AUTUMN MIST Given the fact that I’m getting back into PG after a long hiatus, what better way to do it than to start with the first scenario of the game I and many others consider the best intro to the PG series: Elsenborn Ridge. I had developed other PG games and supplements before Elsenborn, but ER was the game where I hit upon the formulae that would guide my scenario-development technique for the rest of my tenure at Avalanche. The result is a boxed game with 40 scenarios that are fast paced, fun, and well balanced.

SCENARIO SETUP: The Americans get a pretty good leader draw, at least from the fire-coordination perspective. Three of the initial six American leaders on the board have +1 combat modifiers, but only two of them have +1 morale modifiers. Still, the American units have higher morale than the Germans, so because of that plus the fact that they’re dug in and entrenched in defensible terrain, I decide to set them up in a long and relatively thin line, placing the entrenchments at the crossroads, in the hex where the road enters the hills from the east, and in the hex where the road enters the hills from the south. The German objective is to push the Americans off the east-west road, so the at-start American defenders focus on protecting the road and will rely on their reinforcements (which will likely arrive anywhere from the halfway to the three-quarter point of the game) to push off the road any Germans that infiltrate or circumvent the line.

The Germans get a leader draw that’s a little better in quality than that of the Americans. Four of the initial eight German leaders on the board have +1 combat modifiers, and four of them also have +1 morale modifiers. Their average morale is also about the same as the Americans, but that of the units they will be leading is not.

TURN 1 (0600): The Americans win initiative by two activations but can do nothing because the Germans aren’t on the board yet. So they pass, and the Germans enter on the east edge. The Volksgrenadiers know that due to their inferior morale, they can’t afford to split their forces, so they decide to throw their entire initial force at the relatively weak American south flank, hoping that their reinforcements can exploit any weakness in the American lines resulting from the Americans pulling forces southward to counter the German flank attack. The Germans begin by sending their HMGs up the road to put pressure on the American center. Opportunity fire from the American center is ineffective, but American off-board artillery fire demoralizes the German captain leading the HMG advance. His Lieutenant remains in good order, but the OBA fire he calls down on the now spotted units in the American center is ineffective. The Americans pass to hold fire and see where the rest of the Germans will enter, and the Germans oblige them by bringing in their entire GREN force south of the road and into the light woods there. The Germans keep all their GREN units at least four hexes away from the Americans so they can’t be spotted in limiting terrain, but they send a sergeant ahead to spot the Americans who are entrenched where the east-west road enters the hills. American op fire on the sergeant is ineffective, and then American OBA hits the HMGs on the road with the demoralized captain and disrupts them both. Both sides then trade ineffective bombardment fire, and the turn ends.

TURN 2 (0615): The Germans win initiative and hit the American road defenders with OBA again, but American morale holds through four segments of bombardment. The Americans pass on each of their activation segments during this time, and the Germans choose to recover the morale of their disrupted HMGs rather than advance out of the woods against a good-order, dug-in and entrenched American position that has superior morale. The demoralized German captain recovers, but his disrupted HMGs do not, and fire from the third HMG on the road is ineffective. American OBA then hits the disrupted HMGs in the road and scores an X result that reduces an HMG and demoralizes the other one. The Germans and the Americans then pass, and the turn ends.

TURN 3 (0630): The Americans win initiative but pass, and German OBA finally gets the range, rolling a 2X result that eliminates an American INF unit entrenched on the road and demoralizes the other INF there. The Americans want to save their OBA for when the main German force emerges from the woods, but trying to rally the demoralized INF runs the risk of leaving the road and entrenchment hex he’s occupying wide open if he fails to recover and flees. So the Captain commanding the American center activates both Lieutenants next to him so that the demoralized INF can attempt to recover and another INF from farther north can move down to support him on the road. The demoralized INF recovers to disrupted status, and more German OBA is ineffective. The Americans pass, and German mortar fire is ineffective. The Americans pass again, and the Germans decide this will be their best opportunity to advance since the road defenders have already activated and can’t use op fire against them. The German Lieutenant Colonel commanding the advance draws op fire from all along the line and even from the HMG and AT gun at the crossroads, and the latter scores an X result that disrupts him and reduces and demoralizes the GREN he’s moving with. More op fire disrupts the Lieutenant leading the GREN units on point, so the Germans bring up another LT to lead the assault on the entrenchment next turn. American OBA then opens up on the main German advance, disrupting the LT the Germans brought in to lead the assault on the trenches. The Germans bring in yet another LT for that purpose, and he, another LT, and a GREN are all demoralized by American mortar fire, leaving the intended assault force in a shambles.

