After playing the first scenario of Invasion 44 I was once again frustrated on how hard it is to make assaults work in towns and entrenchments. So I went to he forums and was advised it is best to simply stand off and use fire power to gradually wear down the defender, especially if the attacker is the firepower heavy Americans. So that is what I set out to do in this scenario to see if it works.

And it did.

The Americans moved out with their entire force together through the bocage right at Le Fresne. The Germans cleverly put a dug in AT gun and Grenadier Platoon on the 0711 which prevented a rush down the road by the Americans. The Americans took two hours to reduce Les Fresnes and then moved out across country to Couvains in the south held by the Fallschirmjaegers. Again, they Americans setup and pounded the town, knowing this time all they had to do was gain a foothold and prevent German control while keeping casualties down.

It was tough though to crack the high morale German paratroopers but finally they began to crack and in the last hour of combat the Americans entered the town in three spots. They even cleared out one hex with Stuarts which had the wagon towing the ATG all the way form the hill. They did all of this without losing any steps and thus stayed below the five loss threshold thus achieving two of the three VCs: take Les Fresnes and stay below five step losses. The Germans couldn't control Couvains so the Americans won a minor victory.

After all these playings of PG, is the light bulb starting to light up?

This was a continuation of the Attacks of the 29th but with a twist. In this scenario there is Heavy fog. Again I was the American and attacking and Dan was the defending Germans. Things did not work out for the American’s as well this time and Dan and his Germans achieved a minor victory. This was thanks to the surprise of the German Fallschirmjager’s. I will say these guys are hard to keep Disrupted/Demoralize and even harder to get rid of. In the end I could not take complete control of Couvains and Dan had some great rolls and I lost more than 5 steps

At the beginning of the game the German forces are split into two groups-regular Wehrmacht to the north and Fallschirmjagers entering from the south. In establishing their defense in the north, the Wehrmacht units split into two sub-groups - one defending Les Fresnes and another dug in on a hill near the crossroads to delay the US advance towards Couvains. Splitting the forces cost the Wehrmacht, as Les Fresnes fell quickly. While the group dug in at the crossroads did delay the US infantry somewhat, they were battered by off-board artillery and mortars, reducing their number and leaving them demoralized and leaderless after Captain Trauth fell during an assault by US infantry on their position. After Trauth fell, the remnants of the group were mopped up easily.

The delaying action by this group did allow the Fallschirmjagers entering the map at the south edge to proceed to Couvains unmolested and set up their defenses. The advance of the US forces was hampered by fog until the final turn, with visibility 1-2 hexes for most of the game-this limited their ability to pound Couvains with direct fire or artillery, as the spotting unit had to be adjacent to the target which led to losses from German direct fire. Wehrmacht stragglers, Lieutenants Madelung and Olbrich along with some anti-tank guns and a HMG platoon, arrived to assist the Fallschirmjagers before the US forces closed on Couvains. By turn 12 assaults began in all town hexes, and the Fallschirmjagers held fast-US troops became disrupted and demoralized, fell back and were replaced by fresh troops who suffered the same fate. The US armor advantage was for naught, as the Sherman platoon was demoralized and the platoon of Stuart tanks destroyed. As the game ended, Couvains was surrounded by broken US units, the Germans held one town hex and the others were still being disputed.

Lt. Madelung, who with an HMG platoon held off US advances against Couvains for several turns before being overrun and annihilated, was posthumously awarded the Iron Cross.

The losses for the US were not light - 7 step losses - but given their numerical superiority they were still an effective fighting force. The losses for the Germans were nearly double at 13 step losses - of the Wehrmacht forces that began the game, only Lt. Olbrich survived. The Fallschirmjagers suffered losses as well, 4 of the total 13 steps... with orders to hold Couvains to the last man, they did so and had still not given an inch of ground as the game ended for a minor German victory that felt pretty major.

