Juncture II Airborne #18 |
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(Defender) Germany | vs | United States (Attacker) |
Formations Involved | ||
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Germany | 352nd Infantry Division | |
United States | 327th Glider Infantry Regiment |
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Overall Rating, 4 votes |
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2.75
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Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
Parent Game | Airborne |
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Historicity | Historical |
Date | 1944-06-10 |
Start Time | 16:15 |
Turn Count | 13 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 17 |
Net Morale | 0 |
Net Initiative | 1 |
Maps | 3: 1, 3, 4 |
Layout Dimensions | 84 x 43 cm 33 x 17 in |
Play Bounty | 134 |
AAR Bounty | 159 |
Total Plays | 4 |
Total AARs | 3 |
Battle Types |
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Inflict Enemy Casualties |
Urban Assault |
Conditions |
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Off-board Artillery |
Reinforcements |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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Airborne | Base Game |
Eastern Front | Maps + Counters |
Introduction |
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After achieving contact, the glider company commander was taken to 29th Division HQ. Though the two divisions had linked up, many Germans still stood between them. Shortly afterwards the glidermen set out to return to Brevands, this time with an escort of six light tanks. |
Conclusion |
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Company A returned to Brevands to rejoin their division. On the return trip the glider troops encountered and destroyed six German machine gun nests. Rather than returning to England to refit for new parachute drops, the lightly-armed American airborne troops found themselves committed to ground fighting as elite infantry. |
Additional Notes |
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This scenario requires boards and a 37mm from Eastern Front. Per the Airborne Leaders Poll, the overwhelming conciseness was to use para leaders to command glider formations. |
AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle |
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2 Errata Items | |
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Scen 18 |
There are no Luftwaffe 20mm in Eastern Front or Airborne. Use Heer 20mm instead. (rerathbun
on 2012 Jan 30)
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The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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Juncture |
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This is a small, quick scenario that looks easy. The Germans get lucky rolls to begin and start with the HMG and the 20mm in the city on board 4. The Americans start down the road moving towards the town on board 1. The Germans get no reinforcement for several turns. The Americans advance along the road until within two hexes of the German defensive position. The initial German fire is ineffective, but a German GREN platoon and the 37mm enter along the south of board 4. American off board artillery immediately gets a 1x result of the 37mm, but the German position gets a disruption on the American main force. This force stays put and rallies. Meanwhile, the German GREN moves to reinforce the position in the town. The Americans being to circle the city, but the German position continues to cause morale checks on the Americans. It is now turn 9, and with only 4 turns to go, the Americans have 20 hexes to the city on board 1. There is no way to get there so the Germans win. |
0 Comments |
Better than the previous | ||||||||||||
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Okay, this is better than Juncture I. The forces are sufficient, the victory conditions clear and possible. In fact, during my play, it was actually close. With no starting German forces on the board the Americans were able to get through the town and move off road towards the town on board 1 very easy. The Germans managed to get everything but the Captain on the board over time, and eventually get together a strike force of the Grens (the HMG couldn't keep up) and reach the town and launch an assault against the Americans by the end. Earlier the 37mm had a bead on the tank, which had been holding leaderless Grens at bay and had backed off to extreme range for the 37mm. An incredibly lucky shot killed a step (counting double), demoralized the remaining step, which ran to the town for cover. The assault into the town was a desperate bid at getting the third step, but the Americans shredded part of the assault before it came in when they won the initiative. The resulting assault did not take out the third step, all American units were in the town, and the Americans won. My concern over the scenario, and the resulting rating of 2, is based on the total random appearance of every German unit. The American HMG, using the road, needs 11 of the 13 turns to reach the destination if there is no German on the board. The more direct overland route took 12 turns, and only because it passed every morale check inflicted by German OBA. If the Germans get even a single unit to set up in the town before the scenario starts, the odds of the HMG making destination are pretty much nil. So really the Germans only need to delay one other unit to force the draw. That's way too much random behavior. The Germans can start out strong, or non-existent, based on the way of some die rolls during set-up. I don't like that much randomness when the impact is that great. Oh, and the 20mm, if not rolled for in the set-up, cannot get on the board during a later turn as there is no transport. The only reason the Germans scored against the M5 is due to the early arrival of some hard working German gun crews pushing those things a long distance across part of board 1. Way better than J-I, but still not my cup of tea. Too random to earn the 3 it could have achieved. Given the set-up conditions for J-I and a couple more turns to give the American HMG a real chance and this scenario could be pretty good. Not surprised the Juncture scenarios didn't make the newer edition. |
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0 Comments |
An Easy Race for the Americans | ||||||||||||
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Like a previous reviewer, I found the scenario very much influenced by the luck of the dice. The Germans started with no units on the board. They got the 37mm on turn one and the 20mm and one Grenadier platoon on turn 2. Meantime, the Americans raced along the road from the town on board 3. The tank platoon went on ahead and took cover in the field nearest the town on board 1. The Germans got their last two platoons on in time to make it a race, but American artillery disrupted one and demoralized the other, putting them out of the scenario until very late. The remaining German platoon at least forced the American tanks out into the open, blocking the road so that the American platoons could beat them to the town. The German 37mm got some long-range shots at the tanks, but never got close to the 12 they needed to damage the Stuarts. German artillery did disrupt one and demoralize the other infantry platoon, but the demoralized unit promptly fled to the town. The disrupted unit recovered in time to make it into the town at the same time as the American machine gun unit. Two German platoons charged the town in desperation on the next-to-last turn, but lost three steps due to opportunity fire. The Americans had all their units in the town (one of them still demoralized) at the end of the game for the win. The scenario plays through very quickly due to the few units (especially the Germans early on), but it would be much better if the outcome wasn't so dependent on the dice for the German arrival. |
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0 Comments |