This is a good, close scenario that plays quickly.

The Germans move through the swamp to the American position at the La Barquette Lock. They suffer several losses to Opportunity Fire, but not enough to keep them from getting multiple platoons next to each of the two American positions dug-in in the two hexes forward of the lock.

The battle settles down into a one-hex-range fire fight as the Germans try to disrupt the Americans enough to make an assault possible. They get some early disruptions, but can't make a dent in the American position after that. The paratroopers keep firing rather than attempting recovery, and slowly grind down the German infantry with disruptions, demoralizations, and some step losses. Despite some good attack columns, the Germans can't get any demoralizations or step losses on the stubborn Airborne.

After an hour and a half of intense fire, the paratroopers have eliminated four German platoons and demoralized four more. The U.S. Colonel calls for their surrender, and the Germans go happily off to a POW camp.

Short, but fun. The Germans had early success with mortars, but when they closed with the US troops, the fire was terrible. The Germans could not get rallied and had no chance, suffering several losses and finishing with numerous disrupted/demoralized units. The US started off sketchy but finished strong, holding the objective. US victory.

The scenario calls for the Americans to protect a bridge from a large force of Germans. They need to hold the Germans away from the bridge for three hours. The Germans have enough forces to swarm the Americans and get to the bridge but if they take enough losses along the way they are liable to surrender. The Germans also have another liability in that they only have three leaders to proceed forward, losses of these leaders can have a huge effect as assault is critical to their success.

In this playing the Germans had lost one unit and one leader but had a great leader with a "10" morale which made the surrender roll hard to come by. The first roll ended up increasing the German initiative but then they took enough losses to lose that advantage and the second roll was a "9" leading to their surrender.

This was a very tense and intricate scenario from a micromanagement standpoint. Every single unit needs to be used carefully. Every advantage of terrain, and fire modifier needs to be counted. Leaders are critical. But the small force and the tactical advantage of the German force lend the scenario to a draw result in most cases. I give it a "3".

Not so much to write about this one but it was good for a laugh and less than an hour's playing time. Basically the Germans advance, take a step loss from opportunity fire but are able to hold together long enough to get some shots in on the defenders holding the lock hex, causing a few failed morale checks on the Americans. It looked like the Germans may have had a chance at mounting an assault on the lock as one of the American Paras did flee the hex after failing to recover from demoralization. Also, enough good ordered GREN units were poised to make an assault on the right flank as well, until ...

At just 17:15/turn 6, German 81mm mortars attempt to weaken the defenders prior to a first assault attempt and get THREE friendly fire results; two of them end up demoralizing three German units. None of those are able to recover before the turn ends. At 17:30/turn 7, less than two hours of combat the Americans kindly ask the Germans to surrender with the added incentive of chocolate and cigarettes and the Germans promptly oblige them. A roll is made needing an 8 or higher and a 9 is rolled -end of battle. I found this entertaining enough to rank it a three for solo play and, even if just for a brief moment the Germans had a chance of taking the lock, albeit a very small one. But with the low morale of 7/6, most likely would not be able to retain control of it for long. Friendly fire was the obvious spoiler for this engagement, perhaps it was intentional.

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	United States
Play Date	2022-11-27
Language	English
Scenario	AirI009

Most of these scenarios are more or less the same as they were in the 1st edition. This one was no exception. Make no mistake, there is no balance here. Aside from high variance wins via die rolls, the German's will always lose. But its a fun little diversion. It is a shameless frontal assault through swamp against dug in paratroopers. All the paratroopers have to do is shoot and ask for surrender whenever they knock initiative back down to zero. Eventually it happens. The crazy column shifts and surrender rule here gives the scenario a very unique, albeit arcadey/action movie feel though that makes it worth a quick solo play for change of pace from the slogging through the bocage that is in the rest of the module.

NOTE: For a long time, I played the morale rules wrong, with units just needing to roll their morale or less to recover, not less than their morale. This is reflected in some of the commentaries.

Initial deployment

This is a very small scenario, and rates to be confined to a small part of the board. The Germans start just outside or inside the swamp, and the Americans are in the swamp, so visibility is essentially 1 hex until untis start firing. With the +1 shift for direct fire into a swamp, there are going to be a lot of high column shots from relatively low firepower. The Germans have to take 1013 or inflict a lot of casualties to win, so subtlety is not an option. They are just going to charge ahead and hope they can pass the surrender rolls.

The Americans do very little here. They are going to sit back and wait for the Germans, hope to inflict some casualties or demoralizations, and force the Germans to surrender.

Because of the small number of units in the scenario, I did not use Fog of War.

Turns 1-3

The Germans advance adjacent to the paratroopers, and the GREN and HMG platoons that enter 1011 from 1010 promptly get demoralized. The OBA is ineffective; however the German mortars do manage to disrupt a paratrooper platoon.

On turn 2, I decided against calling for surrender. Even with a +1 to the die roll, with a “9” leader floating around, that would require rolling a 10 or higher (1/6 chance) or have the Germans add 1 to their initiative. As it turns out, the Germans get initiative this turn anyway and start to recover units, and the Americans don’t get their OBA. By the end of the turn, some paratroopers have shifted to face the Germans who are coming down the south side of the lock.

