This is quick little scenario that can be played in about two hours. The Germans are attacking the town in 0604, the Americans need to deny the Germans the town. With the setup, the Americans stack all 3 units in 0604. This give the maximum defense for the town. Although the Germans will get the +1 shift for stacked units, the town benefits out weight the shift. The Germans "enter" by rolling for units, so they are slow to develop the attack.

In my play, the Germans are slow to get units on the board. It is turn 5 by the time there is enough units to start the assault. The Germans move out with 3 GRENs, HMG, ENG, Captain, and Lt. As they move up they try to move into hedgerows but some Op fire disrupts the attacks. By turn eight, the German mortars move on and give the Germans some firepower against the Americans. German direct fire has been weak and assaults can't be attempted. Mortars pound the town and demoralizes the 57mm AT gun, but the paratroops hold strong. American reinforcements move on to try to counterattack the Germans. By turn 15 the German have attacked 3 times but have been repulsed three times without an assault. German mortars finally score a demoralization on the town defenders but the German GREN's are out of position and the Americans rally. The game ends with the Americans holding 0604 and several German steps are killed. An American win.

Panzer Grenadier: Airborne Introductory Edition

Scenario 13 – Crossroads Defense

6 June 1944

Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 505th Regiment occupied Ste. Mere-Eglise in the early morning hours of D-Day. North of the town, in the village of Neuville-au-Plain, Lt. Turner B. Turnbull’s 3rd Platoon of Company D, reinforced with 2 57mm anti-tank guns, took up defensive positions. Attacked by a reinforced German company, Turnbull’s platoon was the only obstacle in the path of the northern wing of the two German forces attempting to retake Ste. Mere-Eglise.

Game Length: 18 turns

First Turn: 1030

German OOB

The Germans start with only 1 unit and leader on the board, with the others entering randomly. They have a small force of GREN, with HMG, ENG and 81mm mortar support.

American OOB

The Americans have only a platoon and a half of PARA with some immobile AT guns. They also get one platoon of reinforcements randomly late in the game.

Victory Conditions

The Germans have to take Neuville-au-Plain and exit units from the board. The Americans have to stop them or kill off a bunch of Germans.

Deployment and Turns 1-3

The Americans set up both PARA in 0506 with a 9-0-1 2nd LT. The 57mm AT gun and a 10-1-1 1st LT set up in Neuville-au-Plain (0604).

The Germans start a GREN and an 8-1-1 LT in 0509.

This is pretty straightforward scenario, the Germans need to take that town and have numerical superiority and roughly equal troop strength. However, they also need enough units to make sure that 2 can bypass the town, or that they eliminate the Americans early enough that they can just waltz off the map.

On turn 1, an 81mm mortar and 2 GREN platoons arrive. On turn 2 the Engineers and HMG join the party. The Germans start moving to 0607, using cover to mask their advance on the town. The US responds by sending the reduced PARA to 0604. Both German leaders from the reinforcements arrive on turn 3, allowing a general advance to start (1 leader stays behind to direct future reinforcements). The US pulls the full strength platoon back to 0604 and sends the reduced strength platoon to 0804 to help protect against an end-run.

Turns 4-6

No German reinforcements arrive on turn 4 and the attack force closes on the town. The ENG and an 8-0-0 LT are disrupted by opportunity fire. Turn 5 also sees no German reinforcements. Fire from 0604 against the approaching Germans results in an M which all the Germans pass. The Germans return fire and demoralize the 2nd LT and disrupt the PARA. Worried about losing the town, the US recalls the reduced strength PARA and 1st LT to 0604. The German mortar, ineffective to this point, limbers for movement. On turn 6, the US attempts to recover, and the 2nd LT decides that he’s had enough of this war and deserts! The PARA recovers, and the reduced strength PARA disrupts a GREN at the same time.

The Germans then assault the town with 2 x GREN and the ENG. This puts the defending PARA on the 9 column and the Germans on the 18. The US rolls a 2 for an M, the Germans a 4 for a step loss. The US eliminates the 57mm. Everybody passes morale.

