Having a short break between work and my next meeting, my opponent and I met up for dinner. He again agreed to taking an Italian position, especially since our last one was a pretty fun scenario. This one looked advantaged to the Germans, but I had no idea it would go the way it did.

In this scenario, the Italians must clear a road/path combination from end to end, or inflict eight steps on the Germans. The Germans simply must inflict ten steps on the Italians. While morale is basically even (and poor), the problem is the Italians have a small infantry force to combat a nearly equal German force, and they have a few guns (including an 88mm) and some minor OBA to face off against three German StuGs, minor OBA, and air support. Remember, they are expected to clear the road. Seriously, with what?? And how to keep it clear when the only mobile units in the game are German?

The Germans set up on the east/west road between the crossroads, out of visual range of the Italian set up limits. The Italians form an arrowhead with the 88mm at the point, the 20mm on the trailing tips, and all the infantry and the 105mm in the central zone. The first few turns see the German infantry dig in, the German tanks begin to maneuver behind a hill to get on the Italian left flank, and the Italians pray the Germans come to them.

On turn four German aircraft destroy the 105mm, and the assault guns are in place to begin a charge once the 88mm somehow becomes vulnerable. On turn six the aircraft destroy the 88mm and one infantry step (demoralizing the other step) and the assault guns go in. On turn eight the assault guns blow away a 20mm and an infantry step (demoralizing the other). Two Italian trucks are already dead, and the others have fled, leaving any hint of mobility behind. My opponent knows within two turns his last 20mm will no doubt be dead, 25% of his Inf are already dead or ineffective, and the German infantry will begin its charge as soon as the last Italian gun is ineffective. He concedes immediately to free up time before I have to leave for my meeting. The only effective shot the Italians ever made was disrupting one German lieutenant, who immediately recovered. There was no real hope of the Italians attacking.

We liked the idea of the scenario, and felt that perhaps it was worth fixing, so we discussed it for a bit and the next day. By the time we were done, it involved changing each sides force structure, changing the victory conditions, then again changing the force structure to take into account the new victory conditions. Basically a full scenario redesign. Not worth it. While it was more interesting and enjoyable than the pitifully horrible Argostoli: Edelweiss Stained scenario, it is still broken and gets a 1 rating. Okay, that’s a strong 1 rating, but still the broken 1 rating. Kudos to my opponent for suffering through this one.