Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States, Britain, France, Morocco
Participants	goosebrown (AAR)
Play Date	2024-11-01
Language	English
Scenario	LCDT010

This was an intense, 6-session play-through with the redoubtable and cunning, goosebrown, leading defending elements of the French XIX Corps. I led the attacking German horde of Kampfgruppe Lüder. Both sides drew decent leader sets, with the Germans being slightly better.

We ignored the defense-favoring FOW in this relatively short, 16-turn, 2-map scenario. Instead, we used the consolidation, smoke/Illum, tank riders, excess initiative, strategic movement, extended assault and excess initiative optional rules. Also utilized, were these three house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units. Unfortunately. we did not use the extended assault rule, 2) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units - All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up, across, or down slopes hexes, and 3) Dug In Units on Slope Hexes are Automatically in Limiting Terrain in Desert Games Unless prohibited by special scenario rules, ALL units that are dug-in on slope hexes are considered to be in limiting terrain and are spotted if enemy units approach to within 3 hexes, or 4 hexes for reconnaissance units – unless they are marked with a spotted marker, see 8.22. We both felt that this rule set worked well and enhanced playability & simplicity.

The initial session (game turns 1-2) featured the Germans moving-to-contact in two pincers with the tanks and motorcycle scouts on the right (NW map corner) flank, and the infantry and SPWs approaching from the left (NE map corner) flank. A pair of Stuart platoons were soon eliminated in the light woods on the west margin of Map 91, resulting in the reduction of Allied initiative by 2 levels to zero. Long-range AT fire clobbered a probing German SPW on the road and the Heer tropers managed to secure the first of the 3 cross roads in the north. Securing a second and third crossroad hex would be a much harder pull.

Our “cat & mouse-like” second session (game turns 3-5) featured quite a bit of mobility and casualties on the German side only, as an overeager MTC scout platoon was eliminated by accurate opfire from a pair of US M-3/76 tank destroyers on Map 89 during game turn 5. Previously, a French MG-armed, Renault truck in light woods (Hex 91-0911) had been eliminated by a bottom-feeding, Tiger I in game turn 34. Probing German columns on both flanks continued moving south on the east and west margins of the battle map with as the light began to fade. The second of the crossroad objectives (Hex 89-0208) was occupied by the Wehrmacht during game turn 5. The updated step loss tally was now: 3 for the attacking Jerries and 8 for the defending Allies.

The third session (game turns 6-8) featured additional cat & mouse play as the sun set on the battlefield with the Afrika Korps in possession of 2 of the 3 crossroads. Step losses continued to accumulate resulting in the German initiative falling one level, and an American M-3/76 tank destroyer platoon was eliminated in the gathering loom during game turn 7. The Allies began shifting position in the woods and refusing their right flank in proper Napoleonic style. The Germans managed to fall prey to accurate French artillery fire in the light woods, which caused their poorly-timed flanking attacks to fail miserably due to multiple combat morale failures.

Our busy, fourth session (game turns 9-11) featured a great deal of nighttime strategic movement by both sides, the elimination of 2 Allied steps, and the consolidation of the Allies’ central position on the battle field into a 2-sided death grip around the central crossroad hex. The updated step loss tally was now 12 for the Allies, still 4 to the Axis. Clever shifting of Allied mobile units, repeatedly thwarted German flanking moves in the central area of light woods, forcing excessive dispersion of the Jerry units.

The high-mobility, fifth session (game turns 12-13) was a zero casualty game of cat & mouse that featured a great deal of poor combat & morale check die rolling, but quite a bit of nighttime maneuver by both sides. The Germans managed to put together an infantry-heavy, 2-company formation just west of the central crossroads in preparation for a series of adjacent hex firefights and close assaults. The French feinted to the south with a pair of columns to threaten that German-held southern crossroad hex. This tense scenario came down to the final game turn.

The anticlimactic, sixth session (game turns 14-16) featured utterly fruitless German close assaults and strategic movement which got them absolutely nowhere with the result that the Allies were able to hold on in a SINGLE crossroads hex, hence, this ended in a Major Allied victory. The Germans held the other two crossroads and had inflicted substantially more casualties than they had suffered in what turned out to be a losing effort.

As published, this a seriously flawed scenario that deserves a 1, but due to the fun factor of playing with a skilled opponent, I give it a 2. Pretty clear that this one was not properly play tested. With a thorough rewrite of the scenario instructions and victory conditions. this would be a decent SHARED or SOLO play.

Errata submitted to PG-HQ on 2 Oct 2024: 1) there is no minor river on either map as published, 2) three German MTN units are called for in the Axis order of battle, yet there are no mountain infantry in the counter set, but there are MTC (motorcycle infantry) units, so this is likely a typo as published, and the developer probably meant MTC, not MTN units, and finally, 3) there is no set of river crossing numbers for personnel, motorized & mechanized units included, which indicates that the 2 maps (91 and 89) are correct, but there is no minor river as described in the published text.