Designer: Adaptation: John Appel, Pat Ryan & Bill Sisler
Starter kit scenario?: Deluxe scenario?:
Balance:
GermanAmerican
Overview:
The Fifth Panzer Army in an effort to expand its position around Tunis, sent the 86th Panzer Grenadier Regiment supported by armor from the 7th Panzer Regiment on a two-pronged attack along both sides of the Medjerda River. If the Germans were to gain control of the bridge near Bordj Toum railroad station, Combat Command B would be in danger of being cut off on the eastern side of the river.
Attacker: German (1st and 2nd Battalions, 86th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 7th Panzer Regiment)
Defender: American (1st and 2nd Battalions, 6th Armored Infantry Regiment / 16th Combat Engineers / 2nd Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment)
8 turns
Players: 2 OBA: Both Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:24.0 D:20.0
AFVs: A:14
PzKpfw IVF2 x 2 PzKpfw IIIL x 3 PzKpfw IIIJ x 3 SPW 251/1 x 6
AFVs: D:6
M3 MT x 4 T19 HMC M3 ht
Guns: A:0
5cm leGrW 36 ATR 7.92 PzB 39 x 5
D:3
M3A1 37mm AT Gun x 3 M2 60mm Mortar
Misc Rules:
No grain December. Enemy units on opposite side of river ignored for Rout purposes
Map Board(s):
2
6
7
15
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
The American T19 HMC halftrack starts hooked up to its trailer.
Letter68
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
A tale of two games with separate action on each side of the river. In the west I strongly contested the crossroad, forcing him to enter closer to the river under cover of woods and buildings before one of my MMG squads moved to the upper reaches of J8. In the east he entered mostly through the pass and moving up into the hills, but was surprised just how many clear LOS I had from my vantage points up on the level 3/4 hills. I blew out my 105 gun on its first shot, but my harassing fire OBA started doing its job early, busting up a number of Germans and shocking a tank. And I blasted a fully-laden HT with one of my AT guns. Turn 2 saw me quickly lose my FT and him sweat me out of J8 with some tank fire, while my men retreated to their 2nd line of defense south of the road. Meanwhile in the east he smoked in one of my guns with his OBA, but my other flamed up a Panther in the upper hills, while my repositioned tanks knocked out another. My OBA immobilied a HT before my radio operator was sent back routing, and it'd be some time before he could dial in again. Meanwhile the German radio would have problems of its own. Turn 3 saw my freshly concealed MMG nest move back to J8, just in time to brace for his attempted crossing of the road. Turn 3 saw me break two of the 37LL guns on my tanks as they knocked out another Panther, while another HT was sent to the scrap heap by my AT gun. The Germans were having an extremely hard time gaining any traction action the well-positioned/fortified American defense, and their Turn 4 moves saw a little more desperation trying to take some ground. In the west they were still stymied north of the road, and a berserk paratrooper caused all sorts of havoc. In the east they lost yet another tank to the American AT gun , which was finally knocked out with a CH from one of the last two remaining German tanks on that side of the river. With their western force in shambles, red-chitting out their radio, and losing another 3.5 squads and two leaders, the Germans called it a day after their Turn 5. Scott thinks the Germans need a well-coordinated combined arms assault and I certainly can't argue with him. Probably much more fun to play as the defender, but I really enjoyed this scenario with its massive scope and two-pronged battlefield.
2022-04-15
(A) Andy Goldin
vs
Stephen Worrel
American win
This is one of my favorite scenarios because it combines combined arms maneuver warfare across the hills with close-in fighting through the olive grove and chateau. That said, I've never won this playing the Germans and am curious to see how the Germans win this one.
In my game against Stephen, my OBA was effective against the Americans defending the ridgeline on hill 783 and I was able to clear his ATG in the woods by 15C2 with accurate infantry MG fire. I crested the ridge and was having good success against his infantry until about midway through the game when Stephen's sniper repeatedly found its mark, killing three of my best leaders by order of rank. That was followed by every infantry squad which received fire, broke. My Panzers kept me in the game by destroying three of his four tanks (the 105 equipped HT was a priority target for the OBA and had been destroyed on Turn 2).
I had cleared enough of hill 711 to get a squad, HT and tank within range of the victory locations but my lack of leadership left my infantry ineffective, and my tanker's inability to knock out his remaining tank prevented the remainder of my force from closing on the victory hexes.
