Let's face it. When you start with only seven steps as the American and the German has the same, the concept of attrition seems to lack a little bit of applicability. However, the Germans lost 4 steps during play and the American 5 leaving the Germans with a greater opportunity since they had two units on the board to the American 1. The Americans tied down a larger German force and made an end run for the board exit, controlling it while the Germans held the town. This was a nasty messy close quarters battle with a surprising number of casualties but in the end neither side had the force necessary to win the battle.

A nice small scenario with just enough force on both sides to have some options. I give it a "3".

A small, quick-playing scenario that is not too remarkable.

The Americans got a much better leader draw than the Germans, which made a huge difference in the outcome. The Germans set up in the town and nearby hedgerows and the Paratroopers approached carefully, using the hedgerows for cover. A German Lieutenant managed to move up and keep them spotted, but the mortar fire he directed was no more than a minor annoyance.

German opportunity fire was ineffective as the Americans approached the town and the GIs ejected the Germans after heavy fighting. The difference in leader morale really showed here, as the defender's casualties were heavier than the attacker's (mostly due to demoralization and the "free shot" as they departed the town).

The remaining German Grenadier platoon pulled back to the second objective hex. After a pause to regroup and recover morale the Americans followed. Time was running out at this point, but again German opportunity fire was ineffective and allowed the Americans to get into the assault. They destroyed the last German platoon (dierolls heavily favored the Americans) with one turn to spare.

The Americans won, but luck was almost all on their side. I can see this one ending in a draw or German victory more often than not.

I'm not a big fan of tiny scenarios, but they can be useful for teaching the system or playing at lunch. In this case both. Attacking with even odds, the enemy controlling one of two victory hexes, and being able to set up hidden seems suicidal. So I gave the Germans (defenders) to the newbie. The Americans used darkness and hedgerows to approach 0604. The Germans had split their forces between the two towns and the adjoining intersection. Pouring in some close range firepower, the Americans softened up the Germans, with return fire being ineffective. Leading with the engineers, the Americans assaulted the town at 0604. The Germans got the worse of the deal, and after sucking up a step loss and some morale hits, retreated back on the town at 0803. The mortars and a step of Grenadiers headed back to occupy hex 1101 while the remainder hunkered in the town itself. The Americans waited for their meager reinforcements, using the lull to get back to good order. Ineffective direct fire ate up turns, but had no real effect. The Americans tried sending some troops to flank the town, but couldn't send significant forces around without letting the Germans fall back en masse. Finally, with the clock ticking, the Americans left their positions in the town and made for an assault in 0803. Taking some morale hits, the Americans launched the assault with what forces they had in good order, recovering the morale of those shaken up in the approach. The die rolls began to shift. While the Germans were taking significant morale hits, they were recovering at a fast rate and were happy to sit on the defensive, dug in and getting first fire. The Americans were only slowly whittling the Germans down, while having to pull shaken units out for recovery while pushing fresher units back in. The half step flanking the town could not afford to approach the victory hex unaided, while the remainder could not push the Germans out of the town. Several turns of this resulted in broken forces on both sides in the town, and a final desperate attack on 1101 by the single para step. The Germans rolled well in hex 1101, and the scenario ended with both 0803 and 1101 contested. The Americans had captured 0604, but did not have control of 1101. Result was a draw.

I suspect three or four more turns would have finally allowed the Americans to charge 1101 in force, but the Americans just never had the strength to break the Germans. The Americans will have difficulty taking and holding 0604 and then cutting their way to 1101. To make a significant flanking movement gives advantage to the Germans as they are free to fall back and defend 1101 or move forward and recapture 0604. A single step loss is huge as each side gets only seven total. German mortars and occasional OBA can really slow down the Americans (it was directed at my flankers whenever possible). Every action was fraught with risk, the real choices seemed limited, and the Germans definitely had the stronger starting position. I walked away feeling fairly unsatisfied with the game, as did my opponent. It did function to retrain my opponent to the system (he hadn't played for a couple years) as prep for our next round from Eastern Front.