The US set up with all units in town hexes. The Germans set up in the woods to the south to try and use them as cover. The initial German assault was to the southern town hexes and they took heavy losses. Then, after causing the demoralization and routing of a US infantry unit, the Germans were able to assault and destroy the M4 in the hex and get a foothold in the city. After six turns the Germans held two of the six town hexes while their forces outside the town were taking heavy losses from the American HMG's. In the end three of the six town hexes were being contested, one was under US control, and two were under German control. Combined with the losses for both sides, the victory points were 14 for each side, resulting in a draw. One thing to note was that I forgot to use the -1 column shift night modifier for the first half of the game. It made the game bloodier, however it was probably equal for both sides. Regardless, this is a fun little scenario that warrants replaying many times. It would also be a good two player scenario that could be completed in an evening.

Urban assault at night (visibility 1 hex).

LDRs:

US: Maj: 10-1-1; Cpt: 8-0-0; LTs: 9-1-1; 8-0-0; 8-0-0

Ger: Maj: 10-1-1; Cpt: 9-1-0; LTs: 10-1-2; 8-0-0; 9-0-0; 9-0-2

US Set-up (all in town hexes):

0608: 8-0-0 LT; INF; 81 mm

0710: 8-0-0 LT; INF(x2)

0709: Maj; INF; M4

0809: 9-1-1 LT; HMG

0810: Cpt; HMG; 57 mm + truck

Rationale: Trying to avoid meta-gaming, I felt the US set-up should be predicated on covering the road entries into the town with the main threat axis to the east. It was possible to put a combat unit in each town hex, but again, I felt this approach was meta-gaming. So the 57 mm ATK was placed to cover both north and east roads; the M4 platoon and the Maj commanding in the crossroads; the two INF hex covers the south road.

German approach: two companies (reinforced with HMGs) from the SW; one company from SE. Of course, had the US set-up more heavily favored the southern town hexes, one could have attacked from NW and NE (as there were no restrictions on German axis of attack or set-up save for being three hexes away).

General: At least in this trial, the turn duration was perfect for establishing drama: had it been shorter, the Germans would have had little/no opportunity for victory (outside of widely biased rolling); much longer, and the Germans would have worn down U.S. opposition.

Lots of minus col shifts for DF: e.g. +2 for Adj but -1 for night; -1 for hill. The most dramatic was town hexes along the slope line: -2 for town; -1 for hill (the town is in a hill hex); -1 for night. So, for example, a raw 16 column adjacent attack ended up on the 7 col.

Essentially, the German plan was to use 1 company of Gren (and the 75 mm INF gun) to attack from the SE to tie up the US HMGs (or whatever the US player would have placed there). This side of the battle was widely chaotic. The first attack by the HMG group (OF) lead to a GREN step loss and a disruption. Then followed a string of 7's. The HMG in 0810 left the town hex so it could be used by the LT with the combat bonus. For a few turns this area was back-and-forth with disruptions and recoveries. On turn five, the US decides to assault (net result was US on the 18 col, GER on the 13: GER rolls a 6, US a 2 with the resulting morale checks for the US a horror): I thought to try this so the US might "clean up" on the SE side and then shift the HMGs to reinforce the western battles. Given this nightmare result, a little Deus-ex-machina replayed the time-line and the US foreswore the assault and continued to attempt DF to wear down the GER units here. Eventually, two GREN steps and the 75 mm INF gun were lost here.

On the western side, the Germans had three attack groups. Essentially GER Maj + HMG + GREN(x2) insert into empty town hex 0609 with a disruption (much like the scenario description). On turn two, two assaults were initiated: 10-1-2 LT + GREN + HMG assaults 0608; another LT with GREN(x2) + HMG assaults 0710.

The US mainly defended and recovered morale; the GER assaulted and recovered morale every three or so turns as necessary. The assault in hex 0608 was very frustrating for the Germans. Rolls were: 3;3;3;2;3;1;4;6 turn 10; turn 11 was morale recovery;6 on turn twelve. Only near game end did this group (reinforced quickly with another GREN) make any headway at all (i.e. inflict a step loss or even serious morale damage). The final turn was truly dramatic in this hex. Both the US ldr and the last half step of INF were demoralized, but the INF rolled a '2' on its recovery back to good order, so this hex remained contested (controlled by neither side).

Hex 0710 was the other hotly contested assault. The US got the better of the assault rolls here during the initial/middle phase. On turn ten, Germany rolls a '1' on the 13 col; the US a '6' on the 3 col! On turns eleven and twelve, however, Germany got hot with a '5' and a '6' respectively. Upon US morale failures, this hex was lost on the last game turn.

Essentially, the German Maj and units in 0609 traded DF vs. the US Maj/INF/M4 in 0709. I never committed the M4 to assault combat despite the col shift, because tank steps cost double (hence, a single step loss of the M4 was equivalent to losing a town hex). Thus, I kept hoping for a good DF result (and got a couple of '3' results which forced the Heer major's hex to take up time recovering morale (and a few step losses) rather than reinforcing or assaulting on their own.

