Victory Results:
 0 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  100 %
Total plays 1 - Last reported by alecrespi on 2023-04-06 00:35:55

On August 20, 1944, a hodgepodge of retreating German forces, including heavy Tiger tanks, medium Panzer IV models, and hordes of demoralized but desperate Nazi soldiers, attacked the U.S. 359th Infantry Regiment at the town of Chambois in order to secure the bridge and their escape route. Despite being pounded by the 90th Division's artillery in the Forest of Gouffen, the Germans launched repeated attacks throughout that day to secure the bridge and the road leading to it.

 

  American German
Division 1

7 Squad Bases
- 19 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 3 Mortar Crews

5 Squad Bases
- 15 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew

1 Panzer IV
1 SdKfz 251 Half-Track

Division 2

6 Squad Bases
- 18 Regular Infantry
- 1 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer (see special rules)
- 2 Machine Gun Crews

1x AntiTank

4 Squad Bases
- 13 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew

1 Tiger I

Strategy Decks Artillery 1
American Air Support 1 (keep only "Strafing Run" and "Air Superiority" cards)
German Reinforcements 1 (remove "Specialized Reinforcements" card)
Starting Strategy Cards 4 (one of which must be "Take Down the Beast" from Morale 1) 3
Operations Cards - Inspiring Leadership - Shattered Morale
Deployment Zone Div. 1: Any light green bordered hexes, with at least one squad in each light green bordered building hex.
Div. 2: One squad in each hex with a dark green border. The squad on map 7A must contain a squad consisting of one Machine Gun Crew, one Elite Infantry, and one Officer (Sergeant Hawk).
Any grey bordered hexes.
Starting Initiative   Initiative Token
Objective The Americans win if the Germans are unable to fulfil their objective by the end of by the end of round 7. The Germans win if they control all three victory objective hexes at the end of any round.
Rounds 7
Actions per turn 2 or 3 3
Reinforcements

Status  Phase of round 2 (Div 1):
2 Sherman M4A1s (actually M-10 Tank Destroyers, see special rules below)
2 M3A1 Half-Tracks
1 Squad Base
- 4 Regular Infantry
1x AntiTank

Status  Phase of round 2 (Div 2):
1 Tiger I
1 Panzer IV

Special Rules
  • The Germans start the game with 7 command points and the Americans start with 3 command points.
  • The Sherman tanks are actually M10 Tank Destroyers with these differences:
    - Armor Value 3
    - Range vs. Vehicle units 7
    - Firepower vs. Vehicle units 10
  • The American Officer figure in Division 2 is Sergeant Hawk. The "Inspiring Leadership" card applies to him only, not to the Officer in Division 1.
Terrain Features The stream is Deep.
HINTS The Americans need to hold the bridge in order for their tank reinforcements to reach them. The motto for the Americans is: delay, delay, delay! The Germans cannot afford to take the time to carefully develop their attack. They should advance aggressively and not worry about their lack of command points. Even though the American tanks roll 10 attack dice, it is still tough for them to defeat the Tiger's heavy armor.

