Tactics in Elsenborn Ridge
Scenario 22: 'St. Vith: The Fall,' Part 1
By Doug McNair
January 2010

Our Panzer Grenadier: Elsenborn Ridge game was the debut for our map artist, Guy Riessen. Guy’s work is superb, and has I believe taken our map graphics here at 119694_avalanche Press to a whole new level. To share this with everybody, I decided to run an Elsenborn Ridge scenario that uses all four boards that come with the game.

The most intriguing one of those is Scenario 22: "St. Vith: The Fall." Set late on the seventh day of the German offensive, this scenario pits a reinforced Volksgrenadier regiment against a hastily deployed array of units from U.S. 7th Armored Division.

The German objectives are the towns on the western two boards, while the American objective is to hold the towns and destroy as many German units as possible. Each player scores 1 victory point per enemy step eliminated (tanks count double), the American player scores 2 VPs for each town hex on the western two boards he controls at the end of play, and the German player scores 3 VPs for each town hex on the western two boards under German control at the end of play.

German Strategy

The Volksgrenadiers have numbers and firepower on their side, but not morale. Their morale is 7/6 while that of the Americans is 8/6. This is a big problem for any force attempting to capture towns, since town hexes offer excellent protection for defenders and will therefore almost always need to be taken in assault combat. And since active units performing an assault in a town hex suffer a -2 column modifier on the Assault Table, the attacker needs to get as many positive column shifts as possible to compensate. The +1 column modifier for superior morale when attacking in assault combat will not be available to the Germans, so they will need to let their GREN units take point and fight their way westward down the roads to the towns, keeping their ENG and tank units to the rear so that they’re all alive and full-strength when it comes time to assault the towns.

They also won’t have the option of bypassing American roadblocks to get to the towns earlier, because a snowstorm is on the way in and four turns after it starts snowing the ground will turn muddy. That will add +1 to each vehicle unit’s movement point cost to enter each hex, and the already slow SS Tiger II units which the Germans get as reinforcements early in the game will only be able to move two hexes per turn on the road and just one hex per turn off-road. At that rate, there’s no way they’ll get to the western towns off-road in time to help with an assault, and without the support of their most powerful tanks the Volksgrenadiers have little chance of taking the towns.

So, the Germans will have no choice but to clear one of the roads, letting their infantry work their way westward behind powerful barrages from German offboard and on-board artillery with the King Tigers following behind. If they can get all their tanks to the towns along with their ENG units, the Germans will get the +1 column modifier for ENG units assaulting in a town, the +1 column modifier for combined tank-and-infantry assault, and the +1 column shift from having leaders in an assault (the Germans are never short of leaders). That plus their superior numbers and firepower from the Tiger IIs should let them to take the towns and win the game.

American Strategy

The Americans are outnumbered and their tank armor is laughable compared to the nightmarish 11-9 AT values of the SS Tiger II tanks. Nevertheless, they’ve got to mount an aggressive defense rather than just dig in around the western towns and let the Germans come to them. This is because the Germans have good mortar and offboard artillery support plus two of the awesome Nebelwerfer rocket artillery batteries, and the American leaders available in Elsenborn Ridge are relatively green and do not tend to give morale bonuses. If the Americans just let the Germans advance on the towns, the German leaders (who are superb) will form huge fire teams of GREN, HMG and Tiger II units to blast the Americans at short range while M4 Sherman tank shells bounce harmlessly off the King Tigers’ armor of 8. The Americans won’t last against that kind of punishment for the 30-turn duration of the scenario; even with protection from town terrain they’ll break and run.

Instead, the Americans need to deploy dug-in defenders as far eastward as possible and fight to hold the roads against the Germans. This is because the incoming snowstorm will greatly slow the movement of the crucial SS Tiger II tanks, so if the Americans can hold the roads it’s doubtful the King Tigers will be able to off-road it around the Americans and get to the western towns in time to do the Volksgrenadiers any good in a town assault.

With that, here begins a turn-by-turn replay of the scenario:

Turn One: 1500 Hours

The German player starts the turn by rolling one die to see if the SS Tiger II tanks arrive at the same time as the Volksgrenadiers. He rolls a 2 so they don’t (he needs a 6). He then rolls two dice to see if the snowstorm starts, and the roll of 6 means it doesn’t (a roll of 11 or more starts the snowstorm).

German initiative begins the scenario at 3 while American initiative starts at 1 (the Germans have been attacking for days while 7th Armored has been throwing defenders in as they arrive, with few if any orders as to what to do once they get to the front). The Germans beat the Americans by one activation and start by sending a reinforced battalion of Volksgrenadiers down the southern road to capture the easternmost town and put the Nebelwerfer rocket artillery there. The American roadblock directly across from the German advance hits the Volksgrenadiers on-point with opportunity fire but is ineffective.

The Americans pass to see what happens next, and then the Germans send another reinforced battalion down the northern road.

The Americans pass again, and the Germans send their last GREN battalion plus the ENG company in on the north flank of the just-entered battalion.

