Tom Gillis
Americans: Tom Gillis
Germans: Steve Miller
Quick AAR of this enjoyable slightly medium sized 7 turn scenario. Steve Miller, (yes the famous one...) ;-) and I have been playing a lot of scenarios lately. He had bested me in the last two matchups going in to this one. Was it going to be a hat trick? Anyway, we both liked the look of this one, and it seemed pretty close on ROAR so we went after it. Steve took the Germans and I the Amis. The German force consists of a vanguard patrol from the 2nd PanDiv on Christmas day in the Bulge, with 3 Panthers, 3 Mk4s, an Stg, and 4 HTs. Also a tough looking 10-2, 8-0, and 4x548s w/ a Psk and an LMG. ELR 4 SAN 2. Nasty! Fortunately for the defending Amis, the Germans have to exit 78 EVP/CVP!! Thats a lot. Plus they have to exit from either 19GG5, 17GG5 or 17Y1. But the Germans are generally speedy, and anytime you have Panthers with smoke making AFVs watch out! The American force consists of 2xM36 GMC, (the 90L kind with ROF 2!), 2xM4A1 (76L)W, and 2x those speedy M5A1s entering on T1. Nice group of Tanks. Plus the Shermans have gyros. They're protecting an American platoon from _their_ 2nd ArmDiv consisting of a 9-1, 8-0, MMG, and 4 Baz and 4x667s, ELR4, SAN 4.
My plan was to use the 90Ls to cut off the exit roads. Great gun and ROF, but OT. Always dangerous being CE. (As proved to be very telling in the game...!) Keep 'em outta sight.The Sherms were each to pair up with a M5. These speedy little buggers are great. 17 MPs, C7, decent MA. I was going to be really aggressive on my T1 because the Germans can actually exit quite a bit of their force on their T1 MF pretty much entirely out of the Amis LOS. To my surprise Steve didn't move to exit any units on T1. Instead coming up the middle of the two bds, (19 and 17, the long way across,) with several AFVs, some of whom dropped off infantry units. Also he sent most of his panzers down bd 19 and stopped them in an effective semi-circle. Kind of a circle the wagons thing. End of my T1 saw the flaming destruction of an M5 to a Panther, and the knocking out of an Mk4 to one of the 90Ls. Also several American HS were broke, and one surrendering and giving the Germans a Baz. (Thanks guys...! Not!) T2, the Germans are the ones who get aggressive. Steve wants to fight it out. Cool, I've got gyros. We have a bit of a belgium stand off on bd 19 with a Ger HT going down and an Am 90L, (Flaming...) In the middle is a muddle of German ?s who sneak up to the woodline. And now in a daring, (crazy...?!) move Steve pulls out his big guns. On the south part of bd 17 comes a Panther. It stops with good LOS to some concealed Amis in a wooden building. Next comes a HT with, lo and behold, Herr Teufel the 10-2 and an LMG/548. (It did not sink in to me that the sqd had the LMG and _not_the Psk. I would be shown the Psk shortly.) What a powerful little force in a very thinly armored AFV. Juicy target says I...Various DF and AdF broke the HS I had w the 9-1 and MMG. I managed to survive pretty unscathed as the Germans took some low odds shots. With sniper 4, that can be dangerous. Within another turn my sniper hit three times, two of which were 1s! Of course being CE helps when you need that crucial TH #. But a sniper 1 entering a CE AFVs hex is deadly. I recalled a HT, and a malfed MA Panther! Nice. All this happened when I sent one of my gyros Sherms hunting Herr Teufel, supported by a concealed 667 w Baz. The Baz had a good shot on the HT and rolled an 11. Gone. X'd out. My Sherm had got behind the HT, but I elected to stay in motion so my shots were not that good. I was nervous about the Panther, until if Malf'd. Recalling it made my task against the HT easier. Or so I thought. I couldn't hit him. I forced the crew to BU, and the 548's LMG broke. (To be repaired after a turn or two.) Herr Teufel pulls away to futile American direct fire, moving into the courtyard of the central bd 17 village. I get more troops broken and somewhere I lost my 8-0 for FTR. I haven't broken a single German inf unit. The Germans now control or deny me two Baz, I lost one, And the one I have left is in melee with a 548 and a Ger 127 crew! I lost the other M5 to the Psk in the center woods line. Completely missed it being there. I had had great plans for those M5s...