I wavered between rating this game a 2 or a 3. It is not a fluid scenario. The tGermans have no AFVs or transport. They are attacking a well defended line behind a major river. The British ha more of everything- Troops, armor, artillery and .Casemates ( even the biggest one, a 16-4 direct fire). In addition, they have the entire compliment of wire that the game provides (12 pieces) and a couple of entrements. All of this provides for a very well equipped defense especially in the middle what with a large town behind a major river (the Dyle). The British could also throw 50 points of artillery a shot. The Germans also had a fair amount of artillery- 48 points/shot.

The historical result was somewhat different. The German 19th Infantry Division pushed the British 3rd Infantry Division (Reinforced) out of Louvain, but suffered serious casualties. They then had to pull back out of the town. So what happened in this scenario?

The Brits couldn’t shoot straight, especially with their artillery. The Germans, however, had opposite luck. Their artillery zeroed on the strongest position in Louvain. This hex had 32 direct fire points. The casemate disintegrated as I made a die roll to determine which unit in the stack was hit with the X. But this area was not the focus of the German attack. It was the small town on the west side of the Dyle, south of Louvain. Here the Germans put pressure on the 3rd Division by attacking with the strongest amount of direct fire that they could muster, led by a lieutenant rated 10-2-1. A vicious assault battle developed. The British tried to respond with equal force but couldn’t match the German strength. Both sides held one hex each for six turns. But the Brits lost this battle of attrition and its line weakened as a result. They lost six steps trying to hold this. town. The 19th Infantry lost one.

The 3rd was doomed in this surprisingly one sided shooting match. However, the Germans were too weak to take Louvain and satisfy the major victory condition of taking eight town hexes. But they did win a minor victory by building the pontoon bridge and eliminating 10 British steps.