This is Scenario 4 of Invasion 1944, labeled as Scenario 7 in PG-HQ because there are three introductory scenarios included with the game, intended to avoid brain-burn for new players by omitting some of the more difficult rules like full-raging Normandy hedgerows. (NOTE: I have ranted before about the inappropriateness of games with the most brain-burning special rules being the "Introductory" offerings; this was apparently AP's response). The Germans are actually Georgians from way out East forced to fight the Americans at Normandy. It shows up in the difference in Morale for the sides (US 8/6, G/G 7/5), but NOT in the leader distribution, which contains the usual amount of 9 or 10 morale 2 morale modifier German übermen. I have to wonder why the Georgians are listening to these guys...

Anyway, the Americans have 4 objectives: clear the main road, control the town on the road, and exit some number of steps, at least 6 to count as one objective and a total of at least 12 to count as two objectives. The US only fulfiling 1 or 2 objectives counts as a German victory of some level, and 3 or 4 count as American victories. The summary is that the American side won a Major Victory, exiting 17 steps in the last 3 turns and gaining both control objectives for 4 total. This happened despite the G/G side rolling an utterly riduculous number of 2s and 3s in first fire (defender Dug In) and other assault situations. So overall I would say the scenario strongly favors the US, but see below for some caveats.

The restriction that there is no leader activation or influence across Normandy hedgerow hexes creates a interesting geometric puzzle for getting your units to where they need to be. Well, sometimes a frustrating puzzle, but doing it right gives a sense of satisfaction!

I set up the defense forward, with my AT gun sighting down the main approach road, and backed up one hex behind with HMG supported by Ridiculous Morale Boy.

The early game is approach by the infantry through the hedgerows on either side of the hedgerow-lined main road, while the Sherman swings left, crunching some hedgerows, to avoid the AT sighting down that road. The US HMG sets up at the entry hex to spray the G/G AT position at range 5, thereby staying out of range of backing Kill-stack.

The Germans/Georgians were clearly getting the better dice early. Quite a few 3s and 11s on DF and BF rolls for the Germans early, resulting in Disruptions and Demoralizations galore, but only a few actual step losses (it would get worse for the Americans later). However, in one gratiuitous opportunity fire on a move adjacent to a German GREN (what could go wrong, the US has a 1-10-2 God-Captain along for the ride), there's inevitably a roll of 2 or 3 for an X, and the God-Captain died on a leader loss check (are you f***ing kidding me!?!) (see how his German counterpart fared below).

Turn 8 drama: One HMG enters clear hex (the forward dig-in) to augment two INF assaulting vs. one disrupted GREN, so no problem, right?

Hmm, they are dug in, so first fire, but still no problem, right?

Oof, snakeyes, X result on 3 column, the morale checks are pip-fests, EVERYONE barfs their MCs, leaving a steaming pile of demoralized units and disrupted leaders.

Next activation, the disrupted GREN dances out of the hex, with no adverse effects because every enemy is demoralized. Setting up for next activation a clear shot on the 30+ column for the next-door German kill stack! With 1-10-2 LT. Überman even! Urp!

(Should I mention that the presence of the Überman leader is weird given that these are "guest troops" from the Caucasus with dodgy morale and questionable motivation?)

What to do now? The only ship in the quadrant (Star Trek analogy) is the Sherman that moved adjacent to the Kill-stack (once the AT gun had been cleared out of the previously mentioned hex). But assault w/o infantry vs dug in Inf + HMG with God-leader is a really bad idea! So the only option is to take the adjacent 9 shot (11 column after modifiers). The US needs "any craps" on this one.

And they GET IT! A 3 for an M2 result that breaks/demoralizes the kill stack despite LT. Überman (he got disrupted so his morale modifier was halved). (Actually this was a question I had about the 4.0 rules, they say "all combat strengths halved", but "combat strength" is an ill-defined term in 4.0. "Fire values" are the numbers on the counters that are used to determine the magnitude (column) of an attack, so I interpret "combat strengths" to be leader combat and morale modifiers as well as fire values. I have a vestigial memory of this being clearly the case in 3.0 or earlier. Of course, due to "round up" this only comes into play for modifiers of 2 or more, for which I think it is sorely needed: leaders with morale modifiers of 2 are broken IMO.)

