This was another enjoyable Skype play between myself and Wayne Baumber in a one day sitting. Wayne played the French very well and with a few key rolls had my Germans on there heels. But here is the write up...

This scenario is very interesting as the Germans as they have a small but potent advance force moving to capture a French town. They have the advantage in the numbers of tanks and OBA and a slight advantage in morale, while the French have better quality of armor, a few more men and the setup position.

Wayne had a interesting setup with troops covering both major towns and the S35's positioned halfway between the towns ready to move up or down the road. I new I had to decoy the main attack toward the towns on board 27 with a small force moving for the major town on board 31. So my forces had the infantry and most of the tanks moving onboard in between boards 31 and 27, while a small group of PzII's maneuvered to probe the main town on board 31. With my initial moves I was able to get a decent fire group to fire on the small town on the very bottom edge of 27 and maneuvered my tanks to support fire as well. But most shots missed leaving the French in good order and ready to fight. The French were able to get a kill OP fire shot on my maneuvering INF's which were the first casualties.

To the south the decoy attack had the PzII's maneuvering while being chased by the S35's. this worked well for a while to keep the S35's out of the main battle up on board 27. But finally they were able to maneuver for a kill shot on a PzII. The others continued to race around board 31. Supporting INF for the tanks on board 31 were hit by French OP fire that demoralized them and frozen them in a road hex outside the main town on board 31.

Back on board 27 I tried to get the PzIIIF into a crossfire on the lone S35 but a key shot by the S35 reduced the PZIIIF before it could get the shot. But to the north of the major town on 27, this was lightly defended and the PZIVD and a PZI raced to capture town hexes and take on the lone French INF defending. After some sharp firing by there tanks they were able to overrun the French INF and draw some of the other French defenders from the small town on board 27's edge. The German Captain kept up the fire on the small town and demoralized the HMG, giving them a chance to charge the town. Moving up they assaulted the town reducing both the HMG and an INF that was defending. But later in the assault the Germans were hit by an ambush and several were disrupted/demoralized forcing them to recover before continuing the assault. The lone reduce French INF luckily held out and kept the hex contested until the end.

By the end of the 10th turn the Germans chances looked grim and after a short turn 11, it had sealed the game. French 35 Germans 12.

A decent scenario but the Germans are at a slight disadvantage that only magnifies if they start to take losses and need to play catch up. The German armor is good,but with the S35's armor and all having tank leaders they can zip around the boards attacking or threatening the German armor. German INF can do the job but OP fire can make it a long day for them.