Coal in Their Stockings WTO (id:#62333)
(ASL Action Pack #10 ID: AP100)   [next]   [previous]
Foy-Notre-Dame, Belgium 1944-12-25 ()
Designer: Pete Shelling
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
AmericanGerman
50.806451612903%

Overview:

By Christmas Eve, PanzerArmee 5’s attack had lost steam. Christmas morning dawned clear and bright, and ensuing Allied air activity restricted German ability to reinforce units that had made the deepest penetrations toward the Meuse River. Panzer-Division 2 in particular had been engaged for several days with its American counterpart, the 2nd Armored Division, under command of General Ernst Harmon. British XXX Corps was also reinforcing the Americans with a flanking maneuver near Dinant in an effort to cut the narrow corridor made by the Panzers. Four miles from the Meuse, at the peaceful farming village of Foy-Notre-Dame, the reconnaissance battalion of Panzer-Division 2 attempted to escape and ran into advancing elements of 2nd Armored Division attempting to clear the area.
Attacker: American (82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Armored Division)
Defender: German (Aufklarungs-Abteilung, Panzer-Division 2 and Kampfgruppe Bohm)  
6 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:9.0 D:8.5
AFVs: A:8
M5A1 x 2
M8 HMC x 2
M8 x 2
M3(MMG)
M3 ht
Jeep

AFVs: D:4
JgdPz IV
PSW 234/2 x 2
SPW 250/8

Guns: A:0
M2 60mm Mortar
D:1
8cm GrW 34

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: GS (E3.72). A: Gyros (D11.1)
Overlays: Hd9 Hd10
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2024-07-04(A) Daniel Soukup vs Patrick German winGreat scenario. I nearly failed my personal morale check after nearly all AFV, halftracks and vehicles were destroyed after 2 turns, but the game came down to the wire. Americans could have won if I played the turn 5 MPh better. Would definitely like to play again.
2024-03-19(A) Øyvind Jacobsen Bjørkås vs O American win
2024-03-15(A) John Garlic vs Larry Rohlfing American win
2024-03-15(D) Larry Rohlfing vs John Garlic American win
2024-03-02(A) Dave Mareske vs Craig Renier American winSecond playing, reversed sides, The Americans were able to roll up on the German forward positions with some well placed WP. Turn 2 offered a gap in the defense to get into the village by turn 3 and the taking of two stone buildings. After the German JgPz malf'ed its MA we just talked through the ending, with the Americans taking the victory.
2024-02-24(A) Craig Renier vs Dave Mareske German win
2024-02-24(D) Dave Mareske vs Craig Renier German winA couple of early AFV losses for the Americans slowed down the progress and the German HMG made progress from the east slow. The German JgPz protected the western flank along with one armored car.
2023-09-26(D) Tuomo Lukkari vs Fabio Mazzucchelli German win[Imported from ROAR]
2022-02-26(D) Andy Goldin vs Jack Boyle German winVery tight and close game. Both sides lost all our vehicles in a bloody slugfest. Jack took three buildings by turn 4, but on turn 5 I managed to drive him out of one of them, leaving me with only one more building to take. My Germans charged and survived fire from the captured German HMG to squeak out a win in CC, taking the building and earning a very narrow win. Great game!
2022-02-06(A) Andy Goldin vs David Ready American winClose game won by a low-odds BAZ shot in the side of an escaping JgPz on the last turn. Incredibly, that one BAZ-toting HS scored 4 AFV kills -- the HT in CC, both PSWs and the JgPz!
2021-05-23(D) Andy Beaton vs Will Willow American winCASLO 2021
2021-05-23(A) Will Willow vs A. Beaton American winCASLO 2021
2020-05-06(A) Will Willow vs T. Brieaddy German winVASL
2020-04-29(A) Eben Johnson vs German win
2019-12-16(D) X von Marwitz vs Michael Koch German winI had played this scenario a couple of years ago (brief report can be read here...) as the attacking Americans, in which game it came down to the last CC roll for an American win. This time, I played the defending Germans. While I enjoyed this scenario, my opponent did not so much. He felt that his Americans would not be getting anyway - a feeling which I recall when I played them back then, too. However, once the US can figure out the disposition of the German forces and manages to crack and dint their defense, things might get hard to control for the Germans. For the US it is certainly a challenge, to keep its troops GO and going. The armored battle is quite hairraising, as most vehicles are quite thin-skinned and thus very vulnerable to the enemy MA. My opponent conceded in US turn 4 after what von Marwitz's sworn enemy and menace from the Kriegsschule in Dresden, the malicious Major von Schoff, would call 'luck' blowing up a ht with passengers and crew, while Oberst von Marwitz himself would call it 'marksmanship'. In both of my playings, the attacking US did hardly use the flank approach. It would be interesting to observe, how the scenario plays if it is used.
2019-09-02(D) Michael Rodgers vs Magnus Rimvall German winI think this is a challenging, fun scenario for both sides. Two reconnaissance forced fight for stone buildings, but with a VP twist. The Americans receive two points for each controlled stone building at the end of each game turn. The Germans receive three points for each stone building that they still control at game end. The Germans also have exit VP possible, but to me that is more a feature to limit the early American options rather than a realistic VP objective.

