Halfway through the 'Airborne' scenarios I have found them to be either extreme hits(rare) or rather dull misses( quite common). This one seems to be the best all around as far as play balance, turn length and counter density is concerned.

The Americans begin with a small force, as usual, hoping to make an impact before reinforcements arrive to help finish the job in taking two objectives; a road and a town hex. However, the bulk of those much needed reinforcements would not arrive until turn 37/16:00, with just 9 turns left afterwards to help finish the task. The initial American force suffered a loss of a PARA HMG step right away from opportunity fire from dug-in and hidden German units and there was then a direct-fire stand-off between two opposing groups that carried on for quite a while with neither side giving ground. The Americans had split-up into two attack groups, one of them getting behind the German defenders and threatening the 81mm mortars with direct fire.

Beginning at 09:00/turn 11, the Germans got to roll for an increment of 1x16 OBA but 10 consecutive turns passed before they actually recieved it! The first wave of American reinforcements arrived at 12:00/turn 23 and additional pressure was put on the defenders. At one point the Germans broke out of defending positions to go on the offensive and that did not go well and those units soon found themselves in a bad state of morale defending in an assault. However, that move did delay attacks on the objective town and road hexes. Then the large wave of American reinforcements arrived and at that point the Americans had only suffered 4 step losses so a little less caution was exercised in their advance. At that time though, both the German AT guns were still in action so the platoon of M5s stayed back, hidden behind hedgerows as a reserve.

The last four turns were very brutal with a lot of close-quarter fighting. Germany still controlled both the road and town hex needed by the Americans for VCs. Both direct and indirect fire failed to weaken the defenders as much as desired and time was running out. Two final assaults were made on both of the objectives but the German defenders held on before the conclusion of turn 46. So in the end the battle resulted in yet another 'Airborne' draw as the Germans failed to generate enough American step losses to claim a victory though they held onto the required road hex.

This was a tough call attacking with the Americans and minding damage control. A lot is required of the initially deployed units to weaken the enemy before turn 37. At least one of the objectives, either the town or road, should have been in American control by then and neither of them were. There were quite a few German step losses by that time, giving the Americans a huge advantage in initiative. During the last few turns it really could have gone either way. Anyway, this was one of the most balanced scenarios yet for 'Airborne' and the 46 turns passed fairly quickly. I believe both side's VCs were reasonable enough and that there were just the right amount of units available to both sides. I think this is the best all around scenario so far but a lot more than I accomplished was needed for the Americans to win. The reinforcements arrive in time to help finish the job but a lot more work had to be done the first 30 turns.