Back to the game. There is still a GREN behind an adjacent hedgerow, and they will take their shot. No effect, and next turn the demoraized units try to rally: 1 HMG does, the other 2 (HMG & INF) scamper through the next-door hedgerow to safety.

I wonder how common it was for a couple of tank platoons to get ordered to plow through a dug-in position, say, in the middle of a road junction, mix it up just enough to get through, get just far enough away from the short-range anti-tank weapons to render them ineffective, turn around, and unleash HE and MG on the position? That's pretty much what happened over the next few turns at the key crossroads in this game. I realized I was too aggressive with the tanks in the face of the GREN's short-range AT (which fortunately was not successfully rolled for), and had a reduced INF with a disrupted LT hold the door while the tanks rumbled through to the opposite side.

Even with the Germans/Georgians rolling a quite improbable number of 2s and 3s in important combats (often in assault first fire for "1" results!), the US advantage in morale and firepower was just too much to overcome. US fulfilled all four objectives, controlling the road and town and exiting 17 steps. I do really like the 'puzzle" aspect of leader placement for the US given the "no activation across hedgerows" restriction, but it seems really hard for the Germans to win this one (allowing only 2 or less objectves to be met).

But perhaps my defensive strategy was flawed: I put a lot up front, sighting the AT gun and HMG down the entry road to slow up the Sherman. I guess it did slow down the Americans, causing them to send the Sherman to the side while forming up with infantry on either side of the road to slog up and take the strongpoint. Further back, I only left occasional dug-in speedbumps on the road, and essentially put up no defense of the town, perhaps a big mistake. But I'm thinking if I lay back then everything just happens sooner. But perhaps better for the German with the +2 town bonus. I would say that hedgerows are annoying as h*ck, but also your best friend for negating the +2 adjacency opp fire as you sidle next to your target. Use them wisely!

Even though this scenario heavily favors one side (the Americans), I rated it a 4 because I enjoyed the new (to me) puzzle aspect of getting the US leader activations to work through the hedgerow terrain. Had this not been my first Invasion 44 Scenario, it is possible I would have rated it lower.

(NOTE: I deleted a few expletive-filled rants at the insane luck of the G/G side.)

This scenario is the first of the Utah beach battle game and has four objectives the American needs to achieve. Dan and I decided to use the fog of wars rule again and it again hurt the Attacking Americans more then the defending Germans. Even with the slowly effect of the FOW the Americans were able to exit units off the board and still attack Fauville. Dan put up a hard fought delaying action as he retreated into the city. I trying to move unit to the south of the city to block Dan from moving on the road but I also had a couple of German units he left in the North that worried me. Somehow I got so fixed on the Northern units when the Germans escaped the city and headed south on the road. But I kept rolling 7's. All the time he was on the road in the open I never used my artillery. In the end it came down to the final assault in the last city hex and trying to kill the 2 units on the north south road. Both of these failed and only having achieved 2 of the 4 objectives this ceca a minor German victory.

This is an AAR from a game played quite a few years ago. Overall, this was a good, yet unspectacular scenario. We had to call the game due to time availability. However, we agreed that the game could have gone either way, although the US was starting to make inroads and significant progress by the time we had to call the game. Was a fun afternoon of gaming with this particular scenario. Wish I had taken some better notes on this one to report something more definitive. What I can say is that the scenario was less than fully inspiring or else I would have written more down in my notes. Hence, my rating of 3 as I considered this an "average" scenario based on my lack of notes and such!

AAR NOTE I am just now pulling these games off the shelf and recording our shared play results with my gaming buddy here in town where I live. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact date of play on some of these games. However, I do know if we played them "pre-pandemic" vs. coming "right out of the pandemic lockdowns". If you see a play date of 2019-06-01, this is for a pre-pandemic game and AAR. 2022-06-01 is for our post-pandemic gaming reboots at our local game and magic card store.

