Defending The Westwall : An End Of Series Review

[campsawyer]

With regard to these scenarios, I believe that one cannot under estimate two advantages that the Germans have with these scenarios. First, most are town and hill defenses with the Germans holding the ground. So they should setup around these defense bastions and not need to venture to far from them. This will give the Germans the advantage of interior lines as well as the terrain, both of which are very power in PG, no matter which side it is. The second is an off shoot of this, the weather. Most scenarios have mud conditions, which will not affect the Germans very much, unless they make mistakes with their setup. This will allow the Germans to patiently wait until the American come into range and then hit key units as the bring there units online.

For the Americans, the mud there bigger enemy. Most battles the Americans have long advances to the Germans and the VC's. Their total force movement will be reduced by 1/3 and require quite a bit of logistic management to get the slower units to the battles, if they even make it. This will force the Americans to either piecemeal there attack or wait until they get as many units as possible and launch one large attack and hope for good fire rolls. Both of which are no very good choices. But don't get me worry, most can have the Americans win with a bit of luck or bad German tactics. But when playing Herr Hughes, luck is probably your only possible advantage as he will make sure he has covered all the VC's.

[tlangston28]

;;
Herr Hughes will remind you that the clock is ticking ignore him and his cheap mind games you have a timetable stick to it.

Yes... actually this was #4 on my list...

[vince hughes]

I thought I might add a few words on US tactics

Wayne,

Good post. I would like to think that any new Westwaller of the future playing either side would derive a lot from this thread and find something useful either beforehand or even if looked at as a debrief after the event pack.

[Matt W]

At long last I was able to complete the last three scenarios of this batch and I went back over the previous plays. I would strongly suggest that the American player not only choose an objective point as Wayne has mentioned but also to understand that time is of the essence and use of the roads will make many things possible. The Germans will make you pay for the use of the road but you usually have a preponderance of infantry types and you need to use those to move up the road and engage the Germans making it possible for your support weapons (armor and those APCs Vince mentions) to advance without becoming Swiss cheese.

It can be disheartening to be the American as a considerable portion of the scenario is spent trying to come to grips with the Germans. During that time you will be taking losses and morale failures while your opponent may not be in range or even in sight. Realize that the tables will turn when you get closer and your firepower will be a huge advantage at that point.

I played all of these scanrios solo but will attest that the results are real (I think the Americans had 9 wins and one draw). Some of these were lucky but many of them were simply a case of dogged determination. The Americans will typically be well down in the score early on but remember that the scores will start chaging rapidly once you get to the objective. Losing heart is the best way to lose the battle.