US probe into Hürtgen Forest - Giving A Sergeant's War a whirl after 6 years

After deciding that my campaign to follow the King's Hampshire Fusiliers would be better suited to the ruleset A Sergeant's War, it became apparent that I would need individually based leaders. These I do not have for my British forces, so while I hastily threw some NCOs onto some coins and sprayed them white, I will have to wait for enough time to paint them, in order to continue my campaign. I did, however, remember that I actually have leaders based and ready to go for my US and Wehrmacht forces - time for a game to refresh my memories of the rules. 

A wooded hill overlooks a key road. There are Germans in those woods and the Ol' Man wants them gone so this road can be used as a supply route to support a push into the Hürtgen Forest. An experienced platoon has been tasked with clearing the highground. They have been given a Sherman to blast away at the forest, and an M8 Greyhound for some recon support. 

The coloured dice represent possible locations of German units. Yellow is likely infantry squads, purple is MG/mortar/support teams. The two orange are possible armoured support. When LOS is made, I will roll up what they are. 

The extreme left flank has a couple of BAR teams and a rifle squad. In the woods is a rifle squad.

On the right flank we have another squad and BAR team while the Sherman and M8 cautiously advance up the road. One squad, with a bazooka are being held in reserve to plug any gaps or push any advantage.

Atop the hill, as US infantry advances a German rifle squad opens fire to no effect. The Pak 40 tracks the Greyhound...

...and turns it into so much scrap metal, or Schrott as the Pak crew would say. Not a great start for the Americans. 

The Sherman veers off the road and lays down some HE at the woods, pinning the Pak40 crew. (They would immediately unpin at the start of their turn, so it didn't really do anything). The platoon begins a general advance with some squads trying to lay down covering fire, but it is not effective.

On the extreme left flank an MG34 team begins peppering the hedgerows with fire.

One bullet managed to strike home, killing one of the GIs. 

On the extreme right flank, in a field, hugging the hedgerow, another German squad takes the chance to catch some GIs in the open.

This squad takes a few hits, becoming pinned!

The Pak 40 team miss the Sherman.

The Americans in the centre rain fire down on the hilltop, heavily suppressing the rifle team and killing an NCO in the process.

On the left flank they also manage to pin down the MG34 team.

Emboldened by this a BAR team begins to make a dash up the slope, hoping to clear the woods at closer range. If the Germans can't unpin themselves, then they are basically combat ineffective. At the start of the German turn, they try and unpin, and fail.

Another BAR team makes a run to try and outflank the MG34 team by the barn.

The Pak 40 got a glancing shot on the Sherman, pinning it. The Germans in the field on the right flank, out of shot here, keep the Americans on the road pinned in the open. 

The BAR team charged at the German squad, causing it to break. More ineffective fire is exchanged. 

The Pak 40 finally sends enough fire to send the Sherman crew into a panic, they turn and run, although they recover enough to not leave the battle. They don't actually take any further part in the fight though. 

On the left hand side of the wooded hill, and MG42 team makes its presence known. 

But the fire goes wide and the US squad makes gains towards the barn.

US squads down by the road continue trying to suppress the to MG teams - to no avail.

The Pak 40 - the German MVP this game launches some HE and pins a rifle squad. While trying to rally them the NCO takes a fatal wound, knocking him down. 

The MG42 team pins down a BAR squad on the road, causing a casualty.

The BAR team who charged to the woods, opens up on the Pak 40 crew, killing one and sending the rest into panic. They abandon the gun and run.

Hurling themselves over the hedgerow, the BAR team on the left flank engages with the MG34 in a fire fight, breaking them and sending them retreating. At this point the Germans called it a day, with just two MG teams, it seemed like the best bet would be to regroup further back. 

I haven't really done any campaign events or work for this. The mission was straight out of Platoon Forward. I should spend some time putting together a US platoon and some narratives for them. I do want to do better in terms of seeing campaigns through. This week I will probably come up with some stuff and play another game Friday night. 

A Sergeant's War - I really like it. It has that feel of small scale combat - the sort of heroic platoon who have been tossed a tank to help them punch a hole in a line narrative. I honestly really enjoyed this game. I like that casualties aren't super common, but happen often enough. I forgot that my GIs had an extra suppressing attack. If I compare to Battlegroup where you choose EITHER suppressing fire OR fire for casualties, I like that they are both in one with ASW. 

Next game I would like to experiment a little with off board artillery fire and maybe even smoke. Of course, that will all depend on how the dice land when rolling up the next mission via Platoon Forward.