Following his sojourn in the Balkans of the late 11th century our much travelled war reporter packed his thermals and headed to the Ardennes on December 1944. Kampfgruppe Kuhlmann of the 12thSS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was trying to break through the “Big Red One” holding Domane Butgenbach Manor .
The game started with Rob’s Panther crawling across the board to ensconce itself in a small copse. Tony charged his Stug through various walls before becoming a tad more circumspect. Dave’s Stugs prowled forward using their “low “ attribute to great effect. The Yanks basically hid and waited for targets of opportunity . Not a bad strategy when you have paper-thin armour.
Rob’s Panther continued to hide, but couldn’t resist looking out and trying to find targets. It survived the attentions of an M18 Hellcat before a suicidally brave M4 Sherman fired twice at the Panther’s frontal glacis. The role of double six added two more strike dice which heralded the death of the Panther. Rob sulked...
until Tony kindly gave him command of his MkIV. However, the next German casualty was the MkIV, caught in the open by the mighty 90mm gun of Greg’s M36 Jackson. Rob sulked some more.
With the Americans parked in a wood the Germans decided to take the attack round the other side of the Manor.
Phil’s M18 succumbed to a Stug’s 75mm...
with the Stug them itself becoming a casualty. A Sherman then became a “Ronson” as even Dave’s hidden Stug got in on the act. A shot through the Sherman’s side armour was never going to end well.
As turn 8 finished the Germans had two Stugs remaining and the Yanks a Sherman, a Hellcat and a Jackson. The Umpire awarded the game to the Americans ignoring the whinges of the Stug crews.
Simon
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