Author	Isra3lite (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States
Participants	treadasaurusrex (AAR)
Play Date	2025-05-20
Language	English
Scenario	ElsR002

Our five session (game turns 1-7). Started with a rapidly developed 3-prong attack from the east presenting a balanced North, South, and center Volksgrenadier Battalion attack with light armor reinforcements entering on turn 3. Within the initial movement to contact during early morning, low visibility, and promising yet uneventful start. Soon after contact was made however, an entrenched US platoon and Lieutenant created chaos in the ranks, when the open terrain through the narrow pass. With leadership protected under the cover of woods, this chaos persisted stalling the center spearhead of the mobile attack. Both smoke and HE artillery fire from off-map batteries were largely ineffective at routing these three entrenched platoons. The Northern pincer proved to be much more effective in making progress crossing the forested high ground to clearing to the same north of the westernmost town. In the southern pincer of the mobile attack, progress was slowed by the garrisoned US company holding the town with AT guns and HMG sections, led by more high value leaders. Although progress was made to get to the wooded area immediately to the south of the southernmost town, the push through open terrain was further stalled by effective direct fire, artillery, and AT fire from the US units.

The fifth game session (game turn 7) featured an early concession by the Wehrmacht player, Isra3lite, immediately after a sudden 2-step elimination of a Hetzer platoon, reducing the long range capability of the battalion-sized Volksgrenadier at the southernmost fork of the pincer attack. Division command only supplied the weak and slow moving Hetzer which are vulnerable to the 76mm AT guns holed up and dug-in in the southernmost and westernmost towns. In fact, the decision to abort the two prong attack came when it was discovered that the small infantry holding force and high value US Lieutenant on the easternmost map, that could stall and significantly cause step loss would certainly happen again once the two other towns on Map 23 were attacked at close range.

This scenario suffered from several design problems for a two-map rolling assault vs. static entrenched defense. Since the Victory Conditions only required defense of the considerable lengths of road (E-W, N-S) and a small 16 step tolerance of Wehrmacht casualties, it encouraged the US player to sit protected by towns and entrenchments at critical VP locations. Had the victory conditions incentivized both US and German units to protect and penetrate the Western map edge, respectively, this would have been a more tactically interesting scenario that encouraged an rolling (attritted) dispersed defense. With the weak lead armor elements supplying the Wehrmacht, rapidly falling off artillery capability during the turns of least visibility for spotting, it was not possible to concentrate sufficient barrage strength to sufficiently soften any of the garrisoned US units.