The GIs had been poised before the Roer for days. German engineers had skillfully blown the upriver dam floodgates so that the Roer had run fierce and wide. Now, with the river still in flood but navigable, the concentrated might of the US Army would try to cross the Roer into Germany's heartland.
Attacker: German (Infanterie-Division 59 and Infanterie-Division 183)
Defender: American (84th Infantry Division)
13 turns
Players: 2 OBA: Both Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:25.0 D:29.0
AFVs: A:2
PzKpfw IVH x 2
AFVs: D:20
M36 GMC M10 GMC x 2 M4A3(76)W M4A3(75)W x 2 LVT4 x 6 LVT(A)2 x 6 Jeep x 2
Guns: A:2
5cm PaK 38 7.5cm PaK 40
D:2
M1 57mm AT Gun x 2
Misc Rules:
No island hexes, treat Marsh as OG. D: LVTs may not carry Jeep and AT gun at same time
Awesome scenario with lots of decisions for both sides. I made the (potentially unwise) decision to put both HIP German observers on level 2 in the 3M2 victory building with the idea that it would be the VC that I would defend to the last man. Put both AT guns fairly far to the front on that side of the board but back from the river crest so I wouldn't be able to shoot at the LTVs in the water but they wouldn't be able to take any fire from the LTVs either. The US first wave got across the Roer relatively unscathed...I took out one LTV (passengers survived) and an AFV on the south side of the river with my OBA, OBA knocked out a couple more LTV's north of the river, but it didn't take long for Jeff to ascertain that my observers were in the building. Soon, the US boom-boom was raining down on the building, and even stone couldn't save the observers from 150mm and 100mm death from above. Towards the middle of the game, Jeff had bldg M2 firmly in control and my plan shifted to the other side of the board. I brought my reinforcements in on the east side in an attempt to grab Hill 498 back from the Ami's as it was very lightly defended. My reinforcements got to the hill and put up a stiff fight, even getting a squad to the summit in the foxhole I had but up there, but Jeff concentrated both his modules on the hill (even to the point of killing his own 9-2 in the blast area) and I couldn't hold on. When my final weak attempt to get someone to the top was shredded by OBA and superior American firepower, I conceded in the top of Turn 12. Loads of fun, and the LTV's (amphibians) play differently than landing craft or rafts which we had used in other water scearios.
2021-11-26
(A) Jeff B
vs
Scott Sherer
German win
20.75 hrs
Agree this one was a lot of fun. I had a rough time getting my head around the LVT rules, only to realize they're mostly just covered in D16 and (in the case of the LVT4s) a bit of reading in Chapter H. Going into this I assumed I'd cross the river, hit ground, and unload. But these LVTs are really versatile vehicles and (especially in the case of the LVT4s) can carry a ton! So I used many of them to drive deep into enemy territory before unloading. Scott and I both agreed the Recall SSR could've been worded much better however. Strangely enough, the Germans move first in this one, and I setup my weaker tanks and all LVTs out of LOS in case he had his guns in positions able to immediately fire. I also loaded each of them with minimal occupants for the same reason, which provided me some substantial infantry firepower waiting to sweep the hills and crestline. The US starts with a small bridgehead on the north side of the river. I had thought I'd be able to conceal most of them, but Scott sacrificed a HS to prevent this. One very important occurrence very early on was the change in wind blowing from the NW to blowing from the S. This rendered my plan of laying massive smoke cover impotent. In the end this may have been a boon later in the game as it provided some much-needed OBA late in the game. It also caused me to kick off the attack earlier than I would've liked. If the German guns got hot early I would be in for some trouble. Thankfully I just lost the one LVT on my side of the river (with all passengers surviving), Scott had troubles getting his OBA going early, and my infantry and tanks did a wonderful job of blasting any Germans that showed their faces. Thus my bridgehead was able to secure Hill 522 on Turn 2 already. Turn 3 saw me land in force in the east, with Turn 4 seeing the LVTs in the west reach land. The only further casualty to them before both German guns were overwhelmed was one being immobilized. Both Hill 498 and Hill 534 fell on this turn, the latter still having some remnants of German resistance. As I thought going into this, the last holdout would be building 3M2. If I could crack that before the Turn 7 German reinforcements arrived I'd be golden, and thus I threw everything I had at it. With help from my OBA, I was able to effectively accomplish this by the end of Turn 6, but Scott had repositioned his force enough that my hold was not nearly as strong as I would've liked. Thus I was completely taken aback when Turn 7 came and the Germans entered heavy east. As Scott mentioned, I had almost nothing on this side of the board, and I could see this being problematic for me. He counted on his remaining onboard force being able to hold me off long enough for him to get situated on and around Hill 498, but I foiled his plan by almost completely eliminating the village remnants during my own half the turn, Thus I was able to switch tack to that side of the board before most of his infantry could make it. The endgame turned into a really entertaining firefight, with individual battles for position centered around the 4I6 wood, the I road, and Hill 498 itself. In the end my OBA was able to blast into oblivion anyone coming close to the summit, and the Amis prevailed with a hard-fought victory.
2021-04-22
(A) John Garlic
vs
Burnie Fox
American win
[Imported from ROAR]
2020-10-11
(A) Eric Topp
vs
Ron Oxford
German win
US forces mostly landed on the 7D7 peninsular and unloaded quickly. This put them some distance away from the 3M2 VC building where the Germans defended with their reinforcements. The German OBA caused serious losses to the US forcing a resignation on turn 9.
2015-10-17
(D) Gordon Jupp
vs
Nick Holmshaw
German win
Cracking game, I made good progress initially but couldn't interdict the German reinforcements. The OBA for both sides was ineffective and there was too much for the US forces to cover at the end! Definitely worth a play - but a long game!
