Germans need to capture a town or move eight units off the map. Certainly moving units across a map is easier that slogging through a town. Or so I thought.

The Germans entered the map from the east. Some went north of the town, some went south and a few remained in the middle to threaten the town. Once enough had gathered the idea was to bolt for the west edge. The Americans moved units north and south and began to dig foxholes and prepare kill zones.

Then the sprint began. The northern units moved to flank the dug-in Americans and got tangled. The units to the south slowly moved through the woods. It felt more like a crawl than a sprint.

The Germans threw a unit into each dug-in American and fled with the remaining. Other Americans move to flank the Germans. Finally the Germans threatening the town sped northwest.

It took a lot of splitting and misdirection and nimble leaders to maneuver around and between the Americans but, after 20 turns eight Germans moved off the east side.

This scenario is interesting, and I wonder if I’m missing some line-of-sight rule somewhere. I know that roads have good line of sight, but I think it is incorrect to assume that a road going through heavy woods would be visible for 6 hexes. In leui of this, I had to place some troops on the road leading south from the town. If I didn’t, due to the rule that disallows any US troops to move until they spot Germans, they could just skirt the bottom of the map and ignore me all the way, getting 8 units across and winning.

I played this 2x, as even with troops on the road I still managed to skirt through on the bottom. The second time I played as if I COULD see them as they crossed that N/S road. What happened was simply that I then maneuvered more troops south, but needed to leave some in the town to protect it. The result was the Germans just pounded the town long enough to clear the 8 units and they still won. I’m not disappointed as that was the historical result. Love this game!

The German victory conditions in this scenario are to either completely control the town of Hosingen, or exit 8 units off the west edge of the board; the Americans can achieve victory if they can deny the Germans these conditions. The German strategy was to quickly move units around Hosingen to the north and south, and get the required units off the board. The Americans can’t move until they spot a German, so the Germans cautiously use terrain and woods for concealment. In addition, poor visibility during the early morning hours were a great help. The Germans also get a lot of their units to enter the board from the east during the early morning. When visibility improved, the Americans spotted German units trying to bypass the town, maneuvered in an attempt to intercept, and attacked. These attacks were not effective, and the Germans were successful in getting units around the town and off the board. The keys to victory included low visibility ranges in the early turns, and great die rolls that allowed most Germans to enter the board from the east. Also, with this many units moving through the area, the few American units have a real challenge in stopping the advance.

The Germans opted for a sweep through the Southern woods aimed at the town flank. While on the Northern flank the Americans were kept busy via probing attacks. It worked, the Americans were out of the town two hours short of the deadline and the Germans were looking good for a double sweep of the victory conditions.... So I called the game. (I wish I could come up with a better defense for the Americans....)

If you are talking about the victory conditions they are a bit redundant but nothing a thinking person can't decipher. Besides, I is either/OR, yes?

After taking a few moments to assess the situation, the US set up all but one unit south of town, trying to find positions that would allow them to see the oncoming Germans. The Germans, of course, had other ideas. Excellent reinforcement rolls to start each of the first 3 rounds saw all but one German unit on the board early. That last Grenadier unit got stalled, however, and spent most of the day on the backside of the hill.

The Germans were fairly successful at maneuvering, and the rule not allowing US movement until a German unit was spotted gave the US what turned out to be an insurmountable disadvantage. A few very lucky shots (including a kill shot on the US HMG early - stupid 12's) proved to be enough for the Germans to pin down the US long enough to slide by and off the map.

I rated this as a 1, the only scenario I have done so for. As written, the scenario is completely broken. The Americans' only chance of winning is for the Germans to only onboard 7 units through their reinforcement rolls. Americans set up within 3 hexes of the town and cannot move unless they spot a German unit. The Germans enter on the east edge... likely on the southern side of the board. They merely have to walk through the woods on board 10 and exit the west edge. Americans cannot see them, so they can never win. Game over.

Use the scenario rule for US movement being blocked until they spot a German unit and you'll win. Germans win with no resistance, bypassing US units.