This scenario I was a bit leary about due to the low amount of American troops, I figured they could be cut down early or overrun by the German reinforcements. But I was wrong, the scenarios was very nice. The key was to keep the Americans moving, if they are bogged down the Germans will win as they need to destroy two strongpoints and occupy their hexes.

To start the Americans run down the road at the strongpoint, this time it is the 5-3 strongpoint and Op fires on the Americans. The half-para platoon is disrupted, but the full platoon is ok. Next turn assault and demoralization for the strongpoint. Rally fails and it is eliminated. One down one to go. German reinforcements appear in two turns, so you have to move. Next turn American reinforcements, these guys will hold 0509 while the first group goes for 0803. The disrupted American half platoon is having trouble rallying and must stay back. Turn 4 Germans win the initiative and move the reinforcements on the board. The American platoon runs for the 0803. Bad luck as the 4-4 strongpoint is located here. Op fire results is a morale check that is easily passed. The other American full platoon moves up the road, while the 2 half platoons are setup to defend 0509. The Germans move move a GREN right behind 0803 as well as the Lieutenant move to 0803 to spot for the German mortars. Next turn the Americans assault before the reinforcements make it to 0803, no effect on both sides. Both German and American units race to 0803 to join the assault. The Americans get an edge with disrupting the GREN in 0803. While the Germans move up the HMG. Now the Americans have a LT. and 2 full para platoons against the German strongpoint, disrupted GREN and a LT. The next assault demoralizes the strongpoint rally fails and it is removed, but the HMG has joined the fight and disrupt one para-platoon. The Americans move one half platoon up to reinforce are the other German reinforcements won't enter until later. The next assault the Germans get a step kill with the half platoon disrupting. The Americans rally but need help to kill the Germans. With the other half platoon joining the fight the Americans score a demoralization on the GREN unit. It fails to rally and runs out of the fight, leaving the HMG on its own. The next assault has the HMG disrupted as well as an American half platoon. Rallying fails so it looks like the American have the edge. in the next assault the HMG is demoralized and runs from the fight. The free shot gets a step kill on the HMG as it runs into the hedgerow. 0803 is in American hands.

Once the Germans rally, they try to move up but American Op fire demoralizes them again and they run to the hedgerows. At this point a lull as the Germans are content with shelling the town with the mortars and wait for the other reinforcements. The Americans must now make a decision about defending the two towns. With one full platoon and three half platoons the defense will require the two towns to be on their own. The German situation is weak around 0803 both GRENs are reduced as well as the HMG, full units will attack from the east.

Turn 27 arrives and the German reinforcements move up from the east. It takes until turn 29 to get them ready to attack. In the west the Germans move up their half platoons to attack at the same time. For the Americans they have shuffled the full platoon south, coupled with the half platoon they will take on the fresh attack. The two half platoons will handle 0803. The German attack on 0803 runs into Op fire and is disrupted and demoralized, a relief for the Americans. In the easy the Germans use the swamps to get next to 0509 and assault, but the Americans score a demoralization on the full strength GREN, slowing the German attack. Next assault has the Americans winning again and demoralizing the HMG. To the west the Germans recover and look to try another assault, but time is running out as it is turn 33. In 0509 the Americans score a demoralization on the full strength GREN and the HMG, they are forced out leaving a lone half GREN to attack. In the west American Op Fire keeps the Germans at bay. Turn 35 has the Americans almost in full control of the scenario.

Last turn has the Americans assaulting the lone German in 0509 and scoring a step loss finishing the game. The Germans can not recover from the loss and the Americans keep the town.

I found this to be well balanced and both sides capable of winning.

Played: solo Time: ~90 minutes

My previous AirI scenario ended rather abruptly, after 5 minutes to be exact. This one, much to my surprise, turned out quite different!

Introduction

A scenario with the title "Low Odds Attack" is never going to inspire confidence in the attackers (America), but you do what you gotta do, right?

