AAR: J100 A Few Rounds More

Chris Buehler

Germans: John Hyler
Americans: Chris Buehler

The 7/24 Houston game day took place at Mark Carter’s home so first I would like to thank Mark for hosting, providing beverages, and tasty brisket!

I had the opportunity to face John Hyler in “A Few Rounds More” (J100) from Journal 6 set in Germany in March of 1945. This scenario features a 6.5 turn match-up that features an attacking force of 14 American squads (elite and 1st line) and four Shermans against a defending force of 12 German squads (2nd line and conscripts) and four AFVs (two Sturmtigers). The Americans had a 9-2 leader, 9-2 armor leader, and two of the Shermans were gyro-stabilized while Germans had some dummies and could HIP one squad and any SW/SMC stacked with them.

The battle took place on board 3 with the Americans entering along the A-hex row with the objective of taking three multi-hex buildings (the three hex building – M2 – was worth two) while sustaining less than 40 CVP in losses. We rolled for sides and John ended up with the Germans. Deep down, I think he really wanted those Sturmtigers and their massive 380 mm guns. These were great but could only fire once per game turn. As such, I considered the other two 20L (12 IFE), ROF 3 AFVs (I don’t recall the exact model) to be more dangerous to my squads.

I roughly split my force with one group going around/over hill 547 while the other going around/over hill 534 to assault the M2 and L4 buildings. The scenario started with my rolling a 12 on the weather roll – gusts! There went my plan of rolling on with the Shermans and using their smoke mortars to provide some cover. So I went with a slightly slower approach. John took aim at one of my Shermans with his first Sturmtiger shot, scored a CH only to roll a dud. Later John scored a direct hit only to roll a dud. While lady-luck smiled on me during those two rolls, John had some nice rolls during the scenario including a rate tear with his HMG and MMG that stopped my assault on building M2 dead in its tracks. At this point I nearly failed my personal MC.

I rallied and was able to destroy John’s AFVs and bottle up his remaining good order units in and adjacent to the M2 building. At this point, John had amassed 38 CVPs so I could not afford more losses. I captured the L4 building and on my final turn sent two squads to capture the R6 and T6 buildings while dodging small arms fire and PFs! It was a tough battle that went to the end but I managed to pull out a win. Thank you for a great game John!

Earlier today I checked ROAR and it shows this scenario with 36 American wins to 32 German wins. I wasn’t surprised at those numbers as it felt like a “balanced” scenario to me.

Chris