Since 2009, I have been hosting an evening of gaming on New Years Eve for the guys in my gaming club. This year we began around 1500 and ran until about 0200 New Year’s Day. The first game was a GASLIGHT game run by Chris Palmer, called the Twelve Doctors of Christmas, in which various incarnations of Dr. Who fight against goblins, Daleks, Cyber Men, and other baddies to free Santa from confinement. The third game was a largish X-wing game. I ran the middle game, a Combat Patrol(TM) skirmish in which US glider-borne troops assault a German-held bridge.
In the scenario, the Americans had a reinforced platoon of glider-borne troops. Two gliders landed on the table, but the others, including gliders containing armored airborne jeeps, landed off the table at the bottom right of the picture (above) and entered the table in the first turn of the game.
The Germans had one squad on the “American” side of the bridge, and another squad deployed in the buildings on the far side of the stream. There was also a bunker on the “German” side of the river that was initially unoccupied. The stream was crossable (as rough movement) by infantry, but it was impassible to vehicles. There Germans had another squad, a halftrack, and a headquarters section that entered the table on the first turn.
In the picture (above), one German team occupied what was thought of as a strong position behind a wall. Unfortunately for them, the Americans opened fire first from “medium” range. The Germans immediately sustained casualties and then struggled with soldiers seeking cover, being stunned, etc. for most of the game.
The Americans in the second glider encountered little resistance and moved to a position on the hill in the foreground to cover the target (bridge) with fire.
German reinforcements arrived in the form of a squad mounted in a halftrack. The unexpected arrival of a fourth US squad that had landed on the “German” side of the stream caused the Germans to re-think their plan. In addition to holding the bridge, the German’s main objective was to get to the American gliders and search them for plans and important documents for intelligence purposes. When the Americans showed up on their flank, they had to focus on holding the bridge.
After dropping half a squad to delay the arrival of the American flanking force, the halftrack pulled back, eventually occupying a blocking position right on the single-lane bridge. This left the German defenders with limited fires support, and the Americans’ accuracy was uncannily good, mauling the Germans. by that time, the Germans from the closest glider to the bridge were close assaulting the halftrack, and one of the American squads that started off the table had waded across the river and prepared to assault a German-held bunker.
The game was a convincing US victory. The German initial deployment could have been better, but in general the Americans just fired better than the Germans. They also made good use of the ability of troops with Garands to conducting moving fire, keeping the Germans in a reactive mode most of the game. Despite the lopsided outcome, I think this is a pretty good scenario, and I intend to run it again at a club night.