Played ftf with Matt W in about 3.5 hours.

Please see Matt’s AAR for a report on the action as I will restrict my post to just a few comments.

Matt set several Razakars in the forest in the front to delay my Indians. While I did not think a few turns delay would have a huge impact on the final result, what I failed to consider is their ability to call artillery upon my engineers. My engineers spent a lot of time trying to recover (one is still trying) and that made it imperative we take the bridge intact. Matt won that round handily and it provided him with at least a 33% chance at an early victory.

First lesson learned: Keep critical units out of line of sight. A slower advance is better than multiple failed attempts at recovery.

Matt deployed troops around the bridge to ensure I would first have to blast a hole in his defensive line and be able to exploit it immediately if I were to have a chance of taking the bridge intact. I deployed large overstacked fire groups in front of the bridge with groups (including a couple of Bren) on the wings which could exploit any opening right away. I activated my fire groups before my artillery because I wanted bombard the bridge in the same turn I punched and exploited the breach in the defensive line. I thought I played that segment well as Matt only had one chance at blowing up the bridge.

Second lesson learned: Patience was key. I correctly stopped my troops from advancing until I had the opening I needed.

Taking the bridge intact was huge and taking three leaders prisoners on the same activation was just incredible luck. With just 1 leader left in the fort, I could maneuver my troops in good positions without Matt’s troops being able to react effectively.

I rated this one a “4”. Not only was it a tense scenario, the SSRs for the bridge and the fort made it an even more interesting proposition. Highly recommended.