Battlegroup Scholze
Played 23/10/2005
This was the campaign finale, and it proved to be a real cracker. Both
sides thought that they could win it, and the final outcome was indeed
extremely close. At first the Germans thought they could push their
Panthers through to victory. Fatalistic Americans ate their ham
sandwhiches, certain they were to simply place Shermans in the way to
watch them go up in smoke. An hour into the afternoon session the game
was on a knife edge with the balance swinging to the Americans. In the
end the Germans just came up short and the Americans held.
Date: 11 July 1944, 1330
hours
Location: Just south of
le Caplainerie, Normandy.
History: Throughout the
morning, the bulk of 2nd Battalion, 901st Panzer Grenadier Regiment
followed its recon elements north, along the road from le
Hommet-d'Arthenay to la Caplainerie escorted by armor from the 1st
Battalion Panzer Regiment 130. The drive north, an effort launched in
parallel with a similar effort toward le Desert, was to meet at Ste. Jean de Daye with the German attack from
Hauts Vents. The main axis of attack was focused on the boundries
between the US 47th and 39th Infantry Regiments (the attack to le
Desert broached the barndry between the US 9th and 30th Divisions).
Throughout the moming, German columns ran into ad-hoc, though stiff,
resististance as they clashed in the bocage with US infantry and
attached tank destroyers. Some German tanks became
separated from their supporting infantry adding to the confusion of the
morning. Soon after 1200, the German attack was reorganized and pushed
forward toward le Capainerie under the command of Major Scholze,
commander of the 901st Panzer Grenadier Regiment.
US Orders: Avoid German victory conditions
Game Length: 13-16 Turns.
A summary account of the battle, with rolling presentation, is available on the 'Battle Presentation' link immediately below. Many thanks to Andy for providing some really good photos to choose from.
Scenario Notes
The game was mayhem. I think it was painful for the players. At lunch
the Germans thought they were going to win, or at least were doing very
well, whereas the Americans thought they would put their vehicles in
the way to watch them burn and were downcast.
An hour and a half later everything had changed. The two M10s on
tripwire had caused problems taking out the lead Panther (of four) and
managing to slow another one. The Shermans arrived. In clogged bocage
lanes the Panthers were being engaged at point blank range by Shermans,
one managing to get into the rear rolling up behind some halftracks too.
The Germans managed to get three armoured vehicles off out of the four
required. A narrow victory to the Americans then, in a game that
genuinely swung back and forth. Once again it closely matched the
historical outcome; as I read it out it seemed to resonate with the
game we had just played. Either side could have won, which made for a
very satisfying game.
Rules Notes
The game once more used the excellent Disposable Heroes
rules.
A word on the armour rules:
They are a couple of levels more detailed than the infantry rules. It
takes a maximum of either 4 or 5 die rolls to determine the outcome of
a shot:
1. Acquisition: if you've already acquired and opponent hasn't shaken
it off then this is not necessary.
2. To Hit
3. Location - Did you get a track area with low armour or smack it on
to the mantle?
4. Penetration - how solid is your hit? Is it a glancing blow? or did
you get a full on hit?
5. Having penetrated what is your effect? Instant explosive kill? Take
out some of the crew?
location) only to watch their fourth roll bounce harmlessly away...
Conversely, twice Panther L70 cannon shots did not immediately destroy Shermans; they simply weren't sufficiently square on. Taking a step back the results felt good, and believable.
But I was conscious that one player in particular was looking for something with less die rolls and therefore less detail and more abstraction. You certainly could take out some of the layers above and still have a satisfying game. You'd simply be taking away some of the detail and combining some factors for a more quick play feel. Personally I like the detail and wouldn't want to change anything for my games. We played out a battle with 4 Panthers vs 2 M10s and 5 Shermans, along with some other armoured vehicles, on each side in about 5 hours.
The game was a close victory to the Americans.
Although the Americans took more casualties they just managed to
preevent the German victory conditions so bagged the extra 5 VPs for a
victory and won the campaign.
Victory Points
German VPs = 18
American VPs = 21