Date : July 8th ,1944
A description of scenario 11 : Hold The Line from the GMT Games board game Combat Commander : Europe
www.gmt.games
Setup
After the previous days fighting the lone disabled Sherman tank was stuck beside objective 4 (hex F2). It had a good view of the hilltop objective 5 and the region to the right to deter any German exit off the map if they captured objective 5, and was well placed to defend all approaches to objective 4. Sgt.Buehler was stationed in the tank with the 50 cal while the two remaining tankers manned the main gun.One U.S team was dug in on the hill top next to the tank(E3). If need be, Buehler could run the HMG up there to get a better view.
Sgt.White , one elite squad and one weapons team were dug in on objective 5, armed with their captured panzerfausts.
As dawn broke the SS troopers appeared, all but one squad hidden from view of the tank. Their start line was behind objective 1 and the hedges. It looked like objective 5 was to be their immediate target, hiding from the tank.
This is NOT Going Well!
The Germans immediately moved off from their start positions, leaving the tank and its guns helpless to intervene as they moved toward objective 5. Opportunity fire from Sgt.White on the hilltop broke one German squad but assault fire from the Germans was very accurate and had Sgt. White, the squad and the team cowering in the dirt. This gave the Germans an unopposed move up the slopes of the hill as they closed in on the hill top. Sgt.White and the men swiftly recovered their composure, and managed to break one of the German squads as the Germans got within melee range. Sgt. White could either wait for the inevitable assault or take matters into his own hands. He chose the latter course and advanced out of the trenches to melee with the broken SS squad. |
Germans move in on objective 5 |
The Germans were ready for this move, eliminating the US team and wounding SgtWhite with three(!) assault cards. The wounded Sgt.White and his remaining squad won the melee dispatching the broken S.S. squad, and were able to briefly contemplate the prospect of escaping passed the advancing Germans to exit the map and go for help. This was not on the cards as Sgt.Ganz, an S.S. squad and a weapons team advanced into melee with Sg.White and won the day.
The fight for objective 5 was over, the US side suffering a bloody setback. The 8 VP swing swept the victory marker into German territory, with the German high command awarding 3 extra VPs for objectives already in German hands . The only bright spot in the gloom that settled over the U.S. side was that Lucas, the U.S. hero had shown up in the slit trenches just above the tank.
Ganz setup the HMG on objective 5 and started laying down very effective fire on the US weapons team in their slit trenches next to the stranded Sherman. The Sherman main gun was very inaccurate , and the HMG not much better. In short order the US team on the hill was eliminated. At this point , the first time marker had not occurred, and the US was over half way towards its surrender level. US morale was low. From the U.S. viewpoint it looked like the battle was going all Germanys way. The U.S. casualties were mounting rapidly, only the tank crew and Lucas were left to withstand the German onslaught.
The Eye Of The Storm
An odd thing happened at this juncture. A strange calm befell the battlefield. The Germans, having claimed objective 5, retreated out of sight of the tank and waited, leaving objective 5 in German control but unoccupied. Time passed and U.S. reinforcements arrived, but they were more of a hindrance than useful. The U.S. was not contemplating an assault on objective 5, and could not tolerate losing the reinforcements to the casualty track, and so had to keep them in the trees behind objective 4.With every time marker advancement the VP marker moved closer to U.S territory, and the U.S commanders personal morale level started to improve. But would the game last long enough for the VPs to swing to the U.S side? It was a stalemate, as all the U.S reinforcements were in place in and around the now heavily defended objective 4, except for one lone US squad on the far right waiting in the woods to delay any German attempt off the map. The Germans did not seem to want to risk advancing beyond objective 5 to exit the map and the U.S. was too close to the surrender level to risk assaulting objective 5. Lucas did move into the trees below objective 5, and was thinking of rushing the objective at some point.
The Engineers (and a Hero) to the Rescue
Then a fortuitous discard by the Germans changed everything; the U.S. rolled on the support table and who shows up but a squad of engineers armed with a flamethrower. The Germans thought about it but did not use the initiative card to generate a reroll; a decision that they were to regret. Lt. Ganz, securely sheltered behind the German controlled, but unoccupied objective 5 was shocked to see the U.S. Engineers appear out of nowhere back in the slit trenches of objective 5. With an assault fire action the Engineers broke Ganz and then skedaddled into the nearby forest to meet up with Lucas.Lucas ran up to the engineers in the woods and grabbed the flamethrower. A strange torpor settled over the Germans as the flamethrower wielding hero ran back up to the hill top the engineers had just vacated. He finished off poor Lt.Ganz along with his accompanying weapons team. Now the U.S reclamation of objective 5, along with the demise of Ganz and the LMG weapons team had pushed the VP score firmly into US territory.
 |
| Lucas storms objective 5 |
Flushed with success and throwing caution to the winds Lucas moved out of the slit trenches to rain fire down on another now leaderless German squad as the U.S engineer squad moved up toward the objective 5 hill top. The Germans shrugged off this attack and moved in to melee with the troublesome Lucas. However Lucas performed heroically, ambushing the approaching Germans and won the day, prompting the German commander to resign.
