This small scenario caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting much from it but got a good hour's enjoyment out of it.

In my solo play the Americans spend the first four turns (08:30-09:15) cautiously approaching the first anticipated strongpoint which turned out to be unoccupied but the Gren unit had advanced to it's location before the paras got there, hoping it was occupied. The German/Russians fail to get any results from their opportunity fire and did not think to attempt to dig-in so they are left there standing in the open. At 09:30/turn 5 the Americans get the initiative and fire away on the direct fire; 4 column and roll "snake eyes" getting a M1 result. The hapless defenders fail morale checks leaving the LT disrupted and the Gren unit demoralized. However the LT recovers to good order and the Gren to disrupted status. At 09:45/turn 6 the American para units advance adjacent while the Gren fails to get back to good order status. At 10:00/turn 7 the paras have the initiative and waste no time in making an assault and the Gren unit becomes demoralized again. However, return fire also demoralizes the reduced step of American HMG. At this time the second strongpoint's status is revealed and is indeed occupied with a 4/4 rating. What ensues over the next hour is the slow reduction of the Gren unit but it refuses to go down until 11:30/turn 13! Meanwhile, the demoralized American HMG unit has only just now finally recovered to disrupted status. Now there are only 45 minutes/3 turns left to advance on and take the town with the strongpoint. The German LT also managed to weasel his way out of being captured three times or get eliminated and makes it to the strongpoint/town hex. The paras have to go at it alone without the assistance of the hapless HMG unit but manage to shrug off opportunity fire.

11:45/turn 15 - the paras desperately, to no avail, try to weaken the strongpoint with direct fire before attempting a last ditch assault. The German/Russian defenders also fail to get results with direct fire. 12:00/turn 16 - a Hail Mary assault into the town which only results in the paras being disrupted from return fire but they are in Pouppeville so it ends in a draw. At first I thought that as long as the Germans weren't dislodged from the town and had originally occupied it that they would achieve a victory but after reading 3 different AARs it was deemed a draw by others that had the same results. So I had misunderstood the definition of the town's control status. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with this one but it would of been an entirely different story if the first, eastern strongpoint had been occupied. I did not look at the strongpoints after drawing and placing them though I well could have. Neither one was flipped until American units were three hexes away or spotted. This also made the scenario a lot more enjoyable as there was an element of the unknown. This should of been an American win but bad dice rolls or luck plagued them and cost them precious time. Having the reduced and demoralized/disrupted HMG sit out most of the battle did not help either; in fact it didn't return to good order until the last turn! The German/Russian defenders, on the other hand, had ridiculous luck in recovery attempts and not giving ground for over an hour when they should of flopped after the intial assault and failing to think to dig-in (-blame it on the vod.). I think this scenario makes best for solitaire play and that different people, with different plays will rate it accordingly. I went into this one expecting a '2' or worse and got a '4' out of it. Also, because of it's brevity, it is my second scenario for the day and still have time left over to start a third.