Hunters from the Sky WTO (id:#62812)
See Also: Hunters from the Sky by Avalon Hill
Hamminkeln, Germany 1945-03-24 ()
Designer: Unknown
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
AmericanGerman
64.705882352941%

Overview:

“Operation Varsity”, the airborne phase of the Allies’ northern Rhine crossing, was to be the last airborne assault of the war. The 17th Airborne Division’s first regiment to drop had little problem from ground fire, arriving so close behind the Allied preparatory bombardment phase. But the second regiment was not so fortunate. With the Germans no longer deterred by the bombing, the paratroopers received heavy small-arms and anti-aircraft fire as they fell to the ground.
Attacker: American (513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division)
Defender: German (Infanterie-Division 84 and reinforcement groups)  
10 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:10.0 D:9.0
AFVs: A:0
AFVs: D:1
StuG IIIG
Opel Blitz x 5
Kfz 1

Guns: A:0 D:2
2cm FlaK 38
2cm FlaK 30

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: A: ParaDrop. Secret Assemblage Point determined by dr
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2026-04-19(A) Tripp Killin vs Mark Thompson American win6 hrsI really enjoyed this scenario. It's a small OB, but 10 full turns, so a lot happens but the turns go quickly.
One of my two American wings ended up on Board 5, and got pretty shot up on landing. The other got down in reasonable order on Board 2. Luckily, that was near my assigned Assembly point.
The Board 5 wing captured one potential Assembly Area to keep the Germans guessing. It spent the next 7 turns trying to take another, but a 4-6-7, LMG and 8-1 along with a 4 IFE AA Gun held them off. Eventually this entire wing was destroyed except for one broken wounded leader. But their sacrifice kept some Germans from going to the victory area.

The Board 2 attack progressed well, but by the time I had my actual Assembly Point captured, there wasn't any time to spread out and capture others to keep the Germans guessing. By then, their reinforcements had begun arriving and the Americans had to go over to defense.

There were still 5 turns to go, and my force was shrinking consistently. But so was the German's. It came down to a Turn 8 rush by the Germans, who VBM sleazed with the StugIII and got into melee in the Assembly Point hex, but had lost most of their good order troops. (If the stack using Armored Assault with the Stug had not failed NMCs, things would have been different.)

In my Turn 9, I shifted my last squads towards the victory location, got a lucky shot on the Stg with my BAZ 45, and reinforced the melee with a 747. I wiped out the Germans in CC for the win.

With the variable Air Drop results, the random VC location determination, and the random reinforcement entry, this will likely be a different scenario for everyone.

2026-03-26(A) Will Willow vs Randy Shurtz German winFun scenario. Gakked my drop points and my boys got shredded pretty good. Still made it to turn 9. Would play again.
2026-03-15(A) Vic Lauterbach vs JM American winWe both Read Jim Stahler's analysis of this one (THE GENERAL #28.3) before playing it, so I expected a tough fight, and Jim did not disappoint me. This is the first airdrop scenario I've played that wasn't decided by very good or very bad drop and drift die rolls (E9.1/9.2). My drop was good, but early on lots of 8+ IFT and MC DRs made my cardboard paratroopers simulate their inexperienced, real-life counterparts. By Turn 5, things looked better as US firepower took its toll and I grabbed four assembly point hexes forcing Jim to play whack a mole! The German attack ground forward, but I clung to the hex I needed (4S2) for the win. Jim: This long game played fast due to low unit density and it's really fun! ASL is best with more maneuver than big stacks blasting away! The secret, variable assembly point is a brilliant VC. From the drop hex, I guessed that the assembly point was one of three southern hexes, but taking all three was a challenge. I took one, but my attack ran out of gas after the StuG fell to a BAZ44 shot. Great game!
2024-10-27(A) Ingemar Gardell vs Jacob Elmqvist American win
2024-09-09(A) Jeff B vs Scott Sherer American win8.25 hrsI drew 2W9 as my target hex and half of my men landed in close proximity, but I lost my 8-1 over there leaving those men leaderless. The rest of my force was quite a bit off-target, landing in the eastern part of board 4. The Germans of course were quite spread out, lightly defending all possible VC hexes. I was able to secure the objective on Turn 2 with no further casualties, while the rest of my men mostly moved south onto board 2 to make a show of force on 2M9 and sweep across to bolster the real hex. The next couple turns were mostly a Mexican standoff, with Scott realizing I'm sure where my real focus was. Having been denied a chance of reinforcements on Turn 4, Scott's first batch entered in the far reaches of board 5. Being the truck group they were able to make up some ground, but he lost a truck carrying two HS to a sneaky LOS. Meanwhile I was still desperately trying to get more men over to reinforce 2W9 before more Germans entered the fray. Turn 6 saw his StuG group enter and effectively cut off my men making their way over on board 2, and it got even worse on Turn 7 when these men tried to make a break for it and were mowed down (including my 9-1), but it did open the door somewhat for my 8-0 and two HS to swing around the long way on the southern part of the board. The next turn they made it to the VC area, none-to-soon as the Germans were really starting to put the squeeze on. The last couple turns would see some heavy fighting for the VC hex, but my luck prevailed on the last CC of the game when I successfully defended it from the Germans which made it in. Quite a fun game, that should play differently every time.
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ubertripp Added a playing2026-04-19 01:42:19
ubertripp Uploaded a VASL file2026-04-12 13:55:58
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dieneuner25 Added a playing2026-04-07 00:54:58
wwillow Added a playing2026-03-27 01:14:49
FileDescriptionUserViews
(ASL201 Hunters from the Sky VASL 6.7.1.vsav)VASL Setupubertripp36
(!usa-germ.png)Imagehoxson11619
(us para drop.png)Imagehoxson11720
(hamminkeln loc.png)Imagehoxson11520
Map at the end (201 end of CCPh German GT10.JPG)Imagedieneuner2540
(hunters map grain is brush.png)Map Imagehoxson11698
DescriptionUploaded by
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Statistics:
Avg Rating: 7.81Votes: 21
Views: 8637
To-Play list count: 4
Estimated Play time: 5.2 hours
Recorded Games: 15
Archive recorded plays:
American12
German3
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Hunters from the Sky [Confirmed]
[A] American 10
[D] German 9
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