August 2, 1944: Elements of the 23d Hussars and The Rifle brigade prepare to attack to seize Chenedolle, SW of Caen, where KG Weiss of the 9th SS Panzer Division has just established a hasty defense. Entering the map has already proved problematical as the Germans have two Tiger platoons forward.

Hour by hour reports from the field:

1430 hrs August 2, 1944: The Brits infiltrate an FO who calls in smoke to block one of the Tiger platoons which displaces to the west (north is to your right) but he fails to smoke the other Tiger platoon. The Brits move out and one section of Shermans is shot up by the tigers but one Sherman and a Firefly platoon make it into the cover of the fields. The Brit infantry, in their American half-tracks, move out. A reinforced company makes it into the fields but a traffic snafu holds up the rest of the battalion. The Tommies start out on the wrong foot.

1530 hrs August 2, 1944: The Brits press forward through the fields, dismounting the infantry to take the lead. The Tommies aggressively push towards the Tigers with Shermans and Fireflys in overwatch. Not wanting to eat PIATs and without infantry support, the Tigers pull back. But one Tiger platoon is caught in the open and destroyed by 17 pounder Armour Piercing rounds from the Fireflys. But return AT Gun fire from Chenedolle kill a section of Fireflies. The Brits liberate two towns and move up to attack positions for the assault on Chenedolle. (score right now is 17 German to 15 British)

1630 hrs 2 August 1944: With a feint on the German right flank (east) and good use of smoke, the Brits are able to collapse the German left and gain a foot hold in Chenedolle. But they took some Sherman and infantry casualties getting there but manage to shoot up many German half-tracks. Three turns left to go and the Brits have a precarious lead. A Sherman section, caught east of the town, is vulnerable to the remaining Tiger platoon, but the Brits may have the strength to wrest more of the town from the SS. This issue is not yet decided.

1715 hrs 2 August 1944: The last 45 minutes of fighting were brutal as the British troops pressed into Chenedolle taking more of the town. But in typical fashion, the SS infantry counterattacks and contests the British gains. The lone Tiger platoon maneuvers through the town and manages to kill many Shermans that scrambled to get away from the big cat's guns. The fighting (and score) goes back and forth to the bitter end withe SS eking out a victory 25 to 23.

This was one of the most exciting PG scenarios I've played. It was see-saw right down to the end with either side having a chance to win. Most of the game played like a Panzerblitz/Panzer Leader scenario where positioning and maneuver are more important than combat. This was due to the lethality and range of the Tigers and Fireflys. And the ponderous Tigers played into that too making each turn a puzzle of stay or withdraw.

This was played over Skype with Alan Sawyer. We needed one to fit into just one session due to us being unable to link up for a few weeks thereafter. As it was my turn to choose the game, I simply picked one from the Black SS Series that Alan had been picking out earlier. These depict the Hohenstaufen Division against the British in August 44. We'd only played the bigger ones to date, so I thought this would fill a nice little gap

In the end the game went down to the last turn, and although the points may appear to have a bigger gap than that, it may have been a lot closer had the other player won the final turn 12 initiative ... Who knows ? But for competitive play, this gets a sturdy '4'. Good rating for a small battle

Arriving just outside Chenedolle about 2.30pm, Weiss’ Tigers took position on the sole piece of high-ground over-looking the vast farmland area that the British were expected to advance upon. Within minutes, Tommies could be seen foot-slogging it towards the fields, whilst their M3 half-tracks and Shermans cautiously brought up the rear. Battle was signaled when one of Weiss’ tanks opened up on a platoon of mortars being transported by half-track at a range of about 1000m. Destruction was instant and the British force quickly scrambled for the cover of the wheat fields. The rest of the company sized Kampfgruppe had deployed forward of Chenedolle, in small hamlets and on crossroads. The idea being to avoid allowing the British troops and superior numbers (albeit inferior tanks) to swamp Chenedolle early on. The plan was to hold them up as long as possible further out and then retire back to the better cover of Chenedolle where time would then be much more against the enemy.

For the next hour it was all manouvre as the Allied troops picked a route through the fields. Never being allowed to rush out as the 88mm guns of the Tigers preyed down on all before them and the cannily positioned SS Grenadiers and HMG’s made a swift advance treacherous. At 3.30pm, the British suddenly pushed forward at one of the west flank outlying hamlets guarded by an SS platoon. Sending numerous M3’s and foot troops, the SS Grenadiers shot out tyres and then the bailing crews. With a few Tiger rounds crashing down too, three whole M3 platoons were churned into twisted metal in the attack. Despite this, the British infantry and more M3’s managed to force out the SS infantry and these defenders pelted down the road southwards toward Chenedolle, but still in good order. Meanwhile, on the eastern flank, a company of British infantry made a slow probe around the hill that contained the Tiger tanks. At the same time, the British force began to put weight against the enemy centre, forcing the Germans to consider covering Chenedolle before the Allies burst through the outskirts of the wheat fields.

