This was my first game of PG. Made a lot of mistakes in both deployment, execution, and game play. The Americans came through the fields avoiding the openess of the roads. Germans overlooked all Opportunity Fire chances.

Americans had a slight advantage and had almost taken the stong point at 0908. However, time goal was not met.

Author	treadasaurusrex (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States
Participants	Col. Sonichu
Play Date	2022-08-14
Language	English
Scenario	IN44001

This was a 3-session introductory scenario with the intrepid & quick-thinking Col. Sonichu commanding a defending force of German Panzergrenadiers in-and-around the 2-hex town of St. Laurent. We used the optional smoke and excess initiative rules and dispensed with the defense-biased fog of war rule. I played the attacking Americans.

The first session (game turns 1-4) featured a green, American 29th Infantry Division combined arms Task Force moving-to-contact in the northwest quadrant of Map 106. The US movement was slightly jumbled as the approaching assault columns were hit by German opportunity and OBA fire on the west & north margins of St. Laurent, but by the end of turn 4, the Americans had a foothold in the western half of St. Laurent and the German garrison was decisively engaged thanks to a pair of successful American close assaults. During this session, both sides managed a combined total of NINE, combat 7-die rolls.

The second session (game turns 5-10) was characterized by very accurate German OBA and the liberation of both hexes of St. Laurent by the invading Americans. US forces continued closing in, and by the end of this session, they were in close assault on the hex immediately adjacent to strongpoint WN 67. The lower-morale American force suffered a long string of disruptions and demoralizations as they pursued the remaining German troops, which caused confusion and dislocation in the stacks as the attackers moved east. During this session, both sides managed a combined total of TEN combat 7-die rolls.

The third session (game turns 11-14 ) was notable in several ways: 1) neither side threw a combat 7-die roll; 2) the Americans continued to suffer many disruptions & demoralizations which caused attack sequencing to break down as in the previous session; 3) friendly Allied OBA caused havoc among US units when rounds went astray; 4) the Germans in the strongpoint were slowly surrounded and eventually driven out during turn 12; and 5) surprisingly there were no US casualties. By the end of turn 13, both St. Laurent and WN67 were occupied by exhausted American infantry platoons. This resulted in a hard-fought, Allied major victory. The final step losses for the Germans was 12.

Author	PANISTA (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	treadasaurusrex
Play Date	2023-08-24
Language	Català
Scenario	IN44001

This was a fast-paced and frustrating, 5-session fight with the relentless Treadasaurus commanding the defending Germans with a seemingly endless series of advantages. I took the harder task as the attacking American commmander. We played with the FOW, consolidation, smoke and excess initiative optional rules. As others has said this is a good intro to Panzer Grenadier, though only the Germans drew good leaders. There were 3-FOW shortened turns in this battle. This factor seems to have helped the Germans in this draw.

Others have reported this better than I can with my limited English, so I will summarize. After heavy fighting both sides achieved one of their victory conditions for a drawn battle. The US side too the WN67 strongpoint but at a heavy cost thanks to the special AT fire rules for the German Grenadiers.

This was a fun and action-packed battle to play and I recommend this scenario for both solo and shared play.

My first crack at this game.

The German setup is pretty scripted; I did put an MG north of the trail to slow the US advance.

The US entered on the main trail, mostly, although a smaller group headed towards the town of St. Laurent. The bigger US group crossed the center hill and swarmed the victory location/entrenchment. Because of bocage, opportunity fire from the reduced MG unit there was ineffective.

Thus, the larger American force was able to assault the entrenchment. It took 6 turns worth of assaults, recovery, losing some demoralized units who fled, bringing in some new ones, etc., but finally the entrenchment was cleared.

That gave the US a minor victory; to match that the Germans would need to eliminate 3 steps, but the US only lost one step in the assault.

The base face-up morale (US=8, German=7) is the key to this scenario. The Germans will disrupt easily (the 716th VG infantry was not a top unit!), and the US will get a column shift in assaults for higher morale, usually.

