The Ardennes offensive has crested and is on the wane, but there is plenty of fight left in the Germans. On January 4, 1945, powerful elements of the 12th SS “Hitler Jugend” division are on the attack against a smaller detachment of the US 6th Armored in and around Mageret, Belgium. It is a one-mapper, and but 15 turns; both sides get VP for destroying enemy units and holding town hexes, plus the Germans (who start close to the north board edge) get points for exiting south. And if the enemy can be kept without anyone on the north-south road at game’s end, VP are available as well. (With the Germans being “Hitler Jugend,” I decided to use the Black SS counters in this one – gotta break them out every so often.)

The US sets up first, with their limited AFV strength dispersed among the hexes of the large town (representing Mageret itself), stacked with infantry in anticipation of assault combat. One INF and 1 leader set up in the one-hex satellite town on the end of the northern ridge (to aid in spotting for Bombardment of Germans behind the ridge), the M3’s/ mortars/57mm ATG in reserve in the woods to the south, and the M18 Hellcat platoon in a path of light woods in the northwest quadrant, in “shoot and scoot” position. The Germans place all of their tanks – 3 Panther and 2 PZ-IVH platoons – together on their own right, directly confronting the M18’s. Mortars (3 81mm in one hex and one 120mm in another) set up dug in behind the ridge, the 75/41 ATG dug in on the ridge itself, and most of the infantry dug in on the ridge (two groups in DF range of the 1-hex town) and behind it. Two GREN and two ENG are loaded on SPW251’s, also behind the ridge, ready to move once the main battlefield is a little more survivable for the thinly-armored vehicles. The SK234/2 armored cars set up close to the one-hex town also.

The Americans win the first initiative, allowing the M18 to take an opening shot at a Panther and then disappear into the light woods hex behind it. Unfortunately, the shot misses, and on Turn 2 the Germans activate first (having moved the Panthers within 3 of the Hellcat’s new hex) and take out the M18’s. From the edge of Mageret, the M36 platoon and two Sherman units – an M4 and M4/76 – trade insults with the relentlessly advancing German armor. Despite the protection of the town (and at first of distance), the disparity in armor protection proves fatal. Save for one shot by the M4/76 that drops a step of PZ-IVH the US armor whiffs, and by the end of turn 4 the rest of the American AFV’s (except for one M4 platoon on the opposite side of town, as yet out of LOS of the ongoing armor battle) are gone. So, too, is the small outpost in the ridgetop town; hit by DF from infantry and the SK234’s, OBA and mortars, it is not until the vehicles move in for an assault that both INF and leader are demoralized and flee. In return the American OBA – only 1 x 18 and 1 x 24, but with the VT fuse – demoralize a couple of GREN and the ATG (which is then abandoned when it fails to recover – at least it took out an M36 step first), and reduce one GREN.

The clearing of the ridge-top town does allow the remaining M4 to target the SK234’s, still spotted since combat occurred in that hex. Despite the distance and protection of the town, in Turns 5-6 (0915-0930) the M4 destroys three of the four steps; the 4th is disrupted and disappears behind the ridge, to recover and await the neutralization of these last Shermans. Meanwhile the German tanks advance and enter a couple of the hexes of Mageret, and by the end of the 1000 turn have destroyed several M3 halftrack platoons and chased away (through demoralization) a couple of US INF/ENG units. But as the German foot units advance through the snow and ice, the second hour of battle sees a heavy toll taken on them by VT-fused OBA and some direct fire (including the M16 “Meat Chopper” halftrack stacked with a regular M3, positioned with LOS to approaching infantry but out of the LOS of German tanks.) On the 1000 turn, one of the Panther platoons, which had circled around to within spotting range of the last M4 unit, blasts the remaining Shermans out of existence. Things seem to be starting to tilt back the Germans’ way – but, with only 7 turns left, the US still holds 3 hexes of Mageret, blocks the north-south road, and is only down 17-15 in step loss VP’s.

And the carnage continues. To what extent the Germans have taken town hexes, they’ve done it with point blank tank fire. Finally, in the third hour of combat some scattered infantry (mostly reduced) manage to reach Mageret, allowing some combined-arms assaults. Of the three town hexes still held by the US when this part of the sequence begins, by game’s end one has been taken by the Germans, one (unable to be entered by armor due to three wrecks present, and thus continually targeted by point-blank DF from two Panther platoons instead) winds up with a demoralized leader and demoralized half-squad, and the final one – a leader, reduced ENG, and reduced HMG – has the defenders in good order. Meanwhile, as the halftrack-borne infantry moves around the town to secure the southern exit, the remaining US reserves – two halftrack units and the 57mm ATG – get into the action. The ATG actually drops the last SK234 step before the halftracks arrive, then misses its shot at one of them. Dismounting, the German infantry calls down bombardment on the defenders, demoralizing the ATG (which is then eliminated when it fails to recover) and assaulting the halftracks, eventually removing them from the scene. (However, a second group of infantry that dismounts at the same time is devastated by American OBA, losing all 4 steps over two turns.) The Germans exit three halftracks on the final turn; one PZ-IVH platoon heads that direction, but due to the snow and ice they don’t quite make the exit.

Due to the town hexes occupied by both sides, neither side gets the 10 VP bonus for keeping the main road clear of the enemy. The Germans hold 6 town hexes, the US two (one of those by demoralized units – but they were previously good order, and no Germans have been there.) The Germans exited 3 steps, so in the non-casualty VP’s the Germans lead 15-4. On to the step losses…

GERMAN: 4 SK234/2, 1 75/41 ATG, 1 PZIVH, 11 GREN, 3 HMG, 4 ENG. Plus two leaders.

US: 9 M3, 1 57mm ATG, 2 M16, 2 M18, 2 M36, 2 M4/76, 4 M4, 5 INF, 1 HMG, 1 ENG. No leaders.

With the tank steps counting as double, this gives the Germans a big bulge (no pun intended) in “casualty” VP’s, 39 to 24. Thus the final tally is Germans 54-28, a Major win, if a Pyrrhic one.

Overall, the scenario didn’t seem nearly as imbalanced as the final score, although had it not been for the VT-fused OBA (the Germans lost 55% of their infantry strength, the vast majority of that to the big guns) this would probably have been a rollover. Granted, it could have been a little closer with a bit more US luck on AT fire. Still, a very interesting scenario.