Aachen-West Wall 1944

[Dan Caviness]

Turn 40 REPORT

Overall this one is proving quite the meatgrinder.
I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing...

As most are aware, Rob/Chuck/Dale and myself are playing a 2v2 teamgame.
Dale and I are the Allies.

The XIX Division (Dale) up north is currently trying to hold on to what it's got against a determined (Rob) German counterattack utilizing a big portion of their reinforcing armored KG's. The terrain up north has proven hard to take, dare I say "chessboard", and now we shall see if it proves equally hard to recapture.
Our test has proven valuable with two skilled players going at it tooth and nail up there. Between Dale and Rob it's been like two pit bulls on one chain.
While Dale has taken the entire Scharnhorst (westernmost line of the West Wall complex) through the northern area he has discovered that only buys you so much. The region between the Scharnhorst and Schill lines has proven a no man's land, and Rob continues to take a heavy toll on Dale's efforts to advance.
I take two tylenols before watching the replays...

On the Southern front where my VII Corps is, the early parts of this scenario were a little tame due to the Aachen Municipal Forest and the amount of work needed to negotiate it, Chuck and I have managed to warm things up the last ten turns or so and the pace of destruction there has at least equalled what it happening up north.
We are fighting it out for the city of Aachen. The Allies now own ~2/3rds of the city and it's rubble, but appear to be slowing down the last couple turns as the 243rd VG Division is making their stand in some tough hexes. Charlemagne's Cathedral/Crypt is now holding services in English...but the Hotel Quellenhof still accepts only deutschmarks...
Chuck's been a real sport playing against the designer in that maze.
The city is proving an interesting place to manuever, with paved roads from most city or suburb hexes running into trenched rubble, unassaultable special buildings with escarpment hexsides, and another panzerfaust unit around every corner.
There is no easy hex in the entire city, but the roads do allow you to at least entertain the notion of going deep into enemy lines and attempting captures or takeouts with subsequent assaults. Of course, you need to pay the butcher's bill to send those forces deep, and I've lost some quality armor doing just that. Make that a lot of quality armor.

I'll let Chuck/Rob/Dale weigh in on their end, but just wanted to let everyone know I'm thrilled with the way the scenario is playing.

Our pace has been pretty quick, and we should get this one wrapped up soon.

My thanks again to the H2H area and helping me get into contact with all the great members who have helped and continue to do so.

Regards,

Dan

ps: Remko and Pat are finished with their test game, and I believe it ended a draw. My thanks for their help also.