This has the effect of keeping the northern battalion hidden from American spotters while putting its northernmost units in a position to assault the American north flank in just a few turns. American offboard artillery hits the lead units of the southernmost Volksgrenadier battalion and rolls a 2 for a 2X result that obliterates a GREN unit (2 American VPs), and disrupts the GREN unit and Captain which were in the same hex with it. German offboard artillery replies by hitting the American roadblock nearest the southern battalion, but the Americans all pass the M1 morale check. The Lieutenant commanding the southernmost American roadblock then sends his Sergeant forward with an INF and an I&R unit to the southernmost town to deny it to the Germans.

The Germans have activated all their units and have shot all their offboard artillery, so they pass, and the Americans send two M4 Sherman tank units forward from the northwestern town to provide fire support against the Volksgrenadiers. Everyone else remains in place, and since the Germans are outside American mortar range the turn ends.

Turn Two: 1515 Hours

The German player rolls a 3 and the Tiger IIs still don’t arrive, and then rolls a 7 meaning the snowstorm doesn’t arrive either. Initiative levels stay the same and the Germans beat the Americans by one activation, and the southern battalion activates and sends two platoons toward the southeastern town before the Americans can form a defensive line there.

Meanwhile the Nebelwerfers unlimber, HMGs fire at the Americans and the Volksgrenadiers plus a StugIIIG advance on the American roadblock. The HMGs roll a 12 for an M2 result that disrupts the American HMG at the roadblock, but the disrupted GREN unit fails to recover (its captain does). The roadblock units fire at advancing GRENs and demoralize one of them. Only one of the two GREN units rushing the southeastern town makes it, with the other being disrupted by opportunity fire from the speedy I&R unit that made it to the eastern edge of the town last turn.

American mortars perched on the highest hill on the southeastern board self-spot against the Volksgrenadiers closest to the southeastern roadblock, but the Germans pass the M1 morale check. Then a German Lieutenant at the south end of the northern battalions activates and moves forward with a GREN unit to a spotting position against two of the northern American roadblocks. The closer roadblock hits him with opportunity fire but he and his GREN unit pass the M1 morale check. The other two American mortar platoons then self-spot against him but he and his GREN pass the morale check, and then he calls all the German offboard artillery onto the nearer roadblock. The M1 result demoralizes an American INF there.

The Americans send an M4 Sherman tank platoon into the southeastern town to support the American infantry contesting it and to gain a firing position on the StugIIIG unit in the field to the northeast (should it fire and expose itself). The German battalion advancing down the northern road then activates, unlimbering all four mortar units and sending GREN units forward. Opportunity fire from the roadblocks is ineffective.

The American Sergeant activates and sends his INF unit up to a blocking position in front of the Volksgrenadiers invading the southeastern town.

The northernmost Volksgrenadier battalion plus the ENG company then activate and move west.

The Lieutenant and his two INF units at the roadblock at the center of the American line then rush eastward to a spotting position against a Nebelwerfer battery in the easternmost town.

The Germans have activated all their units and used their OBA and pass, and the Americans move an M4 Sherman platoon southeast to take the place of the INF units that rushed forward to spot the Nebelwerfers. All other units stay in place and the turn ends.

Turn Three: 1530 Hours

The Germans roll a 6 and the Tiger IIs arrive. They then roll a 9 and the snowstorm does not arrive. The Germans win initiative by one activation, and a Captain with the southern battalion activates himself and a chain of units through a Lieutenant and a Sergeant. Among them are the Nebelwerfers, which both fire at the Lieutenant and his INF platoons rushing their position. The Americans pass two successive morale checks, so GRENs move northward into the town to protect the Nebelwerfers thus weakening the German attack on the southern American roadblock. A demoralized GREN recovers while another fires at the roadblock and a third advances westward. The firing GREN rolls very well and disrupts the Lieutenant at the roadblock while demoralizing the INF unit there. Fire from the remaining, disrupted HMG at the roadblock is ineffective.

Offboard artillery from both sides is ineffective, as are American mortars. But German mortars roll a 12 and demoralize the good-order INF unit at the roadblock near the northern battalions and cause a compound demoralization on the other one to inflict a step loss (1 German VP). More American mortar fire is ineffective, and then the Volksgrenadier battalion on the northern road rushes the roadblocks. All units at the southernmost of those roadblocks are demoralized and can do nothing as the GREN units move into assault positions on them, and opportunity fire from the roadblock at the crossroads to the north only manages to demoralize an incoming Lieutenant. The Americans at the demoralized roadblock must try to recover morale now lest a Fog of War roll cut the turn short and leave them demoralized for next turn’s assault. The full-strength INF does recover while the reduced one does not and flees westward.

A Tiger II unit then enters on the southern road and moves to a firing position on the M4 Shermans in the southeastern town, or on the roadblock if the Shermans turn tail and run. They do, moving one hex south to join the INF unit blocking the Volksgrenadiers.