( I lost the other Sherman, (flaming.) Needless to say, Steve started to BU his AFVs. So what does my sniper do. On another 1 sniper try it selects his sniper. Zap, now no Ger sniper counter! Cool. My sniper is the only thing keeping me in this game as I have now lost all but one 90L and one Sherm. I have one go 667 and the 9-1. There are AFVs crawling all over the village and woods of bd 17. A 548 w a Baz comes to cover the HT with Herr Teufel. The 10-2 is in a precarious situation, but he's still got some good IFT FP with that minus two modifier and its forcing me to stay concealed and CE as I try to approach him. Wow. Very wild melee going on here. Generally with a Ger edge thru turns 1-3, a mixed bag in the middle game and a shifting of Ger strategy as the game moves on. My sniper wounds the Ger 8-0. Yes, he's scored quite a bit of CVPs, but he needs to exit some stuff to reach 78. His force on 19 is in great position to exit off, but instead he move's on to 17 to chase down the 90L. This will actually keep them in a good place to exit. But alas it left a Panther giving a side shot to the Sherm that I didn't notice until it turned its turret and fired at me, hitting the wall. I'm the one worried here. T5 he makes a jump at the retreating 90L tank. Moves a Panther right next to it, stops, prepare to BF. I shoot first, hit in the turret, need a 7 or less TK. Roll an 12. (I rolled one over on shots at least 3 times, maybe 4 during the game also!). Panther gets ready to pounce...shoots, hits, flaming tank! Down to one gyro Sherm. He's still mixed up in the imbroglio in the center bd 17 village. Fortunately for me I was able to become HD, and stay in motion. Very important because Steve hit me 4 times with Panther and Baz shots that all hit the wall! He moved a Mk4 down to help Herr Teufel, still trying to blitz right thru the main Amis defence in a blur of automatic fire and AP shells dropping all over the place, augmented by auto/MG fire from both sides. Wild. All this fire breaks another American HS, but generates a Hero for the 667 squad. Cool! Lets go tank hunting! The melee of my 667 and the Ger 548 127, and prisoner HS finally is over with the 667 and the 127 eliminated. The survivors load into a HT, and some more Ger inf manage to load onto the STG. A HT exits for points. The Panther who killed the last 90L ditto, A Mk4 with a Mal'd MA exits. The point amt is rising...Can I kill that DAMNED devil 10-2 in that HT?! Steve moves his last remaining Mk4 to get a shot off at the Sherm behind the wall in AdF. Should I turn my turret to fire on it? I'm obsessed with killing the 10-2. There's a lot of points in that HT. I wait for the HT to move, It will be able to pull out of LOS after one hex. I shoot, need a 4 and roll a 5!!! ugh. I shoot the now rallied HS with my MMG at the HTs rear facing, miss. It gets a way to exit for points! Good move Steve. Gutsy choices on both sides. My turn 6 DF finds me returning shots with the side exposed Panther, hitting him in the hull and knocking him out. That was a big turning point. Up to losing the Panth, Steve had more than enough pts to win thru just exit. Now he had to get everything lift off minus a squad or two to win. Turns 6 and 7 see German manuever to finalize their exit places. On bd 19 he has a HT w 548 and prisoner HS and another 548 loaded on the Stg. I move the Sherman as close as I can moving all 13 MPs from bd 17 to get LOS to these guys. The Stg goes for D7 smoke and gets it, the Sherman AdF at it. Miss. Last T of the game. Steve has managed to get 74 exit points with the last Mk4, HTwSqd/Prsnrs and Panther exiting. Actually he had to have had 76 points because he exited the captured HS and there's no SSR not counting them...Anyway, its all up to the Stg. The Sqd on it doesn't even have to exit now. The Stg can just make it, but it'll have to become CE for the last four hexes! Remember, my sniper has been wicked. (He had also broke a 548 with Baz that could have threatened the Sherman on this last German turn.) So its gutsy, but Steve has to do it. He moves, the now CE Sherman shoots with MA and misses. Moves another hex, intensive fire from the Sherm, miss...! Ugh! Steve moves to the hex he must become CE at and I figure well I can use my AAMG and CMG for a combined "4+2." I shoot, Steve is a mere 4 hexes away from Victory. I do not have a very good chance but I roll: a 4! NMC. Well we all know German Panzer crews were the cream of the Wehrmacht's crop. 8 morale, no prob...Well Mr. Sherman commander has been around NWE for a bit himself. Steve rolls the MC. A 10! Stun! Game over 200 yards short! What an awesome time we had. Wild swings of luck. Dramatic choices and results. Bad mistakes and great moves each...! Steve played a top notch game and forced me to play my best game and still it was luck with the sniper that kept me in the game. Great time! We both rated it a "Must Play" on ROAR.
