Battle for Gersbach Bridge Scenario

# 1 Aboriginal

Preamble

US forces scramble to hold the township and prevent penetration in this new world war.

Approaching them are elements of the 17^th Tank Regiment tasked with securing the township.

Each side starts with a ‘hand of cards’

Soviet and US cards:

Turn 1.

Soviet platoons advance as best they can along the road and thru the rolling hills towards Gersbach.

I realize later that I short change the soviets a hex or two of MP…

Turn2.

The Soviets gain initiative, draw a card and have no rallies to conduct. They seek targets but see none in range. The US also passes in the Fire Phase. Soviets with init can move first but let the US do so. They promptly pass. This leave the Soviets free to move but under careful orders as opportunity shots can still be taken.

The TOW on the Hill to the North target T-72s in the rolling hills. They roll 2d6 and check the result on the 12 column (12 atk-6 defense), no column shifts. The Soviets are hit twice. Each unit rolls against their morale (2) to save only 1 platoon does, the others are disrupted, and scatter for cover.

The Abrams in Hahnenruh shoot at the T-72s, barreling down the road! 14-6=8 +2 for range and -1 for the rolling hill terrain. With 5 hits the Soviets roll like rock stars and save 4. So just one unit is disrupted.

Turn3

The US wins initiative and pulls a card, and lets a small cheer out as the Soviets fail their rally rolls even with a rally bonus card.

The US M109 fire from F7 to R9 @ 2x T-72’s. with 8 net strength putting 2 hits on of which one is saved. The T-72s are hard to nail down. The alternative here is to do the following: Use a fire card which adds 2 columns, and generates 4 hits. Of which in this case 1 saves. 3 hits spread amongst 2 platoons! Much better.

The T-72 near Hehenruh fires at the Abrams which saves enough to only be disrupted. This was a tactical error on the US side. They should have fired at the highest threat first. Firing goes in alternate rounds. US fire/Soviet fire starting with initiative winner. We could have avoided the disruption by shooting the closest enemies first.

The US pushes the Soviets to move first, so they can OPP fire. The US lines up a sweet shot and plays a +4 fire card (FOUR column shifts)…

Soviets counter with a NYET card! Cancelling the effect.

This leaves one platoon to advance after the other takes one hit in H11. Other Soviet units advance and then the close assault phase occurs.

The disrupted Abrams fights at half strength. It’s a 2:1 Attack in the city, resulting in 6/3 hits which includes the terrain benefit and some flanking bonus. The abrams pops and one Platoon is disrupted and reduced.

The attack:

The result:

Turn4

The Soviets takin initiative 2x T-72s (combined FP 20 adjust for terrain put 3 hits on the Infantry, who save one hit.

The M109 TOW pops a tank platoon headed to town.

In a close assault the Soviets attack at 6:1-3 columns for Inf in a city…They inflict 8 hits. Despite saving 6 the infantry succumb to the onslaught. The Soviets now control one hex of the bridge. They need to clear the bridge and secure the entire town to win.

The other Abrams platoon is now adjacent to the Soviets….They assault at 1:1. Both sides take 4 hits each! This is after using the REROLL feature of the Command Focus chit! This disrupts Abrams and wipes out disrupts the Soviets.

Going into turn 5 lets take stock. With the Abrams blocking the bridge the Soviets have to clear it, but before they can they need to recover the disrupted unit as only two units can stack (AT ALL TIMES). Disrupted dudes cannot move. It needs to die or recover.

Turn5

US init! ¾’ s of the Soviet forces recover.

Except the tanks on the bridge of course, even with a card played.

The US do not fire.

The Soviets elect to knock out the M109 before closing the rest of their forces.

A platoon fires and end sup with 3 hits which are ALL SAVED!!

Then the Russians play a ‘remove fired chit’ and fire again! Again the M109 rocks it and is not struck at all.

During movement the Soviets close on the town. The Abrams fires as the tanks get into short range.

End of Turn 5:

Turn6

The Soviets take init. They fire at the Abrams and it SAVES against 3 hits. They also finally clear the hilltop of the M109!

The Abrams shoots and puts 5 hits less one save on the T-72’s in return fire. The Soviets close for combat in Turn 7, positioned so they can earn flanking bonus’s.

Turn7

It is make or break for the Soviets. They win initiative, they finally recover one of the units from disruption on the bridge.

They surrounding tanks blaze away first with an attack on the 24 columns that drops down to 6 hits. Only 2 are saved and the Abrams blow up.

The next thing that must happen for the Soviets to win is to capture each hex. With the sole M!!# platoon hanging there, they will need to be assaulted. This goes off without a hitch.

Now the whacky thing is of course that the Soviets don’t technically control all the hexes on the East side. But it is a resounding Soviet win as all enemies units are eliminated. So regardless of the actual VC’s the Soviets secure the town ship in reality and the US also did its job in delaying the force approaching.

I would say losses were pretty light for the Soviets over all and the game played very, very quickly. Once you get over the subtlety of some of the game mechanics and get the groove it rolls along nicely.