US Set-UP: 2xINF in the one-hex town 0914; 1xINF in two separate hexes on the 20-m hill in the NE; INF+HMG in two center town hexes; ENG + M16 in another. Stacked the M3's in proportion to the foot units. 3xM18's lurking south of the center town complex; the entirety of the rest of the armor park (4xM4 + 3xM4/76) on the reverse slope of the 20-m NE hill. The 57mm dug-in over on the western board edge on the road.

German Entry: I read the instructions as the SS must enter on turn one. This forces the Germans into a long line for entry. 1xPzVIb+1xSTuGIII on each "wing"; 1xPzVIb along the road; the ENGs and HMGs mostly aligned to move South towards 0914.

German perspective: ignore the exiting units VC. Aim for a minor victory by killing US steps and a broad dispersed approach to minimize US VT-fused artillery effectiveness and capture town hexes by assault.

US perspective: the tank battle must be fought in LT. If the Germans can fire all their armor in one turn, potentially the entire US armor park (10 units) could be annihilated. Fight two infantry battles: (1) early one in the woods/hill and for the 0914 town; (2) then force the stormtroopers to make a slow advance through the snow and ice under US bombardment.

Early Stage:

NE: Germans enter in a line; US pushes its INF+M3+Ldrs on the NE hill north - this allows them to see through 1 light-woods hex at 20-m and OVER 1 light-woods hex at 0-m and spot German units whose, perforce, entry hex was clear terrain. US OBA does what it seems all to common -- Grens take a beating. US OF fire also effective. Germans decide to use the StuG-III to shoot up the M3's to soften approach and assault. US swarms its armor park around the PzVIb (the protecting Grens had a rough time); lose four steps (two units). {{OK, I'll concede a DEUS EX MACHINA here: I gave the US 1 activation initiative on the subsequent turn}}. US then assaults the PzVIb with 3xM4's; shoots up the StuGIII with the surviving M4/76. The Tiger II's lose a step, but roll a '4' on their morale save. Choosing AT fire, they kill an M4 step and DEM the half-step. German assaults clean up in about three turns. End Result: US INF cleared away with one M4 (the other one entered the assault: Germans lose 1xPzVIb + 1xStuG-III; US loses 2xM4 + 3xM4/76).

Center and West: US rolls the dreaded '2' on the 16-col for OF killing an SS-ENG. OBA kills another GREN step. But then, after a careful massing and set-up (with StuG's clearing away the M3's); a wiff on DF attempting to soften up the 0914 town, the German assault rolls a '6' on the 24 col with US a 1 on the 18-col; worse, US have both the leader and surviving INF demoralized. These units were "cleared up" the following turn.

In short then, the first five-six turns looked like an overwhelming US victory was in the works with the Germans being severely hurt in the NE and taking it on the chin in the approach south in the West-center. But, as above, the stormtroopers backed by their surviving armor crushed the US blocking town hex.

The battle now moved into the open central section. The US attempted to cross-fire bringing the M18's west and north and the two surviving M4's from the East: now, though, the Tigers could brew up the US tanks and tank destroyers three movements (due to restricted movement) away. US OBA finally got a case of the sixs; sevens; eights; and finally, after about three or four scenarios, German OBA scored a key hit against a town hex (DEM'ing a US HMG).

I think the panzer grenadiers were strongly motivated to clear those towns (SS didn't roll less than a 4 on six assault attacks); the Germans cleared the last town hex on turn 17 - and surviving units (there wasn't a lot) loaded up in the town hexes to batten down.

So a minor German Victory, but two battalions of the 12th SS panzer division had been savaged to achieve it; and the Heer lost a precious platoon of King Tigers (at the cost of a battalion of US tankers). The Hitler Jugend held the battlefield, but they were exhausted and no longer an offensive force for further southward advancement.

Great scenario with different kinds (and phases) of action; and a lot of tension with the German dash against time across open ground (with restricted movement) in the face of heavy US VT artillery.

*This had a bunch of Tiger II tanks, so I had to try it out. At first look, it looks to favor the Germans with a two to one advantage in Infantry and those large Tiger II’s but reexamining this on paper, the Americans do have a large amount of armor, the advantage of setting up in the towns or dug-in, slow movement due to the snow/weather but most of all the VT Fuse artillery shells.