The Americans are tasked with taking and holding two town objectives, which are initially only manned by strongpoints. The American paratrooper detachment is barely sufficient for the task, but the Germans will get two sets of reinforcements - either of which are more than a match for the PARAs.

The Germans have their choice of 2 goals - either control the east town (an objective shared with the Americans) or inflict 3 steplosses.

The Americans enter near the east town, and have the unhappy task of securing the west town as soon as possible and then returning to the east town to hold out against those "low odds."

Opening Moves

Because the paratroopers come onto the board in two small groups (turns 1 & 3), and because they start under cover of darkness, I had my first group of PARAs scoot past the east objective and rush the western one. Unfortunately, the strongpoint turned out to be a 5-3, 2-3 beast. While PARA Team 1 was busy with that mess, PARA Team 2 carefully approached the east objective only to find that that strongpoint was unoccupied - huzzah! They waltzed into the town and set up camp. PARA Team 1, after a brief assault, managed to eliminate the first strongpoint and at the close of turn 4 the Americans control both objectives. Only 32 turns to go! (ha)

From turn 4 the first batch of real Germans begin working their way south through the hedges from the northern edge of the board. The Americans had to figure out how to defend both objectives and figure it out quickly.

Current American Positions:

• west objective - CAPT, LT, PARA, reduced PARA
• east objective - LT, PARA, reduced PARA

I decided to send the full-strength PARA from the west objective and the 1-9-1 1st LT to the east objective (remember, shared by the Germans) to bolster the defense. From the east objective I dispatched the reduced PARA back to the west to recombine with the other reduced PARA and thereby gain 1 factor of direct fire (2 x 2-3 -> 5-3)

Idiot Artillery

The Americans successfully completed their rearrangement before the Germans arrived at the town. Herr Shad sent the 81mm platoon into the swamps to fire upon the town while the GRENs and HMG took up positions to prepare for an assault.

Once adjacent to the town, the 81mm began mercilessly bombarding his fellow Germans, and the assault was delayed turn after turn as the GRENs and HMG were repeatedly forced to rally after disruptions from friendly bombardments.

(This was actually pretty hilarious to play out. The 81mm never once hit the Americans in the town, but repeatedly rolled 1s to drop shells on the 2 hexes the infantry were staging in, then rolling 5s or 6s to give them nice hard whacks on the bombardment chart...)

Finally, on turn 21 the Germans were all clear and made their assault...

1. Because the Germans are coming through the hedges, the Americans have first fire... DR 1, no result!
2. The Germans are far more efficient, DR 6, steploss!
3. M2 checks for all US forces = 2 x DIS LT, DEM PARA, DIS reduced PARA
4. Fortunately, brave rallies all around prevent the initial assault from becoming a rout...

On turn 22 the remaining American PARA platoon and CAPT enter the town, having abandoned the west objective to support their buddies getting hammered in the east.

On turn 23 Germany assaults again, and this time both sides take a steploss each. After a particularly brutal round of fighting, of the 9 leaders and platoons in the town 5 are demoralized and 1 is disrupted. The US is now one steploss away from defeat.

Holding on for Dear Life

And yet, the Americans never broke. For the next 10 turns they suffered relentless assaults from the desperate Germans - oftentimes being disrupted or demoralized but always seeming to find just a little bit extra to rally themselves back into fighting form.

They should have been killed to the last man long ago, but turn after turn they stood their ground. My men were so heroic that I was becoming truly attached to my cardboard pieces, so emotionally invested was I in their struggle against all odds.

And then it happened. On turn 34, two turns from the end, the Germans finally got it together and hit hard. Two steplosses for the Americans meant four for the battle - the Germans had won. The CAPT and one LT fell dead in the onslaught. When the smoke and dust cleared only an American LT and PARA remained to turn back the horde.

Conclusion

The Germans never were able to capture their objective, but they killed enough Americans to win the day.

