Shootout at the Crossroads

Periodically I invite "non-gamer" friends over for a night of gaming. This past Wednesday evening (December 29) we played a homebrew scenario of admittedly dubious historical accuracy but nevertheless patterned after actions in Belgium in December 1944. We used the Flames of War rules, but each platoon was assigned a card and these were shuffled and drawn randomly to add uncertainty to the turn sequence.

The game was almost all armor, to keep the game simple (albeit unrealistic).The Germans had primarily heavy armor -- Tigers and Panthers supported by Pz IV's and a mix of SP guns (Hornisse, Hetzer, Marder III, etc.). The Americans went in with Shermans and M10's, with some supporting Priest SP artillery, while the British had a mix of Cromwell, Churchhills, and Firefly's supported by Sexton SP arty. The Allies outnumbered the Germans by about 2:1. The objective of both sides was to secure the center of a town that straddled a key crossroads.

The Germans approached the town sticking to the roads, and were somewhat hampered by traffic jams. The Allies opted to go "cross country" and frequently bogged down in the dense woods surrounding the town. Early in the game the Allies managed to draw first blood by scoring a couple of lucky KO's on a Panther platoon using indirect fire from the SP artillery. As a result, Allied recon units became prime targets for German tank guns and machine guns, and were quickly dispatched. One heavy tank platoon (the 4th Heavy Armor) took up a position which dominated the southern approach into the town, and the single Tiger KO'd several M10's and Churchhills that wandered in range. Eventually the Pz IV of that platoon was KO'd by an M10. A pair of German 88's set up at the north end of town, and were quickly augmented by a King Tiger and its supporting Pz IV. A British Cromwell platoon emerged from the woods just west of the German AT guns and heavy armor, and managed to KO the guns before being destroyed by the King Tiger.

By the time we had to end the game, neither side had complete control over the town but the Allies had lost 11 tanks and 4 additional vehicles to the German's 3 tanks lost (2 of them to artillery!). The game was a draw but was marginally going to the Germans. Had the game continued, the only effective tactic open to the Allies would have been to flank the Germans and hit them in the thinner side and rear armor. The Germans had the center and north of end of time well guarded, and were exposed only on the southern flank. However, even that flank would have soon been covered by German SP AT guns that were still advancing when the game ended. The Allies would have been hard-pressed to clear out all German armor, but likewise the German's numerical disadvantage might have prevented them from maneuvering through and to the west of the town in order to clear out Allied tanks.

Here are some photos from the game. I experimented with a "montage" effect to make them look somewhat "period."

Aerial view looking east. The logjam of burning tanks at the bottom center of the photo are the victims of the German 4th Heavy Armor platoon, which is barely visible to the upper-left of the building at top center.
The three smoking wrecks in the upper left are the two Panthers knocked out early in the game by artillery, and the Pz IV of the 4th knocked out late in the game.

Tiger tank of the 4th Heavy Armor, sitting the the position from where it KO'd several Allied tanks. The supporting Pz IV on the left was KO'd late in the game. Two AT gun have set up between the tanks to provide additional support, but arrived too late to score any kills. By this time in the game another platoon of Pz IV has begun to advance on the town (one of them is seen in the center of the photo).

A Pz IV rumbles into town while another burns by the side of the road.

Another view of the Pz IV advancing on the logjam of burning Churchhill's, M10's, and a Dingo.

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