Interesting and small Airborne scenario. The Americans have a large force on board 3 which cannot move unless attacked, and a mobile force which must get to them. In the middle is a small German blocking force (only one unit). On the surface, this looks like a simple situation for the US, as they should just quickly move down the road, push aside the token Germans, and unite with their fellow Americans. With good rolling, the Germans get some of their reinforcements on turn 1. So, now it is a race between the Americans moving west to east, and the German reinforcements reaching their blocking position. The Germans move up, and soon have several platoons in the town right in the middle of the American path. The US forces close to within two hexes, then leave the road to go around the Germans. Ineffective fire results, but the Germans now move through the town to move parallel to the Americans and prevent their return to the road. The Americans now close on the Germans as the blocking force has emerged from the town. Initiative on the next turn may determine the outcome, as the two forces are adjacent which will give the two column shift on direct fire. The Germans win initiative, and get a 2X result on the fire table. This combined with an earlier step loss on the Americans give the Germans a victory on this deceptive scenario.

I have played this is the IE version and have found it to be very difficult to win as the Germans if the second group ends up being destroyed before the game starts (a 2/3 chance). When I rolled a 3 and saw these units go up in smoke I felt that the game was over before it started. But what the heck, I'm in Florida on business, can't travel for a couple days due to a leg problem so I figured I'd give it a shot anyhow.

Joke's on me, the Germans won!

They won the initiative on the first turn and immediately ran a platoon next to 0509 (one of their objectives along with 0410). They were hoping desperately to win the second initiative roll and again I thought the game was over when the Americans assaulted the Germans on turn three and had destroyed the aggressive platoon and its leaders. This left the Germans with a single platoon of Grenadiers in one of the American objective towns. Since the Americans had no losses the win had to be in place.

I advanced boldly towards the Germans but lost a step to opportunity fire. In the ensuing assault on the town the Americans proceeded to lose three more steps and could not muster anything better than an attack on the "1" column on the final turn. Needless to say, the Americans lost.

Due to the surprise of the scenario results I give this a "3".

Best played solo. A small scenario that plays quickly, I played it twice. I rolled a three for the German setup and the artillery was eliminated at the start. I had intended to play the second time with the arty and extra Grenadier platoon present, but when the Americans lost the first time I played it without them again.

The Germans set up concentrated in the forward town. The Americans approached, using the hedgerows for cover. They moved into position behind hedgerows two hexes from the town. Since the Americans could combine fire, they were firing once on the "7" and once on the "1" column each turn. The Germans returned fire on the "7" column each turn.

Unless the one of the sides gets lucky, they will trade ineffective fire until time runs out for a draw. With smaller forces, the Germans have no incentive to try for the win. If the Americans try to assault for the win, they will end up assaulting with a two-column disadvantage (due to the town) even if they survive the Opportunity Fire. The Americans need to be very lucky to win the assault. Without it, they'll most likely lose the scenario outright due to step losses.

Like most of the very small scenarios, this one is very luck dependent.

In a fit of insomnia, I played this at 2AM this morning. Actually, played it twice, the first time assuming the Germans rolled a 5 or 6 at set-up, the second time assuming a 1-4.

The Americans brought the three full platoons after the field gun, sending the half platoon to capture the towns. The German garrison started in 0604 and aggressively charged towards the gun position and German victory hexes. The half platoon of airborne grabbed the two towns, then made their way back to their brothers to shore up what had become a disaster. Even firing at a gun the Americans could not affect the Germans with direct fire, while German fire was unbelievable. Two sets of boxcars on the 16 column in four turns of fire closed the book on their victory conditions. The Americans decided to assault to try and take the last American victory hex. Could not even manage to affect the gun. German morale rolls were rock solid, and what devolved into two assault hexes became total death for the Americans. They lost all seven steps to one German step loss. Total victory for the Germans.

So I tried it with the gun position destroyed. The Americans cleaned up their hexes outside of 0604, the German starting position. The Germans decided since they had the advantage in assault combat they would defend the town and seek the two step loss condition for victory. Complete reversal of the assault rolls. The Americans had below average morale checks while German checks were rock solid, but tiny numbers on the assault dice left the Americans in position to pound the Germans. It took a while, but the Germans lost to a man with no American step losses. Definitely defied the odds.

The dice made a big difference in these plays. But my real problem with the scenario is the randomness of starting forces. 67% chance of two units, 33% of four units. That variation is HUGE in a scenario this size. What a ridiculous degree of variability! I reserve '1' for what I consider a broken scenario, and this wins that prize. Yes, I could home rule vary it and up my rating to a 2, but as published this scenario is crazy. I would never play a game where half my starting force arrived or died based on a single die roll. Unless that meant my starting forces were overwhelming either way... ;)