While the Americans lost according to the victory conditions as written, in my heart they had won the greater victory. They had captured both objectives and stubbornly held out against relentless assaults by vastly superior forces for hour after hour.

Shad's Thoughts

What a tough scenario to rate! I had a great time playing it, but I thought going in that the Americans had an impossible task and I still feel that way. Luck had a heavy hand in the longevity of the American's defense in my play, which makes me confident that replays wouldn't be nearly so engaging. Even so, I really enjoyed it - so I have to give this a 4/5 ... best Airborne scenario so far, without question.

NOTE: For a long time, I played the morale rules wrong, with units just needing to roll their morale or less to recover, not less than their morale. This is reflected in some of the commentaries.

Deployment and Turn 1

The strongpoint in 0509 turned out to be unoccupied, the one in 0803 was the strongest one in the game at 5-3 (the AT value is 2-3, however it wasn’t relevant for the scenario). The American plan was simple. Secure 0509, then make top speed to 0803 with one of the reinforcing platoons, leaving the reduced reinforcing platoon to hold 0509. Once 0803 was secure, send reinforcements to 0509, since its likely to be the focal point of fighting. The Americans have a 9-1-1 captain and a 9-1-1 1st Lieutenant with the initial forces.

Turns 2 -4

Arriving at 0509, the Americans find it unoccupied and head for 0803, On turn 3, they reach 0704 and the strongpoint is revealed and fires on the advancing paratroopers, rolling an 11 and getting an M2 on the captain and full strength platoon, but they survive the fire. The opportunity fire at the 1st lieutenant and reduced platoon misses. The Americans begin their assault on turn 4. They have 9 firepower points (counting the 2 from the leaders), with 1 column shift to the right for a leader and 2 to the left for a town, putting them on the 5 column. The Germans are also on the 5 column. The Americans miss and the Germans produce an M2, demoralizing the paratroopers. Meanwhile, the 1st batch of regular German troops arrive.

Turns 5 - 8

The Americans use their initiative to rally, and both units improve to disrupted status. The 1st lieutenant leaves to escort reinforcements into the assault. The other 1st Lieutenant takes the reduced platoon to 0509 to stop the advancing Germans. On turn 6, the assault is renewed, again with both sides on the 5 column. The Americans get an M result, the Germans an M1. The reduced paratrooper goes back to demoralized and the strongpoint is also demoralized, but uses its impulse to recover to disrupted status. The assault continues on turn 7, the Americans on the 5 column, the Germans on the 3 column. The Americans get an M1 but the strongpoint passes, while the Germans miss. However, German reinforcements are closing in on the town. The German mortar takes a pot-shot at 0509 and misses. On turn 8, the Americans recover, while the Germans reinforce the town and assault the Americans. They are on the 13 column (19 firepower puts them on the 18 column, +1 column for leader, -2 for town) while the Americans are also on the 13 column (12 firepower plus 1 shift for leader). The Germans roll a 6 for a “1” result and the Americans a 1 (miss)! A disaster for the Americans as the reduced paratroopers are eliminated and the other 2 platoons are disrupted. Over at 0509, the paratroopers fire at the advancing Germans and miss, and the Germans assault on the 3 column, while the paratroopers defend on the 5 column. The paratroopers manage to disrupt the German lieutenant.

Turns 9 – 12

The Americans in 0803 rally, and the Germans assault again. Once more, both sides are on the 13 column. The Americans roll a 6 (“1”) and the Germans a 3 (M1). The Germans eliminate the strongpoint and the HMG is demoralized, while the Americans hold fast. In 0509, the German lieutenant attempts to recover and fails. On turn 10, the Americans pass the first initiative until the Germans are forced to attempt a recovery in 0803. Its risky, but it pays off as the HMG does not recover and flees the assault. The Americans then assault to try to get a result on the Grenadier. They are only on the 5 column while the Germans are on the 9, and they are only able to disrupt the captain. On turn 11, the Americans do manage to disrupt the grenadier, but it recovers on its impulse, while the HMG continues to flee. At 0509, the Germans pull out of town, surviving the free shot, and the lieutenant goes to help the HMG recover and escort it into combat. On turn 12, the HMG rallies without the leader and recovers to disrupted, while neither side makes progress in the assault on 0803.

