Victory Results:
 83 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  17 %
Total plays 6 - Last reported by alecrespi on 2023-09-11 11:48:21

German delaying actions across the whole of Italy stubbornly slowed the 5th and 8th Army advances (luring late October and early November of 1943.
Rain drenched the soldiers of the U.S. 36th Infantry Division as they moved through the night to re-enter the line near Mignano, where Highway 6 and a main railway cut through a narrow pass into the Liri Valley running north toward Rome.

 

  American German
Division 1

5 Squad Bases
- 12 Regular Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 2 Machine Gun Crews
- 1 Mortar Crew

2x Medic

3 Squad Bases
- 7 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 2 Machine Gun Crews

1x Engineer

Division 2

5 Squad Bases
- 9 Regular Infantry
- 6 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 2 Machine Gun Crews

2x Medic

3 Squad Bases
- 7 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 2 Mortar Crews

1x Engineer

Strategy Decks Command 1 Morale 1
Starting Strategy Cards 3 3
Operations Cards - -
Deployment Zone Any of the hexes with a green border. Any of the hexes on maps 3A and 11A
Starting Initiative   Initiative Token
Objective At the end of any game round, the Americans win the game if they control the Victory Objective Marker. The Germans win if the Americans are unable to fulfill their objective by the end of game round 6.
Rounds 6
Actions per turn 3 3
Reinforcements - -
Special Rules The "Major Offensive" card from the Command I deck provides 3 additional actions (instead of 4) Remove both of the "Take Down the Beast" cards from the Morale I deck.
Terrain The stream is Shallow

 

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JVHillegas-Elting replied the topic:
1 year 3 weeks ago
That sounds compelling!
alecrespi replied the topic:
1 year 1 month ago

The Americans were insufficiently aggressive and failed to get very far; I had them try to use Combine Fire from afar to take-out German units but this resulted in the squads not moving forward fast enough.
What about placing all US squads in LoS of both MG and use a Concentrate fire action?

In my sample you can see the leading squad (2 regular and 2 elite) using 6 dice.
All other units (8 squads) can contribute with 5/2= 3 dice each (24 dice).
The grand total is 30 dice hitting on 6.

The odds of getting at least 4 successes are 76%.
The odds of getting at least 5 successes are 58%.

As you can see in these images, if you roll for suppression there is a good chance that the American will be able to route/remove 4 German bases (2MGs and 2 officer sqauds).

After these 2 rounds Americans can concentrate in both advance and assault actions, outnumbering the enemies.





What do you think about this strategy?
alecrespi replied the topic:
1 year 1 month ago

Seth Owen (@wargamer55) at BGG

We played "Breaking the Line" first, in which a large American force attempts to seize a defended point atop a fortified hill from a smaller German force. Neither side receives any reinforcements and there are no vehicles involved.

I played the Americans first. My initial plan was to use Division 2 as a base of fire to cover Division 1 moving onto the flank. Division 1 would then become the base of fire and cover the final assault by Division 2.

This neat plan broke down under fire and my advance degenerated into a series of "Indian rushes" instead. I was able to get several squads into position for the final rush onto the objective, but all were cut down before they could launch actual assaults.

In retrospect I think I overindulged in "suppressive" attacks. While useful in covering maneuvering, it left too many live enemies for the end game. Failed or moderately successful suppression leaves most of the enemy in place. In contrast, Mark's Germans generally used "normal" (or as we took to calling them, "killing" ) attacks, so the American forces were taking heavy casualties -- helped by some good die rolls. Particularly annoying was a German double-mortar squad, which did a lot of damage until I got a lucky shot at it which killed off one crew. The survivors pulled back into deep cover. They played a lesser role after that, but they'd already done a lot of damage. Even "suppressive fire" can be deadly when there's 8 dice of it.

Still, despite everything, I felt that I had a shot at winning and it went to the last turn with the issue still in doubt, although a betting man would have probably laid in odds against me by turn 4 of the 6.

The switch game wasn't as close. Mark again concentrated on normal attacks. I made a stab on the right flank at threatening to deny him the 3 command points he'd normally get for occupying the "3" marker but a suppressive fire that could have pinned his unit tasked with capturing that key point missed. The two German squads on that side slowed his advance a bit, but ultimately vainly, as his barrage of fire gunned down all the hill's defenders despite their entrenchments. With the hill empty of defenders and none of the surviving Germans able to prevent it, Mark scooted a squad up onto the hill using the "Critical Objective" card (and its 2 movement point bonus) on Turn 5, for a clear and decisive win.

As we were both still getting used to the game (he'd only played it solitaire, and I had played it a couple of times) it took a long time to play, especially the first game, but as the evening wore on we sped up a lot. Mark was definitely the TOI Master after two games, but I was about to have my revenge in our next set "Chain of Command," which I'll report on tomorrow.

From my game blog: pawnderings.blogspot.com  
JVHillegas-Elting replied the topic:
1 year 1 month ago
I played this once, solitaire, long ago before I started tracking results. From what I do recall, the Germans won, and rather decisively. The Americans were insufficiently aggressive and failed to get very far; I had them try to use Combine Fire from afar to take-out German units but this resulted in the squads not moving forward fast enough. I haven't had a chance to play it again with a new American strategy.

Maybe other players find it easy for the Americans because they do play aggressively? The Americans do outnumber the Germans almost 2:1, so maybe they should take advantage of this numerical superiority and rush the German positions ASAP?
Justin replied the topic:
1 year 1 month ago
Played a 2 player game of this last night.

The German player won easily. Mainly because the american player rolled really poorly throughout the battle.

But even without that, can someone explain how this battle favors the Americans?

The german player get initiative and can place both machine gunners in buildings and Op Fire on turn one. With the Americans only having 1 mortar it limits their ability to get them out.
alecrespi replied the topic:
1 year 4 months ago
Scenario Overview by Evil Knivel @ BGG
boardgamegeek.com/filepage/64961/toi-scenario-overview

"Easy intro scenario without vehicles. Awesome!"
Favors: Americans
Fixes:
A good engineer German player will probably win.
alecrespi replied the topic:
2 years 8 months ago
Posting here some comments found online.
boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43192/tide-ir...yer-comments-balance
  • Easy intro scenario without vehicles. A good engineer German player will probably win.
  • I've played it multiple times and it's always been an on-edge thing. Awesome!
  • We have played it three times and the Americans have won every time, but it was always on edge.
alecrespi replied the topic:
2 years 9 months ago

Why are there three instances of the "Breaking the Line" scenario--#s 012, 051, and 079?
I presume the problem is the same as
www.commandsandcolors.net/tideofiron/for...-of-command.html#648
JVHillegas-Elting replied the topic:
2 years 9 months ago
Why are there three instances of the "Breaking the Line" scenario--#s 012, 051, and 079?