As the German side, I deployed one squad at start and a second squad during the first turn. I had one dummy vehicle. Magnus set up about two platoons with both HMC, AC and stuarts on board. Half of them attacked from north of the village. The other half moved to attack from the east. The rest of his forces used the turn two option. I lost a concealed PSK on turn 1 to a lucky 2 FP shot from an AC because the manning HS rolled a 12 on the MC. On turn two, I lost a broken 8-1 leader to a twelve rally roll. At least things evened out some when the German sniper took out an American 8-1 soon after. I used the mortar's smoke to limit the effectiveness of the American firepower coming from the north. On turn three, the American armour moved to challenge the German armour east of the village. The Germans destroyed three AFV at no loss to themselves. On turn four, the Germans gave up the most isolated stone building to consolidate in the village. The Puma forced a recall on the MMG HT and another American AFV was destroyed. On the fifth turn, when the American infantry moved into the east woods adjacent to the village, German defensive fire broke most of them. Magnus conceded early during the sixth turn.
2019-07-20(A) Jonathan Kapleau vs Palmer, Phil German win
2019-06-08(A) Tom Kearney vs Neil Stanhagen German winHuman Wave 2019.
2019-05-16(D) Tom Kearney vs Alan Saltzman German winThis is a cool scenario that pits recon elements against each other. I think that the US must flank from the southeast in order to have a better chance at victory.
2019-01-19(A) Vic Lauterbach vs ML American winFast, challenging scenario with tactical options for both sides (played with Germans having balance). I was too aggressive early and lost three AFVs, but once the US infantry closed in, things evened up. Each HMC got off one H9 shot then ran out, and one BAZ went X11 on its first shot, so the turning point was capturing the PSK in CC and using it to kill the JgPz as it tried to escape and exit. US won 16 VP to 10.
2018-01-27(A) Rich Weiley vs Eric Topp American winCANCON 2018 - Third Round. I rember losing two of three US leaders to the German Sniper but managed to hold on for the win.
2017-11-12(D) John Garlic vs James Ferrell American win[Imported from ROAR]
2017-07-06(A) X von Marwitz vs David Wallace American winThis is a very interesting scenario that requires very careful consideration of one's options. I played the US in this one. The considerations begin with what approach to choose, one has to think through how the victory conditions work, and the numerous different vehicles all have particular strengths and weaknesses. The Germans need to weigh whether they want to keep to hold on to the buildings with all strength or if they want to make a dash for it and try to exit vehicles and if so, when to do it. The US needs to safeguard against this German option and consider how much forces to assign to the purpose. One difficulty for the US is that they do not have much time to lose on one hand and on the other hand the approach-routes are pretty open - a big problem for the typical US force with morale 6 or 7 at best. I tried to sneak up via the hedged enclosures with a blocking force in the East with the plan of breaking through should opportunity arise. In our game, my infantry was quite unlucky and suffered numerous break-results reducing the GO boots on the ground to 1/3. This was of grave concern to me as it cost me time that I didn't have. On top of that, the German aptly maintained concealment with most of his forces, leaving me to guess about which vehiles were of which type and which might be dummies. Things looked