Pertinent House Rules: Fast Mech, Efficient AT/AA, Hill Crests, Double-Blind

The Battle: The basic problem is that the Germans have to go between 2 wooded areas to get to the villages, our try to quickly clear one flank. This means choosing between caught in a crossfire or potentially bogged down in the woods. Seeing OPs bracketing the center clearing, I as the German, weight the attack to my left, and scout the woods.

This is a good choice. The French have their armored cars screening the front of the woods and an AT is covering the clearing. There are French tanks covering the right to complete the crossfire. Clearing out the armored cars is expensive, but the AT gun succumbs quickly to artillery. In the end the PzIV, the ENG, 2 steps of INF, and 1 ½track are lost. The road is cleared. The French tanks, and some infantry move out of the right-side woods, into the village.

In the mean time another OP has appeared on the long ridge of the hill. Scouting shows there are 2 dug in S35 waiting. The French tank obviously did not stop in the village. A brief glimpse shows the H35s moving into the village, in the center of the board. German infantry pins down the S35s, one pops out. The German armor tries to avoid a gun dual (-2 & -3 shots vs +1 shots are bad odds).

The second AT turns up in the end of the village, near the woods. It is charged by PzIs after it fires at the PzII. An infantry force if infantry in ½tracks runs around the S35s (being assaulted by other infantry). They make it to the village on the 40-meter hill (which is on the reverse side of the ridge). The H35s are in the cener of that village. PzIIs and the PzIII race to the back of the big village.

The game ends as the H35s kill one more ½track. The 3rd S35 is discovered in the center of the big village. The German infantry assaults the H35s. The free S35 makes it to the village next to the AT gun. The game ends with 2 contested town hexes, 2 German controlled hexes, the rest are French controlled. The score is 13 to 24.

Conclusion: Without fast mech, the German armor would have been shot to pieces in the open. As it was, it was the only thing that allowed them to gain control of any town hexes. French infantry was spread thin, but was never seriously engaged. French tanks have very thick armor and the Germans have only one decent gun. The Germans are not going to win the tank battle, and infantry cannot advance against French covering fire.