Author	waynebaumber (France)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2022-01-25
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF041

Having played this scenario before and won with the French I had hope that this game would break the continuous German winning streak that Bangla and I have had playing this module. However my hopes lasted all the way to the second turn when I lost 5 steps. Those of you who have had the misfortune to play me know I grumble about the dice a lot, however that's just the way I am, if you read my AAR's there's not many times I attribute the loss/win to poor/good dice. This report is the exception, Bangla had good dice almost throughout the game, I had lousy throughout the game. But being fair Bangla had worked out the correct strategy to follow, which given the French OBA, was to stay in the towns has much as possible giving up ground where necessary. The French have to take towns/bridge hexes and get one unit on to the railway embankment, the French have got one tank and very good OBDA, the Germans are Motorcycles, HMG and have air support for three turns. The French advance on and on the second turn attack a German held town hex, using smoke to cover the advance, however 2 opportunity fire rolls form the defenders result in two step losses, the Luftwaffe make and appearance and account for another 2 step losses and a further step loss ensues with a poor morale throw. After that it would be an uphill battle for the French. In fact there was a faint glimmer of hope when the German commander attacked the lone French tanks left there to entice this very action. This attack though resulted in the French losing a tank step and eventually the only German losses of the game. By the halfway stage the Germans had retreated behind the river, the surviving French advance only to have 30 bombardment points of friendly fire land on them with two more step losses. That was enough for moi to throw in the towel. Some days it just isn't going to be your day. The German A/C, using 4th edition rules which made the 16 firepower he got each time very deadly, were very effective compared to my previous play of this scenario.