Deadeye Smoyer WTO (id:#58745)
Sherry Enterprises (Schwerpunkt # 4 ID: SP43)   [next]   [previous]
Designer: Evan E. Sherry
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
AmericanGerman
52.380952380952%

Overview:

The 3rd Armored Division was rapidly clearing the city of Cologne. For two days, Combat Commands A and B fought house to house to force the Germans from their fifth largest city. A group of infantry and Sherman tanks was nearing the Cathedral of Cologne when a Panther tank opened fire and destroyed one Sherman, killing three crewmen. More help was needed to get the Panther out of the main square. One of the division’s new Pershing tanks was called up. . .
Attacker: American (3rd Armored Division)
Defender: German (Battalion 2 | Panzer Regiment 33 | Panzer Division 9)  
4.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:7.5 D:6.0
AFVs: A:3
M3A1 ht
M26
M4A3(76)W

AFVs: D:1
PzKpfw VG

Guns: A:0 D:0

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: A: M26 is gyro-stabilized w D: PzVG may not setup in building
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2025-07-03(D) X von Marwitz vs Gerrit Gericke German winBackground:


This scenario is an old chestnut of the early days of Schwerpunkt and has seen considerable play in past years albeit not so much any more in recent times. The ROAR rating being (as of June 2025) 62 American wins vs. 45 German wins and a respectable Excitement Rating of 6.57. It has been popular at tournaments with its short 4.5 Turns.

Part of its popularity might also stem from the fact, that it reflects one of the historically most spectacular and best documented tank vs. tank battles of WW2: The battle historically happened in the immediate vincinity of the world famous Cologne Cathedral and was captured live on film as it happened. There are tons of youtube clips on this action ranging in between 2 minutes and 1.5 hours, which is the reason why I am not going to provide a specific link. For those interested, if you enter "tank battle cologne cathedral" as a search query in YouTube, you'll be served.


For some reason, I had never played this one before - at least it does not show in my records. On the other hand, I could swear that I either gave or learned a hard ASL-lesson: The Americans fired an AP round on a seemingly empty hex using the Vehicle Target Type which smelled of "the German Panther is hidden HERE". The shot hit and killed the Panther and that was that...



Objective:

The Americans have to capture a building from the Germans while preventing the Panther, which may set up HIP within certain conditions, to have LOS at least one of two particular hexes disregarding SMOKE at game end.


To do so, they have 7.5 Elite squads with an MMG and two Leaders supported by a Sherman tank and a M3A1 halftrack, which enter on Turn 1 while they are reinforced by the big badass M-26 Pershing, which is Gyrostabilized and commanded by a 9-1 Armor Leader.

The Germans have 6 squad equivalents equally consisting of Conscripts and 2nd Line troops with an MMG, LMG, and a Panzerscheck led by two leaders and obscured by 6 extra Concealment counters. And there's the HIP Panther, of course...



Considerations:

The German force is very brittle, but likely in the cover of Stone Buildings. If German units break, they will unlikely have the chance to rally. The US force is solid, but lacks time. It can be said, that both the US Pershing tank and the German Panther tank are the "wildcards" in this one.



How the Game Played Out:

I had the defending Germans in this one.


As the scenario is short and the best protection for the brittle Germans is Stone Buildings, I unsurprisingly set up strongly in and close to the Victory building. But not being sure of what the Pershing tank would do, I assigned a small part of the German force to "the backdoor". Where the Panther was hidden, will remain a secret. I expected the Americans to enter from the East (bottom), but they came in from the West (top).


This caught me off balance, but in his first turn, the Americans maybe took less advantage of this than they could have by moving for position and not aggressively assaulting. So it comes as no surprise that I could not do much damage.

The German first turn I used to redeploy my forces to face the attack from the unexpected side and to skulk, again unsurprisingly not doing much damage.