Turns 7 – 9

The assault continues on turn 7 with the US now on the 9 column and the Germans on 18. The Germans roll a 5 for a step loss and the US rolls a 1 for a step loss. The Germans reduce a GREN, the LT leading the attack is disrupted, and one of the full strength GREN is demoralized. The US eliminates the reduced strength PARA, and everyone passes morale. The last 2 German units enter the board.

There is a small let-up in the action on turn 8, as the Germans recover from the morale hits. The Demoralized GREN recovers to Disrupted, the reduced strength GREN retreats. It is replaced by a full strength GREN which promptly assaults. Both sides are now on the 9 column. The Germans miss, but the US gets an M1 results which disrupts the GREN and ENG. This leads to a lull on turn 9 as the Germans recover from disruption.

Turns 10-12

A reduced strength GREN and the 81mm mortar exit the map at 0501, so the Germans just have to take 0604 to win the game, and they have everything in their favor; Time, numbers and equivalent morale (at least for full strength units). However, the gods of luck do not smile upon them on turn 10, as they roll a 3 on the 18 column for an M2, while the Americans roll another 6 for another German step loss. Both US units are disrupted but recover. The Germans reduce another GREN platoon, and all units pass morale.

On turn 11, the Germans replace the reduced strength GREN with a full strength one and attack again, this time they get an M1 while the Americans get an M2, disrupting a German LT, ENG and GREN. The US reinforcements show up on turn 11 and heads to 0702. On turn 12 it dashes to 0704 surviving opportunity fire from the Germans as it crosses open ground. Meanwhile, there is no assault as the Germans recover from the turn 11 disruptions.

Turns 13-15

The Germans grab the initiative on turn 13 and fire at the potential reinforcements but miss. The PARA enters 0604, and now the assault has the Germans on the 18 column and the US on the 13 column. Plus there are now 4 US steps to eject, and only 6 turns left. Both sides roll a 1 on turn 13, a miss for the US, and an M result for the Germans that the Americans shrug off. Things don’t change much on turn 14, with the US rolling a 1 again. The Germans improve to 3 and get an M1 which demoralizes a PARA which quickly recovers to disrupted.

On turn 15, the US has the initiative and the now disrupted PARA recovers to full strength, so we’re back on an 18-13 assault. Both sides get an M2. All of the US units pass, while the Germans have an LT and GREN demoralized and another GREN disrupted.

Turns 16-18

The German LT flees, and the other units recover on turn 16. The German CAPT comes to town to lead the troops, but there is no assault. Things are suddenly looking bleak for the Germans. The Germans assault on turn 17, even though one GREN is still disrupted, so both sides are on the 13 column. Both roll 3s for M1 results. The net result is the disruption of a 9-1-0 1st LT who does not recover. The final assault happens on turn 18. The Germans roll a 4 for an M2, the US rolls a 2 for an M. The German ENG is disrupted. However, BOTH PARA units roll lousy and are demoralized. If the fail their recovery rolls, the Germans will win when they flee! The first one flees! The second one rolls a 4 and recovers to disrupted, remaining in town and earning the US a draw.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun little scenario that swung both ways. The Germans got their reinforcements a little earlier faster than expected, which helped them make an early assault on the town. The assaults were effective and the Americans were hanging on by a thread. And the seeming German superiority encouraged me to send 2 weak units off board early. Then the luck changed to favor the US, as their reinforcement entered on the 1st available turn and survived German opportunity fire to reinforce the town. In retrospect, having even those 2 weak units still on board to channel the reinforcement or at least get more shots at it would have helped the Germans, and I got overconfident.

The die rolls and great PARA morale really helped keep the town in American hands until the reinforcements arrived, and lousy German die rolls kept them in the game. Still, on turn 18 the Germans finally got a decent result and almost seized victory from the jaws of defeat.

This is a nicely replayable scenario, probably playing in 30 minutes to an hour when one isn’t busy writing down everything that happened.

