Playing: solo Time: ~30 minutes

For my first scenario since launching PG-HQ I wanted to break into AirI, which I bought as a ziplock from AP when they were clearing them out a while back. I've got this silly itch to play all of AirI straight through in chronological order (this varies slightly from the scenario order) but dunno if I'm gonna commit to that just yet.

Initial Deployment

I flipped all the strongpoints facedown, jumbled them a few times so I wasn't sure which was which, then lined them up and rolled a die twice to select the ones to be used.

I decided as the Germans that I wanted my HMG and 81mm platoons to get into the town first, and I drew a nice Captain, so things were already looking bleak for the Americans.

Opening Moves

The Americans won initiative and revealed the first strongpoint, which turned out to be occupied. Rather than waste time trying to remove it - which did not count towards their victory conditions - they decided to swing wide around the hedges and avoid it.

The Germans raced down into the town, the 81mms traveling limbered so they could move 2MPs at a go. The remaining ENG and GREN brought up the rear.

On the following turn the ENG joined the now-setup 81mm and HMG in the town to form a potent defense led by a jacked-up Captain. The German Lieutenant took the remaining GREN into the hedges adjacent to the town to help cover the road approach. Getting into that town was going to be costly for the Americans.

Dead Men Walking

The Americans advanced into the 4-hex hedge block just SE of the town, and took some incoming fire but managed to hold it together. Time was running out, though. On Turn 7 they advanced through the hedges and stopped adjacent to the town - two PARAs in one hex led by the 1st LT and the remaining PARA platoon in the road hex led by the Captain. The Captain was of the 0-10-1 variety, and I correctly assumed that he would draw the coordinated German fire and probably be able to shrug it off.

The Germans, having patiently waited for the American advance, opened up with a brutal coordinated attack on the American CAPT and his one PARA platoon, but all morale checks were passed.

On Turn 8 the last PARA platoon floated down into the battlefield, too late and too far away to do anything but watch their compatriots bravely rush into the town against a hail of bullets.

In three rounds of assault (one each on Turn 8, then one final German assault on Turn 9) the Americans lost two platoons of PARAs and their CAPT. The remaining active PARA platoon had been disrupted just prior to the final assault and left out on the road. Therefore, the sole assault survivor for the Americans was the 1st LT, who ran erratically and in a demoralized fashion straight out into the swamps to hide.

Final Result

The Germans held the town and inflicted 4 steplosses (and a leader loss, though those are uncounted) on the Americans. Total German Victory

Shad's Thoughts

Airborne gets a lot of grief for being most "un-introductory" and many of the scenarios being rather staid affairs. After setting this one up I spent some time considering what attack options there were for the Americans. The best approach would probably be to swing wide and then attack through the swamp, where you're protected from German fire until you're adjacent to the town. That may not be possible with the 10 turn time limit, however. I wouldn't play this scenario again, and boiling victory or defeat down to one (or 2) long-odds assault rolls isn't very fun, but if your goal is to introduce someone to basic PG infantry play you'd be ok.