Initial Skirmish ETO (id:#62712)
(Nor'easter XX ID: YASL#2)   [next]   [previous]
Hannut, Belgium 1940-05-12 ()
Designer: Stephen Johns
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
GermanFrench
51.666666666667%

Overview:

On the first day of the eventual five day battle of the Gembloux Gap, the French screening force holding Hannut was scheduled to fall back at 0800 hours. At that same time the lead elements of Panzer Regiment 35 led by Leutnant Rauschbanch approached the hamlet. The Germans were surprised to be counterattacked by two Pan-hard armored cars led by Sous-Lieutenant Paumé of the 12th Cuirassiers.
Attacker: German (Elements II/35th Panzer Regiment, 4th Panzer Division)
Defender: French (Screening elements of 11ème Régiment de Dragons Portés &12ème Cuirassiers, 3ème Division Légère Mécanique)  
4.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:8.0 D:5.0
AFVs: A:5
PzKpfw IIA x 2
PzKpfw IB x 3
Motorcycle w/Sidecar x 3
Motorcycle x 5

AFVs: D:2
AMD 35 x 2

Guns: A:0
PzB 39 ATR
D:0
Canon de 37 mle 16 TR
Fusil Antichar Boys ATR

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: Grain is in Season. Voluntary AFV Abandonment (D5.4) is NA.
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2024-11-14(A) Ian Morris vs Neil Brunger German winI managed to get up to the village without much harm, just a broken squad, and two Malf'ed Pz IBs on back-to-back rolls of 11 for bounding fire - both repaired in the French rally phase. Everybody was dismounted, the motorbikes played no further part. I kept the panzers in motion throughout the game - Neil rarely hit them, and all survived. Neil drove his armoured cars into the centre of the village, where eventually I was able to knock one out. Having got into his rear and with little left to stop me, Neil conceded.
2024-11-14(A) David Ramsey vs Martin Barker French winThe French armoured cars sat in the middle of the town and held off the German tanks which when killed left too many CVP to chase.
2024-07-02(D) Paolo Cariolato vs Federico Corso French winNice little scenario with some options for both players.
2023-11-23(D) Andy Bagley vs Mike Grogan French winThe Germans launched their infantry towards the north with their tanks further south, but quickly ran into trouble with two tanks malf'ing their MA early on, then rolled 6's on subsequent repair attempts. I brought my Armoured Cars on to the south behind his tanks, but thought the luck had evened out when both were Shocked by lucky hits. Fortunately however they recovered, which left two remaining German tanks caught between these armoured cars and my crew with the 37mm Inf gun which refused to break despite numerous shots against it. Meanwhile the German infantry was unable to make sufficient headway against my line of defenders in hexrow J, and the Germans surrendered on turn 3 when it was evident their losses were too great.
2023-11-05(A) X von Marwitz vs Georges Tournemire French winPlayed this as the Germans in Round 5 and the Final of GRENADIER 2023.

My opponent was Georges Tournemire, ranking 8th in the world and some 500 points above me in the ASL player-ratings...

The initial approach to the village was already hazardous for my Germans. I did one stupid move which was promptly punished by a KIA on a squad. The nefarious 37 SW-Gun killed one of the Pz Is, and it looked for a while that I would fail even reaching the village.

I figured, as I got punished outside the village with my armor, the 'safest' place for it might be within it. So on the German right, I moved one Pz II and two Pz Is into the village pressing the French hard, where they had no AT assets. On my left, my Germans were held up, but at least they could hinder the French from shifting Infantry from left to right without taking risks.

Both sides had some good and bad rolls, the French malfing their most dangerous 37 SW-Gun just as my tanks were passing into the village and my Germans despatching one of his scout cars with an LMG firing to kill. On the other hand, I malfed the MA of one of my Pz IIs and did not manage to break one very important French 457 squads within the village until with the 5th (!) 16FP attack.

My tanks had cornered a French squad in the village, eliminating it for FtR and were about to do the same to another one + Leader, when the said squad rolled HoB on its MC and turned Berserk. Gah! At this point, the game begin to turn, as the Berserker was very hard to stop in a scenario with not too much firepower around. The French created a Hero in another HoB roll, just when I thought I had broken another important squad.

These 'new' French assets now began wreaking havoc where I had no forces within the village to spare, as Georges had diligently kept a broken German 467+LMG under DM. His Berserker counterattacked and eliminated a Germans HS in CC, taking back control of a captured building while I had shortly before hoped that very HS to be the Guard of that surrendering French squad turned Berserk. His hero messed up my broken 467+LMG. The game was decided, when his remaining AC (with the AL) used non-platoon movement, circled around one of my Pz I (which managed to SMOKE itself), carried on and stopped to fire at and kill the other Pz I turning it into a Burning Wreck while threatening the SMOKEed Pz I in my upcoming turn.

Said remaining Pz I tried to extricate itself by driving through the French AC hex and then exiting to the rear. To no avail, as the AC turned the turret to hit and burn it nevertheless.

At that point, the VP gained by the French were boosted by the German AFV losses and my position within the village weakened so much that a German success was all but impossible.

It was a fun game and I was content as I did not get walked over by my most capable opponent.

So I conceded to gratulate Georges to the win of the tournament.
View all or balance report
ActionDate
Gamer72 Added a playing2024-11-18 14:41:51
Dave Added a playing2024-11-15 13:18:16
Hutch Modified the unit counts2024-10-08 16:52:15
Hutch Modified the Attacker's AFVs2024-10-08 16:52:15
Hutch Modified the unit counts2024-10-08 16:51:46
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(YASL2 Initial Skirmish.vsav)VASL Setupmikegrogan436289
(!germ-french.png)Imagehoxson1940
AMD 35 (AMD35 2.png)Imagehoxson11089
(YASL2 Initial Skirmish Scenario Archive.jpg)Map Imagevon Marwitz909
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Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.59Votes: 22
Views: 5270
To-Play list count: 0
Estimated Play time: 2.9 hours
Recorded Games: 19
Archive recorded plays:
German10
French9
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Initial Skirmish [Confirmed]
[A] German 21
[D] French 20
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