St Laurent, again ! The pressure definetely was on the Germans thanks to the battle game victory conditions. None of us cares about the scenario specific victory conditions since the the German player has to hold to the strongpoint to get any chance to win the battle game. He indeed already lost the strongpoint in scenario 1 and even if there are more German units around this time, it seems from the start that it will difficult. On the US side: 1 sherman platoon, 8 inf platoons, 2 HMGs, 2 81mm Mtr platoons and 2 X 18 of off-board artillery. Just one lucky artillery on the entrenchment (strongpoint) will probably be enough to win. I decide to advance rather carefully and build firestacks to kill him through direct fire also. One leader is running up the hill on the east to be able to spot anybody on the map and to direct the artillery and mortars. My "German" opponent chooses to abandon St Laurent and concentrates his forces around the strongpoint. Boom ! The US artillery demoralizes the HMG guys in the strongpoint ! The right time to attack : through the hedgerow, the sherman and infantry assault the guards (another HMG) covering the strongpoint. They kill half of the Germans but the sherman is demoralized and one infantry disrupted. Next turn, the US artillery succeeds to disrupt the other German units guarding the left flank of the strongpoint and most of the US infantry now advance to finish the good work. The Germans go berserk, reinforce the assault hex and hope for a quick kill. They get the worst of it : more Germans dead... St Laurent is controlled by the US and the German HMG finally leaves the strongpoint. American quick victory in just 6 turns. And now to the third and final scenario of the battle game. To win the battle, I just have to control the town on board 107. Otherwise it will be a draw.

After playing the intro game for this scenario we revisit as part of the "Omaha" Battle Game. This time around St. Laurent fell much sooner, and allowed the US forces to focus more time and effort on the entrenched German HMG position. The German setup left troops close by to reinforce, which they did and the US was never able to throw them out via an assault. The position was surrounded by disrupted and demoralized US and German troops, and was very much still being disputed at the end of the game.

After losing previous scenario, Americans needed to capture Strong Point WN67 to stay in battle game, so all forces was thrown there. It was captured pretty easily, but there was not enough time to take town too. US Army tried to do this without soften defenders with artillery fire, but failed with losses, it’s not good idea and generally not works. Anyway, looking forward to third scenario, with both sides still able to won first battle game.

The Strongpoint, being rather isolated from the best of the German defenses/units got taken out early in the scenario. The town, however, was a different story altogether. Seeing as how the remainder of the Germans could form in and around the town, the best that could be done is to attack with full strength units with at least two Co. "stacks" for each attack. By the time all was said and done, the Americans retreated to lick their wounds (to keep them from having to take more step losses). All in all, it was an American victory, but NOT a great one. (Note- fighting in the hedgerow country IS very difficult!)