Historical Conclusion

Turnbull’s platoon was reduced to 16 men before being forced from Neuville-au-Plain late in the afternoon. By preventing the German northern attack force from reaching Ste. Mere-Eglise, they had allowed the defenders to deal with the southern force. The pivotal crossroads was held and the Germans had to be content with occupying the ground between Ste. Mere-Eglise and Utah beachhead.

US set up troops in town at 0604 and the 57mm AT gun north of the town with a LOS to 0509. The Germans set up with a leader and HMG in 0509. Early on the Germans used the hedgerows as cover to advance the HMG and other units toward 0604 while the German 81mm mortar bombarded the US AT position. Eventually the German mortars eliminated the US guns and all German units moved toward 0604. While one German platoon moved toward the southern edge in an attempt to exit the map, the remaining German units advanced to just outside the GI held town. The Germans exited the required two steps from hex 0501, but when the game ended hex 0604 was occupied by both sides, meaning the game was a draw. The US reinforcements never arrived as the Americans never rolled the required 10+. This was a fun little scenario that could easily swing either way depending on when/if the US troops arrive.

Note- first game in ages with my buddy Liverpool Dave, good times, good times!

Pregame

Liverpool Dave just got back from... Liverpool. We met up in the local German bar to catch up over a few pints. Always keen for an opportunity for face to face play, I tossed my PG kit together and grabbed Airborne. Of the scenarios I'd yet to play, this one seemed perfect for a quick go at the pub.

Offered choice of sides, Liverpool Dave took the Americans on account of how he woz a lil rustay an' woz goin laet mae du most tah the work, yah see?

It made sense in context - the Americans are holed up in a one-hex town and have to hold out against the trickle of Germans for 18 turns.

Opening Moves

The Germans start with only one officer and one unit (player's choice) on the board. I went with my CAPT and HMG, figuring those dudes are a bit slow so best to get them in place as early as I can.

For each subsequent unit, on the start of every turn, the German player rolls 2D6 - if you're 9 or better that unit comes on. I did pretty well at this, save one of my LTs who never even showed up, I had most of my men in place by turn 4.

Pounce

Some careless ultra-low odds fire from the Americans in the town left the Germans with an opening, and they dashed up to the edge of the town, arrayed across 3 adjacent hexes. Liverpool Dave won the next initiative roll and shot the crap out of one of my 2 x GREN stacks, but only one platoon hit the deck disrupted.

The stack adjacent to the right was my Captain, HMG, and ENG spoiling for an assault. The stack adjacent to the left was 2 x GREN with no stinkin' leaders!

They opened fire at point blank range and rolled snake-eyes. This slaughtered the 57mm AT, flipped one of the PARAs, and blew the forehead off a 10-1-1 Captain. Given an opening the size of Churchill's belly, the Captain, HMG, and ENG dove in to finish the job.

Conclusion

By turn 9 it was all over. One German LT had failed to appear, and the Americans never got a chance to try and roll for their reinforcements.

To my surprise, I'm recording the first German win for this scenario. Clearly the 2d6 = 2 helped a lot, but the Germans still have a pretty damn solid force advantage. I suppose others have had trouble getting them all into place?

I rated this a 4 because it was perfectly suitable for the need - we wanted something small, quick, but still interesting to play while we enjoyed a few pints and shot the breeze. From set up to take down it took about an hour (and 2 pints). A PG Quickie!

Many of these very small scenarios come down to an extended assault on a particular location. This one featured an assault which began on turn 4 and lasted through turn 18. Both sides had turns where no combat occurred as morale recoveries needed to be achieved, but slowly the Germans began to gain the upper hand. Unbelievably the Americans managed to cause several casualties on the Germans early on, only beginning to take losses themselves in the last five turns.

On turn 18 the last step of Americans were finally driven from the town. The late arriving reinforcements were able to counter attack to get back into the town but the Germans, having spent over 3 hours gaining control of the town, were in no mood to fight for it all over again. The entire platoon of Americans was chased away and the Germans, having previously sent 50 men off the board took a well earned victory.

Not a lot happening but a great training scenario for learning assault combat with reserves. The German needs to carefully reinforce the assault hex and consider closely the time to run troops off the board. I give it a "4" for the tension and decisions required on the German side.

