French set up with 3 stacks of infantry, one INF and one RES with a leader, one stack defending the bridge, one in the western town where they could watch the river to the west for crossings, and one more dug in on the east edge of the hill where it could watch for eastern river crossings but also lend some fire support to the troops in town. The HMG, was in the eastern town hex with one of the tanks, the other tank with the tank leader set up next to the eastern French position, again to lend support or to stop river crossing attempts, and the French 37mm gun was in the town hex just west of the bridge. Germans set up the mortar in the small town northeast of the bridge, and alternating stacks of either 2 bicycle units or one and an HMG so that they could fire across the river but also be protected by either woods or towns, with one stack and the engineer to the west just around the woods where he couldn't be seen by the French left. French won initiative for the first turn and just about every other turn after, and Germans chose to engage at long range and do as much direct fire damage as they could before forcing the bridge, while the engineer moved to prepare for a river crossing. French were happy to exchange long range fire but the central stack defending the bridge became demoralized after 3 turns prompting a German rush that the French were unable to dislodge. The German river crossing was having some difficulty (couldn't manage to roll the needed 7 or less for anything), and the French were happy to watch and laugh at the Germans getting their nice shiny boots all wet instead of moving to do something about them. The central town hex became engaged in assault by the Germans and became something of a stalemate, as both sides caused some disruption and then both sides shook it off turn after turn. The central town hex finally fell to the Germans, but by then the French tanks had taken up station next door along with the HMGs and defended with but a single step loss to the tanks, while the French troops in the west moved into position to stop the Germans and became engaged also in assault. French luck failed them as they suffered step losses, became demoralized, and then failed their morale checks to lose even more. The last turns saw Germans taking all but the single town hex contested by 3 steps of tanks and the HMG while Germans rotated good order troops through to try to take out the tanks. In the end, the one hex was still contested, but the Germans had a firm grip and full control of the bridge hex with nothing in sight to contest that. German victory total - 14 steps of French destroyed, and 10 points for control of the bridge for 24 points, to a single step and a demoralized unit still on the board for 2 points for the French. Major German victory.

Played solo in 2.5 hours.

The French set up town with their HMG, one R35, and an INF unit on the hex just south of the bridge. The Germans enter in two groups. The first group - 2 x MTN HMG and 4 x RAD - set up 3 hexes away from the town and use direct fire to try to soften the units south of the bridge. The second group - the MTN ENG and 4 x RAD - goes east to try to cross the river.

The French sends a R35 and two infantry units to prevent the river crossing and reduces the first RAD unit that made it across the river.

One hour and fourty five minutes into the scenario and the Germans have made little progress despite 2 step lost. But on the next turn, two RAD units cross the river and are unaffected by the French opportunity fire. They assault the French units next turn which also allow the remaining German units to cross unopposed. The French lose their first step in the assault and all their units lose heart and become demoralized. The Germans can now march to town from the east unopposed.

The German group north of the river decides it's time to apply stronger pressure and move two units on the bridge, aided by a French unit miserably failing a simple morale check. One unit is demoralized but the other remains in good order. The French won the next initiative and I believe I made the wrong tactical decision here, Instead of assaulting the German units on the bridge, the French used direct fire and it was ineffective. The brave good order RAD unit seized the opportunity to assault the town and lost a step and is disrupted. The Germans move their remaining two RAD units on the bridge with the MTN HMG right behind them.

The French counter by sending units next to the bridge, counting on their higher initiative to be able to contest the bridge next turn, The French assault the bridge on turn 15 but it is ineffective. The Germans brings in a MTN HMG in the assault hex and counterattack. The French lose a step but more importantly, the two units are demoralized.

The French win the initiative again and they attempt to recover the units on the bridge. Two failures and the French must exit the bridge. As the French can no longer contest the bridge, I stopped the game after the first activation of the last turn.

German major victory!

I rated this one a "3". It plays well solitaire because the strategy for both sides is very limited. I thought the last 4 turns were very interesting tactically and I had to be exact with the sequence of activations to allow each side to remain in a position to do something positive towards the final score.

I believe such a small major river crossing scenario makes it a good candidate for a Skype game, especially veteran against newcomer.