Once again my cadets at MTSU have ventured forth into the world of historical miniature gaming and once again the shadow of Al Gaiser visited the hallowed corridors of Forrest Hall. As we are currently studying World War II, I used the backdrop of the Ardennes on 16 Dec 1944 for the venture into history, specifically, the fight of the 14th Cavalry Squadron against the attacking 5th Fallshirm Division and the 18th VG Division. My cadet who experienced Gaiser dice in the Civil War battle of Shilo was commander of the 5th Fallshirm. Battle Start The battle started off with very poor visibility causing serious gaps in the US frontline. Both German commanders quickly advanced armor forward, unsupported by infantry, on roads ahead of the infantry regiments that were moving cross country. For the 5th Fallshirm it ment that he ran a platoon of tanks forward blindly into a minefield, dang that bad die roll, which was immediately rendered combat ineffective. For the 18th VG they kept their distance from the US positions after also finding a minefield, good die roll, firing from maximum visibility range, but, they lost a StuG III platoon and a GW-38t platoon to indirect fire and a combination of 57mm ATG and 37mm gun fire in a few turns while the infantry tried to catch up. To the north, a Marder managed to bypass the US position, the turned to attack the Americans from the rear. A pity the 5th Fallshirm didn't think the .50 cal Gun Jeep platoon now to his rear poised no threat to the open backed Marder. "Roll a 1 or 2 to save the Marder." "6" "Dang!" The US North flank was very stubborn as the center came under joint attack by a regiment from each German Division, 2 Regiments of Artillery, mortars, 2 Stu G III platoons and a platoon of Mark Vs, "Sweet, Sweet". US artillery was concentrated against armored targets and got lots of hits, but, the poor 5th Fallshirm commander could not make any saving throws. "Don't give me that small die, it's no good!", or "Let Cdt. Davis touch the die, she's lucky." It didn't help. However, the combined German assualt decimated the defenders to a man, hey, not all the Germans had bad dice. To the south the Germans worked to bypass a village, hampered by minefields as they tried to reduce the defenders of the village who were dug in. Time and again the Germans pasted the village and the lone remaining scout platoon of M20 scout cars, stubbornly held on against a regiment by never failing to make a saving throw, the cadet commander became very affectionate towards his tough little lead men. The Germans only gained the town when the US withdrew to contain German infantry that was pushing thru a wooded area and threatening a rear unit supply center. Ah, but the poor 5th Fallshirm in the north. Lacking any armor now, it fell to his infantry to reduce the US position. Advancing full forward he blundered into minefields with two battalions 6f troops, dang die rolls. Being in the minefields, he chose to use the units as a base of fire against a dug in company of M8's, M20's and gun jeeps, rather than try to clear a path thru the mines. As the Battalions got shot up he soon found the units in dire straights, only the orderly withdrawl of the US to a new defensive line allowed the Germans to carry the position. Now that his minefield bound troops could move, the hapless 5th Fallshirm commander had to choose whether to clear the minefields to extract the units or bull the two Battalions thru the minefield with a 1/3 chance of taking the final hit which would render each unit combat ineffective. Bravely, confidently he decided to move forward, roll anything but 5 or 6, rolled a six...."dang die". The Germans had achieved what would be a breakthrough in the south towards St. Vith, which is the direction that the 18th VG desired to go. In the North, the remains of the 5th Fallshirm were no match for the remaining elements of the 14th Cav that barred the way to the NW to Honsfeld, his divisional objective. The US Cav Squadron although vastly out numbered had made the Germans pay dearly for the advance. Although the US lost 2 platoons of M8's, 2 Platoons of M20's, 3 Gun Jeep platoons, and an AT Company, German casualties were 2 platoons of StuG III's, a company of PzIVs, a platoon of Marders, a platoon of GW-38fs, and at least 2 out of 5 regiments of infantry if not half to the total infantry force, "These dice are no good!". My poor cadet would have done real great it he had been playing Yatzee. A prime example was when he was attacking a US position with artillery, rolling 3 dice slowly, one at a time, needing a 5 or 6 to get a hit, we all watched in amazement as he rolled a one, a one .........and a one. It didn't help as one of the US players started to help by cursing the die of the opponent by naming the failing roll number before the die hit the table, Back to Dispatch January 2002 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com