Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week, in the tenth article, I talked about the fourth scenario, “About Last Night”. We looked at exciting new mechanics introduced by that scenario, like mortars and snipers. This week we will be moving on to one of my favorite scenarios, “Purple Heart Lane.” Purple Heart Lane is our Carentan scenario, and it adds a couple more new mechanics: multi-deck scenarios and off board artillery.
Crossing No Man’s Land
Purple Heart Lane is our first multi-deck scenario. What this means is that instead of having a single terrain deck that we draw from during play, we will have two decks covering different areas of the battle grid. Mechanically this is a trivial addition, but from a tactical perspective this is a huge deal.
What this amounts to is that the chances of encountering certain kinds of terrain can be totally different in different parts of the battle grid. Obviously, the terrain can be radically different between two decks, but more subtly the chances of encountering the same terrain can be a bit different as well. Keeping in mind the composition of the two decks is necessary. Ceding ground assuming there are equal quality defensive positions behind you will not always be prudent. On the other hand, sometimes a mad rush through No Man’s Land will be justified, since your units may be in a shooting gallery until they reach a safer position.
God Favors the Side with the Best Artillery
This one has been a while coming. It’s good we covered mortars last week because there is a bit of overlap here. It’s just that artillery is WAY more powerful. LoS rules for artillery are identical to mortars, except you are tracing to a Leader rather than a Mortar Team. Again, the Leader does not need to have LoS to the target, so long as they are connected to a GO friendly unit that does by a contiguous chain of zones containing GO friendly units. Each such zone in that chain to the leader increases the penalty on the check.
For Artillery Fire, the check works the same as Mortar Fire also, where you roll a die for each point you fail the check by, and 1-4 will move the target about the battle grid, potentially onto your own units. That is where the similarities end though.
Unlike mortars, artillery takes multiple rounds to arrive. There is an Artillery Step before the Cleanup Step of each Game Turn. After taking an Artillery Fire or Artillery Smoke action, a targeting counter is placed on the targeted zone along with the die that was used to perform the action. If during the Artillery Step the targeting counter doesn’t have a die on it, it is flipped and resolved.
For Artillery Smoke, you simply put two smoke counters into the zone. This makes it tactically comparable to mortar smoke, except it lasts longer. For Artillery Fire, it will destroy destructible terrain much like Mortar Fire. The biggest difference is that Artillery Fire eliminates ALL pinned units in its zone. Any surviving units then make maximum penalty (-4) morale checks to avoid becoming pinned. The blast counter (the flipside of the targeting counter) then remains in that position for the entire Game Turn and will subject any units that enter the zone to the same effect.
In essence, artillery actions are almost more powerful as a deterrent than their actual game effects. Since Artillery Fire takes multiple rounds to arrive, most units will have ample opportunity to get out of the way. That said, you should make it is as uncomfortable for them as possible to reposition. Besides that, the obvious tactic is to use it on a pinned enemy. An enemy that is already pinned in poor terrain will have a very difficult time getting out of the way before the ordinance arrives.
The last thing to remember about artillery is that you can only call it so many times per game. Because the complete rotation of action to resolution is 3 game turns, some scenarios you can only use it twice at best. That means you must be sure to make them count.
Light Resistance Expected
Purple Heart Lane covers part of the American taking of Carentan, France. This battle took place over multiple days in different areas in and around the town, so we zoom in a bit for this scenario. Prior to the battle the 501st, 502nd, and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments and 327th Glider Infantry Regiment had taken positions around the town. They did not expect much in the way of resistance. Little did they know they were up against two battalions of Fallschrimjager infantry, reinforced by the German 84th Korps and remnants of the 352nd Infantry Division.
They moved to take the town under cover of darkness on June 10th, but were met with heavy opposition. Determined to take the fight into the town in earnest, H Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 502nd PIR led a courageous charge at dawn on June 11th. After establishing a foothold, they were reinforced by 1st Battalion and the Germans never managed to dislodge them until Carentan was taken.
A Tale of Two Maps
As mentioned earlier, Purple Heart Lane is a two-deck battle grid, and is split between the rural “No Man’s Land” that the Americans must traverse, and the suburban Carentan the Germans are trying to hold. The American player will win, if at the end of any game turn there are no Germans in the Carentan side of the battle grid.
To further complicate the situation for the Americans, the Germans have artillery support. Ultimately Purple Heart Lane plays out in two phases. The costly charge into the town, which is wide open with very little cover, and the claustrophobic urban warfare once the Americans reach Carentan.
Highway to Hell
The American player’s only focus should be to get as many units into Carentan in one piece as possible. Once they have cleared the distance of the rural approach, they have a massive advantage on the Germans. Until then they have no safety.
More than any scenario thus far, Carentan will require heavy and specific deployment of smoke. There is virtually no defensive terrain on the rural side of the battle grid, and the American player’s best hope is to break sight lines as much as possible. Besides that, it will be important to make heavy use of Suppressing Fire. Even if the attack doesn’t successfully pin anyone, the suppression counters that limit enemy Firepower can pay off in big ways.
Most importantly don’t stop moving. This isn’t to say that the Americans should charge foolhardy into a torrent of gunfire, but rather that there is no benefit to establishing a position on that half of the battle grid. Even worse, if your units bunch up, they can become a massive target for the German Artillery.
Once in town, math simplifies quite a bit. The Germans are outnumbered with no place to retreat, with terrible sight lines within town to prevent themselves from getting boxed in. If enough of your forces have made it this far, you have likely won already.
Hold the Line
The German player is playing the opposite game to the American here. As stated in the American strategy section, if enough Americans make it to Carentan proper quickly enough, the scenario is all but over. The key is to make them pay for that ground as much as possible. Try to set up initial positioning so that there is no safe approach. Hold onto your Opportunity Fire until key forces enter the field (leaders, support weapons, and assault squads).
When you manage to pin enemy forces, choose wisely between routing them (which most of the time will eliminate them in this terrain) or shifting your focus to other forces. Remember that if you pin lots of units you are forcing the enemy to kill time rallying them. If you’re lucky enough (or they are foolish enough) that American forces end up consolidated in a small section of zones, pin them as best you can and call in the Artillery Fire. A single well-placed bombardment can win you the scenario almost on its own.
In the event the Americans do make it to town, pull back immediately. You are at a massive disadvantage for the latter urban part of this scenario, however, time may still be on your side. Pull your forces to far apart locations and try to wind down the clock. You just might last long enough.
Here Comes the Tanks
That’s it for this article. As I mentioned, I love Purple Heart Lane. The scenario has a nice narrative and ties together two very different phases with their own tactical challenges. Next week we will finally be bringing in Armor for the scenario “Bloody Gulch”. I can’t wait to talk about all the cool mechanics that come into the game alongside vehicles. See you all then.
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Author: Sam London
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