By 4.15pm, the Germans had all but vacated their original line having held it for just under 2 hours (7 turns), now they needed to hurriedly set up a cogent defence of Chenedolle, and this was allowed to take shape as the Tigers continued to harass and destroy ubiquitous M3 platoons continually pushing ahead in aggressive recon duties. The British also belatedly sent two complete squadrons on a wide flanking move on the western flank which perhaps should have been tried earlier? The Tigers tried a salvo of long range shots, but missed completely. With these British tanks about to press from this flank, it was time for the Tigers to vacate the hill as well and head for the Chenedolle tool. The only German AT battery located to the rear also belted out a salvo to score points on some M3’s that sped toward the outskirts of Chenedolle, but this battery was then very quickly destroyed by British OBA. By 4.45pm (turn 9), the last frantic moves and strikes were being acted out as the British became desperate to get a toe-hold in Chenedolle.

The Germans were forced to switch and double-switch in the town, as well as leave a few forlorn hopes along the main thoroughfares all in the name of stalling the final British attack. A lone Firefly platoon had clanked round to the rear of the village perhaps in an effort to steal a part of it late on. Unfortunately for them, the Tigers had latched onto this move, and in one quick volley, the Fireflys were erased, along with I believe any further British hopes of victory. Thereafter, the Germans could breathe more easily and a few minutes later the British attack wilted away back into the fields and Sturmbannfuhrer Weiss had sealed his Tigers a victory. (Points: British 12, German 26)

With a short window of play, Vince Hughes suggested Black SS #6 Tigers Roar. At first glance, those German SS Tigers look nasty against Shermans, but it did prove interesting. The British have a larger armored column moving on board while a German Kampfgruppe has occupied the town and hills surrounding it. Morale and OBA favor the British, but the dominance of the Tigers is significant. With difference of +3 in AT firepower, +4 in armor strength and +2 in range the Shermans cannot face off with the Tigers. As the British, it made the fight harder, but did make significant gains on the Germans positions using maneuver rather than a direct fight.

To start the British, infantry move dismounted down the road to try to can the road junction while the Shermans and M3's head for the fields to cover their advance. Without German OBA the infantry have a little freedom of movement to try to position on the tanks, but German GREN's will try to screen the Tigers from infantry attacks. Initially, the Tigers score long range hits on M3's including one with the 3in mortars and they are knocked out early. The infantry continue to pick their way forward through the fields and roads. This give the Germans something to think about as they have less units to hold back the British force. The British gain the fields in the center of the board and force the Germans to move back from their defensive positions on the 20m hill to the east of the board. This allows a British company to capture the eastern town and use this to potentially attack the 20m hill. German Tigers still command the hill but retire back a hex to cover the Shermans posed to dash from the fields to the west of the board.

British infantry move up to attack the western town occupied by two German GRENs and a OSFTR. M3's lead the advance and pay for it with German OP fire eliminating two of them. But two more are able to move up and position right next to the two along with RIF units look to assault the town. The Germans, in a better part of valor, retire from the town to form a stronger defense in the larger southern town. The British seeing the movement look to dash units to the town before the Germans get their defense established, but MG42 teams OP on the advancing infantry disrupting and demoralizing them. A lone LT and M3 make it to the outskirts of the town. The German AT gun opens on the M3 and it is destroyed. The LT, all alone, calls in OBA on the AT and disrupts it. The German line holds and the LT is chase away from the town by an SPW251.

Back in the northern fields the British Shermans figure out an option to get into the fight. They will back track through the fields to get out of range of the Tiger 88's and advance down the board edge, taking there chances with long range OP fire. This is enough to dislodge the German Tigers from the hill. They retire to the town to become a central part of the defense. This gives the quick Firefly a chance to dash to the 20 hill where the German AT gun was just destroyed by at fire. Gaining a toehold on the hill gives the German defense something to think about. With the Tigers off the hill the Shermans can use their speed to race across the board and try to strike at some SPW251's holding up the British infantry in the eastern town. This retires the SPW251's to the town as well.