The 18 turns of this scenario passed by very quickly. The Germans charged the American postions in the town and dug-in adjacent to it. At first the Germans take a step loss from opportunity fire and lose a LT but they keep getting reinforcements each turn, pouring out their occupied town in the north. An assault is first made the dug-in para unit -eliminated; then the other American units in the town -eliminated. At 12:45, the start of turn 10, there are no American units on the map and the Germans have already exited the 2 required steps. Even more humiliating was that the German leader that led both the assaults was a LT with a mere 6-0-0 rating. The one platoon of reinforcing Paras finally arrives at 13:30/turn 14, outnumbered over 4-1 with no units to reinforce. They go through the motions of attacking and are fortunate enough to just become demoralized from opportunity fire and flee back south from where they arrived.

I suppose that this scenario has the potential to go either way but in my play the Germans got their reinforcements soon enough to mount a successful attack and were very lucky in doing so. In most cases they would probably get mowed down and left in a bad state of morale after charging the American postions and not have been as successful. But in this case they were able to shrug off that step and leader loss and follow through. I suppose that for once it paid off being reckless with the German attack and not waiting for all their forces to arrive before making an assault. I rate this a '2' from my solo play but sure that other plays will have varying outcomes and ratings. Perhaps better as a shared play?

Battle: On D-Day, the 3rd platoon of the US 82nd Airborne D/3/505 Regiment held a key junction in Neuville-au-Plain north of Ste. Mere-Eglise. Elements of the 729th German Infantry Regiment advanced on the junction in mid-morning and opened fire at 1045. The Americans had a forward spotter in the woods, who was quickly overrun, and an infantry/artillery group holding the junction. By noon, the Germans were assaulting the troops at the junction, which they controlled by 1330. The only remaining American platoon was blocking the road south from the junction, but they were forced to withdraw by 1430, ceding the ground to the advancing Germans.

Analysis: This is an 18-turn daylight scenario with a small number of units for either side. In contrast to some of the other scenarios in the “Introductory Edition” that have a large number of turns with multiple unit types, this is truly an introductory scenario. Victory is achieved by hex control for both sides and a step-loss condition for the Americans or a unit exit condition for the Germans. The Americans have very few units with a small chance for reinforcements later in the scenario. In this case, those did not come until Turn 13. Meanwhile, the Germans received two additional units on the first turn and had all of their units before the Americans had any support. Hence, the Germans were able to storm the junction with relative impunity. Once they controlled that, exiting two steps proved relatively easy as the Americans only had a single unit for op fire. The end result was a German victory with the loss of a single step, as contrasted with four steps lost by the Americans.

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany
Play Date	2022-12-02
Language	English
Scenario	AirI013

This is another really quick micro scenario. I'm kind of surprised it was in the latter half of the scenario book, as those micro scenarios were mostly all in the first half, but thats neither here nor there.

Situation is a small group of American PARAs defending a town against a larger German attack that is staggered via reinforcement rolls. Those rolls really seem to determine the scenario. If they come quickly, they overrun the Americans with no difficulty and time to spare, as the effort includes ENG and HMG, with enough mortar support to be relevant. If they stagger too much, idk maybe its tougher? I'm not exactly sure how the Americans came out on top in so many other plays, but apparently they did.

My Americans deployed their 57mms in the town just to hold space while the paras deployed in firing positions in front of the road, behind the hedges. The hope was to interdict the German advance if they took the road for one turn and then fall back. If they did not take the road they could fall back anyways. It was only an attempt to gain a little extra value.

The Germans roll well for reinforcements, and avoid the American trap, and spend the extra couple turns to approach cautiously along the Western hedgeline, before reducing and assaulting the American position. Americans fell back as predicted and stacked the town. Ended up with a total board wipe of the Americans before their sole reinforcing platoon arrived.

As a true introductory scenario this does show a player how to take a town hex using engineers and supporting fire, but its #13 in the box so it doesnt really get that kind of brownie point. it would have been a stronger scenario #1 than the one included though IMO.