This scenario pits a battalion of German medium tanks, supported by companies of infantry and motorcycles, against Allied defenders featuring a battalion of Stuarts stiffened with a few troops of British medium tanks. The Germans needed to take the town and exit much of their force off the opposite edge in 4.5 hours.

They did.

There's not much more to say about this Allied bloodbath, other than that the Allies almost inflicted enough casualties on the Germans to reduce it to a minor victory. Maybe if they had had another battalion of tinfoil tanks they would have.

The US Stuarts were placed well out front of the town, trying to force the German armor into positions for crossfires but the longer range of the German guns foiled that scheme turn after turn, as Stuart tanks sat burning on the hillsides. The German major, leading the Motorcycle company, nearly lost his life when he lead the surviving motorcycle troops into close assault in the town and ended up the sole survivor, but the German Captain lead the foot troops into the northern town hex and after 4 turns, whittled away at the US and British armor holding that hex. Over the course of 10 turns, the outlying Stuarts and M3/81 were destroyed and the Germans got a foothold in the town, with long range AT shots destroying the armor holding the eastern hex and then sniping at the remaining steps that were in close combat with the German infantry. As turn 10 ended, the last of the British tanks were eliminated following the loss of the last steps of the T30 and a Stuart platoon in the northernmost town hex. Germans lost exactly 12 steps, so won 2 of 3 of their victory conditions for a minor victory. Good game after a bit of a long break in my usual gaming.

Two battle groups from the 10th Panzer Division headed towards the village of Chouigui on December 1, 1942 in an effort to push the Allied forces back. At 0745 hours, they engaged units of the Allied “Blade Force” that were dug in strategically across the front north of the village. The Allies were successful in creating crossfire on the Panzer III platoons sent forward to recon the area, reducing one platoon on the Allied left. A Pz.IVH then moved up to provide support. By 0900 hours, two Stuart platoons had been destroyed and a Crusader III platoon demoralized in the Allied center and left. The Germans moved a 50mm gun to the north center hill in preparation for a major confrontation there, as Stuart platoons moved forward towards the hill. A major confrontation occurred, with the Allies losing four more Stuart platoons and complete elimination of the Crusader platoon by an advancing Marder III, while reducing two more Panzer platoons. Another Stuart platoon on the Allied right was eliminated by one of the Panzer III platoons on that flank, but return fire from an M3/105 eliminated the Panzers. By 0945 hours, the Germans had eliminated the Stuart & T30 platoons that were based in Chouigui and now occupied the village. The Marder III continued to ravage the Allied armor, eliminating both Stuart and Valentine platoons on the Allied left. With the town firmly in control and battlefield relatively cleared, German troops began to break through to the south. Both the two remaining Stuart and the M3/81 platoons were eliminated by Pz.IV’s, and the battle ended at 1130 hours with a major German victory.

This scenario is another one from early in Operation Torch that seems very difficult for the Allies to win due to the strength of the German armor in terms of both firepower and shielding. The Stuarts live up to their nickname of “Ronsons” pretty quickly when confronted by Panzers, particularly the Pz.IV’s. Both the “Stuart swarm” and crossfire approaches were tried with little success. If twelve German steps can be eliminated (tanks counting double), at least the Germans can be held to a minor victory; however, only eight German steps were taken, while the Allies lost 56 steps. The Germans also held Chouigui and exited twenty steps for the complete victory. Stopping the German onslaught at less than twenty steps exited seems impossible, while an Allied assault on Chouigui on the last turn would cancel another German objective reached, but opp fire makes it very difficult to get in close enough for such an assault before all Allied units are destroyed. The best unit for attempting the latter move would be the Valentine, despite its slow speed, because of the “4” armor rating, but in this case, the Marder III brewed it up before it could reach town. The scenario ended 6 turns early as all Allied units were destroyed.

This one only proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Germans, with their heavier armor, can make short work of a LOT of Stuarts.

The Combine US/UK "Blade Force" set up in a screen to delay the German advance and to prevent a dash off the board while the half-track support weapons defended Chouigui. The plan was to fall back and slow the Germans and then once the German attack was fully committed, get some Stuarts into the town, collapse the screen and try to maneuver into position to get flanking shots which is the only way to hurt the Germans. The plan utterly failed.

The Germans chose to come in on the American left avoiding the more powerful British tanks. They maneuvered the Pz III tanks to push back the Americans and engage them, seize high ground and then bring in the long range PZ IVs and the Marder to conduct over watch. The infantry was held back until a corridor was cleared to the town. The German plan worked. The overwatch elements picked off any enemy tanks that tried to flank and the Pz IIIs simply charged the enemy and destroyed what they cam into contact. Then the Germans moved towards the town. Got their infantry into attack position , the Pz IIIs then moved to within a two hexes of the town and engaged the defending Stuarts and half tracks. The Brit tanks were picked off by overwatch or flanking Pz IIIs.

