AAR: Across the Aisne and into Freineux (BdF9)

Even though Bulge scenarios weren't required at today's Christmas Bulgefest (attended by eight stalwart members of the Puget Sound Advanced Squad Leaders), it seemed that everyone was caught up in the spirit of things, and each pair of players partook in a salute to the Battle of The Bulge.

I squared off against Jeff "Monty" Newell in Baraque de Faiture #9, "Across the Aisne and into Freineux.." This scenario pits a small group of American troops (6 squads) and 14 AFVs (Shermans and "Stuarts" as Anglo-phile Jeff called the M5A1s) versus seven Panthers and a handful of SS troopers (5 squads). Boards 12 and 24 are the setting, with ground snow and shallow, frigid streams. The US also gets 3 jeeps, 2 halftracks and a couple AT guns. The German goal is to have one non-crew infantry unit in a building location south of hexrow L (basically in the main village in the middle of board 12 or 24) at the end of the game's seven turns (the Americans go last). I'm sure the following AAR isn't 100% accurate, but I think it explains the flow of the battle and some of the highlights.

Appealing aspects of the scenario:
Lots of vehicles
No snipers (so fire away!)
Panthers have fuel!

American Advantages
Numerical superiority in AFVs
Can scrounge good machine guns from jeeps

American Disadvantages
Panthers only vulnerable to APCR or side shot.
Weak leaders (with only two 8-0 leaders, one entering later in the game, it will be difficult to rally broken troops, even with their higher broken morale)

German Advantages
Good leaders
Panthers

German Disadvantages
Few infantry
Outnumbered

The Game

It appeared that Jeff had set up his forces spread out across the board, as is dictated by the set up parameters. I decided from the beginning to go straight for the board 24 village and to pretty much ignore board 12. Five SS squads enter along with 4 Panthers on the first turn. These forces made it onto the board, and one of Jeff's AT guns opened up at a Panther, revealing its position (24L8). The Shermans and Stuarts kept their distance, as two of the Panthers formed a flank guard covering approaches on board 12. Jeff's medium tanks scrambled to take up positions in the board 24 village, and the infantry began shifting over there too. On the next German turn, the Panthers broke the first AT gun crew which routed away. This left the approach to the village fairly open, although the road (24i8-n6) entering the village went between two woods hexes, forming a choke point that soon became well covered by 37LL guns and it turns out Jeff's other AT Gun (24o6). While the SS troops made it to the woods around 24L8 (spiking the AT Gun), things started bogging down at the entrance to the village around 24K7. A Panther was immobilized in 24j8 (not a terrible spot) and the others wasted a lot of time trying to take out the other AT gun (despite it's being revealed on the first shot). Some of the braver Shermans also took up positions covering the entrance road, but they were scared off if the Panthers even looked in their direction. Despite their elite status, the Shermans were not very lucky getting APCR, they usually only got one shot with it, if any. By the second and third turn, Jeff's four infantry squads and jeep crews with their scrounged machine guns were working there way to board 24, and things were about to get hot for the SS. The SS were stopped trying to get into building 24n7 (trying to cut off access into the board 24 village from the board 12 village) and in fact lost one squad in the process of attempting to take this building. This was a dumb move on my part, that building is not defensible.

I then tried to force my way through the 24j6 woods, with my objective being the m4/n3 building. A Stuart had camped in L4, and my troops were either unable to find their PF, or unable to hit with them. The PSK finally made it over and finished him off, but by then even the late entering US paratroopers has made it into the board 24 village. My three reinforcement Panthers moved in, one attempting to flank the village through bypassing 24h0, but it malfed and then disabled its MA, leading to recall.

Around this time, Jeff's forces had been reinforced by an entering platoon of good Shermans, but he seemed hesitant to bring them into the battle. Although I should have let him come to me, I instead got aggressive and went after them with one of my Panthers, with another providing overwatch. That didn't work out so well for the hunting Panther when the overwatch Panther malfed its MA. The Shermans swarmed them and managed to kill both, although they lost a couple tanks in their efforts. This sideshow really occurred too late to have a major influence on the game, but it did hold them back long enough to prevent a final turn rush for board 24.

My Panthers finally forced their way through the wooded gap in 24k7 and started capping Stuarts and scaring off the Shermans. The end game was brutal. Everything converged on the m4/n3 buildings. A Panther on the north side drove out the paratroopers who were holed up in the building with point blank fire. The SS moved in, with a 10-2 and a fanatic PSK toting squad going into n3 and a hero and fanatic 658 in m4. It was up to the Americans to clear that building and M6 (which had a hero in it) in their final turn. A Sherman parked on the south side of m4 and fired point blank at a hero and fanatic squad in m4, breaking the squad and wounding the hero. A Stuart tried to VBM sleaze the squad in N3 but they destroyed it with the PSK at point blank range, fanatically eating the backblast. A paratroop squad tried to throw smoke into o4 and was pinned by rolling a six. That was basically end of game, since Jeff didn't have enough infantry to get into CC with the SS, and even if he had, it would have been against a squad directed by the 10-2 leader. The hero in m6 was wounded and had a concealed squad coming after him, and the hero in m4 was also wounded facing a full Ami squad in CC.

It's always great to have a game like this go down to the last CC. We both made some bonehead moves, and even though I had incredibly hot dice— I had no fewer than four HOB rolls during the game, generating three heroes, two fanatic squads and promoting my 9-2 leader to a 10-2-- I also had some bac luck, malfunctioning 4 MA on my Panthers (two led to recall, two led to dead Panthers). With no snipers, it was fun to just cruise around, CE, firing any shot we felt like taking. (Despite a lot of firepower being shot at CE tanks, neither side ever succeeded in affecting an exposed crew.)

Post Game Thoughts

I think the key to this game as the Germans is to pick and objective and stick to it. (This is of course true of most assault type scenarios.) Because the Americans are forced to set up pretty spread out, if you concentrate your forces on one area, you can probably take it. If you're aggressive enough, and the AT guns aren't lucky (they weren't in our game), you can easily take the building you need on the 3rd or 4th turn. I chose the board 24 village because there is more cover in the approach, but I ran into the bottleneck in 24k7 that made this feel like a bridge crossing at times. The Board 12 village is too wide open, and too close to the five Shermans entering as reinforcements for the Americans. Once the Americans recognized the threat, they were able to react, and placed forces in overwatch in the tall buildings on board 12 and on the hill on 12s1. Of course, once you take your objective, you have to hold it, and I think the board 24 village is a little easier to defend.

I believe the Americans really need to act aggressively and swarm the Panthers to win this one. Even the Stuarts can kill a Panther with a side or rear shot, so they have plenty of weapons to defeat the beasts. Any hint of aggression will force the German to use two or even three of their valuable Panthers in a flank guard or overwatch position… possibly even three. I really like my tanks and tend to be careful with them (and I think Jeff is the same way, since he's actually a tanker in real-life…) but they are fairly invincible if used carefully. The Germans have to not only take their objective quickly, but they have to make sure it can be defended. I think 24m4/n3 is a perfect building, especially if you can get a Panther on the hill to the west looking over the building.

Having just picked up Baraque de Fraiture, I must say I am very impressed by this product. The map (even though it wasn't used in the scenario we played) is very clearly illustrated and looks like an interesting setting for a tank battle. I'm looking forward to playing more scenarios from this pack.