Historical Background:
Ordered to move to the relief of Kampfgruppe ‘Peiper’, Max Hansen on December 21st started probing with his battlegroup between Trois-Ponts and Grand-Halleux. The 505th Parachute Regiment had established a defensive front to defend or blow the bridges along this four-mile section behind the River Salm. Hansen’s attack at Trois-Ponts overran the allied companies positioned on the East Side of the river. A withdrawal of survivors was ordered and although the German grenadiers made it to the bridge they were thrown back by fire from the antitank gun and the buildings. To the south, a strong defense at La Neuville slowed the advance of German tanks and infantry. Just as the German forces overcame the defenders in La Neuville the battalion blew the bridge. The advanced had stalled and Allied Artillery forced the German troops to withdraw.
On the 22nd, Panzergrenadiers fought a desperate battle for control of the Grand-Halleux bridges. The paras blew one bridge while Germans were in the middle of it and the rest of the German force in the area fell back. There were no further attacks on the 505th sector.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.
Briefing:
Axis Player
[Germany]
Take 4 Command cards.
You move first.
Allied Player
[United States]
Take 5 Command cards.
Conditions of Victory:
6 Medals.
The entire Allied baseline counts as Exit hexes for the Axis player.
Special Rules:
Winter Combat (Actions 25 - Combat Cards) and Winter Weather (Actions 26 - Winter Weather) rules are in effect.
For the Allied forces Blowing Up Bridges Option 1 is in effect (Actions 2 - Blowing Up Bridges). The Allied player may blow up to 2 bridges.
All Allied and Axis infantry units are elite units (Troops 2 - Specialized Units).
Place a badge on the US engineer unit (Troops 4 - Combat Engineers).
The river is frozen but impassable.
Setup Photo:
In the first game I started with axis and my opponent started with allies. Axis advanced on their right flank and allies didn’t had any cards in that section so the Germans quickly scored 3 medals and arrived in the towns near the exits when they run out of cards too for that section. Same time allies then lunched an attack in their right flank and scored 3 medals thanks to axis lack of cards in that section. But then axis brought one infantry unit as reinforcement, surrounded the allied unit that counterattacked, destroyed it, exited exited one unit and scored two more medals. Allies tried to score more medals but lost one unit and the game at the score of 6-3.
End photo:
In the second game we changed sides and began the battle. Axis started some attacks in their right and scored 2 medals but they ran out of cards. Allies scored 2 medals firing from distance so axis started to approach. Allied defense was strong in the right and left sections but in the center axis armor advanced near the bridge but the bridge was blown up allies. After that action axis lost the control of the situation. Allies started a counterattack in their left flank and scored 1 medals and made the score 5-5 and reducing on axis infantry unit down to 1 figure. But axis played Medics and Mechanics and it seemed like axis was winning the game because allies had one unit down to 1 figure but look at the Medics and Mechanics result:
. Allies then played Counterattack, attacked the axis unit that was down to one figure and destroyed it for a close 6-5 victory.
End Photo:
Conclusion: Another great scenario from Winter Wars. I recommend it.
If you played this scenario I will like to hear about your experience.