Turn 3 sees the US receive OBA again and grab the initiative. They manage to kill off a step of German heavy machine guns, and are otherwise are unable to harm the Germans, who are now in contact with most of the American force.

Turns 4-5

The Americans get their OBA again on turn 4, making it 3 out of 4 turns they have made a 1 in 3 chance. They also get the initiative and a lucky break when a shot from the paratrooper platoon in 1013 (the reduced platoon is digging in and doesn’t fire) kills a step in 1013 and demoralizes the grenadier. The units in 1012 fire at 1112 on the 30 column and also kill off a step of grenadiers and demoralize the major and one of the grenadiers. The major ends up routing back to 1111. At the end of the turn, all US units have been spotted and several of the Germans have recovered. However, the major and a reduced HMG are still demoralized at the end of the turn.

On turn 5, the Americans call for surrender. German initiative is zero, and there is one demoralized leader and one demoralized German unit on the board, for a +2 to the die roll. The major was the highest ranked German leader, and since he’s demoralized, his morale is only 8. So, if the German rolls 7 or higher, they surrender. There is no question as a 6 and a 5 are tossed, and the scenario ends in an American victory.

Final Thoughts

As can be seen by the brevity of this session report, this is a very quick scenario. I have a hard time seeing the Germans winning without some luck. The Americans just have to time their surrender checks carefully and I think they should wait until at least 2 German steps are dead to reduce German initiative to zero. Unless the Germans have a leader with a 10 morale, the US probably won’t need to roll more than 7 or 8 for the surrender. On the other hand, with a little luck, the Germans may be able to get a couple of very high column shots at the paratroopers, and the loss of just 1 or 2 could be a disaster for the Americans.

This is another small scenario fir Airborne 12 turns 20 something units. The Germans are trying to retake the lock from the defending paratroops, but the Germans don't really have their hearts in it. There is a SSR for the Germans to surrender if they reach a certain level, but be careful how you use it it may give the Germans more initiative.

I my play the Germans were not very much into the attack. After the first step lose from American fire the surrender was called for and they rolled high ending the game. A little disappointing that this would happen so soon. I will need to play this again and hope that it can get a little longer before the Germans give up.

Not a lot to say about this scenario. I played it with my buddy Tracey (aka PG-Tank Dude) via email and dicelog.com and it was pretty bland. I drew the Germans and triple-stacked where I could and rushed forwards, in the hopes that I could win an initiative roll and blast him in the face. Instead, he won all the initiative rolls and blasted ME in the face.

On Turn 6 Tracey finally got around to trying to invoke the Surrender Rule only to realize that the Germans had been whipped so bad it was impossible for me to pass the check! We had a good laugh over that. Actual quote:

Americans win, Impossible for Germans to roll low enough to continue. GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!

Had I played this solo, I'd likely have rated it a 1. This is the epitome of PG's famous historical over playable streak of scenarios. In the end, I rate it 2 because playing with my good buddy made it bearable!

played "solo" Allied victory (german troup surrend) at turn 11 of 12

German troops surrendered after two hours of heavy fighting close to LA BARQUETTE. A bad use of artillery, that kill a lot of friendly unit, and a lot of demoralized men don't help the assault attempt against the 501st parachute regiment. Allies defend the position and despite the numerical inferiority, without the support of artillery, forcing the enemy to surrender.

THE BATTLE

German forces begin a mere 600m to the east from the awaiting Americans forces.

The Germans remain unspotted as they move through the swamp. After 30 minutes they come face to barrel with the Americans! The first two German platoons are instantly vaporised!

Germans are completely shaken, they decide to gamble moving 2HMG and a GREN next to the American forces.

Play note: The first two American Op Fire rolls were (1,1) and (1,2) resulting in a 3X and 2X! The mission could have instantly ended here as the Surrender Roll had an almost 50% chance of succeeding. Luckily for the Germans it didn’t and the battle continued

Americans win initiative but their fire is ineffectual (German commander “About time!”). Germans counter-attack and eliminate half a paratroop platoon.

Germans still don’t surrender and manage to kill the American Lieutenant. By the 1.5 hour mark the first dug-n American reduced platoon is demoralized and flees to the west.

The Germans still don’t surrender and American fire reduces one of their HMGs.

Now at the two hour mark, the second HMG is also reduced through compound morale failure.

Getting desperate, the Germans launch an assault and the paratroopers are reduced and eliminated trying to flee.

The Germans still don’t surrender, but they are disrupted by adjacent American fire from the Lock.

In the final minutes, the Germans launch an assault comprised of a lone half HMG platoon against the lock to break the American control. The assaulting German unit is demoralized and eliminated.

Americans hold the lock at the game end and only suffered 3 steps of casualties.

AMERICAN VICTORY!

Aftermath

A very quick and tight battle. The German surrender rule is brutal. Although the dice were against the Americans, odds are that they should have succeeded in forcing a German surrender.

Germans are forced to advance to close range as long as the Americans don’t engage in long range fire (remain unspotted). Consequently the Op Fire is particularly brutal, aided by two fantastic American rolls.

This battle has very little time or scope for ‘alternative’ tactics, but can be used to teach a new player about Op Fire, Spotting and how deadly adjacent fire is! It is also very hard for the Germans to win/draw.

Scenario Rating: 2/5 – unbalanced, but quick and clean. Limited replay value.