In this first scenario of the Utah Beach battle game, the Germans set up in the center of the map to defend against US troops advancing towards Fauville. Trying to slow the US advance, the German defenders were spread a little too thin-while they did delay the advance by disrupting and demoralizing the advancing yanks, the lower quality of the Ostbattalion led to morale issues of their which when under assault by the US troops led to their destruction all over the board. Out of 13 combat units, by turn 18 only 1.5 infantry platoons, a mortar platoon and some 50mm guns remained with the US forces controlling Fauville and streaming off of the map. With no change of success, the remnants of the Ostbattalion capitulated to end the slaughter. Comprised primarily of conscripted Poles and Russians, seeing their countrymen slaughtered all around the map it is likely that those few remaining units killed their German NCO's and surrendered happily. The US lost one infantry platoon, a leader and a group of Jeeps when hit by anti-tank rounds from the 50mm guns as they rounded a corner in the road. Other than that, it was total domination by the US Army in this scenario.

Author	treadasaurusrex (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States
Participants	Col. Sonichu
Play Date	2022-11-13
Language	English
Scenario	IN44007

This was a 4-session play-through with the fearless and well-organized, Col. Sonichu, as the defending German Commander. We played with the stultifying Fog of War, and also the smoke/illum, consolidation, extended assault, strategic movement, American Spotter Aircraft and excess initiative optional rules. I led the attacking American combined arms force.

The first session (game turns 1-4) featured a lengthy American movement-to-contact that came in the form of converging, left & right flank prongs starting from the south margin of Map 106. The immediate US objective was the 20-meter hill in the southwest quadrant of the battle map. While this was being secured, a company of German panzergrenadiers moved to setup a right flank, blocking position west of the main ridge. The US left flank movement countered this move, and then ran into a serious amount of close range automatic weapons fire resulting in the loss of 2 steps of infantry! The other portion of this prong was able to move into position to closely cover the western margin of the German-occupied ridge. The American right flank movement continued north, and was able to take advantage of a retrograde move by a German company from its forward position below the east margin of the ridge. This location was rapidly liberated by the advancing US troops.

The 2nd session (game turns 5-9) was characterized by the beginning of decisive, close-range engagements on the ridge overlooking the crucial north-south N-13 Road; and during game turns 8-9, in the vicinity of Fauville. A German infantry gun emplacement on the ridge was eliminated in turn 5 as American troops unsuccessfully attempted to gain a foothold on the north margin of the ridgetop. On the opposite, southern margin, heavy direct fire was exchanged for 3 turns before a German unit took a step loss. Up the road, during turns 7-9, the single M-4 tank platoon and an infantry company began surrounding the garrison in Fauville. Unexpectedly, the armored unit was able to sneak around the Boche garrison to liberate Fauville’s north town hex (0803) in game turn 9. A headlong, and costly American thrust to try and pin a pair of German mortar platoons on the NE portion of the ridgetop, failed miserably. Step losses were tied at 2 apiece at the end of game turn 9.

The third session (game turns 10-14) was generally a dismal experience for the defending Germans who absorbed 10 additional step losses, while the attacking Americans lost 2 more steps. Unexpectedly, both the US close assault atop the ridge adjoining the N-13 road, and in Fauville were successful in game turn 10. With Fauville fully-liberated, there followed a series of close range firefights and close assaults to clear the hexes on both sides if the east-west ridge. The bold German probe in the SW quadrant of the map continued to effectively pin down the American Commander and a couple of, oft-disrupted, infantry platoons for the balance of this session. A German infantry company ensconced itself close to the junction of the N-13 road and the east-west trail, in hopes of maintaining a position on the crucial north-south road to the end of the scenario.

The 4th session (game turns 15-16) featured widely scattered, but intense, close-range fighting as the German side sought to maintain a viable presence on the north-south N-13 road. In the end, this effort was in vain, as German losses continued to mount and their positions were gradually overwhelmed in close assaults and adjacent-hex firefights. The final tally of step losses was 20 for the Germans and 4 were lost by the American force.

By mutual agreement, we called the game at the beginning of turn 17 and filed it as a major American victory as all 4 US victory objectives were clearly destined for rapid accomplishment, as there was only a single half-strength grenadier unit left. I give this over-long and unbalanced scenario a generous 3, mostly because it was fun to play online with my gracious and hard-fighting opponent.

At the end of this play-through, only had 4 turns had been shortened by the FOW rule.

Suggestions for play improvement include: reducing the length of this scenario from 22 to around 18 turns, and increasing the defending German contingent by at least one more Panzergrenadier infantry company, with an additional junior leader.