Got a chance to play TOT 8 -Nightmare- Monday night. It is a night scenario featuring a company of 101 AB troops trying to fend off 6 548/468 German Panzergrenadiers backed up by two MK IV Js on half of board 12. I was the Screamin Eagle and felt that the Germans were bound to have a tough time of it! Night scenarios seem to encouraged the attacker to go for a lot of CC, using the benefits provided by cloaking to infiltrate they opponents lines. However, this was bound to be difficult as the Germans were not only Infantry poor but the infantry they had was inferior to the American force in terms of close combat. Other US advantages were the VC, which required that the Germans control >3D 5 buildings/1 Squad foxhole equivalents. Given that the AMI is able to place the Foxholes in numerous places and they will be HIP, capturing them may be a tad difficult! The buildings, except for two close to the German entrance area, are all set back...hmmmmmm. And the Germans only have six turns.....mmmmmm. Throw in three HIP squads and nine ?s and HIP SMCs/SWs and the US looks pretty tough. The biggest German advantage, aside from the leader to squad ratio and the fact that they have 3 LMGs for six squads has got to be that NVR of two.....they can, if handled craftily, cloak their way to a W if the US is not careful (should the Germans get too hexrow M there are a ton of VC buildings).
My setup was pretty much as follows: The MMG and the 8-1 went HIP into 2J10 with a FH boresighting hex J0. Four foxholes went K1, K2, K3, with K2 having two. All were HIP. K1/K3 had a 747 each while K2 had a HIP 747 with a BAZ 45 lurking about. My firelane, if it came into play, would sweep the hexes before these guys, while the HIP dude was there to wax any tanks that ventured too close. The other BAZ went in K8 to protect the MMG from any prowling AFVs and dummies were stacked to either side in K9/K7 as sniper bait. The last foxhole went into K9 as well; I figured to eventually have the BAZ team there. Up front there was a 337 in crest in D7 and another in D2 Dummies went into C6. Just to mix things up, a 747 went into F2. Finally, he last HIP squad lurked in E6 to take back any foxholes/bldgs it could reach at game end......but, luckily for me, I had another use for it! In my setup, I tried to cover the whole board width with LOS given the NVR of 2...
My opponent, who was none other than the world famous OTHER JR, slunked on the board to the US left wisely keeping the AFVs offboard, as their entrance would allow starshell placement. He also left some cloaked guys offboard as well. His troops initially advanced to the D9/E10 region. The first turn passed without any fireworks. The top of the second saw the NVR go down to one.....GULP! He skillfully rushed forward to the I hexrow. My HIP squad in E6 was able to blast someone, thankfully, and the starshells began to fly The MMG broke on its first shot at a cloaking counter in J9.
My turn saw the breaking of his 9-1 kill stack and they routed to G8. His 8-1 lead stack started firing from H10 but failed to do any damage. A nifty firefight broke out in this area, with two 747s, the MMG and the 8-1 staring down two-three 548s, a couple of LMGs and both German SMCs. Third turn: JR's 9-1 went heroic and brought back the squad it was leading. More importantly NVR went down to ZERO!!! He brought on the tanks/remaining infantry as well. One tank parked itself in E9, where it blasted my 747/MMG/8-1 all to hell. The other tank parked outside F2. The cloaked guys moved up to CC C6/D7/D2 stacks. The 337s gave a good account of themselves, with one reducing a 468 to HS and another holding a 248 in melee for a turn. Things were getting hot - especially since one cloaking counter was racing down the gully to the VC buildings, which were looking naked at this point. And of course the 9-1/747 in M3 could not get FOM. The next turn saw my 337s/747 in F2 die and the Germans took the foxholes in K9/J10. With buildings C6/F2 in their hands and that pesky cloaking counter within range of O9/P9, things were looking grim. The last two turns saw things swing back and forth, as my startshells landed exactly where I wanted and JR moved forward with great skill. He did park a MK IV next to the BAZ squad in K2, who luckily whacked the tank. Two squads jumped on a pinned HS, which died in CC and this opened the way to recapture F2. My 9-1/747 managed to take back buildings O9/P9. The last turn saw both side with a chance of victory but JRs last 468 strayed in the wrong direction when it could have took the fifth VC building/foxhole, resulting in a W for the paras.
All in all, this is a great scenario to learn the night rules. We made a few mistakes that may have swung the game one way or another. We had a blast with the night rules and owe the Original JR a big vote of thanks for his Critical Hit! article - it made the night rules fun, understandable and interesting! My initial belief that it slightly favored the US changed - JR easily could have won if he did not stray. If all TOT scenarios are this good, I hope they are around a long, long time....
Pooch
All American Screamin Eagle
Mike Puccio and I tried ToT's Nightmare last night. It was the fourth night scenario for both of us, so we were looking for something reasonable in size, doable in a single weeknight. Mike took the U.S. paras, while I had the attacking Germans. The action takes place on the open end of board 12, and the German must control five foxholes and/or buildings (the U.S. starts w/five FHs). Total squads is 15, nine US and six German, plus two MkIVJs. Pooch set up his troops well back, with a delaying/ambushing force deployed in the gully that runs along the German's right flank, and an MMG/leader combo well-placed in a board-edge wooded half-hex to lay a firelane along row J or thereabouts.
My initial attack penetrated deep into the US lines without activating any paras, and by the time I brought my armor on on turn 3, the NVR had dropped to one on its way to zero. Pooch had a store of precision-guided starshells that were extremely annoying, forcing me to counter with extremely accurate delivery of 75L HE shells. I had as many as six victory locations at one point, but Pooch battled back, and I entered the last turn needing to secure two locations for the win. I reached one, but the second squad Strayed and wandered in the wrong direction, leaving me short and handing Pooch the victory.
Nightmare was exactly the tense, compact scenario we hoped it would be, playing in just over three hours. Mistakes were few: a couple of overlooked straying rolls, an sN fired SMOKE while CE (no game impact, tho), and some dummies were making starshell attempts. In all, it was quite clean. The German has a tough time, being outnumbered, and outgunned in CC. The latter really matters, since once the NVR went to zero, barring starshells the only way to kill people was with the pointy end of a stick. The NVR drop initially favored the Germans, but by endgame it worked for the the Americans.
I think the German really must penetrate as deeply as he can into the American position before initiating combat - once the US gets off his NoMove counters, he can really shoot the daylights out of the Germans. The MkIVs are tricky, providing chunky firepower, but they are unwieldy (cloaked infantry moves faster at night), lax, vulnerable to CC, and allow starshell attempts by anyone with 16 hexes. Meanwhile, I believe Pooch had the right idea as the Americans, setting up well back with enough forward coverage to keep the German honest but forcing him to travel the length of the position to get his five locations.
Give this one a try if you want to learn Night - the vehicles are easier than we thought they'd be, the size is manageable, and the situation straightforward. Take it easy,
(the other) JR