This battle was a bit of a let-down. It sounds exciting, but in reality, the Germans have an almost impossible task. The British can clog up the exit hex and the Germans are forced to engage. With minimal artillery they need to use their armour, but then the British AT Guns and 25-pounder are large problems.

Unfortunately, the reserves come too late (turn 33) to help. And the fact that they can only take minimal losses makes it nigh impossible for the Germans to win. No wonder the historical outcome saw the battle on Cemetary Hill last all day until the reserves finally arrive and the British withdrew as night fell.

So what happened? Around turn 15 the Germans made a move to take out the British 25-pounder. The gambit failed and their PzIIIs got hammered. Suffereing 4 step losses of armour the Germans conceded.

While the battle wasn’t very exciting, it did provide some thought on how the Germans must have felt trying to get by the hill. Even with “perfect information” the task seemed daunting. So it was interesting, although not thrilling.

Scenario Rating 2/5.

This was a 4-session, disappointing, solo play-through using the actual board and counter set. As others have noted, this sounds like an exciting scenario to play, with lots of maneuver, but it was clearly thrown together and not properly play-tested. It should be more fun to play with an opponent. As a solo play, it stinks, as the Axis side is very unlikely to win.

A resolute British player will be able to stymie the attacking German side at every turn, inflict the ridiculously low number of Axis step losses, and may blockade the required exit hex fairly easily, in this WAY overlong scenario. I give this untested, unbalanced, dog of a scenario a very generous rating of 2.

When I first read this scenario, I thought it looked interesting. The Germans have to clear a minefield as they enter, then charge across the map and do battle with dug in British on a hill and eventually exit a number of units off the map. The hitch is the Germans may only lose three steps in the process.

The problems arise with the British sole artillery piece, a 25pd, which can blast any spotted non-AVF with impunity. The 5th Pz Reg advanced with their six steps panzers across the map and up the hill on the British right flank. The British 2pd AT guns were ineffective. After dancing around on the hill for a bit – the Germans trying to take out dug in units on a hill, and the British infantry trying to get close enough to assault, I realized the situation was a stalemate. The Germans then decided to drive down the east side of the hill and exited the map – six steps give then a victory. Meanwhile the rest of the 5th Pz Reg is stuck at the entrance area of the map.

A very unsatisfying and unbalanced scenario, which showed such promise at, set up.