Parachutes Over Crete: scenario #9: Bridge over the Platanias

An action packed, 10 turn, small scenario. I felt the need for some more Crete scenarios and had a go at this one. It looks interesting on paper, both sides having some high morale units and the Germans even have a Kubel unit and this scenario is mostly about controlling the bridge hex. The German have the advantage, as they start setup defending the Bridge but the New Zealand force has a few more Infantry units and enter the map from the east.

My approach for the New Zealand forces, which included some Maoris units was to rush the bridge, as with only ten turns, you really don’t have time to dink around. The Problem was, after the New Zealander setup to attack and to assault, the Germans activated first and the chain of leadership/command was such that all their units could activate at one time. The dice were very nice in combat and activations for the Germans in the first three turns and the damage was done. In the end the New Zealand forces try one desperate assault combat but paid again in casualties and were forces out of the bridge hex.

The Germans took a Major Victory in this scenario, only losing one step to the New Zealand’s seven steps and one leader. With that said, I feel the New Zealand side can easily win this, if the Germans didn’t activate first three times in a row and hit such nice combat factors on the dice as well. With a scenario with only a few units, this can happen sometimes.