VP breakdown by turn (1 per step loss; tanks double; 2 per town hex for US; 3 per town hex Germany):

Turn US Germany

start 12 0

1 11 3 (Germany takes the empty town hex)

2 8 3 (US loses control of two town hexes by assault but gains a step loss)

3 8 3

4 9 5

5 9 5

6 9 5

7 10 5 (German assaults going nowhere with pathetic rolls)

8 11 6

9 11 6

10 11 7

11 11 8

12 11 13 (Germans inflict two step losses and control another town hex upon a victorious assault)

Result: Draw

Rate this one a four for drama and well-planned turn limitation. Not a battle of movement to be sure, and the US player mostly defended in assaults. Still, there were some strategy variants to consider. Even the "dull moments" of inconsequential assault rolls led to tension as the twelve turn limit did not allow for much room to breath. I know my ratings probably average on the high side, but I am being fairly selective in the scenarios I play, at least for the moment, so this is certainly not a random sampling of scenarios.

The Allies set up with 3 positions in the woods 6 hexes from the east edge. Each position had 2 platoons of Inf and a leader. The northern most position included a M18 platoon. The Axis entered with a company of tanks on each flank with the Infantry (mistakenly as it turned out) advancing through the woods. On first contact the Axis were hammered by OBA called in by the Allied positions in the woods. The Axis armor fared better loosing only one step of PzIVs to a platoon of M18s and 1 platoon of M4s. The remaining Allies armor dashed for cover. Meanwhile the Axis Inf decided to back off in the woods and make a belated attempt to flank the Allies foxhole line in the woods to the North. This only prolonged the misery as the Axis Inf still suffered under the Allied OBA. The Axis artillery was active also, forcing the Allied right on the foxhole line to begin to buckle. The Allied units there did recover but decided to fall back anyway. The Allies were still clinging to positions in the woods but not dug in. In the mean time Axis armor were advancing on both flanks and up the main road but without Inf cover. A strong barrage hit the lead Axis armor company getting 2 disruptions and 1 demoralization. The Allies instantly assaulted out of the Village onto the Axis armor causing 2 step losses and the rest demoralized to 1 disruption for the Allies. On the mandatory recovery roll all the Axis demoralized units failed and routed away. Before these could recover Allies artillery pecked away the Axis Inf. The Axis decided to advance their only two possible stacks which was their remaining armor. Unfortunately even this failed to coordinate and two more armored steps were lost to one for the Allies. By now time was running out. The Axis retired feeling there was no chance to mount a further attack under such heavy artillery fire. Allied win. The Allies were very lucky in this scenario. Artillery was devastating even getting results on the Axis armor forcing morale checks which they failed. Add to this a faulty Axis plan that was poorly executed and the result was evident. I must say I took particular pleasure in raining step losses on our camoflage clad opponents.

The US occupied every town hex so as to be able to respond to attacks from any direction. The Germans hit hard from the south to use the woods for cover. The US opfire was minimally effective and the Germans carried the assault in to the town. The US attempted a counterattack on the east end of town, but it blew up in their faces. German infantry AT in assault did exceedingly well and the US lost its armor and quickly over a third of its infantry and lone AT battery. German victory.

This was played solo prior to a night shift. A nice simple night assault on the town. US force are on the defence. The German units can set anywhere more that 3 hexes from the town so an all round defence was adopted, this meant the Germans could examine the defence and choose where to strike. They went for a two prong assault a minor one from the NW and a major one from the SE. The German advance was unhindered by US fire initially but after 30 mins of milling about in the woods the Wermacht went in, using light woods as cover the Germans suffered minor casualties (two disruptions and a demoralized) but managed to get enough units to assault an adjacent town hex with some chance of inflicting losses if they won the initiative which they did for the only turn in the game. Close combat was now the order of the day, at both start thing were equal, but as more and more US units were drawn into assault hexes German numbers began to tell. German units began to infiltrate past Assault hexes and take empty town hexes, the US commander tried to react and withdrew units from close combat to form a "killer stack" reserve, ie the M4 HMG INF and 10-1-0 leader. There job was to retake town hexes and inflict losses. This worked after for a whole 30 mins eliminating a whole GREN platoon and taking back the centre of the town, but with the M4 disrupted the MG demoralized the "killer stack"was stuck and could not assist their hard pressed comrades. By GT 8 all 3 US stacks were in close combat the remainder of the town was in German hands and there was little the US commander could do, losses were mounting slowly for both sides, a counter attack in the down would be a very dicey affair. By GT10 that was the only option left and although there were was only one US step loses all was in vain as there were no German step losses and one tiny portion of the town was solely in American hands. The Germans for their had half the town under control and had inflicted 6 US step losses for 8 of their own. The Germans had inflicted another setback for the US in the efforts to break through the Westwall

This is a small night assault on a town. I picked it because it was the shortest scenario in North of Elsenbon. It's an OK small scenario but not too exciting. The Germans press forward towards the town and the US hold and use opportunity fire to keep the Germans out. Between the town shifts and the penalty for night it was hard for the Germans to deliver much firepower. They did eventually get a foothold in the town which allowed them to take a second town hex and contest two more. Even though the town was evenly split the Germans won because they get more VPs for holding town hexes.