(Although a solo game, the POV is American) Time just was not on the Americans’ side. With only 10 turns to accomplish taking a town with a stronghold in it, I mistakenly chose to charge into the Eastern stronghold, with hopes of using that as a bunker to effectively target the Germans. In my inexperience, I chose a defensive option instead of an aggressive one. That, at best, would give me a draw.

As the first turns (predawn) expired, I found myself partially disrupted, with a dead step and only one step in the stronghold; the German force pounding me as I ran. Big mistake. I thought about charging, but with no additional forces coming that would have been hopeless. The Germans had moved their troops down between the holds and were setup to defend well. The mortars from the enemy did nothing but scare me, but I lost due to time, and I am convinced that had I played the scenario past its limit, I would have eventually been overcome. Had I gotten reinforcements, I still would have not had time to succeed based on a faulty plan.

Fun little setup, easy to play, although the hedges did nothing for me this time. This is all about running fast and taking the town, and then trying to hold it, I think. I’ll try again soon and see!

Scenarios with strongpoints can often turn on the selection of those strongpoints and this one was no exception. The Americans knew immediately upon their setup that the strongpoint in the closer town was actually a "strong"point. The opportunity fire from that location caused some substantial disruption to the American advance. The strongpoint in 0412 was also strong (a 3-4) that also was effective is slowing the American advance.

The paratroopers then hid in the hedgerow southeast of 0412 and waited for the later turns to advance on the objective in order to avoid losses through a continued assault. The Germans advanced a platoon to the southeast to come adjacent to the hedgerow to see the location, block a direct advance on 0412 and still have a strong opportunity fire possibility.

the American reinforcement showed up adjacent to this German platoon and the American chose to assault this location as a stepping stone to attack the town. This was partially successful as the Americans eventually killed three German steps but lost two of their own in the process.

On the greater issue, this assault tied up the Americans, caused significant losses and morale issues and blocked the American advance on the objective thus resulting in a full German victory.

The Americans were very close to being able to enter the hex and establish a draw but it just wasn't possible. This is a very tense scenario which should come down to a final die roll or two. I give it a "3" but a very high 3. The American play is very technical and timing is everything. Assault the objective too soon and be whittled down to nothing by the end of the game (the German firepower is dramatic) or assault too late and not get close to the objective. It's a tightrope.

Author	geofgibson
Method	Solo
Victor	Draw
Play Date	2024-09-04
Language	English
Scenario	Airb002

Oh, this one. I actually took months to finish it off because I chocked from the get-go. The most important thing to playing the game, remember the victory conditions! Don't waste time, as I did, faffing around when the scenario is 10 turns. If you need to take a hex, MOVE and take the hex. I wasted so many turns trying to be sly and move with the protection of the railroad embankment and then scurry into the hedges... oh, ya, one hex spotting distance when you're in the swamp. So, MOVE DOWN THE F'ING SWAMP. I'm definitely going to run this again sometime and play it "right." I also noticed that due to a quirk of VASSAL, when hovering the mouse to "see" the units in a stack, it doesn't show the strongpoint in the hex. So I neglected to add somewhat significant DF values which may have made the difference. In summary, a whole lot of farting around which led to a draw. Moving on to Airborne #3.

I've never played solo prior to this scenario, but decided to start my solo adventures with Airborne for a couple of reasons. The tiny scenarios are fairly quick to play, and I've got four face-to-face plays so I am already 20% of the way to my tour ribbon. I'm not a big fan of Airborne due to the tiny scenarios and lack of variation of American forces. From a face to face perspective, the tiny scenarios have very little activity, usually for one side in particular. But perhaps that's perfect for solo gaming...

The Americans immediately looked to the strong point in 0613 and noted it's strength. Since strongpoints do not contribute towards victory conditions the Americans decided not to waste strength or precious turns to confront it, and moved around the position. During the scenario op fire from this strong point failed to have any effect. The only effect was to delay American approach to hex 0412, which is a significant effect in a ten turn scenario.

The Germans quickly moved to occupy the town, leaving the mortars back for support. Outside of that, their purpose was to hunker down in town to protect the victory hex and the empty stronghold located there.

American reinforcements entered back at 0814. With no officer, the Lt went back to grab the unit and bring it around to the area of action. More time wasted. Finally the Americans charged the town. Trading direct fire left the Americans on the short end, there's no arty, and time was ticking. The Germans launched a counter assault outside the town to prevent the larger American stack from contesting the town, and kept the engineers back for better town fighting. The Americans assaulted the town with the remaining unit. Despite some losses, neither assault hex amounted to much and the game ended with two ongoing assaults and a contested victory hex. Draw.

This scenario was full of false choices. Do I uselessly assault a strongpoint and possible lose a critical step, or go around? Do I assault the victory hex, or waste ammo in direct fire with no significant hope of ejecting the Germans? Do the Germans assault the Americans on the approach to keep them out, or pray one burst of direct fire against two hexes will inhibit the elite paras from being able to assault? Do I protect the town, or some other useless hex? To add insult, the Americans are attacking with equal direct firepower (or less depending on strongpoints), inferior arty, no specialized town fighters, and fewer leaders, but at least they only have ten turns to attack a superior force in a defensive position. This scenario did nothing to improve my view on Airborne or tiny scenarios. It really deserves a 1, but as a coworker of mine's great uncle was in the battle, I give it a 2 out of respect.

Canquigny is a very small scenario that plays very quickly. You can play it several times in one sitting. That's about it for its good points.

Even if the Germans draw poorly in picking their strongpoints and the Americans get their reinforcement early, the Americans have less force than the Germans in this scenario. The Germans can also reach the scenario objective (in a town hex) first. This forces the Americans into a poor choice -- hold back and accept the draw, or attack and hope for extremely good luck to give them the win. If luck isn't with them, they are almost certain to lose if they attack.

This one's very historical, but not very balanced. I can see why this one was not included in the two newer editions of Airborne.