Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	France
Participants	Blackcloud6 (AAR)
Play Date	2021-09-13
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF002

Played as the German side against a skilled, patient and PG-experienced opponent who correctly anticipated the lengthy German movement to contact across the southern half and western edges of Map 26. My opponent adopted the "Elmer Fudd" defense in which by staying quiet in the northwest corner of Map 26, my lead elements failed to detect his units until they were under suppressive fire. As it was, I moved the German infantry far too slowly expecting to encounter the French dug in on the large western hill mass. Once there I was not able to decisively engage the bulk of the few French units on the board, although the Germans successfully assaulted the village in hex 0605. The only casualties sustained in this scenario was a pair of infantry platoons lost, one each by both sides. The German side fell for the deceptively placed roadblock that they expected to be covered by French fire. I failed to remove it with one of the German infantry units, not realizing that I didn't have to wait for my decisively-delayed combat engineers to show up to remove the obstacle. I also did not shoot the gap diagonally across the map just south of the north-south line of swamp hexes with the German reinforcements. Another learning was that I should have positioned the German 37mm AT gun that arrived with the much-delayed reinforcements in the small town in hex 1209. Had the French hidden a personnel unit in the woods at hex 0908, they could have waltzed right into that town after my Teutonic hordes had passed on by and thereby won the game by simply occupying that single town at the end of the 12th turn.

If there had been 4 more turns in this scenario, the German side would likely have been able to clear the 3-hex town of French forces in the far northwest portion of the map. But time simply ran out before they could manage it. A great learning experience for a newbie like me, with plenty of practice moving units in a variety of circumstances and diverse terrain.

All in all, my opponent's use of the "Elmer Fudd Defense," where his units stayed quiet and hidden for most of the scenario worked brilliantly.