As this play was part of the July en masse play, I tinkered a bit (especially given the preponderance of German victories). For the US, I pulled leader counters randomly, but selected the better side in an attempt to simulate the historically strong American leadership fitting with the 8-8 general morale. For the Germans, leaders were flipped randomly with the ER mix (albeit used Black SS counters) - the Hitlerjugend of Dec '44 was not the same unit as in June '44.

Another variation I employed compared to earlier AAR's perhaps was in setting three INF platoons along with a LT dug-in along the major threat axes in conformity with the set-up instructions. The purpose being to allow for OBA siting to minimize the need for use of one of the artillery factors as illumination rounds. Whether this turned out to be advantageous is debatable, but certainly German forces did have to reduce and/or go around these elements and I was able to use all three US artillery factors on several of the early rounds. On the other hand, this required some dispersal of US strength so an objective evaluation remains elusive.

Secondly, I placed a few units dug-in outside the town to explore the effectiveness vs. assault of the "first fire" rule compared with the town bonus (or to use OF should the SS attempt to skirt by). A previous play of St. Vith: The Fall had a dug-in American platoon wreck havoc on Volksgrenadiers, but those were 7-6, not 8-6 SS troopers. I reasoned that those dug-in US units could fall-back into town taking advantage of morale bonus leaders (and the town bonus for recovery) there.

As with all assault-heavy scenarios, there were shocking losses to strong points of both sides (nothing like rolling a '1' on the 30+ col or having an entire stack fail morale checks inflicted by a 5 or 6 on the '3' col). One first-fire combat failed miserably as the US rolled poorly and the Waffen SS morale held; another hex was lead by a captain earning a Distinguished Service Cross who brutalized two entire companies of the 25th (or 26th? not sure which regiment was involved in this action) SS panzer regiment.

Although the details differ, basically this play went similarly to "upintheattic's" with the US holding one town hex and contesting another at scenario end.