Playing through some of the FoF scenarios with Wayne Baumber we selected this scenario as our next challenge. Wayne taking the French and I the Germans. At first look the French have a very mobile force with good tank support, but they also have two slow HMG's as well as lower morale. The Germans have a decent force to defend but the armor support is weak against the French S35's, but they do have the setup and good morale.

The Germans defense will try to slow the French and make them fight early in their advance while trying to provide a defense in some of the weaker areas. The main line of defense will be the town and roads at 0608. Units will be positioned to slow the Germans in the town 0706 as well as dug in troops in the fields around 409. Dug in platoons hold the road on the split hex 1309/0109. To the south in the city of Berliamiont HMG's positioned to cover the western approaches while infantry, AT's and the PZII's provided the reserves. The lone unit on board 33 is the SK222 at the crossroads of 608.

The French advance is two pronged, coming down near the roads at 30/701 and 33/701. On board 33 the advance is quick and the DRG's and S35's quickly force the SK222 to abandon their position at the crossroads. They turn to head east on the road and engage the first roadblock of German troops. After a sharp bitter fight the Germans take losses and are force to head back into the fields of 30/409. But German fire has left the attacking force disrupted and demoralized. From the north the advance pushes the Germans out of the town at 33/706 and the French take a bead on town 30/608. In exchanges of fire the French quickly disrupt and demoralize while the Germans weather the French fire. Heavy fire on both sides create casualties for each, but the German defense of the town at 30/608 is still strong and they hold the fields to the east.

The recovered French look to approach the town of Berlaimont from the west, but German HMG's provide key OP fire to disrupt and demoralize the advancing French. This stripes away the DRG support for the S35's and they are left to attack the town on their own. The Germans shift infantry support south to block the French tanks.

To the north the French push for the town at 30/608 advancing right up to the town with their DRG's and HMG's. Heavy German OP fire disrupts and demoralizes them. Continuing to press their attack German INF's assault the disrupted and demoralized troops bringing the attack to an end. But to the south the S35's bully there way into town and advancing right up to the bridge. The German Major shifts an HMG unit to support the lone INF and with help from a SGT provide a decent defense force. But the S35's machineguns change that, with one attack the SGT and HMG are demoralized and the lone INF by itself again. Quickly the SGT recovers and assists the HMG, while the Major scrambles to get reinforcements to attack the tanks. Three INF platoons are pulled together and with the help of a German Captain they attack the S35's destroying one of them. At this point the game ends with a German victory.

Morale was key to this game, the lower French morale had a significant effect on the maneuverability of the French. Once their morale was reduced they were stuck and eventually they became strung out in the attack. German keys to the win was good mobile defense and better morale to have the troops in the right position at the right time.

Played v Alan Sawyer on Skype. Alan in his AAR has set out the scenario and deployment so I will concentrate on what went wrong. The French plan was to pin the Germans in a frontal assault and then using their superior speed flank the Germans and arrive at the bridge with Armour support take and hold at least one bridge which should be enough for a victory. The plan worked in one way as the Germans held a line in the north and even lost two steps, in fact this initial assault went so well that the French commander tried to exploit this success and pressed on with the attack hoping for more Hun losses. The flanking force moved out on time but accurate long range HMG fire and artillery, while not causing any casualties forced the French to go to ground, thus slowing the flank attack. Then disaster as the German commander cleverly counter attacked cutting off the tip of the French assault in the north. This was the move that sealed the game as the French losses soon overtook German losses, the French tanks made a dash for the bridge but were held up in the town and eventually overrun by the Boche. This is an excellent smallish scenario, it does favour the Germans slightly I would suggest French morale of 8/6 would help in this regard. However in our encounter the best man won without a doubt.

A highly mobile French force must attack through an urban morass to try to capture two bridges held by the Germans. Each side is roughly equivalent in size (a reinforced battalion) but the Germans have much more firepower and, critical to urban warfare, two ENG platoons. The French have lower morale and have very little transport for their HMGs.

Having decided to be aggressive with the French I immediately made a crucial error. I divided their force. Do not do this. They aren't as strong as the Germans and they are tasked with the offense in this scenario (the initial setup gets the Germans a minor victory). Even making this ridiculous rookie mistake I came within one hex of getting to one of the bridges. Imagine if I had been smart instead of full of elan.

I dickered with the rating on this one but ended up with a "3". I can't really rate it low because I didn't play it well. Even played well this will be tough for the French but it is a blast to see a French force with a much greater degree of mobility than the Germans.