Because the US lost time in the first assault, they weren't able to concentrate on St. Laurent quickly enough for the major win. They did assault both hexes and the game ended with both town hexes contested, the entrenchment gone, and the US never lost more than 1 step (the bocage actually helps the US here, in some ways). With 1-2 more turns this would have been a major US win, still, the minor win was pretty easily accomplished. I'm not sure how the Germans can defend against this approach any better.

As a narrative, a simulation, and a display of this early struggle for the Omaha beach sector, this is a fine scenario, worthy of a "4" rating. However as a competitive scenario I ranked it only a "3", because the German setup and response ability is so limited, playing the German side isn't as much fun. You'll probably only move a few times and mostly you are opportunity firing and recovering.

After playing many of the games in Invasion 44 going back to the intro scenario’s was actually hard. Getting use to the Bocage rules and then playing without it was hard. After using the +2 bocage as cover and using the limited terrain rules not having this caused units to get shot up several times. But if this is the first scenario that is played in is a good intro to Panzer Grenadier. We called this a draw because each side achieved one of their victory conditions. Each of us had one of our objectives. The American needs to conserve his force in order to take St. Laurent. This is more important if the Germans have placed a token force to protect hex WN67. That is what my opponent did in this case. Having to take both objectives I sent my tank 3 infantry and 1 HMG to take hex WN67 under command of 2 LT’s. During the officer selection I pulled and average selection with the stats evenly divided with only 1 1:1 leader. Most were 1:0 0:1 or 0:0. Taking the hex was costly but achieved with only 2 step loses but I loss the tank to a great roll by a squad using the German Anti-tank fire. All in all if I had played this first I would have approached the town and WN67 with more caution.

A straightforward scenario, move and take two objectives. I sent two American infantry companies plus the tanks to take St. Laurent and one company to take WN67. The Americas were able to take the west hex of DST. Laurent but could not oust the defenders ion the next hex after turns of assaults. They company going after WN67 fared worse as the Germans set up a platoon with a leader on the nearby hill and hammered the Americans with direct and indirect fire. The tanks came over to assist and finally a combined arms assault wen t in but could not oust the Germans. The Germans killed seven American steps and got the decisive victory.

Played the intro scenario "St. Laurent Again" playing both sides. The Americans approached the town through the hedgerows, forming up for assaults on an entrenched machine gun position as well as St. Laurent itself. A foolhardy early assault on the entrenched position by a platoon of Sherman tanks was repulsed with significant losses, and the German defenders called in artillery on US infantry units forming up for assaults and also subjected them to withering defensive fire leaving the US forces stalled in disrupted or demoralized status. Attempts to rally the troops were met by more fire and more demoralized and disrupted units. As dusk approached, the Germans moved infantry units from a hill overlooking a crossroads to the entrenched position and onward to reinforce the units defending the town but leaving only one reduced HMG platoon in the entrenchment. As US units rallied, an artillery barrage followed by an assault by tanks and infantry destroyed the defending unit bringing a minor victory within the American's grasp. The Germans quickly formed an assault group to take back the position and moved from the town alongside the entrenched enemy to ready for the assault. The Americans countered with an artillery barrage and direct fire attack that wiped out two of the German infantry platoons. With the assault group reduced by 2/3rds, the German leadership pulled the remaining infantry platoon back to St. Laurent to ensure that the town was still in German hands by nightfall. The result was a minor US victory, with the German left no option but to retreat with what few troops remained after the assault.

This proved to be an interesting scenario. Despite the number of American forces, it was a close run battle. (I STILL think there should be a +1 movement penalty for foot units crossing hedgerow (bocage) hex sides.)

My first ever PG scenario, played in 3 sessions. Probably, with huge amount of errors. Americans lost their Sherman’s pretty early. Fight for Strong Point WN67 was unbelievable long, and it was taken by US only on turn 10 or so. There was not enough time to take the town. I believe it’s a draw, because US take one of their objectives, and Germans inflict heavy losses to their opponents, so both sides can claim a minor victory. Overall I think it’s better to play this scenario solo - Germans don’t have much to do except opportunity fire. And I’m already hate this Normandy bocages! It’s hell!