NOTE: For a long time, I played the morale rules wrong, with units just needing to roll their morale or less to recover, not less than their morale. This is reflected in some of the commentaries.

Deployment

The Germans set up hidden, sometimes tough in a solo scenario, and in this case, they are all clustered in a seven hex area including 2 towns, and I set them up as the Germans and played the US as if they didn’t know what was there, including keeping units off board as long as they were hidden. The Germans put the mortar in the far town (0803), a full strength and reduced GREN and a LT in the objective town (0604), the CAPT in the clear hex between, and a dug-in GREN and reduced HMG in 0705 to cover the approaches.

For the US, I decided to send one platoon around to secure 1101 and then move on the towns from the rear, figuring 0604 would be heavily defended. I sent another ½ platoon to circle around the other way, and the other platoon and full strength PARA was going to head to the woods to scope out the situation.

Turns 1 -3

The Americans advance under the cover of darkness, as planned one platoon swings off to the east and a half platoon swings off to the west. The Americans enter the small woods and when they reach the edge of the hedgerows spot the dug in HMG and GREN in the early morning light and open fire. The Germans return fire ineffectually. The mortar also gives up its hidden status to fire to no avail.

Turns 4 - 6

The Americans continue their advance, using the thick hedgerows for cover. Seeing the Americans moving off to the east, the dug in GREN and HMG abandon their position in 0705 and move to 0804, giving them the protection of hedgerows on all sides and giving them the ability to provide better cover to the mortar…not that the mortar has done squat so far. As 6:45 AM rolls around, the forces find themselves in close proximity and exchange fire. The only casualty is an American Captain who soils himself a bit. Meanwhile, the easternmost PARA platoon has moved through 1101 to fulfill that part of the victory conditions and is now coming back to the main force.

Turns 7 - 9

For the next half hour, the full PARA platoon and Engineers exchange fire GREN and HMG before they can dig in. The Americans begin to lose cohesion under the HMG fire, but the Lt. Colonel rallies them and the come at the Germans full force. Meanwhile, the easternmost PARA platoon has moved through 1101 to fulfill that part of the victory conditions and is now coming back to the main force. In reaction, a previously hidden half-platoon of GREN emerges from 0604 to help defend the mortars in 0803. On Turn 8 (0715) the half platoon and 2nd Lieutenant that have been circling around the rear of the Germans approaches the town in 0803. The reduced GREN platoon opens fire and rolls a 2(!), which annihilates the PARA, leaving the 2nd Lieutenant standing amid the dead and wounded. The other platoon of PARA move on the town surviving the first opportunity fire, but when they pull adjacent in 0904, accurate German fire costs them a step. Turn 8 is a disaster, with 2 American steps eliminated. However, the paratroopers have a mission and on turn 9 all the surviving American troops assault 0804. The Captain and full strength PARA are disrupted as they cross the hedges and the Americans are unable to affect the Germans. The Germans assault back and eliminate yet another step of paratroopers. Things are not looking good for the Americans.

Turns 10 - 12

On turn 10 the Germans grab the initiative and assault, and the Americans hold…barely. The Americans rally on their impulse to get ready for another assault. With all the Americans committed here, the ½ platoon in 0803 joins the forces in 0804. Turn 11 sees the fighting become more vicious, with the Americans demoralizing the HMG and ½ platoon while the Germans disrupt the engineers. Meanwhile, another ½ platoon of paratroopers is coming to the aid of the outnumbered initial group. Luck favors the Americans on turn 12, as the assault of the paratroopers demoralizes the full platoon and when it tries to recover it fails and flees to 0803 (note: I deemed this a safe hex even though it was adjacent to the Americans, as all the Americans were in the assault and therefore could not harm the unit). Although it has been bloody, the Americans are gaining the upper hand in 0804.

Turns 13-15

The Germans know that their forces in 0804 will not be able to hold without the full strength GREN, and the reduced GREN covers the retreat of the HMG from the assault hex over to 0604. Over the next 45 minutes the paratroopers hunt down the few Germans left defending the hex and soon control it. Meanwhile, the American reinforcements are close and will aid in the assault on the towns. The GREN finally gets back to full morale by the end of turn 15.

Turns 16-18

The Americans regroup under fire, and on turn 17 the assault on 0804 begins. Neither side is able to inflict serious damage on the other. The Germans send the HMG to reinforce the defenders of 0804.