In US Turn 2, my opponent realized that this scenario did not allow any time for fancy maneuvering, so he moved aggressively. But able to redeploy in my German Turn 1, I was now better prepared to counter the onslaught. I have to add, that luck was on my side as well. The Americans mainly came via the central plaza trying to get their forces ADJACENT to the victory building and the one next to it in order to advance into their protective cover. I carefully considered the few attacks I could make in order to optimize Defensive First Fire and Defensive Subsequent First Fire and the placement of Residual FP. This worked out very well: The Americans lost the Sherman to the Panzerschreck which merely Pinned its operator. Then I was able to break around four US squad equivalents with the effect that no US units were able to enter the VC building. During the RtPh, one US squad died after I declared No Quarter, another halfsquad was eliminated for double break. The US brokies for forced to rout back quite a stretch. At this time, the Pershing had entered from the East (bottom), but my Panther remained HIP.

Realizing, that the US brokies would need at least US Turn 3 to rally, than US Turn 4 to move up again for a second attempt of the assault, my opponent concluded that the last US Turn 5 would not leave enough time to capture the building, my opponent conceded at the end of the US Turn 2 APh. On top of that, my Panther had not made its appearance yet.


German win.



von Marwitz
2024-06-23(A) David Ramsey vs Simon Staniforth American winMopped up the building on the final turn but with the Panther only just revealing itself to BU and go into motion I had my work cut out in trying to take it out. Smoyer was taken out by the PSK hs defending the Panther and an PF took out the sherman. The HT scooted around to attempt to hit with its BAZ but broke it, in doing so - which left 2.5 squads and the 9-1 to get the win.

The first attack immobilised the panther, who then sN'd the location for a 3MC which all but one HS pinned on. This left the final pinned squad needing a three to win, and proptly rolled it. A lucky win for the US.
2024-06-23(A) Andy Bagley vs Tim Bunce German winThe Americans started well, advancing from the east edge into building 45P4 with little trouble thanks to some poor shooting by the Panther, which revealed itself in 45P2 (no surprise there). I also raced my halftrack round the back of building J3, unloaded a HS with its bazooka, and then abandoned it with the crew taking its HMG. All good so far, but then my opponent did an excellent job of avoiding infantry combat in the building, whilst also running his Panther all round the board, keep it always in motion and covered by smoke from its sN. All my shots at it missed, including malf'ing the MA of my M4 tank.
I also made the mistake of failing to seal off all three building levels, so that when I approached his last infantry stack from ground and second level, he simply ran away through first level. I might still have got them, but the elusive Panther escaped my advancing fire shots on my last turn, so the Germans won anyway.
2024-06-23(D) Simon Staniforth vs Dave Ramsey American winMy opponent has already written this one up - little to add. The Panther had remained HIP until the final German turn but it was obviously only in one of a few hexes and with the building having fallen it was going to be swarmed by infantry so unHIPing and going into Motion seemed the best plan. I had a HS in the same hex but that went down to Advancing Fire and if a sN 3MC can’t break the American squads then maybe it just isn’t going to be your day…. An enjoyable close game decided on the last CC roll
2023-12-08(D) Dan Best vs Kermit Mullins American win
View all or balance report
ActionDate
von Marwitz Added a playing2025-07-03 21:45:43
von Marwitz Uploaded a VASL file2025-06-09 15:40:55
von Marwitz Uploaded the Board image2025-06-09 15:40:14
von Marwitz Uploaded an Image2025-06-09 13:00:58
Simonstan Added a playing2024-06-29 16:39:06
FileDescriptionUserViews
(SP43 Deadeye Smoyer v6610 Scenario Archive.vsav)VASL Setupvon Marwitz26
(!usa-germ.png)Imagehoxson11092
(smoyer kill.png)Imagehoxson1692
(smoyer color2.png)Imagehoxson1755
(SP43 Deadeye Smoyer Scenario Picture.JPG)Imagevon Marwitz18
VASL Map (SP042 Deadeye Smoyer.jpg)Map ImageFre207411200
(SP43 Deadeye Smoyer v6610 Scenario Archive.jpg)Map Imagevon Marwitz11
DescriptionUploaded by
TitleAuthorDate

Quick Map View

Location

Not found

Images

 
Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.64Votes: 22
Views: 8363
To-Play list count: 3
Estimated Play time: 2.3 hours
Recorded Games: 21
Archive recorded plays:
American11
German10
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Deadeye Smoyer
[Log in to Confirm or Edit]
[A] American 62
[D] German 46
All Rights Reserved. (c)2022 Dave Ramsey.