This report is my turn-by-turn tweets that I posted while playing. They had pictures too and these all can be seen at my CSW blog starting here:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@@.1dd17da2/12235

and resuming here:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@@.1dd17da2/12262

and here

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@@.1dd17da2/12322

I also have a short AAR at the end on the results.

US has to take Hill D on Map 24 (west), and then the town of Bois de Borement on Map 22. Points are award for doing each, casuaing casulties and if the germans can stay on on next ot he E-W road west of Bois de Borement.

At 0915 the Nisei cross the LD. The Wespe and Mortar greats them causing just one platoon to hesitate.

0930 the Nisei continue forward, the Germans open fire and the fight for Hill D begins.

0945 the Nisei begin their assault on Hill D. Germans suffer casualties, fall back to secondary positions in the woods.

1000 the Nisei assault the German forward positions on Hill D. The German left flank falls back.

1015 the American assault carries the forward Hill D positions. The Germans abandon the hill, falling back or fleeing.

1030 the 442d pursues the fleeing Germans. Artillery is deadly, causing casualties on both sides & kills the German CO.

The death of the German CO is going to hurt as no units within 3 hexes of his demise can move next turn. Those fleeing the Nisei will get run over.

1045 the 442d continues to mop up the remnants of the Hill D defenders. A Sherman plt reinforces the American effort.

1100 mop up continues and move to new attack positions begin. Stug III plt reinforces the Germans. FoW ends turns early.

1115 tenacious Germans put up a fight on Hill 415. Rest of the Regiment moves to attack positions while commanders plan for the attack on Bois de Borement.

1130 Lull in the action as both sides prepare for the next phase of the battle. US units mopping up regroup on Hill 415.

1145 Seizing the initiative one battalion moves out to attack the south side of the RR embankment, taking fire as they move but now able to call in artillery onto the lead German position.

1200 as US firepower concentrates, the forward Germans begin to waver. Mopping up on Hill 415 ends successfully.

1215 the other battalion jumps off on the attack taking fire. At the woods the Germans take fire, hold but lose their LT.

1230 Heavy fighting other woods to the SE of Bois de Borement. To the north the Nisei cautiously approach under fire.

1245 The 442d climbs the embankment & closes on the town meeting heavy fire and taking casualties.

1300 the 442d presses the attack, takes heavy casualties. House to house fighting begins in the town. Germans hold.

1315 the fierce fight for the town continues. The Germans display a desperate tenacity in holding their positions.

1330 the Germans continue to hold but their defense is eroding away. Can they hold for another 45 minutes?

1345 US takes the NW side of town and the west woods. Assault to SE town hex kills the Stug plt. 1 GE plt holds out.

1400 Massed US firepower destroys the last German plt in the town. US gets a Decisive victory 38 to 14. All objs taken. 13 US steps lost, 26 German steps lost.

Wow, what a fight that one turned out to be. The 442d had no trouble clearing Hill D in the first half of the scenario but took a pounding getting over the RR embankment and into Bois de Borement. (In the real battle they did not take the town that day due to the stiff German defense) The Germans held out in the assaults for a long time and rolled well with their direct fire and bombardments. But in the end, the overwhelming US firepower carried the day for the Americans. All but one step of the US losses occurred in the assault on Bois de Borement.

I think the US could have ended the scenario early by getting up to the embankment and not assaulting. They had enough for decisive victory and would have juts had to keep the Germans from getting next to the road west of the town, But orders are orders so I continued the push.

This is a fun solitaire scenario. It would be a tough one for a German player in a FtF game.

There are times when it is SO clear that the dice are haunted. In my solo plays I have, in the past, noticed myself being a little too willing to consider the dice that I just rolled to be somehow invalid. I have used the excuse that they were the wrong color (I try to use dice the color of the primary units on each side, with white being held for FOW rolls etc.), that they were cocked (even slightly), that they fell off the table, etc., etc. I have also noticed that the likelihood of a bad roll as defined above increases when the roll did not fit the narrative that I was building in my mind.

This was, of course, cheating, but when I play solo, it is an oddly victimless crime. Or so it seemed. Recently I played through several campaigns of the new Totaler Krieg and vowed to myself that I would NOT play with the dice. If I rolled lousy then that's what had to happen. I had a blast with a number of absolutely incredibly odd rolls. I swore then and there never to try to "influence" the dice again. So far so good.

For some reason I never had the urge to cheat on PG scenarios. I can truthfully say that the unexpected roll is part of the reason why this game can be played solo so successfully. The INF platoon that is able to stop the juggernaut by passing morale checks and inflicting the same on the attackers. The 1-36 AT shot that actually hits and demoralizes a Tiger I, etc.

However, there are times when the dice are so very unfair as to call into question the results of a scenario. By the time turn 9 of this 20 turn scenario came around the Germans had lost 21 steps to the Nisei 4. The remnants of the German force were running for their lives and from the losses noted above, the weren't being too successful at it. I would give you a more pithy writeup but it would read: "Then the Nisei approached the German line, the OBA hit for 1 step loss and the troops were demoralized, the resulting assault on the 30 column destroyed what was left. The Nisei then moved to the next German line..."

Somewhere in here is a good playing scenario. I was tempted to give this a 2 but I stuck on a 3 because with a little more luck the Germans can have a decent fighting chance to at least hang on despite their lower morale.