Turns 19-22

The assault continues, and with the addition of the HMG, the Germans begin to gain the upper hand. The Americans eliminate the German mortar, and are unable to do any more harm to the Germans past some disruptions. Finally, on turn 22 the Germans take out another ½ platoon of paratroopers. Outnumbered, with neither town cleared, the Americans concede after turn 22.

Final Thoughts

This was actually a pretty exciting scenario, which I think could have gone either way. The Germans had a couple of lucky shots which took out some desperately needed American troops. In retrospect, while I think sending troops to 1101 was the right move, I should have only sent ½ platoon and should have kept the main force together and done an assault with the 2 full strength platoons. Amazingly, the GREN in 0604 never had to fire and remained hidden the entire game. While in game terms this was a solid German victory, it seems to have mirrored the historical results.

I was in command of the Americans in this scenario. LTC Ballard wasted no time and sent his men up through the hedgerows to assault the primary objective. The assault was very successful and resulted in a hostile platoon casualty. Upon securing the town the Germans and a CPT exchanged fire into the town 400 meters away. The exchanges were a waste of time on both sides.

This point the LTC took a half strength platoon along with a 1LT to flank around the enemy and try to quite their constant mortar fire. In conjunction with this maneuver the CPT assaulted the town 400 meters from the primary objective. After surviving opportunity fire the assault commenced.

There were a couple of exchanges with the CPT before the LTC found the 81mm mortar teams on the edge of the map. The LTC and his half strength platoon assaulted through the hedgerows without success.

The Germans pulled a platoon of their Grenadiers out of the town to support the mortar platoon. The LTC knowing he was in trouble left the assault losing all of his men. Simultaneously the CPT captured the second town eliminating the HMG platoon.

Reinforcements had arrived a while back and now were online with the main force. The Germans were spotted digging into the secondary objective and the LTC ordered another assault. The new 1LT on the map quickly made a name for himself when he commanded the fire of two platoons on the dug in Germans and Disrupted the entire group.

The 1LT took inaccurate mortar fire and tried a second Direct Fire attack on the dug in units without success. The second time around the mortars were more accurate and disrupted the 1LTs platoons. All the fire gave the LTC the window he needed to move in for an assault on the dug in units.

Upon taking the initiative the LTC assaulted with a couple of platoons with little success. The CPT had moved up at this time and helped rally the 1LTs platoons and moved into help the LTC with the assault. The CPT being caught in the open took very accurate mortar fire but was able to come out alright with this platoon.

With the LTC assault reinforced, with the help of the CPT and his platoon, the dug in Germans 2 platoon were completely eliminated over the next 15 minutes. 2 German officers were spotted falling back to the dug in mortar position. The mortar team opened up on the LTC and he and his Engineer team were disrupted.

The LTC taking the initiative again ordered the CPT to assault the mortar team with two full strength para platoons. The assault was devastating to the Germans and the mortar team was eliminated.

The LTC ordered all positions to be held and no further German resistance was found.

In summary: First, I took a few gambles with leaving troops in the open at the end of a segment and made some key initiative rolls that were crucial in my assaults being successful. Second, I made some crucial assault rolls, I was either all miss or step loss given on my assault rolls. Third, the only thing about my overall strategy I question was when I took the LTC and 1LT to find and eliminate the mortar team. I didn’t realize it was a half strength platoon till I started the assault calculations. Then when the Germans sent reinforcements to that assault I knew I was in trouble and really questioned myself. After thoughts I realized that the LTCs maneuver forced the Germans to pull strength out of the town assault going on and eventually led me to successfully take the town and establish a battle line to press the assault on the final objective.

After considering the available German and the US forces, it seemed apparent, the only hope the American troopers had for victory was to assault the town and adjoining prepared position, and hope for the best, as they have only until the 9am turn before the German began to roll for OBA. The assault was straightforward, making good use of the engineer unit's bonus, and the dice were blessed by Lady Luck more than once for the paratroops, and the town fell before the Germans got the chance for artillery fire, and it was an easy run to 1101 for the win. Another scenario that probably should have been a draw, or even German (fairly easy) win, were it not for the roll of the bones! (OK, cue Rush!)

