An outnumbered battalion holding a bridge in swampy terrain must fight off a battalion of Germans who are bound and determined to take it from them. This is a simple but highly entertaining scenario and one which is very evocative of all those war movies you may have seen.

In my play the US gets off some OBA shots at the advancing Germans as they are still in open terrain, before they enter the swamps. Having played a similar scenario in one of the other Airbornes I expected the Germans to take losses and become disrupted and demoralized as they hit the American picket line. Instead they advanced, nearly undisturbed and were able to get into assaults with the Americans with little trouble. At this point I was sure of a German win as the American do not have the strength to stand toe to toe with the Germans. The position directly in front of the bridge fell quickly and I expected a fast end to the scenario when the US OBA rolled a "2" and hammered the potential assaulters.

The Germans were able to get into an assault with the bridge however by turn 9 and I figured that would be enough time to eliminate the HMG and take the bridge forcing the Americans to piece together a counterattack with scattered troops. The HMG, however, was able to hang on and pass several morale checks permitting some demoralized PARA the chance to recover and rejoin the fight.

At the end of the scenario, the Germans rolled a "1" twice in a row on the 24 column of the Assault table and the bridge remained contested. It was the only hex on the board with any Americans whatsoever as they had lost 8 steps to the German loss of 5.

This was an enjoyable ride. The Airborne scenarios (from whichever of the 3 versions) are typically smaller with very definied objectives. Some tend to be long in turn length but not in play. While we tend as players to rush beyond these to the scenarios with armor, etc. These remain very playable and reasonable scenarios. I give this one a "4" due to the changes in fortune.

This short 14-turn scenrios sees the US Airborne fight against their German counterpart from the Fallschirmjaegers.8 FJ plattons, 2 FJ HMGs, and an 81mm mortar are trying to take the bridge at hex 1013. 5 Para platoons and a PMG defend it. Whoever controls it in the end is the winner. The Germans hve to slog through the swmp or along the road (railroad is a rod for this scenario). The river can only be crossed at the bridge. The terrain makes it danferous for the defenders to set up in the brige hex so they set up adjacent in 1014 as well as 0915 and 0814, getting some goo DF opportunities as the Germans approach. The Fallschirmjaegers are as confident as the Paras, but taking turn fter turn of fire with only artillery answeing takes it's toll. The Paras lose a step toan artillery hit roll of 2, and the PMG is also reduced by adjcent DF before the German Major tries to take 1014 by assult hoping to push the Pars away from the bridge, and things look preyy dicey for a bit, but another Para platoon joins in the melee, the Germans lose 2 steps and are forced to flee the hex. DF from the other US units has destroyed the stack of Germans holding the bridge, and a 7-0-0 LT and one Para platoon retakes the bridge hex. With two turns remaining, the Germans call it a day, having lost over 60% of their startinbg force, with much of the rest having fled the field or finding themselves leaderless. US victory. Great game.