Here we are in 2026. Wow...doesn't feel different yet. Guess we'll see how it ages. For this new scenario year, I wanted to focus on making one board scenarios with no overlays. Already blew right past my resolution. Yep, first scenario out of the gate is a two boarder with 5 overlays. I hate overlays...I really do, but sometimes they are just plain necessary. Now my buddy Dan also doesn't like overlays and believes that with over 100 boards, they shouldn't be a necessity. I usually agree with that, but then I get an aerial view of a battlespace and no board matches it the way I want it to...and I mean no single board. Such was the case with this month's scenario. I needed the attacking force to be in the woods at board edge. Couldn't find that, so added 5 wood overlays. They give the Americans their start point and rout location if needed.
I was in a real scenario design funk in mid December as I tried to find my scenario groove for the January gig. About that time, I saw that a couple folks had played GJ149 This is the BBC. And one player was not happy with it and let it be known that it was a lopsided dog. That this happened doesn't surprise me. I had my own concerns about the scenario, so actually appreciated the comments as well as the recommendation for reworked victory conditions. So, I made those very changes and reloaded the scenario in the ASL Archive. It should have a few less fleas now.
For full transparency, it wasn't my first barking dog and it won't be my last...WOOF.
Another YouTube channel that I really enjoy is Battle Guide. Many of you may already be familiar with it. I started watching it for WWI content and then began exploring his WW2 posts. He is very good and presents things in an informative and entertaining fashion. This month's scenario is based on his video of the assault on Foy by Easy Company, 506 PIR. Of course, we have all seen this action in the Band of Brothers series. I combined this presentation along with the Band of Brothers episode. They dovetail nicely. Battle Guide shows precisely where the MKIV was located after it was knocked out by a bazooka and of course the window where the German sniper was killed by Shifty Powers.
SSGT Darrell Cecil “Shifty” Powers is from my part of the world. He was born in Dickenson County, Virginia, where my family were the first European Settlers. My relatives are still in Clintwood, VA today and it's hard not to run into a Mullins in Dickenson County. Shifty would pass away in Bristol, TN, the same hospital where my brother was born and I spent a long night after falling off a roof. It's a small world to be sure.
I imagine there have been a host of other Battle of Foy scenarios created over the years. It's a high profile engagement, so I will certainly not be the first to design a scenario around it. But nonetheless, I wanted to give it a go and see how it would turn out.
Battle Guide only got one thing wrong from my vantage point. He describes the German force as belonging to the 9th Panzer Division. The 9th Panzer was present during the battle as it moved along with the 2nd Panzer Division. It also appears to have confronted the 101st during the siege of Bastogne. There are descriptions of two Tiger Tanks present in the Foy area during Easy Company's assault. The Band of Brothers Episode shows Speirs running right past a retreating Tiger. So my guess is that they were part of the 9th Panzer Division based on the attachment of sPzAbt 301, which possessed Tiger I's.
That said, the details of the fighting indicate that a MKIV was engaged and destroyed by a bazooka round. The Tigers appear to have beaten a hasty retreat as the German infantry melted away.
The map above (taken off the internet) shows the 26th Volksgrenadiers positioned in Foy. Other accounts also list the 26th as Easy Company's opponent in the fighting for Foy. My scenarios may bark from time to time, but I do try earnestly to get the history as right as possible.
Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size.
All Grumble Jones scenarios are available from the ASL Archive website.
(Just search on Grumble Jones)
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