By the 10th turn the Germans easily surrounded and eliminated the Americans in the small town on board 10. They confidently advanced to the larger city on board 11 ready for an easy win. Then they met the beast known as "M16".

Bristling with MGs, this beast, with its footmen, managed to mangle EIGHT Gren units(!) before it collapsed to a hail-Mary of an infantry AT attack. The remaining Americans still had enough fight in them to hold out attack after attack. Then the M4 shows up.

By this time the American lost too many steps to win so the M4 heads toward the small board 10 town. Capturing one town hex will force a tie. The German garrison force, which was left in the town for just this reason, was continually robbed to help destroy the M16 beast in the other city, so there weren’t enough Germans to cover the entire town. The tank could pick any hex and enter it one turn before the time ran out! No time for a counter-attack! Time for another hail-Mary.

Artillery rained on the approaching tank and managed a Disrupt! The German garrison wasn’t too stunned to lose the opportunity and charged the tank. They were on top of the tank before it could rally and smashed it. This, I think, broke the heart of the remaining Americans in the city on board 11. They fought, less fervently, and were eliminated. Score a major victory for the Germans. Sorry, Patton.

Ouch! This scenario was over before it began. So much so that I checked the rules twice to make sure I did it right. (See my AAR on solo play…)

The Germans had one hour with nighttime visibility (1 hex) to get set up in the light woods (with their different spotting and direct fire stuff) and await the dawn. I'd forgotten this the first time. This allowed them to not suffer opportunity fire and still get really close. When the sun came up, they honestly rolled a 3 to one initiative bonus, which just killed the US army. First, the off-board arty got a really good roll and mostly wiped up the lone troops at the crossroads, to be finished by the troops that were sitting within 2 hexes. All of it, gone in one turn as the leader was in the truck with a load of troops.

The third init. Included just some direct fire on the small town, which began the back and forth fire that PG is known for. Mirroring this effort in the large town, both were worn down over many turns after which the assaults began, the US surrender came before the tanks showed up because the victory conditions had been more than met by the Germans. I am aware that the tanks could have come in alone and assaulted the Germans alone, but with the off-boards and both towns in control, I just didn’t see it as realistic that they would succeed in satisfying any victory conditions, having already lost the needed steps.

This is an interesting scenario in that the Germans must capture both cities. In 68 moves and given the preponderance of materials available to the Germans..... No sweat. This DOES, however, point out the quandrum of the designer.... do we write the scenario according to history OR do we write it according to balance in the game? I prefer history but it sometimes makes for soeme pretty boring games.

This one sees the Germans fighting for the same town again, while adding the third down the road. This time, they have an overwhelming force and the Americans are spread out. The Germans played patiently, attacking each of the three American positions in sequence. The first position was taken out their reinforcements, and the scenario just snowballed from there. The time limit really wont come in to play on this one, as it is extremely generous, so the Germans can always sit in the woods, and wait until they get full OBA and the Americans dont get thiers to jump out of their hiding spots and overwhelm the defenses.

The only way I can really see the Americans putting up a fight in this one, is to drive the M16 to board 10 ASAP and slog it out there. Really then, its a tough task ahead of them. This scenario certainly has an "a rotten morning" type feel, which is fun for the Germans, but not competitive.

German Major victory.

Despite having far superior forces, German troops had to struggle in order to achieve their objectives. Enemy troops present at the crossroads proved to be of very little resistance, though they did buy some time, leaving the two smaller forces assaulting the towns without the expected reinforcements for far longer than I had hoped. The M16 rushed forward to engage the main body of German troops when they exited the forest and caused 6 step losses before retreating into the first town.

The German group assaulting the western town took very high casualties on the approach due to lucky Allied artillery and some excellent rolling on the behalf of the small defending force, however visibility proved to be helpful for the Germans allowing them to get in close and assault. The attack force on the central town proved luckier on the approach taking no losses until the melee started within the town itself, resulting in high casualties for both sides, but the Germans could afford them better.

The M16 continued to harass advancing German troops as it pulled back to avoid close assault, though the accuracy of their gunners proved to be less than remarkable. Eventually the main force reached the central town assisting the already present troops from the smaller group in wiping the defenders out with ease. Despite this, due to increasing losses among the western assault group, German initiative dropped by one and that assault group was becoming less and less effective.

Around turn 25 the main assault force and the survivors of the central attack group had reached the western town and crushed the defenders, among whom was the M16 that was destroyed by assaulting infantry with handheld AT weapons. This was not without casualties however, the lucky US artillery piece in the town managed to destroy three German steps before being destroyed due to expert marksmanship and the weakened troops in the city also fought valiantly.

A German victory, but a victory paid for in blood.