Then the remaining company of Tiger IIs enter the northern road, moving up to take a bead on the other platoon of Shermans or on the INF units threatening the Nebelwerfers. That sends the INF units running away from the King Tigers and toward the Nebelwerfers, but the GREN unit guarding them rolls well on opportunity fire and disrupts one of them.

Then the northern Volksgrenadier battalion activates and moves west toward the northernmost roadblock, and opportunity fire from the roadblock disrupts one GREN.

The Americans in the southeastern town then fire point-blank on the Volksgrenadiers there but the Germans pass the morale check. The Germans return fire while pulling their disrupted GREN into the town, but the fire is ineffective. The Americans then pull their M4 Sherman unit off the front line (where it would be vaporized by King Tigers next turn had it stayed) and up through the roadblocks toward what they hope will be a crossfire position against the German tanks later.

German mortar fire is ineffective, and then the Americans move their M18 and M36 tank destroyers forward in hopes of working with the Shermans to set up crossfire attacks on the Tiger IIs. German HMG fire is ineffective, and the turn ends on redeployments and failed recoveries, with the demoralized American INF unit at the southern roadblock fleeing west.

Turn Four: 1545 Hours

The German player rolls a 6 and the snowstorm still doesn’t arrive (each weather dieroll will get a +1 modifier starting next turn). The Germans win initiative by one activation, and the middle battalion activates and assaults the two roadblocks directly in front of it while sending units past the roadblocks to cut the road behind it and prevent aid from arriving.

Both roadblocks are dug in and the Americans there get First Fire, and the American HMG and INF at the crossroads roll a 5 on the 18 column to kill a GREN step (1 American VP) and demoralize the other GREN unit. The reduced GREN passes the morale check but does no damage. The assault on the other roadblock (two hexes to the southeast) is much stronger and one of the two American units at the roadblock has already fled, but the remaining disrupted HMGs fire very well on defense and demoralize a GREN unit and disrupt another (the Volksgrenadiers once again do no damage in return).

The Americans then pull back their northern flank, abandoning the roadblock there to keep their units from being cut off when the northern Volksgrenadier battalion activates.

The units guarding the Nebelwerfers in the southeastern town then blast the American infantry threatening them. Luckily for the Americans the German point-blank fire only rolls a 7, but the already disrupted American INF unit there becomes demoralized. The Nebelwerfers then fire at the Americans, disrupting the Lieutenant leading them and demoralizing the other American INF.

American mortars self-spot against the Major coordinating the assaults on the roadblocks, but the fire is ineffective. Then the other Nebelwerfer battery self-spots against the southern American roadblock and demoralizes the HMG unit there, while a GREN unit advances out of the town to an assault position on the demoralized American INF that charged the Nebelwerfers.

American offboard artillery once again hits the Major coordinating the roadblock assaults, disrupting a GREN unit with him. The northern Volksgrenadier battalion then activates and moves up to an assault position on the American units that withdrew from the northern roadblock.

American mortars self-spot on a three-high stack of units near the demoralized southern roadblock but are ineffective, and then those units advance to an assault position on the roadblock. The Americans in the southeastern town then assault the Volksgrenadiers there so that the Shermans can pull back to a crossfire position on the King Tigers later. The assault goes in on the 9 column vs. the 13 column, and the Americans do superbly, rolling a 6 to do one step loss to a GREN unit (1 American VP), demoralizing both GRENs there and killing their Lieutenant! The Germans do no damage in return.

German offboard artillery then hits the retreating Americans at the north end of the line, rolling a 12 for an X result that kills an American INF step (1 German VP), demoralizes the other step of that unit plus the American Lieutenant there and disrupts the other INF in the hex. The Americans respond by having their roadblock at the crossroads counterassault and kill two GREN steps (2 American VPs), while fire from the the battered Volksgrenadiers there actually manages to disrupt the Lieutenant commanding the roadblock.

German mortars are ineffective, and the Shermans in the southeastern town pull back to a hill from which they’ll have a shot at the King Tigers. Units of the southern Volksgrenadier battalion advance and recover, and the speedy M18 Hellcat tank destroyer unit works its way northward overland, toward a crossfire position on the King Tiger unit with the southern Volksgrenadier battalion. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after many successful and failed recoveries plus some ineffective bombardment fire.

At the end of the first hour of battle the American roadblocks have inflicted much damage on the Volksgrenadiers, and with all town hexes on the western boards under American control the score stands at America 30, Germany 2.

German mortar fire has weakened the American north flank and the American infantry there is in danger of being overwhelmed by the northernmost Volksgrenadier battalion. But the roadblock at the northern crossroads is holding firm, and that plus the continued resilience of the forward roadblock on the southern road means that the main American tactic of keeping the King Tigers bottled up on the eastern roads is working so far.

But the roadblocks won’t hold out for long, so the U.S. really needs a good-weather prayer right now to get the snow to arrive and slow the King Tigers while they’re still far away from the western towns. Will it happen? Tune in next time and find out!

This piece originally appeared in July 2008.

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