Turn 13

The HMG recovers to good status, while in 0803 the assault gets bloodier. Both the Americans and Germans roll a 6, however the Americans get an M2 while the Germans get a “1” result and destroy a paratrooper step. The American captain and the remaining full strength paratrooper are demoralized, while the 1st Lieutenant is killed. For the Germans, the captain is disrupted again. The Germans assault back, only on the 3 column (7 firepower (5 column), 1 shift to the right for the leader, 2 to the left for the town) while the Americans are also on the 3 column. The Germans roll a 6 for an M1, the Americans a 5 for an M. The demoralized paratrooper fails its morale check and loses a step. This is the 3rd American step loss and a German victory!

Final Thoughts

This was a tough scenario for the Americans. It was great that 0509 was unoccupied, and having the strongest strongpoint in 0803 really stalled things. The difficulty of assaulting a town was again shown. I think the turning point was the elimination of the reduced platoon in 0803. This reduced the Americans firepower from 14 to 12, which meant they were basing off the 9 column on the assault table, not the 13, and that limited the damage they could do to the Germans. The dice seemed to favor the Germans, also making it tougher. Had the Americans been able to clear 0803, and had a full strength and reduced strength platoon in each town, I think things would have been very tough for the Germans, even with numerical superiority, because of the 2 column shift for the town. In that case, I think things would have played out pretty historically. A pretty good scenario, and the lead-in to the first really big Airborne scenario.

"We're outnumbered. Let's attack!"

American paratroopers land behind enemy lines and aim to take control of two objectives which may, or may not, be guarded by German strongpoints.

Definitely a Low Odds Attack!

One and a half platoons of paratroopers advance on the first strongpoint only to find it occupied and take heavy fire. Instead of holding back taking pot shots (and getting shot at) they decide to close in for assault to tie up the strongpoint until some reinforcements arrive.

Another one and a half paratroop platoons enter and head for the strongpoint as German forces are alerted and also send some reinforcements in.

Americans arrive first and despite having a couple of platoons they fail in the assault and need to rally.

Precious time is lost as the Grenadiers arrive and join in on the assault. Now the Americans are outnumbered!

What would you do as the American Captain?

Well, the Americans looked at their odds, and it would be a low odds attack indeed!

Number Crunch: Both sides were at 17 firepower, which puts them on the 18-18 column with leadership. Americans would assault into urban losing two columns to 9-18. Not good. When the German HMG platoon arrives, they would defend on the 18 column (and the Germans would assault on the 18 column after shifts)

Well, Captain American decided to wait. If the Germans never attacked it would be a draw, if they did, they at least had a chance at disrupting them then going in for a counterattack.

After holding down for an hour the Germans arrived and assaulted. Both sides took morale checks and two Germans were demoralized. The Americans then counterattacked… and lost a platoon!!!

Not good.

The Germans attacked (now 9-9) to no effect and both sides recovered morale.

Germans led another assault and both sides lost a half platoon of infantry. The German Lieutenant and one of the American Captains also perished.

The Americans were down to 1.5 platoons, but the Germans lost one of their two leaders.

But the Germans recovered and attacked again (13-9) and the American half paratroop was lost. A further assault (13-9) saw both sides lose half a platoon! But the German HMG was demoralised and fled the strongpoint. Unfortunately, the Americans were too low on men, half a platoon was not enough to assault the strongpoint supported by a Grenadier platoon.

Eventually, after about 90 minutes, the German HMG recovered and returned with additional reinforcements. The reinforcements entered the assault on turn 30 (now 13-5) and within the half hour the last paratroopers were eliminated, a LT captured, and the last two officers fled to find more men.