With the Germans in a very strong defensive position, Americans will have a hard time trying to capture the town and the road hex. The Germans are dugin and hidden, although being hidden is not a big deal as the Germans are in only in a 7 hex clusters. You could play this without the rule and it would not affect the game. The Germans have mortars and random OBA. The Americans have paratroopers and leaders, but that will not be enough for my play.

The Americans move to take advantage of the hedgerows, but German mortars are lucky and disrupt the American advance. The Americans have weak DF when attacking and have tough times trying to get units into assault positions and have to retreat to the hedgerows to recover. Subsequent attacks have the same results, until late in the scenario when the Americans overrun a dugin position in 0603, then a combined assault on 0604 forces the Germans to retreat. A second defensive position at 0803 proves to be too strong for the Americans and are stopped short of getting 1101.

This is an average scenario, historically correct, but balance goes to the Germans with setup and artillery, they command a very strong position.

The American player made some work of moving unseen to the bridge (and the strongpoint). While moving trough the swamp the German player had some time for a little nap! Everything seemed so beautiful... until... "Wass, die Amerikaner greifen an! Die entfernung ist 200 Meter! (What, the Americans are attacking! The distance is 650 foot! And they opened fire, but the American player was lucky. Because the German player picked a 3-4 strongpoint! The German attack failed, and the next turn the Americans destroyed the bunker!

The Gren unit immediately moved to the destroyed bunker to attack the Americans. But when the American player won initiative with two movements he moved his troops to the bridge. The next turn the American player again destroyed a bunker, but this time they are at the bridge he have to capture. The German Gren moves adjacent and when the Amarican player again won initiative the Parachutists fired at the Gren unit and it suffered a step loss. The next turn the American player kills the Gren in a assault.

The Americans took the bridge and won!

As the Allies approached 0409 the Gren platoon in 0412 moved up to the village in 0509. The Allies lost a step on the approach when the Axis rolled a 12 on opportunity fire. Having no choice the Allies assaulted anyway. It was a seesaw battle for a while with neither side gaining much of an advantage. Then on several rolls the Allies lost another step and then lost another when a demoralized platoon again became demoralized. By 1045 the Allies were all but wiped out. Two leaders were lucky to escape the assault hex on lone leader rolls. Axis victory. Good thing that the Russian "Volunteers" were not as motivated in real life as in this scenario. D-Day would have been much more costly.

I'm old enough to remember when trying to stuff an entire frat house full of inebriated college students into a phone booth (heck, I'm old enough to remember phone booths) was the height of pranks. This scenario tends to replicate the process if the Americans try to win.

As in nearly all Airborne scenarios, the Americans are understrength for the task. They need to clear out a town and push along the road to clear an entry hex. They do not have a force advantage and do face some bombardment. On the other hand they have a slight morale advantage and (after playing enough of these scenarios) a fatalistic approach to the idea of assault.

The key here is that it is only necessary for them to contest the control of the town or the exit hex in order to get a draw. I felt that, if the town was to fall, it would best be done with all the force available. It would almost certainly require the use of the 1 step engineer to get the column adjustment so that they would be no more than one column down when attacking the town.

In the end, all the Americans and all the German direct fire forces ended up fighting in the town. The battle swayed back and forth but ultimately the Germans were able to hang on in the town and keep it contested. It seemed as though every time the Americans were able to cause a step loss or get the Germans demoralized, they too became demoralized or lost steps.

With everyone stuffed into the town, little else could happen but the surpise was how close the Americans actually came to winning control of the town. Had they been able to do so they might have won the scenario as the Germans had totally committed to the defense of the town and had little to stop the Americans if they were pushed out.

Although small the scenario has some interest as they Americans could also run for the exit hex and try to sweep the Germans from that direction. As stated before, I felt I had to take the town while at full strength but that is not a requirement. I give is a "3".

