Yes, I know that is the name of a scenario in another game (EFDx #56 about a Romanian cavalry battle). I can't, however, think of anything more appropriate for this AAR.

As the British I am charged with the need to hold several towns, one on a commanding rise, cause losses and stop a large armored force with accompanying infantry. I actually outnumber the German infantry but the tanks worry me considerably as each full strength tank unit that manages to exit the board represents 8 VPs. I construct my defenses accordingly in depth with my hidden units primarily as reinforcements to the seen units, along the road. The short (15 turn) scenario will help in my goal.

Daniel is a deliberate commander and took the time to develop his attacks on my positions. For a time it felt as though my force in the hilltop town would prove to be his undoing, and in fact, did manage to hold him long enought to eliminate board exiting as a method of victory. Surprise after surprise of hidden units were waiting in that town including all of the British armor which played a very technical hide and seek game with the German massed armor for most of the game.

I was helped by an incredibly accurate artillery fire including some massed on board mortars. While they didn't cause enough morale failures on the Germans (Daniel had two 9-1-2 leaders) they did cause outright losses which helped in the VP calculations. In addition Daniel decided to roll low throughout his die rolls, including assault rolls (through game turn 10 I saw more 1's on Daniel's assault rolls than in binary code, to which Daniel's T-shirt alluded). I therefore had a sense of security in the outcome. No Germans would be leaving the board and I maintained a 7 point lead.

And then it all came apart.

Daniel's 1's in assault combat turned to sixes and four town hexes became controlled by the Germans as the loss of my Achilles opened up the terrain for the Lehr tankers who crossed the high ridge and brought their firepower and mass to bear on the larger town. It may have been Curtain Up for Lehr but it was definitely fade to black for my forces as they were simply not up to the task of stopping the Germans once the hilltop town fell. I notice that fade to black is often used to keep the viewer from seeing a particularly gruesome scene. Would that it had been available to me in this scenario. In five turns I went from a 7 point lead to a double figure defeat.

It was however, quite fun. The surprises of the hidden units keep this one competitive as the British armor is inferior in both numbers and quality and needs surprise to be effective. I enjoyed seeing my dispositions accomplish the goal I envisioned, keeping Lehr on board. So overall, I give this one a "4". I think it is vastly better as a shared play than as solo given the need for surprise to even out the tactical situation. All in all a good drama for a Saturday afternoon.