*The Germans lead down the road with their StuG IIIG’s but the Americans had a line of dug-in armor: M4/76’s, M4’s, & M18’s which easily took out the German StuG IIIG’s. The German Infantry were still making it through the woods, trying not to bunch up too much but realized they must hurry to make three victory objectives, which included control of all the towns, exiting 20 steps of units and eliminating 10 American steps and all in 18 turns.

*Next, to come up the road were 6 steps of Tiger II’s, but actually I made a mistake and putting 8 steps or 4 counters on the map. The Tiger II’s are suppose to be Army type but I used SS type as the Bulge games only have this variety and I didn’t want to pull them from Road to Berlin and they both have the same values just different colors. Well anyway, they headed out of cover and latter took out 3/4 of the American armor. Only one step removed from some cross-fire shots. The German Infantry emerges from the forest all along the front and things are beginning to look good for the Germans.

*Once the Germans start their march into the open all hell breaks loose! The Americans shot their three artillery batteries separately at different targets, as the special +3 column modifier for the VT Fuses makes just about every shot deadly and now I have chances three per turn. The American Infantry and support units join in and soon the German’s 2 to 1 advantage in Infantry means nothing. Slaughtered in the open ground, trying to reach the town hexes and not enough time to reset for a good second coordinated attack or even enough healthy Infantry left for that matter!

*Now the Germans send their Tiger II’s adjacent to the town hexes, hoping to force a better result then their Infantry, which most are retreating back to the wood, that haven’t been KIA. Without Infantry in close support, the American Infantry have found the best way to take out the Tigers that their armor couldn’t, assault. Yes they risk heavy casualties but the pay-off is pretty good and they were the last threat. The trade off was the loss of three American Infantry steps, two halftrack vs. 4 German Tiger II’s steps. It helps to included HMG units with their 10 DF and Engineers with their modifiers in the assaults. At this point, I pulled the extra counter I had mistakenly put on the map. The German only had one step of Tiger II’s left out of 6 and the extra counter would have achieved nothing, as the German Infantry were done as a fighting unit and the StuG IIIG’s and most the Tigers were burning.

*The casualties were high on both sides, so the German only achieved one of their three objectives, giving the Americans a Minor Victory!

*I learned some new tactics in this scenario in how to take out large quantities of German Heavy armor, first slow them with your dug-in armor, using cross-fire but you will still lose a lot of armor, then pull the surviving armor back. Then separate the German Infantry from their armor. Let the German Armor attempt to take the town hexes without support and assault the heck out of them.

Played May 31st

This is a very tough scenario for the Germans. Due to the snow the foot units can only advance 1 hex per turn. To exit 20 units off the south edge of the map requires all 10 AFV steps to survive, and transport 10 foot steps with them.

The American AFVs and AT gun set up in 2 groups either side of the N/S road, in order to achieve the cross fire bonus (hexes 1311 and 1312; and 0511 and 0610). The rest of the American forces set up in and amongst the towns in the middle of the map.

The Tiger 2s advanced south as far as the town in hex 0914 from where they engaged the American AFVs and the AT gun. They eliminated all of them in only 45 minutes, for the loss of one Tiger step. The Tigers then advanced south to within 3 hexes of town 0809 so that they could spot the defenders; they were followed by the less heavily armoured StuG111s.

Meanwhile the German foot units broke out of the woods in 2 groups, one heading for town 0809 and the other for town 0608. And that’s as good as it got, for the rest of the time they were subjected to constant artillery, mortar and direct fire. The remnants of both groups eventually reached the outskirts of their objectives, but neither of them was able to muster good order leaders and units simultaneously in order to start their assaults. German casualties mounted steadily and demoralized units headed back to the woods. Rather late in the morning the Tigers and StuGs moved adjacent to town 0809 to increase the effectiveness of their fire, but the Americans decided to stand fast and they often recovered morale as quickly as they became disrupted or demoralized. Between towns 0809 and 0608 the Americans did lose 6 M3s and 6 foot unit steps and several other units fled, but there were still enough reserves to reinforce the losses.

At the end, both sides had 7 leaders and 25 unit steps left. The Americans had lost no leaders and 33 unit steps (53 with AFVs counted as double); and the Germans had lost 5 leaders and 28 unit steps. The Americans were still in control of the 3 town hexes in the centre of the map, resulting in a Minor Victory to the Americans.