After Action Report:
Darrell Wright and I also played Pieper's Last Gasp this past weekend. The German gets a strong panzergrenadier force entering from off-map with 3 squads and a leader within 2 hexes of JJ37 to keep the Americans honest. The panzergrenadier column contained 3 squads, a leader, a Royal Tiger, two Panthers, a PzKw IV J and two halftracks. The Americans have 7 or so first line squads, good leadership (9-1, 8-1, 8-0 and 7-0), 4 Shermans with 75mm guns, one Sherman with a 76L gun, two modules of OBA (80mm with SMOKE and 100mm with HE only.) The American also gets a 90L AA gun that locates across the entire map around hex, C55. (30 plus hexes by my count.) Initially, there is very light mist. (+1 per 6 hexes beyond 6 hexes, or a +5 in the 31-36 hex range). However, should the mist go down, the AA gun could be brutal.
The Germans must either exit 15 CVP or control half the stone buildings (5 of 10 total) in the small village in the American's setup area.
I set my defense up pretty far forward. My HMG and MMG were sighted in two slope hexes at the highest level on my right flank. My 100mm spotter was with the MMG HS. He could see over the woods into parts of the German's initial setup area. The other OBA spotter and a squad setup downhill from the road that the armor column would be advancing on. I hoped to get some OBA crossfire on them early. Two squads were concealed in some woods to slow down the initial German probing attacks. My 57L AT gun was HIPped uphill from the road with a clear LOS between two buildings to one hex of the road. It only had good shots to 2 non-adjacent hexes, but I figured either of those might give me a side shot against the Royal Tiger. I had two tanks positioned behind the hexes the Germans could initially see. I would make him advance adjacent to me into my PBF. Two other tanks were downhill from the road. Of these, one Sherman and 2 squads were tasked with keeping the Germans out of a centrally located set of woods. Another Sherman was in the woods to stop any sort of flanking movement down the hill (my right flank). The last Sherman and a squad were my reserves.
Darrell initially broke one of my two screening squads but failed to strip concealment from the other one with his ROF. He then sent 1.5 SS squads up the hill on my right as a flanking force. The Royal Tiger led his armor column where my AA gun took its first shot, which missed. I left the acquired marker on the road hex when the Tiger moved out of my LOS. Perfect, now a "2" DR will hit. If my target is either along a crest line or upslope. Talk about low odds. The rest of the column bunched up in the area of my acquision. During my PFPh of turn #1, I tried to get OBA SR's into the German perimeter. My AA gun nailed a stopped Panther who was upslope and showing its side. It began to burn. I aggressively moved a Sherman from downslope to work into position to shoot at the flank of another Panther. Hopefully, it would also make the Germans try to kill it and expose them to my 90L AA gun. My Sherman survived, but I managed to get a -2 acquisition on the Mk IV from my AA gun.
At the start of the second German turn, Darrell rolled for mist and it decreased. No more +5 TH DRMs! Now I have an unmodified TH of 8 at the 31-36 hex range he was getting bottled up in his initial setup area with my 100mm OBA dropping onto his halftracks and Royal Tiger. One halftrack was eliminated. My 80mm OBA drew a red chit going for some concealed units. My Sherman was brewed up during this turn, but my AA gun took out the Mk IV, which also burned. My 100mm OBA was completely stopping up the German attack. During turn #3, the Royal Tiger tried to move forward and force the issue. As it did so, it turned its CA which would give my 57L AT gun a side shot if it continued forward. It did. And I missed, but kept ROF. My second shot on its second MP in my LOS killed it! Shortly after this, the last Panther tried to maneuver around my OBA. It made the fatal mistake of moving upslope, where my 90L gun burned it too. Basically, the 90L AA gun gutted the main strength of the armor column with the 57L applying the finishing touches. The OBA and infantry bottled up the remaining units who never were able to get past their initial setup area.
Ideas on a viable German plan of attack:
How should the German have setup against an upfront (but largely out of LOS) setup like the Americans had? If I were to play the Germans in this scenario, I would start with two objectives.
First, the Germans must probe with LMG, MMG and cannon firepower to find US OBA observers. Both were concealed in +1 terrain and only a few hexes had much in the way of LOS to the initial German hexes. Smoking likely hexes may also be useful until infantry can sweep them out. As always with OBA, make sure your opponent verifies that he has a LOS to the base level of the AR counter. Have him string it if necessary (even though you don't get to look.) The best way to avoid OBA is to convert black chits to red chits. :-)
Second, the German should avoid the crest line and upslope hexes that are within the LOS of the 90L AA gun whenever possible. Minimize the risk of the 90L getting lucky. If the mist level drops, then the 90L can easily dominate the axis of attack. Be aware of how good the 90L's LOS is before receiving a nasty surprise. Smoke dischargers should be fired in a couple of the lower hexes to cover any upslope movement that may be necessary.
The Royal Tiger would bring up the rear of the column and position itself to trade shots with the AA gun in the event the mist drops. (It is nearly immune without the AA gun getting a critical hit.) If the mist lowers, the AA gun will be history in short order. Otherwise, the Royal Tiger will hammer any Americans in LOS downhill from the road. With its 10FP of MGs and 16FP 88LL, the American that remains unconcealed in LOS will quickly break.
As the Panthers, Mk IV and Royal Tiger provide the dominant firepower against enemy targets. The limited German infantry must focus on protecting the armor from the American infantry and HIP AT gun. Avoid committing them piecemeal into the American's defenses. Once the American infantry starts to break, the SS infantry can move forward in a skirmish line looking to eliminate broken units and force the Shermans to pull back out of PSK / PF range. One or two AFVs should stay ready to advance each turn by bounds, using bounding fire to force the Americans to begin to fall back.
Once past the initial tree line, the LOS becomes much better, so the German AFVs should begin to kill off the Shermans. The halftracks would be a large part of what I would try to exit off the map along with one of the AFVs. The Shermans cannot go toe to toe with any of the German tanks, though the 76L could make itself known with a good TK DR. However, the odds are more likely that the Sherman's large target size will help the German kill it first. When the opportunity comes for the halftracks to move forward (after the OBA is largely nullified), the halftracks will use the paved road to its best advantage and drive hard into the American rear to exit (and cut rout paths if practical without endangering themselves).
After the AA gun is knocked out and an OBA observer or two are located (and either broken or forced to move), then the German armor can begin to force its way through the American players defenses.
Chuck Payne