This is a monster scenario depicting the 117th Regiments of 30th Infantry Division attack on the Siegfried Line. There is over 200 counters in the battle, most are American as they have the 117th Regiment plus 2 combat commands of 2nd Armor as reinforcements. The Germans get quite a few GRENs, HMGs, entrenchments and strongpoints. Morale and imitative is on the American side but a good leader draw by the Germans can minimize this. OBA is evenly matched with five module each of 18 and 16 respectively. The keys to success for the Americans will be breaching the German entrenchments and strongpoints as well as taking town hexes. The Germans must defend three boards of towns, this will require a bit of a dispersed setup so the German forces will be divided, but they will have the advantage of holding the towns and setting up kill zones. Visibility will be an issue with it varying from 2 to 7 hexes throughout the game.

In my play the Americans were able to get a Major victory, but not without a lot of blood shed. The final count was 93-73 for the Americans. Of these numbers 51 German steps were killed and 23 Americans. German OBA and mortars were deadly for disrupted and demoralized units. Americans were able to get assault teams of INF, ENG and/or AFV or HMGs to hit the entrenchments and dug in positions. American OBA was accurate on a couple of key shots to open the German lines up.

A great scenario, but you will need to have a bit of time to play. In the solo play this took several days worth of play to complete. I would also recommend reading "Closing with the Enemy" by Michael D. Doubler while you play. This will give you the American tactics to breaking the Siegfried line, but luck of the dice will make a big difference.

I would also recommend the M12 counter from Elsenborn be substituted for one of the M7 for a more historical play. The M12 was added to the 30th Infantry Division to handle bunker busting. The M7 can do it but the M12 give a better historical feel.

Key points

• M4/76 and StugIIIG duel. M4/76's had the first shots but missed, Stug's destroyed one M4/76 before assaulting INF tied the Stug up and the M4/76's could kill it.

• M4 and StugIIIG duel. This battle was just the opposite, Stug opened fire but missed, 3 M4's pummel the Stug.

• 117th Regiment scores quick captures of towns on board 22 and 24 but run into heavy fire from entrench/dugin line on board 24.

• Combine American OBA and INF, ENG and HMG team clear a German GREN and HMG in two turns.

• German OBA score many disruptions and demoralizations and follow up for either direct fire or mortars to score double demoralizations.

• German LT. Col 10-1-2 holds dugin positions on the east-west road until American OBA scores a direct hit, killing a GREN and double demoralizing a reduced StugIIIg.

• The American command struggle with recover as their leader draw has few with morale bonus and then all American leader casualties were leader with the morale bonus..

This 4 mapper has the 183rd VG Division facing parts of three American divisions. The US forces start on the board and have two waves of mostly armour reinforcements, the US have to push across the board taking towns and entrenchments they are both helped and hindered by the fog as it rolls in and out throughout the game, the fog gives cover but naturally there is no air support. The German units are dug in, have both strong-points and 4 STUGS platoons to assist in their defense. The US attack starts well and quickly takes the first few entrenchments but begins to bog down around the town on board 24, where accurate opportunity fire and OBDA begins to cause heavy casualties. The holding attack to the north also gets pushed rather rudely back and the German commander begins to switch units to reinforce the defense against the main US attack. The STUGS engage the numerous US M4's and although honours are fairly even in the tank battle for some reason the German rally quicker than their US counterparts this slows the US attack even more. After 4 hours of hard battle the Americans are still unable to break the German lines which have now contracted around the fields surrounding the town on board 10 (Beggendorf?). Although ground has been gained US losses are running at about double German losses and the final reinforcements are still no where to be seen. Sensing that the non arrival of the 3rd wave could be his "get out of jail card" as an excuse for the failure of his attack the US commander calls of the attack and order his tired units to dig in on the blood soaked ground. This is good solid PG fare. Looks tough at first play for the US but I'm sure a better led assult would do better.