GERMAN VICTORY.

Aftermath

This is a difficult one to rate. The reinforcements and “uncertainty” of the strongpoints make for a mildly interesting scenario. As always, the low counter count of Airborne limit the decision making. The scenario did play out in just under an hour including set up and take down. But, American victory does seem “low odds” but not impossible. If the first strongpoint was empty or if they succeeded in their initial assault, it could have played out a bit differently taking out the German reinforcements then charging to the second objective. So I’ll give this a 3 for possible potential.

Scenario Rating: 3/5 – Has possibility but, your odds are low.

Everything seemed to favor an American victory in this play, especially since neither German strongpoint was occupied. The American paras were able to take control of both town hex objectives unopposed, before the first wave of German reinforcements could stop them. Both of the unoccupied strongoints counted as step losses for inititiave purposes so already the American paras had an exceptional first action advantage.

Early on, the Germans forced an American step loss at 06:15/turn 8 after the Germans actually got the intiative despite the odds and got an X result on the 16 column of the direct fire table, hitting American units which were backtracking after taking the northernmost town to reinforce the other town. The paras then had their moment later on by demoralizing a lowly 6-0-0 German LT and a GREN unit and also were able to overrun the 81mm mortar, eliminating it. The demoralized German LT and GREN actaully ended up fleeing into the already American-contolled but vacant, northern town. Before either one could recover they were both also easily eliminated in an American urban assault.

Soon it was just two German units attempting to hold out and weaken defenses in the southern objective town until further reinforcements would arrive from the east edge at 11:00/turn 27. After those reinforcements arrived an assault was made on American units in the swamp outside of the town hex and eventually, at 12:00/turn 31, the Americans take another PARA step loss. However, the Germans have taken a beating as well and have not been able to take their town objective. Soon, it looks as if the best the Germans can only hope for a draw as what's left of their overall force is in some sort of disarray or disorder but they still continue the swamp hex assault though it has become more than 50/50 in favor of the Americans. It seems very possible for an American victory at the last moment as another German GREN unit is eliminated attempting an assault at 13:15/turn 36 but the Germans spoil it all with getting "snake eyes" on the 7 column of the direct fire table against the paras defending the southern town and force a third American step loss on the last German activation on the last turn.

So it ends with both sides meeting their victory requirements; The Americans occupying and controlling town hexes 0509 and 0803 but the Germans inflict 3 American step losses. This scenario surpassed my expectations but even with the surprise ending I can only give it a '3', which is still not a bad rating. In most cases this scenario will favor Germany as most likely at least one of the strongpoints will be occupied. Also, drawing the worst possible German Lieutenant with a 6-0-0 rating did not help with the initial German reinforcements. I really thought I had a rare American win for this one until the last German activation. So far, ater the first seven 'Airborne' scenarios the Americans have failed to secure even one victory but I suppose it could have run worse as Germany, for their part, has only won two of the scenarios; 5 out of 7 so far have been draws. Looking ahead the scenarios look a little more promising and am still motivated to complete them all.

The setup is restricted for both sides. The Allies enter at 0106. Axis strongpoints are in hexes 0509 and 0803. The Allies get the iniative by one but fail their activation roll. The Axis enters and moves on hex 0803 from the North edge. At 0515 the Allies assault hex 0509 and discover that the strongpoint is unoccupied. Meanwhile the Axis enter hex 0503 with 2 platoons of Gren. Thereafter the Allies could do nothing. They were too weak to assault a victory hex and being adjecent to the Axis units in a town hex they were getting blasted. By 0745 it was all over. The Allies has lost 2 steps and had only 3 steps left. The Axis had 2 platoons in 0604 and 1 platoon of HMG backed up with an 81mm mortar platoon in hex 0803. the Allies were too weak to attack further and could not stop the Axis from occuping hex 0509. Axis victory. The only way for the Allies to win this scenario is to cheat.