Looking for another good scenario for some solo play, I saw this one in Elsenborn. It had what looked to be the right mix of units. American defenders with good morale and lots of OBA, I believe the most in one scenario. Germans with plenty of troops to soak up the artillery, armor to provide a combine arms attack and good morale. There is plenty of space for maneuver, 3 boards with the Germans entering on the first turn on the long east edge. The Americans get 16 entrenchments to be placed on the west part of the field and dug in for the others. But all of this for the Americans has one big flaw. They have to prevent the Germans from taking 10 town hexes and stop them from getting control of one of the three east-west roads. Without mobility, this forces the Americans to deploy to cover all three boards. The Germans can then pick locations that are weaker to attack. There will be plenty of these as the Americans just don't have enough troops to hold off the German numbers.

The attack starts at 7:30am with the Germans advancing on board 23 and 22 from the east. On 23 this has the most Germans, two foot companies and a reinforced half track company and two tank platoons with armor car escorts. On 22 two foot companies move across the east west road. The Americans have deployed leaders out front to try to get OBA on the moving troops on board 22 and 23. Although they score a couple of disrupts and demoralizes the American OBA is ineffective and it is up to Op fire to disrupted the German advance. The Americans have several platoons in the town at 22/0808 but there fire is weak against the advancing Germans. An AT gun is discovered in 11/0708 but German OBA demoralizes it. German tanks can now advance with the infantry to assault the town. Heavy German machine gun fire demoralizes the Americans and they run for the entrenchments leaving the towns to the Germans. First prizes taken 2 town hexes.

On board 23, the Germans capture the town at 11/0504 and use this as a fire base for attack 23/1109. Other German infantry move up to assault the town. American Op fire is better and kills several German steps, leaving the German Colonel to recover units in the woods to the east of 23/1109. The half-tracked Grenadiers move up the edge between board 23 and 24. The Americans cannot cover this will effective fire so the halftrack drive right up to the town 23/1106. OBA and Op fire stun the dismounting grenadiers but they easily recover and with help from halftrack machine guns pin the Americans down. Privy's provide fire support for the halftracks and the Americans are in a tough spot. American OBA is called in but is useless the Germans hold their formations. American reserves move up from the town at 24/0710, but are hit in the woods by German HMG fire. The American Lieutenant panics and runs away with a platoon of infantry following. The other American units are stuck leaderless in the woods.

In the town the Germans begin there assault with fire support from the German tanks, The Americans are stunned and start to run. German Op fire scores easy kills on the fleeing Americans. Other German units lineup for assaults on the hold out American positions. The Americans fire desperately at the advancing Germans but without effect. German assaults score kills and demoralizations. More American leader desertions occur with the Captain of the company running from the battle. German OBA fires at American reinforcements move to help the town at 23/1106, stopping them short of the town. Other German troops move past the town to isolate it from reinforcements. German assaults reduce the Americans and the Germans get control of the ten town hexes by turn 8. Two hours and the Americans are running leaving the towns to the Germans and road control can sure follow.

What happened? Bad luck for the Americans, good luck for the Germans. Although the Americans have a massive amount of OBA, rolling 6,7,8 all the time will not win the game. Same was true for the Op fires. Although they did manage to score 9 step losses on the Germans to 7 for the Americans, the American losses are worse. With the need to setup and cover all three roads, the Americans have a hard time consolidating once the Germans attack. Better OBA rolls might have made the scenario closer, I believe the Americans are just too immobile for the protecting such a large area.

I rated this as an optimistic 3, given the American die rolling, but if I played this again and had the same results I would go to a 2 or 1. It feels like the Americans need more to win.