045 The Neck of the Gap

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Written by: John Prados
Category: Western Front
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After Operation Cobra shattered the German armies trying to hold back the Normandy invasion, Allied forces raced to envelop and capture enemy troops in the Falaise Pocket. Colonel Harry D. McHugh's U.S. 318th Infantry Regiment, supported by elements of the independent 702nd Tank Battalion, attempted to capture Hill 213 and the village behind it, which would give the U.S. 80th Infantry Division the opportunity to seize the town of Argentan to help seal the pocket.
As U.S. troops attacked on August 18, 1944, the German defenders, included elements of the 728th Infantry Regiment (of the 708th Division), pushed into the Falaise Pocket by U.S. attacks that captured Mayenne, plus the 60th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and Battlegroup Scholz. The German panzergrenadiers and Battlegroup Scholz forces arrived during the battle and counterattacked to restore the situation, moving on to the east.

  American German
Division 1

8 Squad Bases
- 20 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 2 Machine Gun Crews
- 2 Mortar Crews

3 Sherman M4A1s
2 M3A1 Half-Tracks

1x Medic
1x Engineer
1x Flamethrower
1x AntiTank

7 Squad Bases
- 16 Regular Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 3 Machine Gun Crews
- 2 Mortar Crews

1 Panzer IV

1x AntiTank
Division 2

7 Squad Bases
- 17 Regular Infantry
- 2 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 2 Machine Gun Crews
- 2 Mortar Crews

3 Sherman M4A1s
3 M3A1 Half-Tracks

1x Medic
1x Engineer

4 Squad Bases
- 11 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew

1 Panzer IV
1 SdKfz 251 Half-Track
1 Opel Blitz

1x Medic
1x Engineer
Strategy Decks Command 1
Artillery 1		 Artillery 2
Starting Strategy Cards 4 3
Operations Cards - Inspiring Leadership
- Double Time
- Lay Smoke		 - Desperate Defenders
- Shattered Morale
Deployment Zone Any green bordered hexes. Div. 1: Any hexes of maps 12B. 3B, 1B, and 8A.
Div. 2: Any hexes of map 11A.
Starting Initiative Initiative Token  
Objective

The American player wins if he controls both victory objective hexes during the Status Phase and maintains that control until the start of the next Status Phase. If the Americans do not fulfill this by the end of round 12, the game is won by the side with the most victory points (VP) as follows:

Germans earn VP for these units that exit the game board:

  • 6 VP for each tank.
  • 4 VP for each SdKfz 251 half-track transporting at least 1 squad.
  • 2 VP for each Opel Blitz truck transporting at least 1 squad.
  • 10 VP per objective hex controlled.
  • 1 VP per unspent command point at the end of round 12.

Americans earn VPs as follows:

  • 4 VP for each German tank destroyed.
  • 2 VP for each German vehicle destroyed other than a tank.
  • 2 VP for each German tank or other vehicle still on the board at the end of play.
  • 10 VP per Victory Objective hex they control.
  • 1 VP per German vehicle that exits the board from anywhere other than the east edge of 6A.
  • 1 VP per command point at the end of the game.
Rounds 12
Actions per turn 5 3
Reinforcements Status Phase Round 3 (Div 2):
6 Squad Bases
- 10 Regular Infantry
- 8 Elite Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 2 Machine Gun Crews
4 Sherman M4Als
1 M3A1 Half-Track
1x Medic
1x Flamethrower
1x AntiTank

Status Phase of round 3 (Div 2):
4 Squad Bases
- 11 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew
2 Panzer TVs
2 SdKfz 251 Half-Tracks
1 Opel Blitz
1x Engineer
1x AntiTank

Status Phase of round 5 (Div 1):
3 Squad Bases
- 3 Regular Infantry
- 8 Elite Infantry
- 1 Officer
2 Panzer TVs
1 Tiger
2 SdKfz Half-Tracks
1 Opel Blitz
Special Rules
  • The Americans start the game with 10 command points, and the Germans with 6 command points.
  • American actions increase to 7 per turn beginning with round 5. German Actions increase to 5 per turn beginning with round 6.
  • American Engineer units only need to spend 1 movement point to place a smoke marker in a hex (instead of 2 movement points indicated on the "Lay Smoke" Operations card).
  • A German unit on a blue shaded hex may spend 1 movement point to exit the board.
Terrain Features The stream is Deep.
HINTS The Americans must be aggressive initially while they have an advantage in tanks, but they also must retain enough forces to respond to the inevitable counterattacks by the German reinforcements.

 The Germans can use constant, smallscale counterattacks from the very beginning of the game to keep the Americans off balance. However, they must remember that their goal is to exit as many units as possible, so they cannot lose sight of this goal while attempting to inflict losses on the Americans.

 

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Posts in discussion: 045 The Neck of the Gap
alecrespi replied the topic:
#731
2 years 7 months ago
Posting here some comments found online.
www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37980/tid...1-player-comments-ba
  • Totally unbalanced scenerio.
  • If you expect some matched fighting it is completely unplayable for you. But if u don't care about winning and you like artillery and tank battles this scenerio will be OK.
alecrespi replied the topic:
#592
2 years 11 months ago
Aren't the gray "R" hexes too few (2) for all planned reinforcements for the Germans?
How can they get all the reinforcements in?
Maybe during subsequent rounds?
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