I played my first scenario in Beyond Normandy tonight, scenario #25, Fight for Esquay! It only has seven turns and a low counter count, so it was a fast play and exactly what I was looking for, as I only had an hour of time and this only took about half that! The Germans have the advantage here even if they have less then half the units because they are closer to the Victory hex, if they don’t get the step loss requirements and they have the higher ground by the victory hex. If I went by the rules in the victory conditions of this scenario, the Germans won on turn two as an immediate victory by eliminating five steps of British units. But it didn’t seem right to end the scenario here, so I continue play until turn 7, which is the end of the game. At this point it was a draw as both sides were still locked in assault combat of that town victory hex. On the last turn the Germans almost rid themselves of the British in that particular hex but couldn’t!

Really this is a good scenario but only if you change the victory conditions however, to controls hex #2531 and forget the step losses on this one or most likely the Germans will win, unless the British can maneuver around the terrain in time and don’t use the road because the Germans can easily take out five steps with their armor, Tiger reduced, Marder III, & PzIVH. Those Half-trucks are an easy kill, so leave those behind.

The set-up restrictions and victory conditions on this scenario make this a wicked little puzzle. Much is dependent on the LOS rule interpretation: for BN, I use the "as written" rules such that higher elevation is NOT limiting terrain (as such) to units at lower elevation, but does convey a -1 AT fire to units firing from a lower elevation (or assaulting uphill etc.) This scenario would be dramatically different using Doug McNair's "third edition" spotting rules as per C&C II.

Germans set up with the PzIVH & PzVI-red in 2030 on the spur of the 120m ridge. From this vantage, these units can see over all of the criss-crossing hedges at 100m that block the direct path between the British in Baron and the objective hex in Le Bon Repos. The Germans also put the 2xGren in 2332 and the Marder III in 2333. The Marder is a liability and, as it turned out, perhaps should have been simply fled by the German side.

The British set up in LT towns or behind the town in 2624 (from the perspective of the panzers on the ridge), noting that they cannot use town hex 2623.

The problem confronting the British is this: they lose immediately if they lose five steps. The entire road and hedge-laced clear terrain can be seen by the reduced tiger and full-strength PzIVH. So ...

The British captain sets out on foot with his three full strength and one reduced infantry for the German armor, not Le Bon Repos. The SS commander scratches his head for a moment before calling over a platoon of Grenadiers commanded by a obersturmfuhrer to interpose. The other grenadier platoon and, fatefully, the Marder-III platoon enter objective hex 2531.

Turn Two: simply has the British infantry continue to move for position to threaten the Waffen SS armor with an infantry assault. British armor watches the "poor bloody infantry" do its thing: "I dare say, George, do you suppose its true that one can see an 88mm shell coming at one by the air wash in the grass?" The grenadier platoon commanded by Obersturmfuhrer Gottunsdirectfire disrupts one platoon at a range of 400m.

Turn Three: "Right lads, as Nelson said: never mind manoeuvres, go straight at 'em." An SS scharfuhrer commanding a Tiger I watched the British infantry advance. "Gott in himmel! Do they think this is Trafalgar?" Obersturmfuhrer Gottunsdirectfire, perhaps channeling Andrew Jackson, waited until he could see the whites of their eyes ... the MG 42's erupted (rolling a '3' and a '4' on OF killing two steps of infantry). Still, more British infantry was coming undeterred and the German tanks moved to place the slow-moving tigers into the hex with the Grens (to deter or defeat an assault attempt) and the PzIVH moved off the ridge to a position behind a hedge to cover the road to Le Bon Repos.

"Right, Jerry's on the retreat!" exclaimed the British tank commander. "Rev up those engines lads, and let's get to it." Mario Andretti would have sure been proud of the way those Shermans and Fireflies were moving when they passed that crowd ... until the first platoon came screeching up to the town only to be hit by 75mm fire from the Marder three platoon (rolled a '12' for a two-step kill). The Germans were now one step from victory ... but it was not to be: the next Sherman pulled up a bit short and the Marder's missed their +2 shot (-1 for OF) by rolling a '7'. This was quite disturbing as the field to their north became saturated with M4's and a Firefly platoon.

Turn Four: Goddess Initiative smiles on the British. Activating a stack of six tank platoons, two steps of Marder III's are killed and the British win. This activation also killed a PzIVH step (which was only disrupted). German armor counter fire from the tigers blows the fireflies to bits smaller than their namesake insect (rolled a '12'!).

So on turn four, both sides meet their VC, but the British were first. Interpreting the "immediately" of the scenario instructions literally leads to a British win.

Perhaps one might have kept the Marders out of it, but had they not been present, the British armor could have dashed to the east side of Le Bon Repos and "hidden" from the German armor to the west (which had moved to avoid the infantry).

So I found the VC's and constraints to set up an extraordinary challenge albeit the game was over in four turns. That's why the AAR title likens this to a chess challenge problem. Again, this would be VERY different with the Campaigns&Commanders terrain rules where all BN hexes are "hills" and thus LT.

So I rated this a "3" because it wasn't a slowly developing ebb-and-flow scenario ... it was more like mongoose vs. cobra: deadly and quick and very subtle.

The British attacked from the north and NE. Like the historical outcome, the Germans very quickly destroyed 5 steps, given that armour is worth double, and the game was technically won and lost on T1. However the Brits ignored those conditions, and pushed on. Given the UK halftracks were easy pray for the German tanks, the infantry advanced in the open, suffering losses to the strong SS defenders. The (mostly) Sherman attackers managed to destroy two German tank units, but the Tiger half platoon was causing havoc. Finally on the last turn the Brits advanced into the VP town together with a reduced tank unit and a halftrack. The Brits had a lucky roll while the SS fared badly, losing a platoon. But the Germans held on, with joint control of the town at the end. If the battle were to continue, the Brits would win through, but either way had taken fearful tank losses.

This is very short scenario in which the British need to dash for a town eliminate SS steps, while the Germans just need to pick off 5 British steps. First turn the British tanks move out down the side of the board, a reduced Stuart is picked off first. Next a Firefly makes the dash and the Germans hold fire on the advancing tank. Infantry move up behind the tanks, while two Sherman's dash down the road. One is shot up by the Tiger and the other makes it to the town. But on the next turn the Tiger and the PzIVH are able to pick off the Firefly to with the game for the Germans.