Designer's Note

Plastic World War II army men and tanks. WWII movies on the local television channels, along with the TV series Combat! and Rat Patrol. Both my parents served in The Big One: my father as an infantry captain, my mother as a WAVE. These elements provided a not unusual background for a kid born in 1958, growing up in the American suburbs.
But it took the discovery of the board wargames published by The Avalon Hill Game Company and, in the early 70s, Simulation Publication Inc. (SPI) to set me on the road to my odd career as a wargame designer. Although my first attempts at designing wargames were in 1970, it wasn't until the 1990s that my first professional published titles appeared.
Still, almost four decades as a wargamer apparently counts for something, for I now count nine Charles S. Roberts Awards, a Best Historical Game of the Year award from Games magazine, and various other hobby honors to my credit. With about 16 published titles, I've become a professional in my childhood hobby.
Still, it started with plastic army men and tanks, something Tide of Iron has in abundance, along with beautiful game maps, cards, and game counters. So when Dana Lombardy asked me to do a scenario for TOI, I (metaphorically) jumped at the chance. Despite that, I did have some last-second hesitation.
My previous designs have been mostly strategic or operational: armies, corps, or divisions rather than squads, companies, and battalions. And I made my name largely as a designer of games of the First World War, not the Second.
TOI is a tactical WWII wargame, not a prettier version of Risk, and definitely outside my traditional area of design.
But there were two things in my favor.
The first was that I was asked to do just a scenario. TOI was already complete, and successful. I didn't have to think of a way to model WWII squad level combat — others more qualified had already done that.
The second thing that got me over my self-doubts was the realization that TOI was in fact a design after my own heart: if I had ever done a game system on this topic, it might have looked very similar. Broadly speaking, I think there are two basic schools of wargame design. Call them the Scientific vs. the Artistic. Or Simulation vs. Game. Or Realist vs. Impressionist. Under whatever name, one school puts the emphasis on numbers crunching, detailed mechanics, and modeling as many aspects of the subject as possible, while the other goes for broader strokes, narrative flow, and ease of play. (I don't mean to imply these views are completely exclusionary — many designers draw from both schools — but most games fall more towards one camp than the other.)
I'm an Impressionist (with apologies to both Monet and Rich Little). In wargaming's early days, advertising promised to put YOU in command, or turn bits of cardboard into Paper Time Machines, and I have always felt that a good wargame should have a strong element of role-playing (minus the dragons and elves).
Tide of Iron offers game "magic" — the 3-D armor and infantry moving across beautifully painted fields of fire.
Throw in the Strategy Decks and Operations cards and you have a nice feel for the chaos of tactical combat along with that vital element of role-playing. So, doubts vanquished, I was happy to create a scenario.
Narrowing it down to just one engagement took a little time. I was looking for something dramatic but also at least somewhat balanced, where either side could win. I finally decided on the fighting at the French town of Chambois, on August 20, 1944. It was the last day of the larger battle that saw the remaining German forces in the Falaise Pocket squeezed from all sides, under constant fire from Allied artillery and airpower. At Chambois, disorganized German units from a jumble of divisions tried to break through the Allied forces attempting to block their escape. It was a hard fought contest in which Allied firepower and courage won the day against the steel skins of the German Tiger tanks.
It was also a battle in which American Sergeant John Hawk won the Medal of Honor. With the modesty typical of the breed, Sergeant Hawk always claimed that he was just one of many men doing their best that day. So, I dedicate this scenario to John D. Hawk, and all the others whose courage helped defeat the Nazi scourge. 

Scenario Note

For almost two months after the Allied invasion on June 6, 1944, the American army was still fighting a grueling battle of attrition through the dense hedgerows of Normandy.
But in late July, Operation Cobra fmally cracked open the German left flank, and tanks of Patton's 3rd Army broke free into France. Following the failure of a German counterattack in early August to stop the breakout, the Allied advance threatened to trap both German armies in Normandy (the 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army) in a pocket between the towns of Falaise and Argentan.
By August 20, the pocket had been sealed. The 359th Infantry Regiment of the American 90th Division (a former , `problem outfit" only now showing the improvements that would eventually make it one of the best U.S. divisions in Europe) linked up with elements of the Polish 1st Armored Division at the town of Chambois. The town's bridge over the River Dives was one of the few German escape routes to the east. The Dives was not a major river, but it was enough of an obstacle that the German tanks and other vehicles trying to cross it had to do so at a few select bridges and fords — crossing points now under Allied control.
Most heavily engaged was Company E of the 359th, which included a machine gun detachment led by Sergeant John D. Hawk. Hawk was in a forward position in an apple orchard, and he soon found himself facing attacks from German Tiger tanks supported by infantry. He drove the infantry back, but was wounded by an artillery shell in the thigh, lost his machine gun, and was forced to retreat. Despite his wound, Hawk found a bazooka, and his fire forced the Tigers back into the woods. Using parts from two damaged machine guns, he put together a single working gun, but another German armored assault caused him to retreat once again. With the situation hanging in the balance, Hawk then directed the fire of two newly-arrived M-10 Tank Destroyers against the German tanks, taking out two of them and forcing a third to withdraw. Under Hawk's direction, the M-10s then fired into the nearby woods, and soon some 500 German soldiers emerged to surrender. For this action, Hawk was later awarded the Medal of Honor.
Although some German units would escape that night with the help of a counterattack from outside the pocket, by August 21 the battle of the Falaise Pocket was essentially over. More than half the German forces in Normandy had been destroyed, and the rest escaped at the cost of virtually all their tanks, vehicles, and heavy equipment. There would be no stopping the Allied advance now until it reached the fortifications along the border of Germany. 