This one went rather badly for the Americans at first. They spit their forces and the Germans played the delayer for both towns. In retrospect, the Americans could have just taken the closest town and delayed the Germans from reinforcing the Northern most (and weakest) group of forces and kept their losses to a minimum. (Still a win!) However, I went for the whole enchilada and darn near lost my pants. A revisiter scenario, to be sure. (I played this scenario WITH the advanced rules for the hedgerows, even though they don't kick in until the fourth scenario.)

If bocages was not enough, now we also had night and heavy fog. So there was basically no visibility for first half of game. Americans take Les Fresnes easily on turn 4. But then, they spend most of the time navigating the fog and inflicting heavy causality to Germans. It’s was pretty close until last turn, as Americans have exactly 5 step losses, so result was far from certain. Anyway, Couvains was not fully liberated, so just a minor victory for Americans. Assault town hexes is very very hard.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	Col. Sonichu
Play Date	2022-09-04
Language	English
Scenario	IN44002

This was a 3-session introductory scenario with the clever & adaptable Col. Sonichu commanding an American combined arms force. We used the optional smoke, consolidation, extended assault and excess initiative rules and the annoying fog of war rule. I played the defending, fog-bound, Germans in this over-long scenario.

The first session (game turns 1-4) featured a near-flawless American movement to contact marred only by accurate German OBA that eliminated a mortar platoon on the road on the north edge of Map 106 in the first turn. The US force veered to the left and proceeded to attack the garrison in Le Fresne. A step loss of US infantry to close range opfire did not slow down the methodical surrounding of the town. A successful close assault eliminated half the garrison, and liberated the eastern hex of Le Fresne (Hex 0803) during turn 3. A second close assault on the remaining German-occupied town hex initially resulted in the demoralization of the garrison commander who fled to the south in abject terror. This left only a single grenadier platoon and their intrepid, mascot snail: Laszlo. Between us, we threw a combined FIVE combat 7-die rolls this session.

The second session (game turns 5-9) featured a real thrashing for the Germans, beginning with the liberation of the last town hex in Le Fresne, although their pet snail: Laszlo, was able to escape by hiding in a fleeing grenadier’s pocket. The relentless and methodical US attack continued, pushing the Jerries further down the road and off the southeast hill on Map 106. A combined arms attack with M-5 light tanks drove the paratroopers out of their original position before they could dig in along the road. Step losses ended up at 2 for the Americans, and 8 for the Germans. US morale recoveries were almost always successful this session and the German initiative was reduced to zero. Between us, we threw and annoying THIRTEEN combat 7-die rolls this time.

The 3rd session (game turns 10-20) included a series of grim & costly close assault defeats for the Germans, ending with the liberation of the ALL but one town hex in Couvains (107-0807). The Americans methodically moved south and west, slowed only by the need to periodically recover morale from several scattered units. Combined arms attacks in Couvains eliminated the last of the German artillery and mortars, however, Lazslo, survived multiple close assaults in the last remaining Luftwaffe Captain’s hip pocket! The final step losses were 14 for the defending Germans and 7 for the seemingly triumphant American side.

Once again in this play-through, there were a combined total of THIRTEEN combat 7-die rolls this session. As a bonus, Col. Sonichu tied Tony Langston’s standing record (when playing me) with EIGHT combat 7-die rolls. By game end, there were only 6 FOW-shortened turns.

This scenario gets a 3 from me, primarily because it was fun to play, though too long. The flawed victory conditions allowed the Germans to sneak off with a minor victory, in what should have been a draw – given their very heavy losses. The Americans liberated Le Fresne and also controlled all but ONE town hex of Couvains, but they lost more than 5 steps in the process. The Germans mostly got clobbered nearly everywhere they tried to make a stand, but were able to hang on to the single town hex needed to ensure a minor victory.

My suggestions for a more balanced scenario is to revise the victory conditions and allow a higher level of US casualties (at least 7 step losses) while still requiring that Le Fresne be controlled, and also require that just 3 of the 4 town hexes of Couvains be occupied at game end. This scenario should also be shortened to about 18 turns.