Este combate tiene lugar en pleno macizo de Cassino. Los alemanes atacan las posiciones americanas en Snakeshead Ridge y las cotas 603 y 593. Los alemanes atacan a lo largo de la vertiente oeste de la colina. Enseguida se producen los asaltos. Los alemanes, más numerosos, se concentran sobre puntos aislados. Los alemanes emplean la táctica de asaltar algunos hexes sin posibilidades de éxito para inmovilizar al enemigo y evitar el fuego de oportunidad. Esta táctica funciona bastante bien y permite a los alemanes concentrar sus asaltos sobre la cota 593, que acaban conquistando.

Los americanos se defienden bien. Van cediendo terreno haciendo pagar su precio en sangre. La cota 603 se mantiene al final en manos americanas in extremis. El resultado final es ajustado. Los alemanes tienen 10 steps de bajas. Los americanos 11. Los alemanes han conseguido algo de terreno en Snakeshead Ridge, además de la cota 593. Hay una diferencia de 4 VP que da una victoria menor a los alemanes.

Este escenario podría parecer monótono y poco interesante a primera vista. No hay cruce de ríos, ni tanques, ni campos de minas. Sin embargo, si se sigue la historia de esta campaña en cada una de sus acciones, este escenario - y en general este módulo de "Cassino 44"- cobra valor por su realismo.

I am playing through all the Cassino 44 scenarios in order with a friend of mine. I am playing the allies and he the axis. Up until scenario 8 it has been the same story for each game. Whether its that stinking rapido with its minefields and killing lanes or the mountain itself providing dug in opportunity fire and always strike first in assault, the Germans shoot and the Americans take morale checks. Now the tables were turned. The American had high ground and the Germans were scrambling over an up the rocky slopes under artillery fire. How fitting that an artillery round swung the game. On the first turn the Germans used their bombardment, mortars and hmg's to soften up the American position while moving up with the grenadiers. 2 US infantry teams became disrupted and 2 grenadiers also but the big news was the IG became demoralized from the artillery barrage. The second turn saw another round of artillery and mortars which had no effect due in large part to a 10-0-1 leader centrally positioned on the American line aiding in morale checks. But not to be outdone the Germans had a 10-2-2 Major who now moved up - only one more hex to get into assault range for 4 stacks of grenadiers. American op fire was not affective this round but the IG failed its morale check. Turn three saw the Germans shooting first to soften the targets again and then advancing with 2 stack on the northern side of snakehead ridge and 2 on the east side, which was lightly guarded. Now we are at the high water mark of the German assault. Op fire disrupted the HMG stacked with the German Major and 2 Grenadiers on the east side became disrupted also. Then the American artillery took aim at the Major and rolled a 2. The grenadier and HMG were flipped for the 2X and the Major failed his check and was disrupted as well as the HMG and Grenadier. The Germans needed to regroup. Unfortunately the bottom fell out. The American won the initiative roll by one and combined direct fire on the Major and his troops getting an X result. The Grenadier was removed and the HMG filed its check and was removed and not to be outdone the Major failed his loss leader check. The Germans mad one last attempt after sitting for a turn and were defeated in the ensuing assault and the American controlled every hex on Snakeshead ridge. Boy it was sure fun to do the shooting as opposed to the being shot at.

Decided to break out Cassino '44 finally and first, a special mention for the maps. Absolutely stunning and I wish there was a way to buy all the maps in the Panzer Grenadier series with the over-sized hexes.

I played the Americans defending against the incoming German assault. Germans won pretty handily (it was basically over at the end of the first hour), but I feel that's more due to my poor initial setup and some good German dice rolling than it is because of scenario imbalance.

As the Americans, I put my HMGs on the two peaks and spread the rest of my forces along Snakehead Ridge. A few of my leaders were of the 0-0 bonus variety so they didn't help much. Germans set up according to the scenario rules and moved quickly to occupy the farm with mortar support, a few turns of 20 artillery, and some pretty large differences between our initiative rolls.

The Germans then moved some units behind a ridge to block LOS and approach relatively close to the base of Snakehead Ridge. Some more mortar and artillery pounding softened the Americans up enough to approach. Here's where my placement and failure to respond doomed the Allies. By keeping my HMGs on the peaks, one ended up getting left out of the fight as the Germans flanked around the other side. They managed to quickly get in close with enough units in enough different hexes that I couldn't disrupt or demoralize enough of them to stop the advance.

Hope to try this one again now that I've seen it in action. I know there are quite a few things I would do differently the second time around. All in all, a really fun scenario despite my poor showing with the Allies.