Scenario 2 from One Hour Wargames with floating grid

 

The duration of this game, including set up, was 25 minutes.  This is a new game board set-up for me.  Hobby Lobby had a framed white MDF board on sale for $18.  Four-inch squares (tiles) from Amazon were about the same price.  I painted some squares green and others blue (for future use as lakes).  See the pictures below. The white road is a convenient use of empty space on the white board.  The tiles can be easily rearranged to set up a new scenario.  This new board is space-efficient and sturdy.  The inspiration comes from Bob Cordery, who uses hexes. 

The first step for this battle was to roll for forces.  The Prussians got four infantry and two APCs.  The Americans got five infantry and one Humvee.  The mission objective for both sides to control both the hill and the crossroads by the end of 15 rounds. The crossroads is closer to the south side of the board and the hill is closer to the north side.  The beginning moves, naturally, were for the Americans to take possession of the crossroads and the Prussians to occupy the hill.  See picture 1.

 The Prussian APC moved up to where it could pound the village from cover.  It was targeting the Humvee.  Some of the American infantry crossed over to some huts.  From there they could fire on the hill from cover.  The second Prussian APC swung around to west and fired on the huts from that location.  

Both sides were losing infantry units.  At this point I realized that the rules do not permit vehicles to end a turn in a village.  The Prussians began the battle with one more vehicle and one less infantry unit.  The odds were they might end up with no surviving infantry units.  In that case, they would not be able to occupy the village.

The American Humvee was taking too many hits, so it moved north where it was out of range of the Prussian APC yet could fire on the hill.  Next round, the infantry in the village abandoned it to reinforce the units in the huts.  

The battle was very close but at the end, all the Prussian forces were destroyed.  The one remaining American infantry unit proudly took possession of the hill (picture 2).   

Picture 1. Round 2.

Picture 2.  End of game.

Replay.

This time the Prussian begin by placing an APC unit on the hill in hull-down position, which reduces hits by two.  The American Humvee unit moved quickly to engage it as did two infantry units.  The Prussians charged the village with all of their infantry, taking hits as they approached while the other Prussian APC unit pounded the village from the tree line.  The defenders in the village were getting hammered.  However, the Prussian APC unit on the hill took so much damage that they withdraw off of the hill and behind it.  The Humvee pursued and finished it off, but the other Prussian APC unit had pulled back also and quickly destroyed the Humvee unit.  The infantry in the village slugged it out until it was obvious that the Americans needed to cross the road to the stand of trees.  They had a firefight that finished off the Prussian infantry but left only one American infantry unit.  The Prussian APC destroyed it.

Many More Replays

The OHW book contains a table that allows you to randomly configure the units for each side.  The number of possible unit types is four in each era.  Neither side should have exactly the same mix.  The number of possible combinations is....(drum roll)...a lot.  You do the math.

Also, using the event cards suggested by the author is a good idea.  They introduce an exciting random element into the battle.  Yes, it is fair; bad and good luck can hit both sides. 

Anyway, I will have to replay many times before i need to reshuffle the tiles to create the layout for the next scenario. 

***

OK, I have been playing this scenario for four days now, sometimes twice a day.  By rolling for configuration of forces, each game is different.

(TIP:  the army coming from the south should take possession of the village and try to hold it.  Both sides should ignore the hill.  The village has cover and the hill has none (except when  a tank is on the hill).   The battle will be won or lost at the village.)

Here is my insight for the day about OHWs: by rolling for the forces, I can play the same scenario for a week without getting bored.  AND if I change the era, I can repeat the process the next week and each game will be different.  OHW has nine eras, each with slightly different rules.  That works out roughly to 9 weeks of play on this scenario.  The book has 30 scenarios.  

My hat is off to Neil Thomas for developing a brilliant system.  Shear genius.