Mortain

For the Centurions game I prepared a Spearhead Scenario loosely based upon the German Counter Offensive in Normandy, Operation Lüttich, August 7th, 1944.   

The scenario kicked off at 0600 on August 7th and looked at the first two to three hours with 8 turns.

We really haven't played Spearhead often in the past half-a-dozen years and it showed.    Okay the game might have been a fucktastrophy, if that was an actual word.

Why did the game bomb out and fail?

First the Scenario designer is an idiot.   Yes that is me.   I moved hill 314 from in front of Mortain to beside Mortain because I thought creating a more straight battle line would be more playable.  When I set up the table, the base plates, I setup a mirror image of what I needed to.   

Base Layout

Image of the base without trees and buildings when I tested out the layout a few weeks ago.  The Americans were going to be placed to the bottom of the table.  When I was testing the layout I was trying to figure out where to put hill 314.   

For logistical reasons I switched the Americans to the top of the table.   When I set up the table this morning, using my picture I forgot to flip the table 180 degrees.   I than decided to not spend ten minutes rotating the table to fix my mistake.   I simply moved Mortain and hill 314.   

Hill 314 on the Left Flank of Mortain

For the Germans I have the Herman Goering's Panzer Division from Sicily and the 5th Falschrimjager Division with a bunch of weird Regiments and battalions for Operation Market Garden.    These formations were going to be subbed in for the actual German forces of the oversized 2nd SS Panzer Division and 116 Panzer Division.   This substituting left the Germans short an Armored Battalion but close on Infantry.

For the record I have a large number of regular Germans either mostly painted or entirly painted on popsicle sticks that I had considered mounting up for this game.   I didn't because I ran out of time and because I am not 100% sold that we are going to continue to play Spearhead in 15mm.   I may organize them form Battlefront....  But that is another discussion.

American Airborne defending

For the Americans we used 4 Battalions of Airbourne, 2 battalions of Glider Infantry, four battalions of regular infantry and two battalions of Armor for 30th Infantry Division and CCB 2nd Armored.    

Much like the Germans I have 100 or so American regular Army painted up on popsicle sticks or mounted for Rate of Fire that are going to be remounted.   In theory these figures represent the 1st Infantry Division for Operation Husky, along with my Airborne, I just haven't had either time nor the "requirement" to get them done so they have waited.

Mortain and Hill 278

The Americans were about right for number of battalions and figures on the board.  I should have forced the Americans to divide up CCB 2nd Armored as they were done historically.

The Americans were assigned a defensive line cover Mount Furgon on the North Flank, Hill 314, Mortain, Hill 278, and Mortain Forest in the South.

Germans attacking
north of Mortain

The Germans were allowed to place their attacking Battalion commanders 18" from their baseline and their individual units 6" or 12" from their respective commanders depending on the size of the command.  In theory this put the Germans as little as 18" from the Americans.   The Germans put very few figures past the 18" line of the commanders on the battle line.   This added two to three turns for the Germans to move across no man's land where nothing happened.

The American's knowing we had a actually time limit for game play and turn limit int he scenario were willing to wait out the Germans.   If only the Germans take casualties and hold than it is an American Victory.   That is a problem with the scenario.

Northern Flank of the Americans

The German players misunderstood their objective.   Before the game I explained the Germans had reinforcements that would support the attack once the battle was engaged.   See the comment about the German's not being as far forward as they could have been and a German Commander slow playing as he counted noses in front of him.     I prepared a path and objective for the German reinforcements before the game started, I did not explicit tell the German players that when the forces on the right were engaged the reinforcements would follow up.  

The Germans on the left flank attacked head long into the teeth of the American "airborne".  Full speed ahead.  

Germans attacking on
the Southern Flank

The question in center is would the Germans have enough men to attack Mortain.  

Neither side effectively used their available off-board artillery.   That's an understatement.   Both sides had plenty of Artillery and even though I used a sheet to space out its availability, neither side called artillery, until the American side decide "what the heck why not."   It is so frustrating to watch both side squander opportunities.

In the end we played five of the eight turns, the Germans pushed the Americans on the Center Left, fought to a standstill on the left but did nothing on the right, even if played out all 8 turns the result wouldn't have changed.     

I would like to play this scenario again, knowing what I know now, putting hill 314 forward into the gap, making the Germans attack and maybe allowing one of the German Armor battalions a flank march,  the Germans may not win but it would be a much more interesting scenario.