Played PBEM, sporadically by me, consistently by Tracey (PG-Tank Dude).

A large contingent of the GD need to cross a river in an urban area. Facing them is a smallish group of reservists and a significant fixed defense (anyone who thinks that the French HMG are mobile needs to relook at that "1" movement factor). I knew I was in trouble almost instantly. The GD rolled rockstars for leaders and I rolled some of the least impressive leaders in the mix with the exception of a Sous-Lt, my most junior officer. It was clear that the "reservist" mentality extended to the leaders in this case.

Given the incredible lack of mobility and the fact that the entire French force begins the game disrupted from a prior Luftwaffe assault I felt that my only chance at winning was to deny the crossings in the first place. With a mobile force I could attack the crossings while they were one foot on either side of the river and cause severe damage but the only things with a decent movement factor ("3") were the reservists and they have a DF of only "2" which is slightly more dangerous that throwing pea gravel, but only slightly more.

I was reminded more than once of the knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who continues to demand to fight after both arms and legs have been cut off. I couldn't move, I didn't have anything particularly strong to shoot with but I had to keep fighting. I was sorely tempted to say to Tracey "Come over here, I'll bite your kneecap off." but was afraid that the reference would get lost...

The game slogged on with the German artillery pounding the hapless French with regularity while the French took pot shots at the crossing points and twice got lucky. First, early in the game I was able to take out a Bufla (both steps at once) with a good roll and then, miraculously, I was able to demoralize a large force crossing the river by demoralizing the engineer assisting them. As Tracey mentions in his AAR this was incredibly lucky but from what I could see the French are restricted to Hail Mary type shots in this one.

It took two hours but eventually the GD was able to assemble a large coherent force on the southern bank of the river and push their way through the French crust. The last hour (this is a 12 turn scenario) was comprised of the Germans pushing light forces out of their way through an urban environment. I was pleased to have a coherent force of my own after the DF and OBA had ripped through my poor reserves.

This is a tough one for the French because the initial setup represents a virtually unalterable formation for the entire scenario. You are sentenced to hoping that your crust along the river will be strong enough and resilient enough to defend and delay the GD in their crossing attempt. As a result you spend a lot of time hoping for low "odds" attacks to suceed and hoping for high fog of war rolls. On the other hand it quite accurately points out the futility of a fixed defense against the type of force concentrations available to the Germans and their highly mobile units. It gets a 3 as a study of the situation and a 2 for playability. As is my habit I will settle on the 3 for simulation value.