SL7 - Buchholz Station

[UP844]

SL-7 Buchholz Station

Buchholz, German border, December 16, 1944:

History: The original German opening for the Battle of the Bulge was somewhat subdued. German infantry, with little armor, was to
seize key road junctions early so that armored formations could quickly pass through and exploit a breakthrough. One such key place
was the town of Bucholz, which sat alongside an abandoned railroad. It was held by a company of American infantry who were lined up
for chow outside the town when a company of the German 27th Fusilier Regiment came down the road. Neither side has expected to find
the other here, and there was a moment of mutual surprise as both sides scrambled to deploy. the fighting opened about 7 a.m. with
neither side able to gain a decisive advantage. Losses were given and taken and the battle would probably go to the first side to
receive reinforcements.

Units Human Players (AI player units may vary)
German: Squads, LMG, MMG, HMG, PF
American: Squads, LMG, MMG, HMG, BAZ, AFV
Maps: ASL Maps 3 and 4.
Terrain: Village, hills

Scenario Length: 10 Game Turns

Victory objective: Both sides get VPs for eliminating enemy squads. The Germans also get VPs by exiting units.

Scenario Designer: Squad Leader scenario 7

I have made as few changes as possible to the original scenario:
- many German squads should carry both a LMG and a PF: since this is not possible in TotH, I gave the PF to the leaders;
- there are no unarmored vehicles in TotH, but I don't recall a single game where I or my opponent used them
- since I used the original SL scenario sheet (without ELR) to make this scenario, I had to guess it: Germans are classified as "Seasoned" (the 12th VG was one of the best VG divisions) and Americans as "Average" (the 99th Infantry has been in action for a few weeks at this time).

I considered adding some "AI-control only" units to improve game balance, but since Peter announced the release of the patch (which should also address AI issues), I decided against implementing changes that could become useless in a couple weeks.

The scenario notes state "Losses were given and taken and the battle would probably go to the first side to receive reinforcements.". Adding reinforcements for both sides, with variable entry, should make things interesting, but I tried to keep things as simple as possible in this first attempt.

I hope you enjoy the scenario, and I would be like to know your remarks and suggestions.

[DoubleDeuce]

This scenario has always been one of my favorites and was thinking about creating it myself. Definitely looking forward to giving this one a go.

[Paullus]

Nice UP844. [:)]

Could you please post the scenario in the submitted scenario thread?

[UP844]

I tried posting the scenarion in the proper section, but I was unable to attach the ZIP file. I likely made some stupid mistake, since it was 1.30 AM ).

This morning I tried adding random reinforcements for both sides (2xStuG III, 1xStuPz IV and 6 1st line squads for the Germans, 2xM10 GMC and 6 1st line squads for the Americans, but the game stuck because of a possible bug with fixed armament AFVs .

[DoubleDeuce]

Played the Americans, got whacked bad. [&:] All my leaders wounded or killed, some wounded multiple times. I think I had 2 squads left, both broken at game end. Gonna have to try this from the German side next.

[DoubleDeuce]

ORIGINAL: UP844

I have made as few changes as possible to the original scenario:
- many German squads should carry both a LMG and a PF: since this is not possible in TotH, I gave the PF to the leaders;

I think only Squads, Half-Squads and Crews can us PF??

[UP844]

ORIGINAL: Double Deuce
I think only Squads, Half-Squads and Crews can us PF??

You are right: I discovered this the hard way, as one of my leaders attempted to kill that pesky halftrack and a message told me he couldn't [:(].

Assigning the PF to the leaders has clearly been a mistake. I think I will remove all those leader-carried PF, as I think they are essentially useless: I fired them very few times during the testing games (always by squads). And after all there is only a single AFV, which is also quite vulnerable to small arms fire. Last but not least, the map will look much less cluttered without them [:)].