Panzers Painted White in St. Vith - PLAYTESTS NEEDED

Bean965 · Panzers Painted White in St. Vith - PLAYTESTS NEEDED

A draft, Battle of the Bulge, PanzerPainter tribute scenario. This is very unedited for me and completely un-playtested.

Next chance I get, I'll take, and post, a group photo of my German PanzerPainter custom units that are featured in this scenario

I'd appreciate any first takes on the design as well as any playtesting feedback, as I still need to re-playtest both the second and third Falaise Pocket scenarios I'm trying to finish.

When I have some more free time (whenever that may be) I'd like to try subbing some of Sharpe's exotic units and playtest it for balance with those. (That Thunderbolt is a beast...)

Panzers Painted White in St. Vith
The Battle of the Bulge, January 23, 1945, East-Central Belgium

Operation Autumn Mist, called the “Battle of the Bulge” by the Allies, was Hitler’s plan to keep the Allies out of Germany. In charge of the northern section of the three-part attack, the German 6th Army, commanded by Sepp Dietrich, had the goal of capturing Antwerp. On December 23, 1944, the German 6th Army achieved its first objective – capturing the rail center at St. Vith. As the only rail line of consequence, St. Vith was essential to the supply lines of any offensive across Belgium – Allied or German. However, this was the last real achievement of the northern attack. Horrendous snowstorms blew in, bogging down the 6th’s advance, making roads impassable and amplifying terrain advantages for the defending US forces. In one case an entire German battalion was held up for 20 hours by a single 18-man Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon from the 99th Infantry Division. Plagued by these problems, Dietrich ultimately made it only a quarter of the way to Antwerp before being forced to turn around and begin a fighting withdrawal.
Meanwhile, German reserves held key objectives taken in the advance, such as St. Vith. Long range artillery was set up in such locations to shell Allied positions ahead of the advancing German forces, and later, to provide artillery support to cover the fighting withdrawal. Separated from the rest of the 9th Panzer Division, which has been sent to Bastogne, the 102nd Artillery Regiment would have been positioned in a spot like St. Vith.
Once the German offensive bogged down, the Allies counter attacked. The Allies sought to pinch the salient, or “bulge” created by the German advance at its base. If successful, they might be able to encircle the German forces, cut them off from their supplies and reinforcements and decisively turn the tables. On the northern side of the bulge the 7th Armored Division’s Colonel William Triplet was ordered to attack to the south. His first major objective: retake the rail center at St. Vith. Triplet chooses Task Force Seitz to lead the attack on January 24.
The after action report does not identify the German units who were defending the town, but describes their forces thusly:
"Only moderate ground resistance of small arms and machine gun fire was encountered in the attack although artillery and nebelwerfer fire was very heavy. At 1745 ST. VITH was taken, and defensive positions established around the town. At 2015 an enemy counterattack of infantry and tanks from the southeast was broken up by artillery fire. Another attempt to regain ST. VITH made at 2125 using an estimated 200 infantrymen supported by at least two tanks, was again dispersed by the use of artillery. Once again at 2250 an attack of about a platoon of infantry was repelled."

This scenario explores whether these defenders could have included artillery and other elements of the 9th Panzer Division, which were known to have been positioned further to the north when the bulk of the 9th went to Bastogne. Can the German player hold on to St. Vith using elements of the 9th, or will history repeat itself in this scenario with Task Force Seitz recapturing St. Vith?

German Forces
102nd Panzer Artillery Regiment
SiG 15cm Howitzer (Proxy: German LeL 7.62cm, British 6 Pdr AT gun or Japanese 70mm Type 92. Use attack stats for SiG 33. Spd 0, Def 3/3; SAs: Relocate 1, Enhanced Range 12, Bombardment) x2 30 pts
Hummel x1 30 pts
Sandbagged MG42 Machinegun Team x1 12 pts.
Luftwaffe Infantrymen x2 06 pts
Forward Observer Sd Kfz 263 (Use stats for Sd Kfz 222; SAs: Spotter, Chatting on the Radio) x1 10 pts.

50th Tank Destroyer Battalion
StuG G x2 38 pts
PaK 43/41 (Proxy: PaK 40; Use stats for 88mm Flak 36; SAs: Large, Reocate 1, Extended Range 16, Limited Elevation [This unit cannot attack aircraft]; REMOVE SAs: Anti-air, Large Silhouette) x2 44 pts

287th Anti-Aircraft Battalion
20mm Flak 38 x1 07 pts
Sandbagged MG42 Machinegun Team x1 12 pts.

Reserve elements of the 10th Panzergrenadier Regiment
Luftwaffe Infatrymen x2 06 pts
Panzer III F x1 13 pts

Air Support
Me109 Ace x1 16 pts

TOTAL x16 224 pts

US Forces
7th Armored Division, Task Force Seitz, 17th Tank Battalion, B Company
M5A1 x1 15 pts
Veteran Sherman Rhino x1 26 pts
M4A1 Sherman x2 42 pts
M3 Halftrack x1 08 pts
M1 Garand x1 04 pts

7th Armored Division, Task Force Seitz, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Screaming Eagles x3 27 pts.
Bazooka x1 04 pts

7th Armored Division, Task Force Seitz, 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion
M10 Tank Destroyer x2 38 pts
M3 Halftrack x1 08 pts
M1 Garand x1 04 pts

Air Support
P-51 Mustang x1 17 pts
P-38 Lightning x2 34 pts.