quite grim from my perspective. It took me until the end of turn 3 to capture the first stone building and until turn 5 to seriously approach the village at considerable risk. Luckily, the turn 5 appoach worked quite well. However, the decisive turn would be turn 6. The US had to move into the teeth of the German hordes. WP shots and WP infantry-grenades enabled me to get ADJACENT to the second stone building without being shredded to pieces outright. The US advanced into CC with 3x squad, 2xMMG and a 9-1, furthermore, one M8 was in bypass. The German 9-1, 248+HMG got Ambush and withdrew with the plan to avoid bad odds in CC and to paste the stone building with all the German hordes surrounding it. Again, odds looked pretty grim, and by attack after attack, the US defenders where pinned, broken, and reduced. However... As A15.1 tells us: "The cauldron of battle, which destroyed so many units that failed the test of arms, could also forge better soldiers and/or acts of desperation borne of heroism or despair." One squad rolled snakes on a MC, battle hardened to Fanatic and generated a Hero. Eventually, everyone except these two units in the building were broken. Still, they were attacked again had to check morale again, and battle hardened another time, the squad becoming a Fanatic Berserker (what a rarity!). So it would be this berserk fanatic 667 and a Hero to face EVERYBODY in CC. Ambush by the Germans was all but assured, since there was still a BU M8 in bypass of the same building. This M8 was of help because some Germans failed their PAATCs. In the end, there was 1x squad, 2x HS and 3x Leader (one of which a 9-1) in the building that had to take out my valiant defenders. The Germans got Ambush, so the odds were 11:7 i.e. 3:2 @ -2 (Amb+Leadership). The Germans needed 7 to kill everybody and 8 to CR. They rolled 8. Thus my opponent managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with the US remaining in Control of the building and bringing home the win over the Germans by the narrowest of margins with 10 to 9VP in their favor. Very good scenario with good replay value.
2017-03-11(D) Richard Jenulis vs David Wolfe German win
2016-10-13(A) Jeff B vs John Fedoriw German win7.5 hrsBoth sides are subject to some dicing in this one. The Germans are thinly spread and the Americans, having to push the attack hard, are extremely brittle. Ground snow really hampers their opening vehicular moves.
2016-06-27(A) Andy Beaton vs Jonathan Kay American winAmericans won by concentrating armour on weak points and pummeling them before they could be reinforced. Getting fast vehicles into the backfield helped.
2016-06-10(A) Lionel Colin vs Dave Gillies American winGreat scenario !
2016-06-01(D) Paolo Cariolato vs Pablo Garcia Silva German winGreat Scenario. You must Play it.
2015-03-13(D) nathan wegener vs Jeff I American winInteresting puzzle - didn't grok it and failed. MM2015
2015-01-16(A) Eric Partizan Eric vs American win
View all or balance report
ActionDate
Hutch Modified the unit counts2025-06-25 13:07:12
Hutch Modified the Defender's AFVs2025-06-25 13:07:12
Hutch Modified the misc. rules2025-06-25 12:54:37
Hutch Modified the Unit Elements2025-06-25 12:48:38
asloser Linked the scenario to ROAR2025-06-25 12:07:58
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Game End
75mm M8 HMC
 
Statistics:
Avg Rating: 7.45Votes: 33
Views: 25924
To-Play list count: 3
Estimated Play time: 5.4 hours
Recorded Games: 28
Archive recorded plays:
American14
German14
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Coal in Their Stockings [Confirmed]
[A] American 49
[D] German 47
All Rights Reserved. (c)2022 Dave Ramsey.