Author	Fanghawk
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany
Play Date	2022-11-23
Language	English
Scenario	InoG047

I played this over the course of 3 days. It's actually a nice little scenario and despite the low unit density (particularly for the German defenders) there was quite a bit of action packed into it. I only gave it a 3 overall since once the Germans have set up, there isn't much for them to do but wait for the US to come into view. For solo play I’d give it at least a 4. Placement of the 75mm AT guns is critical as the defenders have no other way to really counteract the armored M3’s and Shermans and once the 75’s are placed, they won’t be moving again. The scenario was designed around 3rd edition rules and Shermans with armor values of 3 rather than the updated 4 armor values, so I thought the Americans would have a much easier time of it than they ultimately did.

I set it up with one 75mm covering the northern approach, one covering the southern approach, a MG nest on the hill in overwatch position, and the rest of the defenders in town. The US started off well, getting their tanks close to town with effective Smoke placement, a leader in cover for spotting any shot takers in town, and a company of infantry ready to assault the MG nest by turn 3 (of 16). When the last of the Smoke cleared, the US promptly lost initiative and the 75mm was able to take out 2 steps of Shermans over the next two turns (and Demoralize another couple platoons), before OBA was able to silence the gun. Once the 75mm was taken out, the race for the town was on with a wave of loaded M3’s kicking up sprays of mud as they headed in.

At this point, I thought the US had the game well in hand. They were on the outskirts of town with 10 turns left to play and had overwhelming numbers. They then proceeded to roll abysmally getting 7’s and 8’s on 15 straight Assault rolls, with 24-30+ firepower, with the defenders of course passing all their morale checks or immediately recovering if they didn’t. On the other side, the Germans went nuts rolling below 5 or above 10 in most cases in defense with the Americans unable to pass basic morale checks. The flamethrower had no effect for the Americans and the biggest insult to injury was when a lone mortar and leader rolled snakes on a defensive counterattack and the whole US stack Demoralized off the M2.

Even with the horrible rolls, the US was able to make a last-ditch stab at victory with the game coming down to a final assault on the final turn.