I played this scenario PBEM with Tracey (PGTank-Dude), and after getting soundly defeated in our previous Airborne scenario (#9), I was delighted to kick the crap out of his Germans in this one.

With only 12 turns, and 3 geographic objectives to capture (2 of which are towns), the Americans really must put the pedal to the metal to get this one done. Our battle's end state adequately sums up the brutality of the fighting:

• 4 demoralized and 3 disrupted US platoons are scattered about the battlefield, abandoned by their officers as the Americans pressed relentlessly forwards
• the sole surviving German unit of any kind is a demoralized GREN platoon

As the Americans, the first objective fell quickly but things started to jam up on the second as Tracey fell back more or less cohesively and my men began to become seriously strung-out due to the aforementioned relentless attacking to beat the clock.

The outcome was in serious doubt as late as the beginning of Turn 8, until I smoked the initiative roll and found myself with 4 straight activations. A brutal artillery attack on the last town roughed up the defenders just enough to make the subsequent assault a do-or-die affair, and there was lots of dying!

By the end of Turn 10 my Shermans rolled into the final objective hex and my forces, though scattered all over the place, were victorious.

Shad's Thoughts

I picked up some early momentum by winning the first 5 or 6 initiative rolls in a row. After that, when my force cohesion began to crumble the 56 factor American artillery really picked up the slack.

The Germans put up a spirited defense, especially the 81mm who tore the hell out of my platoons time and time again, but I see no possibility of a German victory here. From the start you're only playing for a draw.

Why a 3?

• PRO - Time constraints make the American player play very aggressively or lose
• PRO - The 3 objectives, which are more or less linear in geography, make for a nice progression to the battle
• CON - The German player pretty much takes a beating for 12 straight turns
• CON - To me, the German player has no hope for victory, only a draw

FINAL - was exciting as the American, would make for a good, short solitaire scenario. Not recommended for head-to-head play.