Author	treadasaurusrex (Britain)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	Reconquista
Play Date	2023-02-07
Language	English
Scenario	BBoB006

This was a costly, 4-session play-through that ended in fiercely contested draw. I played the British side and Reconquista led the stubborn Germans in what was a real slugfest in the snow. Others have detailed this one, so this report will only hit the highlights. We played with the FOW, smoke/illum, consolidation and excess initiative optional rules, in what was surprisingly close to the historical account. There were 11 FOW-shortened turns in our play that proved frustrating to both opponents. Both sides drew middling leaders, with the German perhaps have a slightly better set. We stopped play at the 18th game turn, by mutual agreement, when it became clear that neither side had sufficient units remaining to achieve and outright victory.

This was one of those scenarios where both sides are exchanging fire immediately on either side of the north-south road through the contested town of Bure. The British paratroopers took a tremendous beating in the urban setting and both sides scored repeatedly with both, their OBA, and with adjacent-hex direct fire. Luckily, the random events were not triggered in our play-through. The urban-area fighting was truly intense, and the close assault die rolling contest continued for turn after turn from the very beginning. Territorial gains in the town were costly propositions and were quickly lost or regained in subsequent turns in this seesaw battle. All the armored assets in this scenario, save a single step of Sherman tanks, were lost in the urban fighting. When we quite, either side had control of two hexes of Bure, and the other town were still bitterly contested. Step losses were roughly the same.

I give this one a solid 3, as it could have gone either way based mostly on luck and the PG fates. We look forward to switching sides and trying this relatively, balanced scenario in another go around.