081 The Last Stand


St Malo, France, 3-4 August 1944
During the breakout from Normandy, most of Patton's 3 td Army rushes east towards Paris. However, some units turn west to clear out the vital coastal ports in Brittany The "siege" of St. Malo will require all three regiments of the 83rd Division and one from the 811:Division before the fanatical Ge1711011 resistance is oventhebned.
American | German | |
Division 1 |
4 Squad Bases 1 Sherman M4A1 2 GMC CCKW 353s 1x |
4 Squad Bases 2x |
Division 2 |
4 Squad Bases 1 Sherman M4A1 1 M3A1 Half Track 1x |
3 Squad Bases 1 Panzer IV |
Strategy Decks | Command 1 American Air Support 1 |
German Reinforcements 1 Morale 1 |
Starting Strategy Cards | 3 | 3 |
Operations Cards | - | 013 Desperate Defenders |
Deployment Zone | Division 1: Any of the green shaded hexes on map 10A. Division 2: Any of the green shaded hexes on map 6A. |
Division 1: Any of the hexes on map 1A. Division 2: Any of the hexes on map 9A. |
Starting Initiative | ![]() |
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Objective |
The Americans win if they fulfill BOTH of the following conditions:
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The Germans win if they fulfill EITHER of the following conditions:
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Rounds | 5 | |
Actions per turn | 3 | 3 |
Reinforcements | - | - |
Special Rules |
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Terrain | The stream is Shallow |
boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43192/tide-ir...yer-comments-balance
- Very good cat and mouse situation.
- 5 rounds is impossibly short for the US. Also the 2 Shermans are outclassed by the Pz4.
- Tweak it a bit by making the Pz 4 a Pz 3, and/or adding a round, and it's fun.
Here you can see why.
German player can easily reach this "defensive position" in about 1 turn... and will proceed most of the game using "OP Fire" action.
USA - Round 1
Fire and Move = 4 attack dice (7 with concussive)
USA - Round 2
Fire and Move = 4 attack dice (7 with concussive)
USA - Round 3
Fire and Move = 4 attack dice (7 with concussive)
With a lot of luck we can assume that USA Tanks reach the top of the map with a Lightly Damaged token (AV-1 / MV-1) but cannot really inflict any serious damage to German Units.
In both my games German player used "Take Cover", "Take Down the Beast" and "Go To Ground" so their Concealed Anti-Tank "OP FIre" can easily wait for USA Sherman to be adjacent and fire with full power.
And drawing these cards is very likely because there are 2x each in a 10 cards deck with German player drawing 8 cards in total (3 at game start and 1 each turn).
I do think that the bottleneck on top left is too hard, expecially with Panzer IV blocking the passage (in OP Fire mode).
Maybe adding an exit point somewhere else or making the road 1 hex wider?
Talking about Victory Conditions I also think that the wording BOTH for Usa and EITHER for German seems unfair.
American ended both games controlling only 3 buildings, with buildings too far from the heart of the battle.
What if USA player can leave a "control token" on a building and go on advancing and attacking?
What do you think about these suggestions?
Waiting for any feedback.