Looking to knock out a lone leader the Firefly dashes toward the town but the OSTFR gets away, but now the Firefly is behind the town looking for targets. British infantry looks to move up against the town after the German 81mm mortar is destroyed by OBA. But German MG42 fire slows the advance and they consolidate a defense of the town. On the final turn the British look to gain some town hexes but come up short. Final score 26 Germans 12 British.

The game was closer than the score tells as most of the British casualties we the M3's that I used to sacrifice as scouts and targets to tempt the Tigers. The Germans were forced from their initial defensive lines to consolidate in the main town and the British had much of the freedom of movement toward the end of the game. But the Germans had enough fight left to defend so they take the day.

Black SS, Scenario #6, The Tigers Roar.

Short on time presently but still wanting to play a PG new scenario from Black SS, I picked this one. After all it had Tiger tanks, was 12 turns, one map board and low counter density. Victory points were dependent on two things for both sides; enemy steps eliminated and town hexes controlled.

The major problem is, the Germans get to setup first on the southern part of the map board where most of the town hexes are, so the British are forced on to offensive when they arrive right away, or they will lose on town hex points right away. There is a small off board artillery support but not enough to move those German units out of town and those Tiger tanks can just wait in town, getting an additional -1 AT modifier against those poor Sherman Tanks.

I tried to push my British Infantry in first with Halftrack support but even though they out number the German Infantry two to one, it’s not enough, as they get exposed rushing for the major town hexes and the German have 16 point of Mortar fire, 3 INF & and a nasty HMG unit combine with the Direct fire of two platoons of Tiger tanks. They were not able to tie the Tiger Tanks down long enough for the Shermans to take them out. The Firefly Sherman got knocked off first in fact, before it could fire a shot and I used the up gun version from the AP web-site below. I guess as the British player, one satisfying thing, they managed to knockout one step one of Tiger platoon, with the crossfire bonus but lost most of their Shermans in the process.

The Final result was a German victory. Germans 50 points, British 16 points.

Interesting note, when you mix the counters from Beyond Normandy, which are thin and those from Black SS, which are thick, the stacks have different sizes.

I really wanted to play #11 Perrier Ridge, that looks very interesting and balanced and should be next on my play list!

http://www.avalanchepress.com/pdf/UpgunnedFirefly_BN.pdf

This is a fun small scenario. For the British it's all about how to deal with two fearsome Tiger platoons. The Germans are mostly on the defensive and will do well to make the British come to them --- that makes it a good one for solitaire play.

While the British have a lot of Sherman tanks, they are fairly useless anywhere the Tigers can spot them. It seems like the Brits have two options when dealing with the Tigers: try to pin them down with infantry and perhaps eliminate them in an assault, or swarm with weaker tanks in the hope of getting some hits while loosing several of your own.

*This was a quick playing scenario but I really had to think hard about how to setup the Germans and how to bring the British on the north edge of the map as well. I placed my Tigers and some supporting Infantry forward of the village Chenedolle in the woods and a small town hex just south of the east-west road and the rest of the German forces in Chanedolle with on mortar in the hill adjacent. The British would now have to go around the forest on the Germans left and as they were pretty much covered everywhere else.

*The British had to fight their way dismounted from their halftracks and the British armor waited for their brother Sherman tank reinforcements to arrive before they took on the Tigers, which really blocked their path. Once this happened, all the Sherman’s including the Firefly charged forward hoping to activate first next turn as the Germans had already fire their steel beasts. But with all good plans, things didn’t go as planned and the Germans activated first and pretty much shot up the spread out Sherman tank column before they could apply that cross-fire modifier.

*From here on, nothing went the British way, not the dice rolls for sure! The only highlight was taking out one step of German Infantry in an assault. Once the British armor was pretty much taken care of, the German Tigers rejoined their Infantry to help them out with some trouble spots of British Infantry and to blow up a few more halftracks. This was a German victory, no doubt about it.

