Panzer Grenadier Battles on November 21st:
Desert Rats #16 - The Panzers Pull Back Desert Rats #19 - The Panzers Return
Desert Rats #17 - The Tomb Of Sidi Rezegh Jungle Fighting #7 - Line Of Departure
Desert Rats #18 - A Pibroch's Skirl South Africa's War #5 - Irish Eyes
American quantity over German quality
Author rerathbun
Method Solo
Victor United States, Britain
Play Date 2010-12-26
Language English
Scenario WeWa006

This scenario is probably best played solo because, aside from the tank reinforcements, there's not much for the Germans to do except hunker down and try to hold on.

I set up the Germans in small groups in the woods along the road, hoping to slow the Americans down by forcing them to attack each group separately. The Germans got a fair draw of leaders, and a poor draw of strongpoints -- none of the strongpoints had an anti-tank value. Each German strongpoint was supported by one or two platoons of infantry and a leader.

The Americans entered along the road, strung out in column. They reached the first strongpoint on turn 3 and split their forces, attacking it with half and bypassing it with the other half, which moved on to the next strongpoint.

The Americans overwhelmed the first two strongpoints with massive amounts of firepower and managed to cut off the retreat of the supporting infantry, keeping them from falling back to support the remaining strongpoint. In the meantime, the German reinforcement of Tiger tanks arrived and dug in on the northern map between the fields and the woods, supported by the German anti-tank guns.

The Americans quickly cut off and defeated the third strongpoint just as they had the first two. After a brief pause to reorganize, the entire force closed with the Tigers, using the town, field and woods as cover and eliminating the German anti-tank guns on the way. Once they were all in place, the entire force charged the dug-in Tigers. Several platoons of infantry dropped out due to step losses and demoralizations, and the Americans lost 3 tank steps, but the numbers were just too overwhelming for the Tigers to drive them all back. The Americans tied up the Tigers with infantry assaults while their tanks fired at them from adjacent hexes with crossfire bonuses. They lost some more infantry in the assaults, but wiped out the Tigers in four turns. American victory with time to spare.

The Germans were hurt by the bad strongpoint draws. The lack of German anti-tank strongpoints meant that the Americans could approach right up to them with tanks and halftracks and overwhelm them with firepower. The Germans were also hurt by the lack of open space on the maps. The Americans were able to approach the Tigers and anti-tank guns under cover, and only had to face the Tigers' firepower for one turn before tying them up in assaults.

It seemed to me that the Americans have too much time, too much cover, and way too much firepower to make this scenario competitive for the Germans. If I were to try it again, I'd try to set up the strongpoints closer together so they could provide some support for each other, but I doubt it would change the outcome.

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