I played the Americans in this battle as a first via Skype with Vince Hughes. St. Vith: First Probe is one of the smallest scenarios in Elsenborn Ridge but it does allow for combined arms play and does not overwhelm. One of the other AARs labeled this a good introductory scenario and I have to agree wholeheartedly. It did help that I got commanders that could rally stones to throw themselves... but that is a story for another day.

DEPLOYMENT

I setup my forces to defend the eastern sector of St. Vith - the Captain and an INF platoon with M3s defending the eastern road into St. Vith (0710), the Lieutenant and an INF Platoon with M3s defending the town north of the road (0610), an INF platoon with M3s defending the town south of the road (0709), an M8 platoon and M16 platoon (0810) and two other M8 platoons (0809) in town to be ready to support where needed. The Germans approached from the east with a company of StuGIIIGs on the road and two companies of Grenadiers and a company of Engineers looking to move through the light woods just southeast of St. Vith.

BATTLE

The Germans moved into the vicinity of St. Vith by moving the StuG company down the road along with the Grenadier and Engineer companies making for the light woods. Early American artillery fire was enough to disrupt the StuG company and several of the grenadier platoons. This emboldened the American commander to order his mechanized units to pop-out of town and attempt to fire on the StuGs and the M16 to fire on the infantry. several shots missed completely and then the StuGs answered with devastating shots to eliminate all mechanized units but one of the M8 platoons, which was damaged, within the first 30 minutes of the day. With rumors of a company of M4s roving in the area but not expected before 0900, it looked grim as wrecks welcomed the Germans to St. Vith. Once the mechanized units were destroyed, The Germans moved hastily through the light woods, facing ineffective artillery fire, aiming towards the southern part of town in order to setup for assaults. The Americans continued the artillery barrages and added rifle fire from the platoons to try and stop the advance but were unable to do so. The Germans methodically moved into positions and finally launched an assault from the southern road (0608) at 0845 (Turn 4). While the Germans Grenadiers engaged the Americans, a platoon of StuGs was able to circle the north side of town and get into position to defend the west against any reinforcements. The battle was back and forth in the trenches but American artillery fire was uncannily accurate during the entire battle and helped to stem a larger assault from occurring. At 0915 (turn 6), the call was heard and a company of M4s came onto the scene, approaching from the Southwest over the hills. As the Shermans made their appearance, the StuG platoon moved to intercept, with the intent that they could gain the initiative (having driven the American init to zero).

Meanwhile, The American infantry was holding its own in town, with 'Captain America' (as Vince called him) directing the battle and American artillery continued to hold the Germans at bay without damaging friendly fire. At one point, The Germans had amassed several platoons and leaders to assault the American positions and it looked as though the luck was going to run out, but a minor string of bad luck rolls (and this is a MAJOR understatement) for the Germans put them in the position of having to flee an assault with no covering fire AND when they brought an artillery barrage down on the center of St. Vith, the Germans ended up being better at hitting Germans than Americans. (As an aside, several of the moves during the game were to illustrate certain situations rather than to "Play to Kill" so I know that there would not be some of the opportunities that were apparent here). Time and again, the officers in town moved their troops to halt the assaulting Germans.

The StuG platoon had been able to dispatch a platoon of M4s but there were just too many and the StuG was eventually overwhelmed. Once cleared, the M4s made for St. Vith to support the cavalry squadron. The Germans made one more attempt to rally enough troops to take St. Vith but the M4s were able to move into positions to prevent further incursions from the east and the Captain and Lieutenant rounded up the troops and made a final assault and finally broke the German attack. The Germans called it at 1045 as they had lost too many steps to artillery and counter assaults.

AFTERMATH

This battle was played over two sessions and after the first one, it looked like I was going to be dispatched fairly quickly. I lost all but 1 step of an M8 armored car platoon and was surrounded in St. Vith at the end of Turn 5. In speaking with Vince after the sessions, we discussed some of the lessons learned:

1. Don't be hasty with your troops when on defense - I had taken my thin-skinned units and brought them out way too early after disrupting some of the StuGs with Artillery. I thought that I could achieve a cross-fire but after discussion, found that i had placed the units in positions where they could not achieve this. Had I to do it over, I would have done as Vince suggested and used the M16 (with its potent 24 DF factor) to harass the infantry moving over the open ground intead of trying to achieve near impossible hits on disrupted armor. I found that armor can die REALLY quickly!

2. Don't try to rally all demoralized units in a hex when there is no possibility of cover fire. - This was one of the moves that was done to illustrate a situation rather than attempting to win as Vince did this and proceeded to describe why you would not do this and discussed ways to achieve rally without leaving yourself vulnerable to "free hacks".

There were several others that I can't think of now but for my first Skype game (and first PG game against a live opponent), I really enjoyed it. Whereas playing solo does allow for a player to try different things and study the game and learn the mechanics, I feel that playing head-to-head really makes you think about the troops you are moving and does make it much more tense and interesting. I will continue to play some solo games but I will actively seek to play more games FTF (via Skype or actual FTF). I rated this 4 as it was fun and gave many opportunities for different kinds of combat (direct, bombardment, AT and Assault). Also, Thanks to Vince for not only being a great opponent but taking the time to instruct. I had a blast.