Scenario: 011.Hold the Line

With Konrad we had a chance to play o lot of Combat Commander Europe (CCE) – I would like to describe today one of the most memorable sessions we ever had. Not only this is scenario with a tank – immobilized Sherman, which is represented with bunker, machine gun and cannon – but also best troops in base game – German Waffen SS.

Some of our more exciting Combat Commander firefights:
#1 Fat Lipki
#3 A Midnight Clear
#4 Closed for renovation
#6 One Steppe Beyond
#8 Breakout Dance
#10 Barbarossa Unleashed
#11 Hold the Line
#6 Paralyzed from the West Down
#025a Fields of Fire

Konrad was playing as USA, defending the broken Sherman and waiting for reinforcements. I was in charge of counter-attacking Germans. Here is the initial situation:

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Set-up (click on picture to enlarge in the new window)

The scenario assumes that special objectives will be drawn at the beginning – and so we did. As a result, the hill at the left above was worth massive amount of Victory Points – thus, which is not surprising, being clearly main contested area.

Ok, let us have a look in details what was going on:

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Key game developments (click to enlarge)

(1) I am starting with concentrated fire from my SS units. As it happens, the firepower is so huge, that breaking defenders occupying hill is only a matter of time

(2) That is why Konrad cleverly plays smoke. On top of this, he plans to re-position his units from tank to the hill…

(3) …but he himself now suffers from then dense smoke – it is perfect cover for my advancing units!

(4) Not surprisingly, when I got close to the hill, I had to attack main strong-point of Konrad in hand-to-hand combat. Both sides were prepared by my hand was simply a jaw-dropping surprise for US forces:

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What a surprise!

Yes, that is true – I had 4 Ambush cards! Never ever before (or after) I had such a strong hand in melee. That meant, 2 out of 3 defensing SS units were killed outright. The third one had also fallen in normal fight.

(5) You would be surprised if you assume Konrad will surrender now. We know CCE, and we know that the fate can turn quickly in that game – you should always play till the end! So the plan to move units from tank to the hill was executed.

(6) Unfortunately, that attempt was counter-attacked in melee, which resulted in additional US unit killed.

(7) At this moment in time, the US reinforcements started to pour on the board. However, after me capturing the hill, they were more a hindrance then a help to Konrad…

(8)… as having perfect view from the hill, I was able to quickly dispatch two squads and win the game.

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Final losses (click on picture to enlarge in the new window)

That was tough game – it is often very difficult for the attacker to win in CCE. But this time the advancing forces succeeded!