Bottom Line Up Front--we only got through 8 turns before calling it quits as a Draw. There was a good chance of a German victory if the Amis never got their reinforcements, so we're not all that confident in the Turn 8 assessment. I was the Americans, so I'm writing this primarily from the U.S. perspective.

The first problem is to decide where the major defensive battle should be fought. Given that there are plenty of light woods and hill complex at the East edge of Board 25, it's very tempting for the American to set up there dug in. But I resisted that temptation for the following reasons: (1) I'd have to cover the whole board width and the Germans can mass superior numbers at their point of attack, (2) German artillery is at their strongest, (3) any rupture made by the Germans at their schwerpunkt causing demoralized units to flee would turn the defense into a running gunfight that I did not judge the Americans could win. So I conceded the eastern hill and light woods to the Germans and set up a defense line in the next clump of light woods, with the defense weighted to the south. My thinking was that he would be deterred from going that direction and might make his bid either directly across the ridge's length or go for the north edge, which is what happened.

The Germans opened on a broad front but quickly weighted themselves to the north when American fire disrupted, demoralized, and "Xed" a good number if platoons coming into the light woods line opposite my defenses 3 hexes away. They soon pounded the reinforced platoon defending the light woods clump on the northwest board edge, but the assault was still fairly dicey for them. The Germans got their reinforcements relatively early (Turn 4) which the surely needed. By the time we stopped play it was clear the Volksgrenadiers would gain the entire woods complex north of the ridge, but then would have to be attacking directly south to gain the road--over open ground, uphill, with dug in Americans. I think the Germans could have done it for sure if the U.S. reinforcements didn't show up; if they did, it would be a dice-fest. What works in the Germans favor is that the U.S. has to get out of the light woods and dig in on the road. When we stopped on Turn 8, the Germans were still clearing out the northern woods and on Turn 9 I would have to move onto the road out of the light woods, then spend two activations to dig in by the end of Turn 11. My thinking was that the German couldn't interfere too heavily with this given their requirements to clear the woods and bring the rest of their reinforcements up. But one never knows--it could have gone way wrong.

The scenario is an engrossing one, despite it being an infantry-only maneuver contest with the minimum of supporting arms. Never seemed to bother us. A good bit of tension throughout. I rate it a "3" only because the defensive problem and the attack concept seems to offer only a very few usable options at first glance. For new players to the PANZERGRENADIER system, this seeming disadvantage is actually a plus. Definitely this is the scenario to start PANZERGRENADIER novices on.