The town of Hottot drew a crown on the afternoon of June 15,1944. Besides heavily occupying the town, British troops posted in the smaller town to the south, a small one in the center of the disputed area, and on a hill and in woods northeast of Hottot. The Germans of Panzer Lehr positioned in woods east-northeast of the main town, as well as in a couple of small towns on the eastern portion of the map, with an 88mm platoon on the brow of a southeastern rise and a 75mm dug in by some tree breaks.

The Germans brought on five Panther platoons and some infantry in the southwest quadrant, driving north through and around the woods with the tanks; meanwhile, some of the British foot soldiers struck east towards the German-occupied forest in the northeast. A small portion of the Panthers were taken out by British Shermans, but in return virtually all of the British armor was hors de combat by the time an hour had passed. The northward-advancing German infantry was halted by small-arms, mortar, and artillery at the northern edge of the woods south-southeast of Hottot; eventually, with help of the Panthers, British troops dug in in that sector were flushed. Two platoons of Panthers blasted one small town with point-blank fire, then rushed in; but while a WPN platoon was sent fleeing early, the remaining RIF unit – with no leader, no less – held out for the remainder of the scenario, even taking out a couple of tank steps with PIAT fire.

The rest of the German tanks, freed from concern about enemy armor, stormed into the southernmost British town, with Lehr infantry soon joining, but that town hex was still in dispute as the game ended, having been fed reinforcements from Hottot. The northeastern woods saw a fierce struggle, in which the Germans were gradually reduced (and reinforced by other troops who left their setup towns, reasonably certain that the British could make no moves against the now-empty hexes.) At one point, a powerful artillery barrage by the British hit not only Germans but TWO adjacent British hexes, doing more damage to their own side than to the enemy. By the end of the contest, one British platoon and one leader had succeeded in exiting east, but overall the woods were still a mess.

At the end, it had been a tightly-contested battle. British losses (in steps) were: 12 RIF, 8 tank, 2 Bren, 2 6-PDR. Plus 7 (!) leaders, though no German VP for those. German losses were: 9 SCH (Gren), 1-81mm, 1=75/41, 1-20mm, 1 Prime Mover, 0 leaders. The British held 7 town hexes to the Germans’ 3, with two town hexes still in dispute at game’s end. The British exited a RIF platoon and a leader off of the east edge; the Germans countered with an SCH and a leader, but since they were off the north end of the east board they gained no VP. Final VP count was 38 British, 36 German – a draw. A really interesting scenario, with a lot of different possibilities (and unusual in that both sides have exit VP opportunities, but not in opposite directions.)