TOTAL x17 225 pts

Set up
Germans set up first, anywhere on the map.

US forces enter on the NE map edge on turn 1.

Victory Conditions
At the end of seven turns, victory is determined by the side with the highest number of victory points (VPs) VPs are earned as follows:

German player
5 VPs for every Hunningen town hex occupied uncontested
4 VPs for every Hunningen town hex occupied, contested
5 VPs for every St. Vith town hex occupied uncontested
3 VPs for every St. Vith town hex occupied, contested

US player
4 VPs for every Hunningen town hex occupied uncontested
3 VPs for every Hunningen town hex occupied, contested
6 VPs for every St. Vith town hex occupied uncontested
4 VPs for every St. Vith town hex occupied, contested

Special Rules:

517th PIR Deployment – The 517th PIR cannot deploy using its Paratrooper SA.

Heavy Snow – Any units that do not have tracks and are not medium tanks or larger (Sherman’s M10s, StuGs and Hummel are all medium-sized or larger), must make a Movement roll in clear terrain and on roads or be reduced to ½ movement (rounded down). Heavy snow cancels the High Gear SA and any road bonus. Soldier-Infantry units get a +1 on the roll. All vehicles and Soldier-Artillery units must make a Movement roll in order to enter any hill hex. The Veteran Sherman Rhino gets an additional +1 on all Movements rolls it makes due to heavy snow.

Hitching a Ride - All AFVs (except the Hummel) have the Exposed Transport SA for this scenario.

Entrenched AFV’s –At the start of the game, the German player can declare any AFV not in a town hex (except the Hummel) as “entrenched.” Because of the heavy snow, being entrenched grants the unit a cover roll in clear terrain and a +1 to cover rolls in terrain hexes that provide cover. Being entrenched also gives the unit a +1/+1 defense. If this unit moves, these advantages are lost.

Click to see full size image

I shot some photos of the units that PanzerPainter made for me that inspired me to try and create a scenario that would plausibly use at least one of all of them.

The 102nd Panzer Artillery Regiment and 50th Tank Destroyer Btn defend Hunningen

The 50th Tank Destroyer Btn and the 102nd Artillery dug-in at St. Vith:

9th Panzer Division reserves reinforce St. Vith:

general Hoth

This looks good! Cool

Bean965

Thanks. If you get a chance to play it, let me know how balanced you think it is.

general Hoth

Bean965

general Hoth

Dont worry Bean, i've got plenty of overlays! thank you memoir 44. Also i've just bought my first 3d elements, have you had a chance to check the pics on my scenario wiking?
Anyway i'll try yours this month. Cool

Bean965

general Hoth

Yep! I'm awefull at building models but i did! My Wife was impressed by the 10 or so elements i did manage to assemble. Not counting glueing my fingers together!!
I wish i could find already assembled and painted elements. Cool

anyone knows a cie that does this? Idea

general Hoth

Great pics! Very Happy

I see you have a lot of custom minis; Are they from panzerpainter? Some i've never esen before, FOW?

Bean965

They're all PanzerPainter's work. They are all v1 scale (the SiGs are a little larger, which you can tell if you compare the size of the gun to the size of the crew)

general Hoth

panzerpainter

I cant see any of the pics. Not to mention, this whole forum is appearing very very wierd right now, with lots of blank spaces and other strange stuff. Is the site under maintainance or something?

Bean965

Bean965

RedBaron

Bean965

Bean965

general Hoth

Thuddeus

I don't own Memoir, but I bought a tile set. Very little forest stuff, but a good collection of desert terrain, rivers, city tiles, hills, and other stuff that eludes my memory. I really like it. $24 on Amazon. Well worth the price.

Bean965

NoMoreHexes

Snippersly

Bean,

Tonight we met and I pulled out this scenario and the Mist/Fog one you wrote. We looked over the games and decided we would have to postpone our playtest till we had more time to read all the special rules. I have to admit...there are a tone of setup and special rules to abide by which make a quick game or a weekly game night difficult to find time to fit this all in.

I still want to playtest the scenarios, however my playtest will have to wait till my son and I can set this up on a weekend day.

My ony advice so far is keep it simple. No more than a couple set up and a couple special rules per scenario. More to follow....

Bean965

Thanks Snip - read ya loud and clear. The "mist/fog" one is really for players who are sick of the "same old game" and want something VERY different. That's why I put the disclaimer at the beginning to warn folks. I guarantee it's a trip to play though. Lots of dramatic tension as LOSs are revealed and things go awry.

I just posted the final, first scenario in that series, which has no special rules, only a slightly unusual set of victory conditions.

boersma8

Bean965