Played ftf against Matt W in one afternoon (4½ hours).

One cool factor about playing through a scenario supplement is the ever increasing knowledge of what both sides can accomplish within a given amount of time.

Matt set up stacks of Hyderabadis/Razakars in the town and on elevation lines on both sides of the town. As we don’t inspect dug-in stacks, I was not sure where to strike and thus sent my main force on a frontal assault, with a small detachment on each wing, and the armor and a few infantry units are kept in reserve.

Very early success; my OBA found the 17 pounder before it even fired a shot! Could this mean an Indian major victory was a real possibility?

First contact was more costly than expected; I lost more steps than I expected to both opportunity fire and early assault. I brought my armor forward and ignored the “proceed from caution” first opportunity shot from a 6 pounder. Bad decision, a Sherman platoon is reduced and demoralized, and was later eliminated. An Indian major victory is no longer a possibility.

There was a silver lining to this unfortunate decision; the loss meant I no longer had to worry about keeping my losses to a minimum and thus I sent my Indian troops forward very aggressively. It was impressive how quickly they took over the town.

But I made another mistake. I focused too much on town and the dug-in units, and not enough to the Hyderabadi demoralized units. Matt directed them to the same corner of a hill with a tiny screening force to distract me. The demoralized units recovered and started digging in again. The last few turns were very tense and I spent considerable pondering how the Indians could reach all remaining units. Matt sent one lone platoon towards the road to force me to make hard decisions. In the end, I had a chance, but my troops could only manage a weak final assault.

Hyderabadi minor victory!

A fun, tense scenario with lots of ups and downs on both sides; worthy of a strong “4” in my book.

Incomplete information. Although it’s not in the rules, Matt and I do not inspect stacks until all units fire, move, or we have units very close by (normally adjacent). Strangely enough, it’s something we both started doing without actually discussing it. I enjoy the extra layer of uncertainty it adds to the game.