Urban assault at night (visibility 1 hex).

LDRs:

US: Maj: 10-1-1; Cpt: 8-0-0; LTs: 9-1-1; 8-0-0; 8-0-0

Ger: Maj: 10-1-1; Cpt: 9-1-0; LTs: 10-1-2; 8-0-0; 9-0-0; 9-0-2

US Set-up (all in town hexes):

0608: 8-0-0 LT; INF; 81 mm

0710: 8-0-0 LT; INF(x2)

0709: Maj; INF; M4

0809: 9-1-1 LT; HMG

0810: Cpt; HMG; 57 mm + truck

Rationale: Trying to avoid meta-gaming, I felt the US set-up should be predicated on covering the road entries into the town with the main threat axis to the east. It was possible to put a combat unit in each town hex, but again, I felt this approach was meta-gaming. So the 57 mm ATK was placed to cover both north and east roads; the M4 platoon and the Maj commanding in the crossroads; the two INF hex covers the south road.

German approach: two companies (reinforced with HMGs) from the SW; one company from SE. Of course, had the US set-up more heavily favored the southern town hexes, one could have attacked from NW and NE (as there were no restrictions on German axis of attack or set-up save for being three hexes away).

General: At least in this trial, the turn duration was perfect for establishing drama: had it been shorter, the Germans would have had little/no opportunity for victory (outside of widely biased rolling); much longer, and the Germans would have worn down U.S. opposition.

Lots of minus col shifts for DF: e.g. +2 for Adj but -1 for night; -1 for hill. The most dramatic was town hexes along the slope line: -2 for town; -1 for hill (the town is in a hill hex); -1 for night. So, for example, a raw 16 column adjacent attack ended up on the 7 col.

Essentially, the German plan was to use 1 company of Gren (and the 75 mm INF gun) to attack from the SE to tie up the US HMGs (or whatever the US player would have placed there). This side of the battle was widely chaotic. The first attack by the HMG group (OF) lead to a GREN step loss and a disruption. Then followed a string of 7's. The HMG in 0810 left the town hex so it could be used by the LT with the combat bonus. For a few turns this area was back-and-forth with disruptions and recoveries. On turn five, the US decides to assault (net result was US on the 18 col, GER on the 13: GER rolls a 6, US a 2 with the resulting morale checks for the US a horror): I thought to try this so the US might "clean up" on the SE side and then shift the HMGs to reinforce the western battles. Given this nightmare result, a little Deus-ex-machina replayed the time-line and the US foreswore the assault and continued to attempt DF to wear down the GER units here. Eventually, two GREN steps and the 75 mm INF gun were lost here.

On the western side, the Germans had three attack groups. Essentially GER Maj + HMG + GREN(x2) insert into empty town hex 0609 with a disruption (much like the scenario description). On turn two, two assaults were initiated: 10-1-2 LT + GREN + HMG assaults 0608; another LT with GREN(x2) + HMG assaults 0710.

The US mainly defended and recovered morale; the GER assaulted and recovered morale every three or so turns as necessary. The assault in hex 0608 was very frustrating for the Germans. Rolls were: 3;3;3;2;3;1;4;6 turn 10; turn 11 was morale recovery;6 on turn twelve. Only near game end did this group (reinforced quickly with another GREN) make any headway at all (i.e. inflict a step loss or even serious morale damage). The final turn was truly dramatic in this hex. Both the US ldr and the last half step of INF were demoralized, but the INF rolled a '2' on its recovery back to good order, so this hex remained contested (controlled by neither side).

Hex 0710 was the other hotly contested assault. The US got the better of the assault rolls here during the initial/middle phase. On turn ten, Germany rolls a '1' on the 13 col; the US a '6' on the 3 col! On turns eleven and twelve, however, Germany got hot with a '5' and a '6' respectively. Upon US morale failures, this hex was lost on the last game turn.

Essentially, the German Maj and units in 0609 traded DF vs. the US Maj/INF/M4 in 0709. I never committed the M4 to assault combat despite the col shift, because tank steps cost double (hence, a single step loss of the M4 was equivalent to losing a town hex). Thus, I kept hoping for a good DF result (and got a couple of '3' results which forced the Heer major's hex to take up time recovering morale (and a few step losses) rather than reinforcing or assaulting on their own.

VP breakdown by turn (1 per step loss; tanks double; 2 per town hex for US; 3 per town hex Germany):

Turn US Germany

start 12 0

1 11 3 (Germany takes the empty town hex)

2 8 3 (US loses control of two town hexes by assault but gains a step loss)

3 8 3

4 9 5

5 9 5

6 9 5

7 10 5 (German assaults going nowhere with pathetic rolls)

8 11 6

9 11 6

10 11 7

11 11 8

12 11 13 (Germans inflict two step losses and control another town hex upon a victorious assault)

Result: Draw

Rate this one a four for drama and well-planned turn limitation. Not a battle of movement to be sure, and the US player mostly defended in assaults. Still, there were some strategy variants to consider. Even the "dull moments" of inconsequential assault rolls led to tension as the twelve turn limit did not allow for much room to breath. I know my ratings probably average on the high side, but I am being fairly selective in the scenarios I play, at least for the moment, so this is certainly not a random sampling of scenarios.