This was a continuation of Wayne and my play-through of the Indian Unity playbook which has provided some very interesting scenarios. This one, however, did not prove to be as good as the others have been. It seemed that as long as I could keep my chain of command coherent and apply force, it was a going to be a foregone conclusion as to how the battle would evolve.

The Hyderabadis setup with small groups of units located in the north, central and southern part of the ditch, which ran along the fields and forests on board 1. the 17 pdrs were placed at the cross-roads dug in and the town to the north on board 1. the rest of the troops were placed in the southern woods and the two towns. The Indians setup in the woods on board 6 as close as possible with the Shermans and Priests on the road between the woods.

The Indian plan of attack was to use the artillery, Spitfire/Tempest and Mortars to soften up the center dug in units and get close enough with the Sappers to fill the ditches in the road. The artillery and planes were also used with good effect to clear the 17pdr at the cross-roads (after it had hit a Sherman with a long shot and demoralized it) and the 6pdr dug in with the central troops. The infantry and Engineers approached all along the line until several units were able to traverse the ditch and eliminate the central troops, allowing the Sappers to get to work filling ditches.

I had to send several units north and south in order to keep those units in place while the Sappers worked. The Artillery and Planes hammered continuously on the front line troops which allowed the Indian units that poured over the ditches to assault and move towards the northern town on board 1. The units in the South had to fight through the forest as well but by turn 7 the ditch on the road had been filled and most of the Infantry and Engineers were west of the ditch line. Between turns 7 and 13, The central and northern units slowly moved north and west, closing on the town while the southern units tied up the Hyderabadis in the woods. Once the units in the North arrived within sighting distance of the town, it took until turn 13 to destroy the 17pdr. Once cleared, the Shermans had free reign and moved in to support the troops in their final assault on the northern town. The game ended on turn 18 after the Indians were able to lock 3 hexes of the town in assaults and inflicting numerous step losses that put the game at an end.

Obviously, the Indian player has the advantage in this scenario and there is very little chance of a Hyderabadi win. Wayne and I spoke after the game and we couldn't come up with any effective ideas for the Hyderabadi to place any better. Several options such as moving the ditch further east or not garrisoning the western town on board 4 were mentioned but we both agreed that Indian numerical superiority was just too great and the lack of any real interesting moves for the Hyderabadi made this scenario a "meh".