TURN 4 (0645): German reinforcements fail to enter, but the Germans win initiative by two activations. With the main advance in danger of collapse, the Germans decide to shift their focus to the two INF units at the American south flank on the north-south road. German OBA hits the entrenched INF and Sergeant on the road, and once again it gets the range, scoring a 2X result that eliminates the INF but fails to shake the morale of the Sergeant who was leading it. The German captain now effectively leading the advance (his LT COL having become disrupted) sounds the charge, sending a lone GREN into an assault on the trenches on the east-west road to pin down the two INF units there. The GREN becomes demoralized after American first fire, but that keeps the Americans pinned down so they can’t use op fire on the main German advance. However, the INF at the extreme south end of the American flank scores a 2X result on op fire that wipes out a GREN and disrupts the LT who was advancing with him. More fancy shooting from the crossroads reduces a GREN and demoralizes it and disrupts a second one, but a third GREN makes it into the empty trenches, capturing the trenches and the American sergeant there. American OBA then hits the sergeant who’s the only remaining good-order, unactivated German leader in the main assault. The OBA scores an X result that reduces a GREN, destroys a wagon towing an infantry gun, and disrupts both GRENs with the sergeant but fails to shake the sergeant’s morale. The sergeant then advances into the trenches with two GRENs while leaving behind the GRENs he was with to recover on their own. American OBA then hits the GREN company that has massed in the trenches, but they all pass their morale check with the sergeant’s help. German OBA is ineffective, and the Americans pull in the INF on their extreme north flank to counter the German breach of the south flank. German mortar fire is ineffective, but American mortar fire is devastating, demoralizing two of the three GRENs that had massed in the trenches. The German Lt. Colonel recovers to good order, but the demoralized GREN he’s with flees, and then the Americans in the trench on the east-west road counterassault the demoralized GREN that pinned them down there, inflicting a step loss on it. The turn then ends on recoveries and ineffective direct fire.

TURN 5 (0700): The initiative level of both sides drops by one, and the Americans win initiative by two activations. American OBA hits the GRENs massed in the trenches again, disrupting their sergeant. Then the dug-in INF on the American south flank fires point-blank at the GREN and LT next to him, demoralizing the GREN. German reinforcements again fail to arrive, but German OBA gets the range of the American Major and his INF and AT gun entrenched at the crossroads, disrupting the Major and demoralizing the AT gun. American OBA and German mortar fire are both ineffective, but then American mortar fire disrupts a GREN back in the woods, leaving only one undisrupted GREN on the board. The sergeant in the trenches tries to rally his two demoralized GRENs while the other one fires at the crossroads, and one rallies while the other flees. An American counterassault on the disrupted GREN in the trench on the east-west road is ineffective, and the German Lt. Colonel tries to rally his main force and is successful with most of his disrupted units, but three demoralized GRENs flee. Then the INF that the Americans pulled in from their northern flank moves south to block the German advance, and the turn ends on recoveries, with the American AT gun eliminated due to failure to recover from demoralization. That puts American step losses at five, putting the Germans just one American step loss away from a minor victory.

TURN 6 (0715): German reinforcements again fail to arrive. The Americans win initiative but their OBA is ineffective, as is that of the Germans. Then the Americans wipe out the reduced, demoralized GREN in the trench on the east-west road, putting German step losses at 9, meaning the Americans are also one enemy step loss away from a minor victory. Point-blank German direct fire from the other trench is ineffective on the INF that came down from the north (though the German sergeant in the trench returns to good order), and point-blank fire from that INF demoralizes a GREN. German and American mortar fire are both ineffective. The turn then ends on ineffective fire and recoveries, with demoralized German units fleeing farther away.

TURN 7 (0730): The Americans win initiative, and American reinforcements arrive on a roll of 6! American point-blank fire from the eastern trench scores a 2X result that wipes out a GREN, giving the Americans enough German step losses for a minor victory. German reinforcements again fail to arrive, and all the Germans can realistically hope for now is to force a draw by inflicting one more American step loss for a minor victory of their own. So German OBA hits the INF that came down from the north, scoring an M2 result that demoralizes it. The unit has already activated this turn and can’t recover (it was one of the units that fired to get the 2X result on the GREN), so American OBA hits the GRENs in the adjacent trench to try to keep them from hitting the INF with point-blank fire. The OBA is ineffective, and the German point-blank fire scores an M1 result that just barely fails to cause a step loss due to compound demoralization. American mortar fire is ineffective, and two good-order GRENs move adjacent to the demoralized American INF. The American reinforcements then enter the west edge and hurry up the road toward the action, German leaders run off after fleeing GRENs, the Americans move an INF out of the center and down to support the demoralized INF, and the turn ends on recoveries.

TURN 8 (0745): German initiative drops to 1 (making it even with American initiative), and the Americans win initiative by two activations. American OBA hits the GRENs in the southern trenches but is ineffective, and then the Americans open fire point-blank on the last undemoralized GRENs of the main advance. All the point-blank fire is ineffective, and the demoralized INF fails to recover and flees north. German reinforcements finally arrive, and the Germans then return point-blank fire on the INF that came down from the north to support the demoralized INF that just fled. Their fire on the 30 column scores a 2X result that wipes out the INF and disrupts one of the leaders that was with it. That brings American step losses up to seven, giving the Germans a minor victory as well.

So now, while the scattered Germans have no chance of pushing the reinforced Americans off the east-west road for a major victory, the Americans can’t win a major victory either because they've taken too many step losses. Therefore, since both sides have scored a minor victory, the game is a draw.

FINAL IMPRESSION: This is a good scenario for introducing players to the basics of infantry combat. It's instructive because it shows how an outnumbered force can hold off a larger one in defensible terrain if it has higher morale. The lack of vehicular units makes the scenario a bit pedestrian (no pun intended), but the powerful OBA available to the Germans early in the game gives them the opportunity to create breaches in the American line and then exploit them. The outnumbered Americans need their reinforcements to arrive early and also need German reinforcements to arrive late if they're going to have a chance to hold the Germans off while not taking enough step losses to lose the chance for a major victory. For all that their low morale hurts them, the Germans still have a lot of firepower, so the Americans need to play very conservatively to keep their step losses down and thus preserve the chance of scoring a major victory.