Author	plloyd1010 (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	cjsiam (AAR)
Play Date	2022-07-14
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF046

Fox & geese is a checkers game where one player, with several pieces, tries to corner the other player, who has only one piece. That dynamic is fundamental to this scenario. We played this scenario with my reworked 4th edition rules. That makes mechanized faster, AT fire a little flatter, AT/AA guns a little more dangerous and a few other things.

Both sides have the wrong forces to fight the other. he Germans only have 3 tanks that are effective at fighting the French, and those have papier-mâché armor. The French tanks on the other hand, have slow tanks whose guns can't threaten most of the Germans. The French have a fairly well balanced force, but to much real-estate to control. The Germans have a decent sized assault force and mobile/recon force that can go anywhere, but can't stay there. With all that, the French are likely to get stronger over time.

The game opens with the French defending the large town on board 30, on their side of the river. Other small villages are garrisoned along the river too, and bridges covered by fire. I split the western German force into 2 groups. One is to fix the French in the large town, the other group is to try for some bridges and towns to the north. The German motor-recon force, which has quite a lot of not much that is adequate, runs through the French rear.

Crossings in the center map are taken, not without loss. French reinforcements arrive compelling me to abandon some town hexes. The raid and retreat situation remains in the French rear for the remainder of the game. With each French reinforcement group the Germans become a little more constrained.

3 events allow the Germans to achieve victory. The slow advance against the small towns opens up the middle of the map. Catching a French mechanized infantry company while still loaded, leading to the death of their commander and 2 platoons. Lastly infiltration via assault (read rule 12.12) allows some mayhem to continue in the south.

In the end, the body bridge counts favor me by a wide margin. With town control we are about even. It has been a long game, which my opponent stuck with to the end. I'm glad he never learned to play fox & geese.