

My opponent did everything he could but the fact is that German armor of 1942/3 just outclasses anything the Americans could bring to bear until the Shermans arrived from Morocco.

I gave this game a 2. I liked winning and it was fun to light a bunch of stuff on fire, but really it was not much challange. I think that the oversight in the rules of not giving the Americans any leaders forced them to utilize their mortar track in a dangerous manner, having to get into visible range to fire. I am confident that they would have had a spotter with them in some capacity. I would suggest that players allow a single armor leader for the American non-tank force to allow them to rally and spot for artillery.

Enjoyable overall and demonstrative of the superiority of German armor at this time of the war.