The Germans have fought down over half of the (campaign) track to Mouterhouse, and are coming up on the split that allows them two ways down to the town – the night is past, but if they can take this table victory will surely be theirs?
The sun may be on the way, but the trees are still (mostly) everywhere, so visibility is not the greatest (~12″) off the track. The slope -steep on the last table- is extreme on much of this battlefield: The tan lines indicate where it inhibits movement, and the white contour-lines take the place of the 13″ of foam that would be needed to pile on the table to represent the terrain!
The Germans will enter at the lower (northern) edge on the grey arrow. The stars indicate both the U.S. JOPs and also objectives -the possession/loss of which will impact each side’s Force Morale. The arrow exiting the table on the lower right will lead any troops heading that way to another table/battle.
The attack is mounted by the German Second Sturm Platoon…
…whose leader is not as eager as the others, but is under pressure from the Company CO to get things back on schedule.
His men (who have yet to fight today) are feeling confident: their Force Morale is 10.
The American Troop’s Third Platoon lies in wait for the attack at the bottom of the hill. They weren’t too thrilled to see the other, beaten platoons moving through them – their Force Morale is 8.
Their leader hopes to avoid the brittleness of the machinegun section by assigning the crews of the M8s -one to each gun- to support them.
Also, in light of the coming day (literally and figuratively), he’s taken advantage of the track’s layout here to place his mortars south of the important intersection.
They haven’t had time to do more than drop a single ranging shot before the Germans are detected coming down the track, but the Leader has hopes that he can provide adequate corrections to have them make a difference in the coming fight.
The table is set: Time to roll dice…
Keeping to the verge, a Sturm Gruppe edges around the corner on both sides of the track until the right-hand men spot the enemy positions at the bottom of the hill.
The welcoming committee consists of 30- and 50-cal machineguns that their leaders have placed on overwatch.
The Platoon Leader is also there, ready to call on the mortars should the need arise. (NOTE: Forgetfulness –not stupidity- led to not placing the Jeep with the radio – it will show up later...it was just hidden by the trees!)
The mortars are set up and ready to go.
The shooting starts when the MMG opens up on the men of the Sturm Gruppe as they move across the track, causing the first casualty.
The Rifle Grenade team comes on and lofts some rounds down the hill, wounding the American M8 CO commanding the gun.
The machinegun’s return fire has no effect, but the next set of grenades manages to inflict some shock and take out one of the M8 crew.
Things happen in a hurry up on the hill as the German Platoon Leader (with the help of a turn-ending double phase) has the Sturm Gruppe move up a bit, throw a smoke grenade down the track, and then quickly get the men moving up behind it.
The LMG Gruppe -after an unsuccessful attempt- manages to show up at the top of the table.
The American SL moves over to get a better look and contacts the mortars (after two tries) with an adjustment to target the smoke on the track – but not to fire yet.
The 50-cal is put back on overwatch, and the MMG team is ordered to pack up (which they do slowly…) and move back .
The German advance continues at speed (=another double phase!). “Is there a second smoke grenade?…yes?…good!” A man is sent forward: He survives the blast from the HMG and creates a new smokescreen which the Gruppe is quick to move up behind…
…and then cross to the trees on the other side of the track, where they do not pause (yes: a third phase!) but advance to where the withdrawing MMG team can be seen and fired upon.
The Americans roll their own double phase (are these loaded dice?) which they use to move the MMG team farther back (but only an inch…) and open up on the Germans with the 50-cal -wounding the German Platoon Leader. The 30-cal team tried moving again, but were interrupted by murderous fire from the assault rifles that killed two of them -the JL included- and sent the rest running into the trees. The next fire by the HMG took out one of the Germans and brought them close to being pinned.
Not wanting to see more Germans coming through the smoke, the American Leader orders the mortar section to fire on the new coordinates.
Two of them have (remarkable!) success (which was ruled to eliminate the smoke grenade?…dunno) and plinked the German Platoon leader with his second wound! All three (including the third’s lucky ‘miss’) land close enough to the Rifle Grenade team to pin them.
The German Leader is feeling more confident than his wounds, and (with the American’s morale faltering on the edge at 5) moves up to join the line to exchange fire with the American gun position…which has much better aim (or luck?…or bigger bullets?) and kills three of the attackers (including the leader) and pins the rest – German Force Morale falls to match the enemy’s at 5.
The American fire was the first of a double phase (that’s five this game…), the next of which was used to inflict the coup de gras with more you-should-really-leave-now HMG-persuasion that sends the remaining Germans fleeing, leaving one more of their compatriots in the snow.
The American Leader then had the mortars send a and-that-goes-for-you, too note to the Germans up the hill with some (eerily lucky) best-guess shots that sent the rifle grenadiers running and convinced the LMG Gruppe to go report what happened rather than to join their leader…
Well, that game resulted in the easiest play of a withdrawal so far! The Germans up on the track had no trouble pulling back around the bend to safety. Of the three men in the broken assault gruppe, one failed to heed the JL’s directions to climb back up the hill and fell prisoner to the scout team the Recon Troop’s HQ had put there to keep an eye on the track leading to the west.
Being a German Platoon Leader in this campaign is not an enviable position.
We’ll see what the Company CO has in mind: Will the attack continue?
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