My second play of this one, this time a shared match with Wayne Baumber via skype. Playing with the Germans I was at first worried as during my previous solo play they were outmanuevered by the Brits and lost the battle even though British armour losses were incredibly high. However I apparently was able to correct a few mistakes that I made before with Germany and perhaps having played this one before gave me a slight advantage.

The details are not so clear to me as this one was played out over the course of a few months in at least 4 sessions. The one thing that Wayne and I agreed on was that in this scenario it's not the best thing for the British to receive their reinforcements of Stuarts too early on, which is exactly what happened in this match. It would of been better for the flotilla of Stuarts to have arrived sometime mid-game after the panzers were either reduced in strength and/or spread-out engaging the other thicker skinned tanks(Crusaders, Valentines and Matildas). One thing for certain was that it was never a sure thing for the Germans until perhaps turn 29 out of 30. The British did fare well early on up against the PzIIIGs and were able to eliminate a few steps of those and also managed to set up a few crossfire opportunities. However, just about everytime the panzers got into trouble well-placed shots of German OBA were able to bail them out in the nick of time, especially against triple stacks of tanks when firing on the 55 column. Also keeping 3 batteries of 50mm AT guns on the move and intact greatly assited the German effort. What really helped also were the motorcycle units combined with a good portion of INF which were able to assault and eliminate the Valentines and Matildas.

The battle stretched out all over the map and it was tough work keeping mobile Britsh units away from the road. Once again I was worried that somehow they would manage to keep just one unit on the road and snag a victory as after midway through German losses had gone over 10 steps lost voiding out any chance of a draw for Germany. Towards the end things became really tense as one platoon of INF refused to yield after nearly all of the British tanks had been wiped out save one reduced and demoralized platoon of Crusaders. I got so nervous that I considered calling down OBA into that last assault hex but held back. Finally, on turn 30, the final turn, the last step of British INF struggling to hold on to the road was eliminated and the Germans were able to win this one with no time left to spare.

I gave this one a "4" after first solo play because I believed then that it slightly favored the British but now have to raise it up to a "5" after the second play, shared. There is more than just play balance to consider in rating this one. It is very challenging for both sides and also will test your nerves on either end. I would definitely have a third go at this one playing either side in a shared match. This was my first win with Germany in a shared match and it was not an easy win but regardless of the outcome I would of still rated it as high. I can't remember ever having to fight so hard to keep an attack going before in any previous play.