This was yet another randomly picked game that was played ftf with Wayne Baumber. On initially seeing the scenario, I thought it was going to be a very tensely contested battle. It has many options for initial dispositions and entry of each sides troops and should therefore lend itself to multi-plays with varying results

The initial positions of the Poles requires them to set-up around a town area in a quite densely wooded area. This town is/will/should be the lynch-pin of the battle. If the Poles lose this along with casualties, there would be little in the way back in for them barring suicidal charges.

The Germans obviously understood the importance of this town as they put by far the majority of their forces there, including the best of the officers and all the HMG's to lay down some serious firepower on the town. Another section of German infantry and guns secured some other towns further north.

The opening exchanges of the battle proved to be gritty around the town. Not many casualties, but the Germans having to work hard to get forward as the Poles stood up to any fire received quite well (and laid down some of their own). However, a reinforcing section of Polish infantry were caught in the flank as they tried to enter the town and this seemed to be the start of Polish problems ? Despite having held the town with not too much trouble after the first 5 turns of the 44 scheduled. The Poles inexplicably up'd sticks and began withdrawing from this all important town (Adamov). The Germans responded by swarming in and around the area and were soon assaulting, machine-gunning and shelling the heck out of the defenders turned retreaters.

Here after, the Poles simply could not gain any balance, and with initiative now lost, the carnage continued. In very short order, The Polish commander was forced to concede having already sustained 21 step losses to a zero German casualty sheet. It proved a very disappointing day for Polish arms.

I rate this a 3, but I suspect Wayne may rate lower. With some reason, he states he believes it unbalanced BUT only more plays will tell and of course, different set-ups and tactics will decide whether the Poles can do better. Its not often I would say a battle was poorly managed, but I think the Poles made some serious errors on this one. I certainly look forward to see other results, particularly head-to-head games to see what other plays produce

This scenario was one of the most one sided I have ever played. I am however not sure if it is totally unbalanced or I messed up BIG. I suspect its a bit of both. The scenario is played over four boards with VP's for town control and step losses. Although the forces are about equal in strength the Germans have some major advantages : Higher Morale, Strong OBA, Mobility, Time (44 turns) and generally better firepower. The Poles have to defend 5 towns two of which the Germans can take on the first turn without any chance of the Poles stopping them. Now to where I messed up. The Polish forces come on from two board edges, I split the forces up even more and entered in 4 groups. The major town on board 10 which is held by the Poles is also the focal part of the battle, I failed to reinforce it enough and then tried to do a staged withdrawal which turned into a rout. In 10 turns I lost 16 steps without inflicting a single loss on the Nazi hordes. IMO the Poles have to bring all their Infantry forces on to the south edge board 10 and reinforce the town and hold that line, the Cavalry come onto the east edge of board 21 and assist best they can, screening the two towns and possibly trying to harry any disrupted demoralized enemy units that come in range. I still think that the Poles may struggle to win but the tactics above may at least make for a better defense than the rather crap effort I did. However I think that the scenario is an interesting situation and with a little tweaking could even become a classic. in fact I plan to play solo, taking my own advice and copying Vince's attack which a usual for him was well planned and executed. Its got a two rating at the moment but watch this space!

Those of you who read these AAR's will know that I said I would revisit this scenario after admitting that I had played this one badly as the Poles. Or as my honourable opponent wrote I had miss-manged the battle. We both agreed on what would be the best Polish strategy in this scenario when we reviewed our game. This would be to throw every available INF CYC HMG and ON unit into the battle for the main town on board 10, then use a CAV screen to the north in an attempt to slow any advance from that direction down. This would be a solo effort just to see if using IMO the best tactics for the Poles would it make it a worthwhile scenario. The short answer is No for a FtF game, but more rewarding for the solo player. This time round the Poles did inflict losses on the German forces but even so by GT14 the Germans had amassed enough points for a minor victory. The Poles can counterattack of course and in this game they inflicted a minor reverse on the Germans and took back two town hexes. This temporally took the result back to a draw, but time is on the German side (44 turns is along haul) and slowly the artillery and pressure from the north pushed the cavalry screen out in to the open where they were destroyed in short order, by GT25 the game had settled into a stalemate in the main town with neither side wishing to risk assaulting the other and the Germans capturing the other town hexes on board 21. This resulted by game end in another major German victory. As I said as an exercise for a solo player in how to take town hexes and as a simulation of the situation its an OK scenario as a game for FtF its not recommended