This was another straight forward scenario with low counter densities, and straight foward objectives to capture (i.e. an edge "exit hex" and a main town hex objective). As with most scenarios in teh Airborne IE game so far, this one broke down to a similar strategy. move in closer than 3 hexes away, position your leaders for combined fire attacks, soften up the hexes of interest to mess with the opponents morale and cause them to loose "time" recovering morale, and when they fail some morale checks and have some step losses along the way, pounce on the hex with an assault with as good of odds for the US as possible. This worked for the first village hex at 0803 that the US captured. That hex was the US's first goal in order to eliminate an annoying mortor team that was harassing the US forces so far that day. The US then went on to capture the "exit hex" to control one of the two objectives of the scenario. However, by turn 0915, the scenario was called a DRAW by both sides. The US was not able to muster enough DF or Assault odds to take the remaining town hex objective at hex 1101. The GER forces has 13 DF points in the Town hex and the US was trying to soften them up with only 12 DF points (2 full strength PARA units and 5 leaders in two adjacent hexes to the town). After MULTIPLE DF attacks on the town hex the US was unable to phase the GER defenders and couldn't damage their morale nor inflict any step losses. On the other side, the GER did create havoc and stress for the US player through their own DF of 16 causing an annoying array of morale failures and just enough step losses to damage the US's ability to bring enough force to bare on that hex. In the end, both sides agreed it was a draw and the outcome ended in a similar way to history. Our "story" of the scenarios ending is that the US PARA forces were indeed ordered to abandon this particular objective due to insufficient force strength and needs for these units elsewhere. Has the US player persisted, we both felt that the odds would keep dwingling in GER favor and the US would be forced to withdraw to the town hex at 0803 and a stalemate would ensue.

In the end, this was a great scenario demonstrating the power of a stong set of defending units in a Town hex and their ability to defend against direct fire and/or assaults. Without some heavy on board artillery bombardment or off-board bombardment factors to "soften up" the town, the -2 column shift is very hard to overcome without overwhelming firepower to DF and/or assault the objective hex. With this scenario, the US had neither and was just unable to put a dent in that last objective hex. Overall, another fun scenario that illustrated some interesting points of the game system for us today.

My name is Lt Col Robert Ballard. It was 0530 and the sun was beginning to rise. My men and I were deep behind enemy lines, quite a few klicks east of the Douvre River where we were meant to rendezvous.

Some locals informed us a company of German soldiers were in the village nearby. I decided to take every opportunity to kick Fritz when I had a chance, so my men began to move through the hedgerows towards the village.

I sent Captain Adams with half the company towards the north half of the village, while I led my troopers to the south half. We coordinated our joint attack to hit both sides at 0630.

We encountered more resistance than expected and Captain Adams’ engineers broke rank. Perhaps I should have hit one half of the town with everything?

I moved my men in to assault, but somewhere along the line I got separated from Lt. Blake. Our men moved into the baker’s house and attacked the Germans who were using the stables for defense. We exchanged fire, but neither of us could take ground.

To the north, our engineers would rally, then brake under German rifle fire. After about an hour, Captain Adams lost control of his men and the troops routed. Fritz left the village to chase him down. Unfortunately I was tied up, and couldn’t do anything but watch.

By 0830 Captain Adams was killed along with his lieutenant, engineers and his platoon of paratroopers.

I had some reinforcements arrive, a half platoon of paratroopers who had already seen hell and sent a few postcards. They joined us in the bakery, but my forces were evenly matched against Fritz.

But, with the death of Captain Adams, I had no men to cover our position, and another grenadier platoon closed in from the north. The Germans outnumbered us, but with our good defensive position were unable to squeeze us out of the village. Some of my troopers broke rank and fled into the hedgerows, but a hail of German artillery showed them that they were better off in the village!

Just after 1000 Fritz pushed the assault. We cut down half a HMG platoon as they tried to sneak up to our now entrenched position. The Germans aborted their attack and rallied their men.

We were now even in firepower, with whichever side pushing the attack would suffer a severe disadvantage.

I didn’t get to be where I am without some gall, so I hoisted a white flag and walked into the street to parley. Some German officer came out to talk with me, and after exchanging cigarettes we decided to call it a draw. Soon, me and the rest of my men were back on the way toward the Douve…

My morning routine consists of thrice-weekly exercise sessions before heading to work, and twice-weekly lazy mornings spent reading the news and swilling coffee. It occurred to me this week that I was wasting a perfectly good opportunity to play wargames before the rest of the family (save the Cat Mafia) wakes up... so I played AirI004 over two such lazy mornings this week - great!

Play: solo Time: ~70 minutes Notes: I ignored the hidden units rule

Initial Deployment

No surprises on the set up, other than the fact that I chose to ignore the hidden unit option. With two hexes to control (one of which is a town) and few men at hand, the Americans resolved to move deftly and swiftly and shoot everyone right in the balls.

