Just a quick update on the last game of 2007. I hosted a WWII SPEARHEAD game at the Northern Conspiracy game night on December 28th. The Game is called "Home By Christmas" and it is a slightly modified version of the same scenario from the White Star Rising book. In this game the British Armored force moving up a road must link-up with an American airborne regiment holding a small town. The Germans have a hodge-podge of forces between the two allied forces.
At the game night the Germans decided to defend as far forward as possible to the British deployment. This forced the British to fight towards the Americans from the very start of the game. The Germans initially fighting the British included a motorized SS Infantry Battalion and an SS Panzerjager Battalion. These units fought a British Infantry Brigade of two battalions and an armored battalion to a standstill for about 7 turns. The Americans made quick work of the Luftwaffe training unit surrounding them and ended up attacking the German reserve of one motorized SS Infantry battalion by the end of the game. Even a regular army fusilier battalion reinforced by Stug-III's couldn't prevent the Americans from breaking out and counterattacking the surrounding forces.
While the Germans were very successful at the beginning of the game, I think that the British reserve armored battalion would have tilted the game in favor of the allies if it had played out the total 18 turns. The Americans were so successful in the breakout from the town, that they would have put significant pressure on the Germans trying to hold off the British and basically "turned the Germans" out of their defenses.
We are limited to some extent at game night by time. We completed 8 turns of the 18 turns for this game before we had to pack up. Overall, I believe everyone had a good time in this game. It was much closer than I anticipated with the Germans really making the British fight for every inch of ground along the road. The British didn't conduct a cavalry charge that one would anticipate. They were very patient in their attack using the infantry battalions to push the Germans off of some very dominant terrain.
Overall, a great game that I hope to host again at some point in the future.
Mark D's Gaming Site - Wargaming Across the Centuries