cya'all
Tom
My plan was to use the 90Ls to cut off the exit roads. Great gun and ROF, but OT. Always dangerous being CE. (As proved to be very telling in the game...!) Keep 'em outta sight.The Sherms were each to pair up with a M5. These speedy little buggers are great. 17 MPs, C7, decent MA. I was going to be really aggressive on my T1 because the Germans can actually exit quite a bit of their force on their T1 MF pretty much entirely out of the Amis LOS. To my surprise Steve didn't move to exit any units on T1. Instead coming up the middle of the two bds, (19 and 17, the long way across,) with several AFVs, some of whom dropped off infantry units. Also he sent most of his panzers down bd 19 and stopped them in an effective semi-circle. Kind of a circle the wagons thing. End of my T1 saw the flaming destruction of an M5 to a Panther, and the knocking out of an Mk4 to one of the 90Ls. Also several American HS were broke, and one surrendering and giving the Germans a Baz. (Thanks guys...! Not!) T2, the Germans are the ones who get aggressive. Steve wants to fight it out. Cool, I've got gyros. We have a bit of a belgium stand off on bd 19 with a Ger HT going down and an Am 90L, (Flaming...) In the middle is a muddle of German ?s who sneak up to the woodline. And now in a daring, (crazy...?!) move Steve pulls out his big guns. On the south part of bd 17 comes a Panther. It stops with good LOS to some concealed Amis in a wooden building. Next comes a HT with, lo and behold, Herr Teufel the 10-2 and an LMG/548. (It did not sink in to me that the sqd had the LMG and _not_the Psk. I would be shown the Psk shortly.) What a powerful little force in a very thinly armored AFV. Juicy target says I...Various DF and AdF broke the HS I had w the 9-1 and MMG. I managed to survive pretty unscathed as the Germans took some low odds shots. With sniper 4, that can be dangerous. Within another turn my sniper hit three times, two of which were 1s! Of course being CE helps when you need that crucial TH #. But a sniper 1 entering a CE AFVs hex is deadly. I recalled a HT, and a malfed MA Panther! Nice. All this happened when I sent one of my gyros Sherms hunting Herr Teufel, supported by a concealed 667 w Baz. The Baz had a good shot on the HT and rolled an 11. Gone. X'd out. My Sherm had got behind the HT, but I elected to stay in motion so my shots were not that good. I was nervous about the Panther, until if Malf'd. Recalling it made my task against the HT easier. Or so I thought. I couldn't hit him. I forced the crew to BU, and the 548's LMG broke. (To be repaired after a turn or two.) Herr Teufel pulls away to futile American direct fire, moving into the courtyard of the central bd 17 village. I get more troops broken and somewhere I lost my 8-0 for FTR. I haven't broken a single German inf unit. The Germans now control or deny me two Baz, I lost one, And the one I have left is in melee with a 548 and a Ger 127 crew! I lost the other M5 to the Psk in the center woods line. Completely missed it being there. I had had great plans for those M5s...( I lost the other Sherman, (flaming.) Needless to say, Steve started to BU his AFVs. So what does my sniper do. On another 1 sniper try it selects his sniper. Zap, now no Ger sniper counter! Cool. My sniper is the only thing keeping me in this game as I have now lost all but one 90L and one Sherm. I have one go 667 and the 9-1. There are AFVs crawling all over the village and woods of bd 17. A 548 w a Baz comes to cover the HT with Herr Teufel. The 10-2 is in a precarious situation, but he's still got some good IFT FP with that minus two modifier and its forcing me to stay concealed and CE as I try to approach him. Wow. Very wild melee going on here. Generally with a Ger edge thru turns 1-3, a mixed bag in the middle game and a shifting of Ger strategy as the game moves on. My sniper wounds the Ger 8-0. Yes, he's scored quite a bit of CVPs, but he needs to exit some stuff to reach 78. His force on 19 is in great position