The effort across the river by the Chateau never amounted to much. His 105 OBA knocked out one of my tanks and immobilized the second. Without armor support, the infantry didn't make much headway. The infantry got to the chateau but, with mounting losses, could not get past it. Game over.
2021-01-16
(D) Will Willow
vs
Jeff Waldon
German win
2021-01-16
(A) Jeff Waldon
vs
Will Willow
German win
VASL
2020-12-08
(D) John Gorkowski
vs
Bill Stoppel
American win
A column of German motorcycles, tanks, halftracks and infantry squeezed westward through the narrow pass (2V4/V5). An American mortar on hill 714 (15CC5) rained shells to break some cyclists and eventually clock a halftrack. Germans reacted by darting into blind spots behind the cluster of buildings around 2V8. The group that moved into the 2V6 wood drew bore sighted fire from an American MMG on hill 714 (15X3), but avoided casualties and later pushed forward into the blinds. An American ATG on hill 714 (15Y5) failed to penetrate some Panzer IIIs that had ascended the slight rise (level 1 hill) at 2W6/X6. Both the American (on hill 714) and German (on the other side of the river) forward observers failed radio contact or drew a red card to keep the big guns dormant for a turn and a half. German tank fire at hill 714 knocked out the U.S. mortar and pinned the ATG.
Further north, a German tank-infantry team tried to skirt the board 2 edge and “sneak” westward, but a U.S. ATG atop 15F3 hammered them to immobilize the tank and clobber some infantry in the trees! GI rifle fire from that same summit punished some krauts in the open around 2B9.
In the northwest, Panzer Grenadiers drove and ran southward between the massive board 6 olive grove and the board 7 river to form an arrowhead whose tip broke on a roadblock at 6I2/H2 and minefields in 7H10/6H1. Soon after, the tanks dispensed smoke to enable some infantry movement despite fire from the U.S. 9-1 directing MMG and 7-4-7 on level 1 of the 6K2 building. A HIP ATG in the 6J3 wood patch fired training ammo to kill a Panzer III in 6H2. Same said ATG later fired canister at the G3/G4/H3 vertex to break a whole German platoon! German small arms fire then broke and killed the ATG crew, but by then an M3 Lee arrived on the scene just as the second (and final) Panzer III was leaving due to a disabled main gun. All the while, a concealed U.S. 8-0 with flamethrower and 7-4-7 lurked in the huge olive grove to discourage any attempt to outflank the Chateau (6N4).
Opposing lines erupted with crisscrossing fires on U.S. turn two. American artillery landed around 2W7, where the pass opens up, to break and DM several German squads. American MMGs (plural) unleashed rate tears (plural) to massacre several German squads all along the perimeter. German tank fire knocked out twin U.S. MMGs in foxholes atop the summit of hill 783 (15N4). Kraut machine guns broke a few GI bazooka squads along the board 15 ridge line to open the way for tank movement. Up north the U.S. ATG in 15F3 shrugged off constant machine gun and main armament fire from the immobilized panzer, but a different tank killed the nearby U.S halftrack.
Around turn 3, a Panzer III got half way up hill 714 (to hex 15Y4), but broke down due to ESB. Still, he stalled in the right spot. From there his main gun killed the U.S. 105mm halftrack 11 hexes away in 15N7 (it had fired at him first, but had no HEAT) while his machine guns broke and halved a U.S. squad pulling back from the crest. All that shooting attracted GIs who wove through the crags and shot their bazooka to brew up that defiant Panzer III. A Panzer IV with 9-1 leader drove to 15P4, in the shadow of the central hill 783 summit, to get a flank shot on an M3 Lee who was guarding the board 15 pass. This bold move could have worked owing to the “extra” shot allowed for an APCR attempt. Alas, the German missed with that and regular AP. The lumbering M3 pivoted to fire and missed during defensive fire, but opened up with everything during prep fire to kill the Panzer IV with training ammo. Meanwhile, the Americans who had earlier taken the .50cal out of the (now dead) 105mm halftrack lugged it to the top floor of 15R8. Their cross fire through the board 15 pass out to hex 2X10 shutdown German forward motion.
German artillery finally came through to knock out the U.S. ATG and infantry in and around the hill at 15F3. But that was too little too late. Those turn-two rate tears by U.S. MMGs had just done too much damage already. The Germans had precious few infantry left, only a tank or two still mobile, and had lost three halftracks, all with the bridge still out of sight, so they conceded on turn 5.
