After seeing all the plays with wins for the Germans, I need to see what this scenario was all about. This is a typical early Bulge attack with the Germans having the advantage of armor to overwhelm the Americans. But I thought that there might be some defense that can win this for the Americans. But it seems to require more than that and then some.

The Americans seemingly have a good defense with a good amount of INF and ENG plus support weapons that include a 3in AT and M18. But they are facing two companies of SS GRENs and five SS Panther platoons. Leaders on both sides were good with a number of leaders with modifiers.

The American defense setup forward of the town of Stuvelt. Digging in the light woods allows the Americans to maximize their defensive bonuses and fight the Germans outside of the towns for a short time. Flanking the main defense of HMG, 3in AT and INF's are ENG's and M3's. This is to prevent the Germans from trying to push through the woods to the north and south of the defense. The M18 setup up in the woods on the northern hill. A lone M3 remains in Stuvelt for any defense when the Americans need to retreat.

The Germans look to find a angle that they can take to attack the American defense. They setup most of their force on the wooded hill on the south end of board 9. Panthers and GREN's are grouped for a combined forces attack on the southern American flank. This will give the Germans the best chance of capturing the bridge and cutting the Americans off on the east side of the river. Two platoons of Panthers are stationed to the north to keep an eye on the M18.

The attack starts with the Germans advancing down the slopes and into the woods on board 12. American OP fire is accurate and several GRENs are disrupted and demoralized quickly. But the Germans close on the Americans and open fire on the dugin troops. Scoring demoralization's on the left American flank that are able to force the units back. Panther and SPW251 units score the first blood with the reduction of an ENG unit. But American fire is good too. They OP fire on a key advancing group of Germans and score a kill and demoralization on the remnants. The Germans quickly move troops forward to try to press the advantage.

The Americans react by shifting the units from the north side of there defense to Stuvelt. Using an old wooden bridge, they are able to shift INF's, ENG's and 3in AT into the town. The Germans dash two Panther platoons over the other bridge to capture the bridge and a town hex. But American OP fire keep the GREN's at bay and the American Major launches an assault on the isolated Panthers. His attack is a success and one Panther step is destroyed. But the other Germans press forward against the American defensive line on the east side of the river. This rolls them back and removes the OP fire threat from the bridge, but the Americans are tough and still hold the small village and deny them the road.

To the north the Panthers shadow the M18 looking for an opportunity to destroy it, but the quick M18 keeps them at bay and even get a few close shots at the Germans. But the Germans catch up with it after the "cat and mouse" moves and are able to eventually destroy it. But this keeps two Panthers from flanking the Americans and hold up the attack.

Eventually the German GREN's make it over the bridge and are able to destroy the INF's and ENG's holding the town. The 3in AT is demoralized and eventually the crews flee in the face of the German attack. The Germans move some of the Panthers and SPW251's off the board, while the ENG's and other Panthers provide security for the captured town and bridge. A major German victory.

Although the Germans have the victory, I believe that they have a lessor victory, Why? First, the Germans lost 6 steps, 1/2 Panther, 1 Gren, 1/2 ENG, and SPW251. For there forces in battle this is significant. Second, the Germans need to leave 2 Panthers, ENG's and SPW251's back to cover the American remnants. Both of these seriously diminish there advancing forces. The units that did make it off were 2 1/2 panthers and a couple of SPW251's without GREN support. I would believe that the VC's would need to have the Germans including some GREN's in the exiting troops as well as having the number of troops left on the board contributing to the American VC's rather than just a strict unit losses.