The Battle Develops

My Airborne plays are developing an odd pattern wherein the Americans will experience an early stunning success that makes it look like the win will be easily attained, and then find themselves slogging to a hard-won draw. Totally lame.

Anyway, my men had these past experiences in mind when they rushed out of the hedges in force on Turn 6 and surrounded the first objective, the town in h0604.

Firing at column 16 on the Direct Fire table (-2 town, +2 adjacent, with all hands firing) the brave PARAs rolled... snakeeyes (2X)!

An entire GREN platoon fell dead, and suddenly the Americans had a chance. With 20 more turns to wear down the town and capture the road checkpoint, things were looking great.

Yet, unable to gain further traction against a 1-10-1 German CAPT holding the town defense together, the PARAs broke off the attack and headed for the second objective - the roadblock. Between the first objective town and the roadblock is another town, which was occupied by the German reserve force of an 81mm, reduced GREN, and 0-8-1 LT.

How do you say 'Oops?' in German?

By Turn 11 the Americans had reached the second town's perimeter. In a panic, LT of the understrength reserve force ordered his 81mm to fire on the adjacent attackers. They missed, of course, and dropped a nice fat shell right on their own heads...

1. roll for friendly-fire, DR 1 = hit
2. roll for friendly-fire strength, DR 4 = 12 column on Bombardment Table
3. roll for result, DR 12 = M2 check
4. apply M2 check = LT passes, 81mm disrupted, Reduced GREN demoralized
5. sustained applause from the Americans

Making the most of the opportunity, the Americans assaulted the very next turn (12) but again could not gain any traction once engaged.

A reserve unit was sent around to secure the roadblock for the Americans (1 of 2 key hexes) and eventually the assault was abandoned as time began to run short.

Final Attempt

With only a few hours left to fight, the Americans walked away from German Company Stupid and returned to the first town (0604) to try and capture the last victory hex. The initial assault cost them half a PARA platoon and from that point on they simply lacked the oomph needed to dislodge the Germans.

The Germans, while able to capably defend the town, also found themselves missing the strength needed to evict the Americans.

With an hour to go, and neither side having a chance at victory, the battle was ended and the draw accepted.

Conclusion

• Result: draw

Shad's Thoughts

I only rated this scenario 2/5 because I never saw much hope for the American side, but conversely the Germans lack the strength to prevent assaults tying up the victory hexes and therefore also cannot win. I think only incompetence or extreme dicerolling can lead to victory for either side in this battle.

These small Airborne scenarios due to their very size come down mainly to luck it has to be said. This was another ftf with Wayne, and a few DR's the other way may have produced an entirely different result

So What Happened Then

The first approach made by the Americans was soon rebuffed by the defenders as the paratroopers tried a wide flanking sweep. This was thwarted by German fire and them holding their positions well against the US fire. The US Engineers particularly suffered in this first probe.

Not to be pushed off so easily, Lt.Col Ballard attempted to stretch the German line by switching his angle of attack. After having had to hop over hedgerow after hedgerow his men were set to make a push on the town itself. This too met with pitiful results as the Germans there laid down some very good fire and once more US casualties were sustained. Even Ballard himself had to pull back from the fray having come near to sustaining injury.

A few more fruitless efforts were made but the Germans really did manage to keep up a fluid, flexible and resilient defence mixed with the fact that these defenders were some very willing soldiers(good morale rolls). Ballard’s attack was rebuffed : Casualties – German 1 GREN step, American 1 ENG step, 2 PARA steps.

A bit of fun and I enjoyed this more than my opponent. He felt it was hopeless for the US but as usual, previous results show otherwise. As the German, I felt quite stretched trying to cover two objectives, but then the US player feels as if they don't have enough men to capture them either. Of course there are some tactics and skill in this, but the odd useful dice roll here and there will help massively

I know US playes have won this, but I wonder if these were solitare games. The Ger start 2 and a half inft platoons, a half MG platoon and a 81 mtr platton all hidden and with good morale. The US starts with almost equal forces and has to capture a town and a road hex. These forces are not enough IMO and I never at any stage thought I could win this one and I even thought a draw unlikely. So it proved and although the US forces tired to manouvere around the German lines, there is not much room and you can move your troops fast enough because the bocage slow you down. To balance the scenario I would lower the German morale to 7/6 and and a half platoon to the inital US troops. I dont mind playing scenarios which are unbalanced but they have to be intesting situations.