This one has a German attack against dug in US troops trying to hold the large hill on board 76, while the Germans start on board 77. All the action takes place between the two north-south trails. Both sides get points for casualties, and also points for holding 40m and 60m hills at the end of the game. Time ran out before I could get through all 14 turns, but the US flanks collapsed early, the center collapsed soon thereafter, and the Germans were getting ready to assault individual dug-in mortar units, with the only intact US infantry force left being the command center with 2 infantry and the Major dug in on the 60m hilltop. The US OBA did some damage, but Germans had really good leaders to rally the troops quickly, while the more fragile US troops tended to become demoralized and fled the area. One spectacular US victory was a direct hit on two of the 4 German mortars with a result of 2X, taking out half of the German mortars in one shot and temporarily demoralizing the German CO who was stacked with them. But the StuGIII was successful in adding it's weight to assaults on the north flank turn after turn, and it was only a matter of time before the US was in it's final defensive position on the 60m hilltop. Casualties had been fairly even until turn 5 when US forces that had been reduced and demoralized failed morale checks again as assault results and US losses started stacking up more quickly. It was a good game for a snowy afternoon and one I want to try again when I have more time.

On the night of December 22, 1942, the Coldstream Guards had captured most of the terrain on “Longstop Hill” At 0430 hours on the 23rd, they turned the hill over to the fresher, but greener, American troops from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. However, German forces from numerous units, including the 69th Panzer Grenadiers, 10th Panzer Division had been gathering to retake the captured ground. At 0700 hours, they struck the surprised Americans in force on both flanks. The US had positioned mortar and 75mm artillery platoons directly west of the 60-meter hill, with a 37 AT gun & infantry units on the north flank and HMG & infantry units on the south. German infantry and HMG units advanced on both flanks, supported by a battery of mortar and 25-pounder artillery units just east of the southern 20- meter hill. The Germans continued to press forward, consolidating in the south and center, where a StuGIIIG platoon joined them. By 0800 hours, they had turned the south flank and converged on the central 60-meter hill. US OBA was relatively ineffective in contrast to the accuracy of the German OBA. By 0845, the combined tank and infantry group was assaulting the US troops on the high hill, and the hill was cleared of US forces by 0915. German troops then proceeded to clear much of the ridge, but a valiant stand over the course of almost two hours by the US mortar platoons, with limited infantry reinforcement, prevented them from complete control. The conflict ended at 1015 hours with the Germans holding most of the ridge and small clusters of US troops huddled below the north and south ridges.

This skirmish seems extremely difficult for the Americans to win. The Germans have superior firepower, morale, numbers and the opportunity to set up second, thereby insuring a solid strategy to assault the key ridge on Map 76. In addition, they have an initiative advantage that played out with them having first crack 12 of the 14 turns, often with multiple action segments. The German OBA, despite being less than half that of the Americans, was much more effective due to some great die results and the strong German morale. While it plays out with some historical accuracy, this scenario is very tough for the US player to maintain enough points to even get a draw. The final results of this contest were as follows (American/German): Steps lost, 17/4; 40-meter hill control, 1/24 hexes; 60-meter hill control, 0/5 hexes. This resulted in a point total of 56-5 for a Major German Victory.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	plloyd1010
Play Date	2022-02-19
Language	English
Scenario	AAAD012

This was a 4-session, online play-through with me as the Germans and my indefatigable mentor commanding the US Army's 18th Infantry Regiment. The Americans setup a fine defensive position atop Djelb el Ahmera -- Longstop, or Hill 290 on board 76 and awaited the Teutonic wave to wash across the ravine that separates that hill from the lower hill in the southwest corner of board 77 (Djebel el Rhar, Hill 243).

Fierce and desperate fighting ensued that featured some remarkably accurate US Army OBA, as well as decent German combat & morale die rolls -- the latter, being rather unusual for me. Both sides drew decent leaders, and dug-in US M-2 .50 Browning heavy machine guns were as deadly as expected. Slowly, the 3-pronged Axis attack pushed the American line into a smaller-and-smaller area on Longstop through a series of close assaults and short-range direct fire episodes. The fog of war rule shortened 3 turns of the 13 played which significantly slowed the German's left flank (northern) attack that was seeking to eliminate the US on-board artillery contingent to the west of Longstiop. In all, Americans step losses were 27, and the Germans lost 13.

The Final score was: Germans 65; and the Americans; 20, resulting in a major German victory. Our play-through was a pretty accurate depiction of what actually happened on 23 December 1942: American bravery proving no match for German numbers and fire support. This accurate, but unbalanced scenario was quite fun to play for the German side, and not much fun for the US side. I give it a rating of 2.