Played in one session lasting less then 5 hours against Tony Langston using Skype. This scenario see an outnumbered SS battle group attacked by a strong combined force of British Sherman's, M3's and RIF units. The German though have two Tiger platoons to aid in their defense of town hexes on board 31. As the German commander I chose to hold a line across the middle of the board anchoring it with a tiger platoon on each flank. The plan was to hold up the British advance for as long as possible then withdraw to the large town to the south to make a stand. The Brits advance on to the board using the large fields as cover, a lucky MTR shot did slow the a RIF platoon down but what really messed up the Brigades advance was the good old fog of war, with the first 2 game turns ending very quickly this in effect turned a 12 turn scenario into a 10 turn scenario. Tony to his credit stuck with his game plan, and st one stage managed to set up some flanking shots on the Tiger's but long range and elevation made these very tough shots and the Brit tanks having missed did not get a second chance as the Tigers replied with accurate fire and brewed up several Sherman's and a Firefly. With that success the Germans bugged out to the second line and then waited to the assault. The British commander divided his forces into two flanking groups, this though took up more precious time but eventually the attack went in. In fact German defensive fire was not very accurate and the Brits closed up to the town just losing a couple more Sherman's and an M3 half-track. This led to the British getting a toehold into the main town but the SS held firm and even counterattacked. With night looming the British commander called the attack off, this gave the SS unit a chance to slip away having once again increased the fearsome reputation of the Tiger tank. Although not Tony's fault this scenario was just a little too one sided to rate more than a 3. As the German commander I did not need to do a lot but "watch and shoot" as the British troops have to cover a lot of ground in front of those Tigers.

The Tigers Roar, Black SS #6, is an intriguing scenario that pits a British battalion with Armored support, attacking an SS company defending a town, though the SS have two platoons of Tigers, making this a tough nut to crack. This scenario was played in a single session against Wayne Baumber and the task I had ahead of me was a difficult one.

SETUP

The SS began with setting up two groups of a leader, GREN and SPW unit in the two satellite towns, northeast and northwest of the large town supported by Tigers on each flank. I setup the British infantry to move down the road between the fields with the M3 APCs and the 3 inch mortar platoon, moving through the fields east of the north-south road. A Sherman and the Firefly was to move up on the east side of the hill with the other Sherman flanking the infantry on the west. We could possibly expect a company of Shermans to reinforce our attack within the first 15 - 45 minutes after our advance. Our plan was to attempt to wrest the two-hex town and possibly engage one of the tigers in assault so that the Shermans and Firefly could be brought in for cross-fire attacks before the other Tiger could get into the fray from the other side of the battlefield. After neutralizing one tiger, the infantry would then sweep into the town and hope to gain a foothold in order to require the Tiger to get into a city battle, a situation favorable to the British advance.

BATTLE

The British movement started off well, with the infantry moving in formation down the road and the APCs and tanks moving according to plan. However, the timetable was cut extremely short as the first two turns ended after the first Fog of War roll. As the British emerged from the fields along the road, German 81mm mortars disrupted and demoralized several platoons, delaying the advance for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the Shermans and firefly got into position to potentially allow for cross-fire attacks, which they did, but could not seal the deal. Rolls of 11 and 10 on the first shots with the Sherman which needed a 12 to step-loss the Tiger and rolls of 4 and 5 where an 11 was needed by the Firefly attempting the cross-fire shot nullified the attack. After this, the tiger dispatched half the Sherman and Firefly platoons and then proceeded to move back to defend the larger town to the south. After recovering the platoons, the British split into two smaller task forces to attempt to move in from both sides while the tanks kept moving around trying to find a way to approach the town without coming into view of the deadly Tigers.

Despite sporadic bombardments and maneuvering, The British felt that time was slipping away as they could not inflict any casualties; They had been able to secure the satellite towns but at a cost of several Shermans and M3s. Finally with about an hour and fifteen minutes left on their timetable, The British rushed to the hill just west of the large town with the Germans laying down heavy opportunity fire. In the east, the British infantry and M3s with Shermans crested the small hill southwest of town and ready for a final assault. Despite overwhelming firepower coming from the combined efforts of the GRENs, HMGs and SPWs located in the town, the British were able to break into town but ultimately were not able to gain a definite foothold on either side of town. Turn 12 came and went with 2 hexes of the town being contested with 5 firmly in German hands.

AFTERMATH

The British effort was doomed from the start as mentioned before, the first two turns ended after 7 activations. With time severely cut short, attempting to plan a methodical advance with maneuver would be out of the question as time would not permit it. In discussion with Wayne during and after the game, we did say that although not impossible, the British player would be hard-pressed to defeat the SS, with very little onboard or off board artillery support. It was an interesting scenario and fun to play as it was a challenge to find a way to break through the Tiger Perimeter and make the assaults to get the points necessary for victory.

Final tally: German 28 VP, British 11 VP.

Town hexes: British: 3, German: 5, In contention: 2

Step losses: British: 7 Sherman, 1 Firefly, 1 M3, 1 RIF, German: 1 GREN, 1 SPW