This was played solo as Alan Sawyer has already played this one and Vince and I are in mid battle. I like the idea of game of the month as multiple plays of one scenario should determine how balanced and good a scenario is and its fun to read AAR's of games you have played and to see what stratagems were used. Having said that this is a very much attack/defense scenario with the US player having to defend just four town hexes on a single board there is not a lot of room for strategy on his part. The VC are very simple the German player wins if all town hexes are under his control, losses are not considered, this is a fight to the death. The US set up in a tight circle round the town in the middle of the map giving up the single town hes to the SW without a fight, in drawing leaders the US had got the LT COL with a 2 morale modifier who was place in the centre of the formation so he could inspire his men, the rest of the US leaders were very average including my traditional 7-0-0. German leader were on the whole better with a reasonable amount of 1 fire and morale modifiers. The German plan would be to close asap and launch combined arms assaults into the towns relying on weight of numbers to carry the day. As the German came on they were met with very ineffective US artillery and quickly closed on the 3 town hexes making sure to divert one unit with a leader to grab the undefended town. The SS began to suffer some losses as the neared the town and a small US counter attack destroyed a couple of Jagpanthers the remainder having to withdraw and rally. However the US forces involved in the counter attack were themselves wiped out after 60 mins of bitter fighting. By 0145 (GT8) all three town hexes were being contested, this had the effect of reducing the US firepower and tying down the best US leader. The scenario now came down to how long would these assaults last, could the "Big Red One" hold out. In fact it took 2 hours of fighting before the first of those town hexes were cleared of all American units but then a second town hex fell straight away. By GT 18 only one town hex remained in US hand with the LT COL his aide de camp (LT 8-0-0) and two INF units holding off what was left of the 12th SS. The German side was now shelling this last town hex even tough they had units in assault there as it looked like time was running out, however the US were also shelling very close to their line and regrettably a friendly fire incident took place which resulted in a step loss to the US, finally on GT19 the Germans massed enough fire power to wipe out the remaining INF and take the town. The LT COL and his buddy slipping away in the dark to fight another day. This is a solid scenario, ideal for solo play and as my game went down almost to the last turn balanced and exciting. The lack of tactical options means I will give it a 3 rating but its a strong 3, good choice for our first "Game of the Month"