As a basis for the terrain, I used the Pitched Battle(2) setup from One Hour Wargames. The remainder of the terrain was generated via Platoon Forward's random generation tables.
Since I am only playing two squads per side, I kept the total available objectives to 3, and to make it more challenging for me, as I play solo, I decided to put the third objective on the German table edge (hill, crossroads, church).
Turn 1
The Germans quickly moved a squad into the church and an MG to cover the crossroads, supported by the platoon HQ. The German 2nd squad was held in reserve.
The Americans opted to concentrate on capturing the cross-roads (determined by die roll), with the intent to nominally hold the hill with their mortar, which could also cover their retreat if necessary.
2nd squad was tasked with supporting 1st squad's advance on the crossroads, using the village for cover, with the order to fall back and cover the hill in the event of a German counter-attack.
Turn 2
The American 2nd squad raced for the red-roofed farm house but unfortunately there was just enough gap for the squad to be in the machine gun's sights. One rifleman goes down (the squad takes a pin marker) but the rest made it into the farmhouse. As soon as they got inside, bullets erupted from the church and the NCO was killed by the German LMG.
The American first squad moved up by clinging to the right edge of the woods to prevent fire from the church and the MG team, as the mortar setup behind the hill.
Turn 3
The German reserve squad advanced into the woods to the left of the machine gun to allow them to support both the squad in the church and the gun team.
Turn 4
US mortar fire hit the roof of the church and exploded on impact with little to show for the effort.
Meanwhile, the US first squad advanced and the MG42 opened fire - killing the NCO and a rifleman. The squad's return fire was ineffectual.
German platoon HQ advanced to assist the MG42. The platoon leader opened fire and killed another US rifleman.
With things looking grim the US platoon HQ moved up to support first squad.
The German reserve squad charged the church (they fell short by a few inches).
Turn 5
US first squad was in chaos and instead of firing at the enemy, they hit the dirt.
The MG42 continued to chew them up (another casualty).
The US second squad opted to charge the oncoming Germans (Captain Danjou anyone?) to close assault the German 2nd squad and it was the one bright spot for the Americans as they destroyed their opponents.
A lot of good it did them - the German squad in the church promptly mowed them down.
A US mortar blast struck the roof of the church, yet again, and did nothing but explode on impact.
Turn 6
The US was pretty much decimated by this point and continuing seemed kind of silly.
*****
It was another good time. Took about two hours, start to finish, not counting setup and cleanup. For me, that's a long game - which relegates it to weekend nights only for me, generally speaking.
I think I corrected most of the mistakes I made last time, while making new ones this time. I also raised some questions that I need to look into. That's why these are learning games after all.
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