AAR - The I & R Platoon (American and German)

Moderators: Peter Fisla, Paullus

Post Reply
User avatar
UP844
Posts: 1669
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:10 pm
Location: Genoa, Republic of Genoa (occupied by Italy)

AAR - The I & R Platoon (American and German)

Post by UP844 »

This is a famous battle, mentioned in every book about the Battle of the Bulge, so I was glad to have the opportunity to refight it in ToTH.

Playing with the Americans, getting any result but a Major Victory is impossible.

I started slaughtering the first group of Fallschirmjagers as they advanced, firing MGs and squads individually: this means every American stack (1 leader + 1 squad + 1 MMG/.50 HMG) gets at least three to fire opportunities (MG First Fire, squad First Fire, squad Final fire, possible MG Final fire if it keeps ROF), with a -3 DRM as a minimum. After the first group was wiped out, the American squads never had an opportunity to fire. When the subsequent groups of Fallschirmjagers appeared, long-range MG fire was enough to kill them as soon as they advanced 1 or 2 hexes into the plain.

The Germans only fired ONCE with a Lt MTR, which was promptly wiped out by the ** leader directing the .50 cal HMG. The two MMGs were wiped out before they had a chance to fire.

The final result of this Somme-style massacre was a Major Victory for the Americans, which suffered no losses (not even a Pin result). The Germans lost 9 squads and 10 HS, and only managed to take three VP hexes.

Playing with the Germans is going to be much more challenging. I decided to take a route as far as possible from the deadly .50 cal HMGs and to attempt taking the two westernmost American trenches. I would have liked taking the VP hexes along the road through direct advance, but the first group of Fallschirmjagers was taken in a crossfire from all the American stacks and was wiped out by the end of the second turn (on the other hand, while the Americans were busy firing at them, they could not fire on the other Germans making their flanking move)

The plan worked (more or less) and I got a Minor Victory with 9 VP hexes on the last turn, even though I suffered even more losses than the AI (6 squads and 22 HS vs 9 squads and 10 HS, i.e. 17 squads vs 14). I took the hexes along the road using a "rule lawyer" move and ruthlessly routing a couple squads (which were eliminated by interdiction, of course).

I seriously doubt the German can achieve a Major Victory in this scenario: even if they had some more time to assault the remaining three VP hexes, losing most of the German force meant I only had three Fallschirmjager squads in Good Order and three broken ones at the end of the scenario (see the attached screenshot)

Image
Attachments
I_R_Platoon.jpg
I_R_Platoon.jpg (1.12 MiB) Viewed 479 times
Chasing Germans in the moonlight is no mean sport

Siegfried Sassoon

Long Range Fire (A7.22)........1/2 FP
User avatar
Hailstone
Posts: 666
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:05 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

RE: AAR - The I & R Platoon (American and German)

Post by Hailstone »

UP844, Your experience was very similar to mine dealing with another lopsided scenario but
after a couple of plays, like most scenarios, I eventually do get lucky and score the big one.
One thing you should know is the change I made for play balance which was to replace the rear
German column from 2nd Line troops to Fallschirmjaegers. Beside my play balance reason, I also
felt justified based on the extensive scenario description and aftermath where they only mention
the Fallschirmjaegers in the battle; no mention of the 2nd line troops at all. Thanks for your AAR!
[;)]
Post Reply

Return to “After Action Report”