 

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alecrespi replied the topic:
10 months 2 days ago
hjk (Feb 14, 2009)
The Tanks do a good job killing of infantry hiding i the buildings. Give up the initiative race and get lots of reinforcements instead. That worked for me. But I had some luck too, the artillery/bombers can do a lot of damage.

kmedlinnc (Mar 11, 2009)
I think that's the trick for this one actually. Luck definitely helps with bombers, etc. but without the reinforcements I don't think it can be done.
pino replied the topic:
11 months 2 weeks ago
I've played this scenario few days ago with my friend Ale.
The firepower of the American is overwhelming:
3 mortars
3 MGs
2 antitank specializations
2 tank destroyers
A total of 18 figures/squads on the board
In addition the American player start the game with the "best selection" of cards from the "American Air Support" deck and the "Take Down The Beast" card already put in the American HQ (scare about "lack of firepower"?).
Also we must record the 3 starting American Victory Points controlled from the very first turn (the American player must setup almost a unit in the HEX with the VP) and the 3 Victory Points granted by the scenario special rules.
On the other side, the German player start the game with a really difficult task: gain the control of ALL 3 Victory Objective by the end of turn 7 with:
1 Mortar
2 MGs
2 PzIV
2 Tiger I
1 Sdkfz 251
A total of 11 figures/squads on the board
The German player also have the "Shattered Morale" Operating Card and the "German Reinforcements" deck and 7 Victory Points granted by the scenario special rules....probably the only points that the German player could imagine to use or gain along the game (the German 2 Victory Points is placed in a well guarded and difficult to reach position...board 4A, on the bridge, behind a trench!).
What else to say: German player must fight and run to gain the control of the 3 Victory Objectives, but the 2 MGs and a Mortar are usless in action like "Fire & Move" or "Assault"; The Sdkfz 251 is really vulnerable from antitank fire, the 3 American Mortars (with one that act as a DOUBLE mortar) are simply devastating against the German troops (shattered morale and only 2 officer?) pinning or disrupting the squads with no mercy, the PzIV and Tiger I are "uneffective" against the infantry (except if in the building) and useful only against the M10 (but the German player have too many targets to beat...and not so many gun to fire with!).
Also the American gain 3 Victory Points per round and German...no one until the bridge is captured....but in that case the game is probably over!
The German have only 7 points to use to maintain the Initiative or to put on the board some reinforcements...while the American player have the freedom to pay for powerful air strafing run or to gain the initiative (wanna talk about the 2 "Air Superiority" cards...!).
In my opinion this scenario is not well balanced at all, the German have no time, no firepower nor possibilities to gain the control of the 3 Victory Objectives in only 7 rounds with this choice.
alecrespi replied the topic:
2 years 2 months ago
Posting here some comments found online.
www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37980/tid...1-player-comments-ba
  • Potential to be a really good scenario but the American firepower is pretty overwhelming.
  • Very fun scenario and it came down to the last turn (7) in which an amazing salvo (4 hits) of a double US mortar team secured victory for the US.
  • Though I also believe the scenario is very tough on the Germans, I do not think it's impossible for the Germans to win.