Craig Houliston vs. Jim Taylor

Finished up this on VASL last evening as the defending Germans against Jim Taylor’s stout Americans. We agreed this was a fun scenario that, in our case, could have gone either way by a pip or two on the dice.

As a high level overview the Americans get six Shermans and 11.5 666s with only marginal leadership (for the Americans anyway 8-1, 2×8-0) Germans get two Panthers and 8 squad equivalents — all but one were 447s and two leaders, a HMG and 2xschreks. There are two VCs — attacker’s choice control all the buildings within 5 hexes of the crossroad overlay on board 6 OR exit 20 or more VP off hex Y10.

Notable setups: roadblock: h2/i2, Panthers: i2 and L8, shrecks: H3, o9

Early stages

Defense was mixed with both some upfront D and layered backwards. The troops up front were looking to cause some casualties on the American entry, but Jim wisely avoided any missed LOSs. As a result, by design, the forward guys pulled back. In the first couple turns, My sniper recalls one CE Sherman and whacks his 9-1. His troops are now on in force and perhaps my only real screw up of the game — I HIPped a 447/8-1 in hex J4….J4 open ground behind a bocage?! What the…? I saw that after we started and thought, huh? Well, they and the schreck toting guy HS I think in H3 all miss their shots and are subsequently pummeled into oblivion by the American firepower. Meanwhile, the Panther in i2 redeploys to o5.

Mid-game

Here’s where it gets bad for the Germans. My L8 Panther redeployed to N8. Jim gets a bit aggressive and moves up to swarm him with a couple Shermans. The Panther (with WA) fires and misses (5,5) the Sherman enters the Panther’s hex. I think he fires again and misses. I then reveal my HIP 237/schreck on o9. Surprise! Silence on the other end of the Skype transmission…I gain the hit. TK = 6,6. It ricochets of a box of C rations. Drat! Now another Sherman ambles up and takes the BFF shot and rolls a 4,4 (normally a miss since the Pather was hulldown), but HD was lost when the other Sherman entered the hex. Jim rolls what he needs and destroys it (crew survives). The next turn my Panther in o5 BFFs before moving on an exposed motion Sherman – misses. Freaking gyro shot from Sherman…hit…kill. At this point, I feel it is all over but for crushing the dice in the vice…

End game

The last 1 1/2 turns are wild. Jim is still assessing whether to go for the buildings or exit. I still have a HS/HMG that has not revealed. I know — why HIP a HMG? He was located in P4. My hope was to lay a nasty trap bag some significant infantry with rate in the village. However, as the game progressed this guy may have unnerved Jim just enough to forgo the exit VP which I thought might have been a lock for him as he thought it might located in z10. I had repositioned a 447 in Y10 in a foxhole there (so a potential for three PFs). As a result, I kept him HIPed as long as possible. In the end, Jim went for the buildings. It came down to P4 with the 237/HMG and P6. P6 held a broken squad, 447, 127. A K result killed the crew on the ground floor — nuts! And I believe the final shot — a 30+2 or something(?) resulted in a 2mc which he failed. Over in P4 a subsequent spray fire shot by the HMG at an adjacent 666 and concealed 666 for a 2 and 1 flat, respectively. I missed on the result and 15 FP of American infantry enter after they pin me on his AdvFire shot. I actually ambush him (pinned) and miss on my attack on one 666. He’s 15-2 and needs anything but a 10, 11 or 12 for the win. He rolls something like a seven for the win. Game over!

Post Game thoughts

Well, this was a fun scenario and we both agreed this is something we would both heartily recommend. After the second Panther went down, I was figuring this game was over. Nothing really to stop the American armor from exiting (though I knew there was just the one 447 on the exit hex). However, just enough doubt on what PF-ready Huns might be awaiting Jim at Y10 (a 447 AND 237/HMG???) made Jim switch to the building VC.

A little tough to say without more data, but the edge seems to be with the Americans. Lots of firepower and six tanks all sporting 10FP in MGs (CE) is really potent. Frankly, Jim didn’t even miss the recalled tank from turn 1 or 2. Of course, the equalizer is the cheesy 6ML. A few of us were talking and the 228 crew as German balance might help. Nevertheless, an extremely fun scenario that should play fast and be a tournament staple in the years to come. Kudos to Jim for a well-played game and for many laughs along the way. A special call out to Chas and the BFP crew for yet another fine scenario.

***One note, we played this incorrectly for a few turns. The THICK hedges on the overlay are…light bocage. We played them as regular since they were so much thicker. So, all bocage in this scenario are LIGHT BOCAGE. BTW, nice to see the use of the small village overlay to reinvent what was a pretty one-dimensional board.

Craig Houliston