The Axis have a nicely rounded force. They have a little bit of every thing. The Allies also have a powerful force. This was a fun play.

The Allies set up dug in around the airfield. The mortars and 2 platoons were in the woods on bd 19 in hexes 0208 and 0308 and dug in hex 0309. The Engineers and the armor set up in 0303 and 0403 on bd 19. I can't imagine the Allies doing anything too too differently unless they can dig in right on the runway hexes. The rules do not prohibit it. But to me that does not make too much sense if it is a working airfield. If it is not, why would the Axis attack in the first place?

The Axis decide against a coup de main vs the airfield. Landing directly on the runway and in the hexes right around it, in the heart of in the Allied position, would be just suicidal.... Oh yeah, that's right. The Axis are here to do just that. Sorry, what was I thinking? Well anyway the Axis opted to land on bd 19 with the assembly point at 0612. They would land and then attack to the south out of their airhead.

The Axis landing was fair over all. They lost one ATG platoon and a truck that scattered off board and landed bad. In addition three other PSMG steps were lost on landing. Amazingly three whole PSMG platoons landed in the swamp on bd 19 in hexes 0907 &0906. Even more amazing they lost only one step there. What is more amazing than that is that none of them ever got into the battle! Incredible. (See below)

The Axis attack slammed into the north side of the Allied position gobbling up a Allied position in hex 0609 on bd 19. This decapitated the Allied force. No movement now for a number of units for the rest of this turn and the next. All of this by 0845.

The fact that the Allies could not move turned out not to have been such a burden. They were not going anywhere anyway. It turned into a really wild melee with both sides feeding units into the maelstrom. Both sides suffered for it. Eventually superior Allied point blank and bombardment fire bested Axis Bushido in assault. As the Axis were being ground down at 0945 THEY were decapitated! The Allies then counter attacked in force using fresh units that had been dug in on the south end of the runway and the two platoons, an Inf & HMG, which had been guarding the mortar position. None of these had been in assault yet.

By 1100 the Axis had only 11 steps left on the entire board. Five were demoralized, another three were next to the airfield but surrounded on 4 sides with a weak Lt. in command. The other three had been struggling to get out of the swamp since the landing!

This was a really fun scenario. Lots of options for everyone. Next time I'll try a direct glider assault on the airfield hexes. The Axis certainly could not loose more steps, that's for sure. I'll give this a 4. I really liked the counter mix for both sides and the no hold barred type of fast and furious attack that is required.