This game was played Double-blind. We agreed that German grenadiers could not deploy adjacent OP's (pickets) until the Americans were sighted. For other quirkiness, refer to our rules rewrite. The only pertinent issues would be weapon unit trans portion, and perhaps, mortar usage. I had the German side.

My team (names & personality added after the game):

• Capt. Hans, a solid officer at 9-1-1
• Lt. Becker, not very likeable, but brave and smart at 10-1-0
• Lt. Schroder, obviously an SS reject at 6-0-0

I placed the 105 howitzer (btw it's not “the battery”) limbered, Lt. Becker, and the GREN in 0605 dug in. The rest of the force starts in the 0803 town (mortar is limbered). I have an OP on 105mm/GREN stack. There is an enemy OP in 0509.

The game opens with my moving the wagon to pickup the 105mm, which I move into the town. The HMG & 2nd GREN cover them from 0705. Mean while a paratrooper appears in 0607. We start a gun fight while the mortar and howitzer setup in town. GREN #2 moves in to cover them., the HMG joins GREN #1 and digs in. The PARA in 0705 is firing with 7 DF points, I name that assisting leader Doug, later known as “Super Doug”.

About when the how/mortar group gets into action, the PARA repositions themselves. American reinforcements arrive and the OP starts moving behind the woods. I name the leader with the supposed group Charlie. They move up to the 0803 town, then rush the artillery. Breaking into the town, the PARA's have effectively shut-down the artillery, but they have lost a step doing it. my mortar is also disrupted in the assault. Capt. Hans grimly determines to hold out, and primes the 105. Lt. Schroder stays also, but is not in a good shape as his commander.

Gren #1 moves into the town. The HMG tries to cover the mortar, which has retreated into 0505. Subsequent assaults by the PARA's kill the HMG, but Lt. Becker manages get the disrupted mortar out. The Yanks will spend several turns chasing them through the hedgerows before giving up.

Capt. Hans manages to hold on and inflicts another step loss on the miscreants after his gun and kills Lt. Charlie. Then the “Ivy” Division shows up, pressing against the town. An artillery strike in the town, quite surprisingly, does more damage to the paratroopers there than to me. Fortunately for me, the tank is not stacked with any infantry and is forced to enter the assault hex alone. I take shot with the 105mm, which misses. So now with a tank and disrupted paratroops, I get another shot next turn, which connects. That makes my 4 steps, but the assaults have taken their toll.

We play the last turn with “Super” Doug, a couple credible lieutenants, a PARA, an INF, and a HMG vs my GREN's (one reduced, disrupted). I win the initiative, and rally my disrupted GREN. The next assault kills 2 steps. I do a very gamey thing, taking the first step off the full strength GREN, and killing the other, because he hadn't activated. The now reduced GREN becomes demoralized. Another artillery strike in the town misses me and disrupts the U.S. HMG. I've held the town on a gamey technicality.

What I learned of his team:

• Doug: Parachute captain, had a CF of 2 and a MF of 1
• Charlie: Parachute 2nd lieutenant determined to be 9-0-1
• Bob: Parachute 1st lieutenant, no other information
• Larry: Parachute 2nd lieutenant determined to be 8-1-0
• Fred: 2nd lieutenant of the 4th Infantry has moral of 10 and a CF of 1

We found the scenario to be very luck dependent and with few options. Otherwise it was fairly well balanced. Next the Soviet expats.