to exit off, but instead he move's on to 17 to chase down the 90L. This will actually keep them in a good place to exit. But alas it left a Panther giving a side shot to the Sherm that I didn't notice until it turned its turret and fired at me, hitting the wall. I'm the one worried here. T5 he makes a jump at the retreating 90L tank. Moves a Panther right next to it, stops, prepare to BF. I shoot first, hit in the turret, need a 7 or less TK. Roll an 12. (I rolled one over on shots at least 3 times, maybe 4 during the game also!). Panther gets ready to pounce...shoots, hits, flaming tank! Down to one gyro Sherm. He's still mixed up in the imbroglio in the center bd 17 village. Fortunately for me I was able to become HD, and stay in motion. Very important because Steve hit me 4 times with Panther and Baz shots that all hit the wall! He moved a Mk4 down to help Herr Teufel, still trying to blitz right thru the main Amis defence in a blur of automatic fire and AP shells dropping all over the place, augmented by auto/MG fire from both sides. Wild. All this fire breaks another American HS, but generates a Hero for the 667 squad. Cool! Lets go tank hunting! The melee of my 667 and the Ger 548 127, and prisoner HS finally is over with the 667 and the 127 eliminated. The survivors load into a HT, and some more Ger inf manage to load onto the STG. A HT exits for points. The Panther who killed the last 90L ditto, A Mk4 with a Mal'd MA exits. The point amt is rising...Can I kill that DAMNED devil 10-2 in that HT?! Steve moves his last remaining Mk4 to get a shot off at the Sherm behind the wall in AdF. Should I turn my turret to fire on it? I'm obsessed with killing the 10-2. There's a lot of points in that HT. I wait for the HT to move, It will be able to pull out of LOS after one hex. I shoot, need a 4 and roll a 5!!! ugh. I shoot the now rallied HS with my MMG at the HTs rear facing, miss. It gets a way to exit for points! Good move Steve. Gutsy choices on both sides. My turn 6 DF finds me returning shots with the side exposed Panther, hitting him in the hull and knocking him out. That was a big turning point. Up to losing the Panth, Steve had more than enough pts to win thru just exit. Now he had to get everything lift off minus a squad or two to win. Turns 6 and 7 see German manuever to finalize their exit places. On bd 19 he has a HT w 548 and prisoner HS and another 548 loaded on the Stg. I move the Sherman as close as I can moving all 13 MPs from bd 17 to get LOS to these guys. The Stg goes for D7 smoke and gets it, the Sherman AdF at it. Miss. Last T of the game. Steve has managed to get 74 exit points with the last Mk4, HTwSqd/Prsnrs and Panther exiting. Actually he had to have had 76 points because he exited the captured HS and there's no SSR not counting them...Anyway, its all up to the Stg. The Sqd on it doesn't even have to exit now. The Stg can just make it, but it'll have to become CE for the last four hexes! Remember, my sniper has been wicked. (He had also broke a 548 with Baz that could have threatened the Sherman on this last German turn.) So its gutsy, but Steve has to do it. He moves, the now CE Sherman shoots with MA and misses. Moves another hex, intensive fire from the Sherm, miss...! Ugh! Steve moves to the hex he must become CE at and I figure well I can use my AAMG and CMG for a combined "4+2." I shoot, Steve is a mere 4 hexes away from Victory. I do not have a very good chance but I roll: a 4! NMC. Well we all know German Panzer crews were the cream of the Wehrmacht's crop. 8 morale, no prob...Well Mr. Sherman commander has been around NWE for a bit himself. Steve rolls the MC. A 10! Stun! Game over 200 yards short! What an awesome time we had. Wild swings of luck. Dramatic choices and results. Bad mistakes and great moves each...! Steve played a top notch game and forced me to play my best game and still it was luck with the sniper that kept me in the game. Great time! We both rated it a "Must Play" on ROAR.
cya'all
Tom