The American losses mounted and remaining half-strength platoon were demoralized and not a single loss was taken by the Germans. The US commander said "enough of this" and ordered a full withdrawal from the town conceding a major victory to the Germans. The is was accomplished in just 8 of 22 turns.

Usually in theses scenarios where one side has a great advantage, I can discern what the key is for the underdog to win. In this one, I frankly cannot. The only way to get losses on the Germans is to get tanks into their flank for the non-adjacent hex-side bonus shot. But this is easily prevented by the German taking his time, establishing a proper bounding overwatch scheme of maneuver to protect his flanks. The only value I see in this scenario is a solo play to see how a force so wholly not properly equipped will fail at its mission. I would not play this one against another person.

An Army At Dawn, scenario #5: 10th Panzer Forward

Having to day off for a minor medical procedure, I was in the mood for some PG Desert action. The problem was, I probably should have read the PG-HQ AAR’s for the scenario I picked. The M3 Stuart tanks might be a good matchup for Italian or Japanese armor or even German PzIIs but against German PzIIIs & PzIVs they are a total mismatch. Even the British Crusader IIIs & Valentines were not worth much against this German 10th Panzer lineup.

So, to make it more interesting, I made the Germans go after all three victory objectives, which I thought might be more challenging but the Americans/British were totally routed and the Germans easily conquered all three victory objectives without going in to much detail.

Not sure how to rate this one, it is ok for solitaire play but it is so one sided, still better than a good day at work!

Author	treadasaurusrex (Britain, United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	Capt. Chaos
Play Date	2023-05-29
Language	English
Scenario	AAAD005

This was a fun-filled, 2-session play-through, with me playing the doomed elements of the overstretched, Allied Blade Force trying to block a German combined arms onslaught, led by the rapidly-learning and hard-charging Capt. Chaos. The German side drew excellent leaders. The scenario had no American leaders in the mix. We played with the FOW, consolidation, smoke/illum, extended assault, tank riders and excess initiative optional rules. In addition, we again experimentally used the following 4 house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units, 2) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up or down slopes hexes, 3) Dug In Units are Automatically in Limiting Terrain in Desert Games Unless prohibited by special scenario rules, ALL units that are dug-in on slope hexes are considered to be in limiting terrain and are spotted if enemy units approach to within 3 hexes, or 4 hexes for reconnaissance units – unless they are marked with a spotted marker, see 8.22, and 4) Tank Leader Forward Observation Efficient tank leaders (full strength only) may spot for ALL artillery & air strikes in accordance with the normal spotting rules (8.0, page 19). Just as in the case of leader units spotting, this action does not require an activation. Nonefficient tank leaders may also attempt to spot for ON BOARD ARTILLERY ONLY by throwing a single die per attempt to spot a target. This action does require an activation. They spot the intended target on a die roll of 4-6.

The initial session (game turn 1-5) featured a segmented, and slighjtyly-disorganized, broad-front German movement to contact from the north edge of the battle map. What followed was a near massacre of the hapless, forward-deployed American units, with 24 steps lost in only 5 game turns, as the Germans quickly dispatched 12 light tank and SP artillery US platoons. Dug-in, Stuart light tanks proved to be little more than speed bumps and only a single step of a Marder III SPAT platoon was lost by the charging Nazi horde. Refreshingly, only 5 combat 7-die rolls were thrown by both sides.

The second session (game turn 6-12) was a virtual repeat of the first session but the majority of the battle action shifted to the vicinity of Chouigui as the Germans closed in from both east and north of the 3-hex town. Overwhelming German firepower & mobility prevailed, and by mutual agreement the American side conceded a major Axis victory at the start of game turn 12. The final victory point tally was: 53 for the Germans and only 3 for the Americans. Only a single platoon of Stuart light tanks was able to escape this bloodbath!

This overlong, unplay-tested & hopelessly unbalanced scenario is NOT recommended for shared play as there is virtually no way for the Americans to win, or draw. It did provide good practice for maneuvering mobile forces and is recommended for SOLO play. I give this one a very generous rating of 1, because it was fun to play with an audacious and entertaining opponent. We felt that the 4 house rules we used worked very well in this play-through, and allowing Tank Leaders to call in artillery strikes was crucial, since no American leaders were included in the scenario.