Draws do not necessarily lack excitement. This is the fifth of the five in the St. Vith mini-series (now completed). As this is perhaps one of the better documented scenarios, I'll only comment where my play was unique.

Visually, playing on the winter maps and having the Black SS pieces alongside the grey of the Heer made for an effective contrast with the olive green of the US. I thought of this particularly during this scenario as the images from Doug McNair's play are so iconic.

Also of note, I used the "consolidation" optional rule along with Fog-of-War (FOW). Also used the "winter fields" rule from Winter Soldiers.

Set-up: one previous AAR here stated "In my solo play the Americans setup forward with units on the ridge of board 25 and the woods or board 23. No units were on 22 or 24 so a breakthrough will bdevastatingng for the Americans, but they will maximize their firepower on the advancing Germans." Perhaps this was a solecism of sorts, but the scenario set-up instructions are that the US armored units must set-up in town hexes on board 24 and that six units of the remaining force must set up on each of the four boards with no more than two units per hex. In any case, I had a strong six-unit blocking force at the crossroads on board 25 and a company holding the board 25/23 edge. Unlike Doug McNair's set-up, I placed my mortar stack on the reverse slope of the SW hills of board 25 eschewing the possibility of self-sighting, but hopefully avoiding counter-battery fire.

Particular dramas:

A M18 got in a some good blows, killing both a StuGIII step early and later a Tiger II using a crossfire bonus set up from a M4 (which survived as the visibility was dropping and thus the SS lost sight of it) and a dart adjacent and fire move for a net +1. Alas, the brave crews of the M18's did not survive long to celebrate their Pyrrhic victory of sorts. DSC's posthumously awarded.

A Congressional Medal of Honor Citation for LT 10-1-1 whose lone surviving platoon in the inter board region of 25/23 essentially laid waste to an entire battalion of Volksgrenadiers. Read this as three separate company assaults on the dug-in LT+INF. First Fire rolls of 5's and 6's on the nine and/or thirteen assault column along with some pip-heavy morale checks left carnage that, ultimately, saved a draw for the US (as the Germans only arrived at the towns of board 24 by the last turn. With 7/6 morale, the 18th Volksgrenadier division took almost two hours to get itself back into shape. Interestingly, it was DF from the 506th SS Heavy Tank Battalion that finally killed the posthumous CMH recipient.

The US M36 sold itself dearly, killing a step of PzVIb on turn 27 before falling to counter fire. 90mm vs. 88mm was sort of like King Kong vs. Godzilla.

The key random elements were: (1) 506th SS Heavy Tank Battalion arrives on Turn Six; (2) Snow arrives on Turn Seven (reducing visibility by half each subsequent turn): and thus "Slush" conditions - which slow mechanized movement - begins on Turn Eleven.

Turn by Turn Summary:

Turn Initiative Result German-VP US-VP Notes

1 US+1 1 24

2 G+4 2 29 StuGIII step loss

3 G+3 3 31

4 G+2 4 33

5 G+4 5 37

6 G+1 7 41 506th SS Hvy Tank Battalion arrives

7 G+1 11 42 Snow arrives and slush to follow. US cheers.

8 G+1 14 43 FOW

9 G+1 15 44 FOW

10 US+1 15 47 Tiger's bushwacked

11 G+2 21 48 Slush; init bad news for M18 crews; vis 1 hex.

12 G+1 21 48 Night rules in play.

13 US+1 24 48

14 G+1 27 49 Board 23 now clear of US units

15 G+3 28 49

16 G+2 29 49 FOW

17 US+1 31 50

18 US+1 32 53 Second StuGIII step lost

19 US+1 34 53

20 US+1 34 53

21 G+2 39 53 M4 platoon lost

22 G+1 43 51 US loses town hex 0914 on board 22; FOW

23 G+2 45 51

24 G+1 45 51 FOW

25 G+1 45 54 US OF devastating

26 US+1 47 56

27 US+2 52 58 M36/PzVIb battle

28 G+3 52 56 Germans assault 0809 contesting VP hex

29 G+2 53 57 Assault ongoing with modest rolls

30 US+1 54 55 G's assault hamlet on the hill on board 24 literally just as 2xPzVIb arrive adjacent.

The US did just what it needed to do to slow down the Germans, particularly the slow-moving king tigers, given the weather conditions in this particular reality.

Very much enjoyed. Probably would rate a five save for my general ambivalence regarding scenarios with die-roll contingent factors.