This one has the French defending against German mountain troops trying to cross a major river under direct observation with lots of French guns. I set up the French with a 75mm gun in each of the town hexes overlooking the river, with the French mortar on the hilltop in that town so his fire could be called in when needed. The French have 3 14 factor OBA shots, so with lots of potential to discourage the crossing, and enough infantry and HMGs to cover the gaps. The French left, with the wooded hills, was probably left a bit too open, but that first ipression as I set it up told me it was good. The Germans came along and set up all their on-board arty in the town in the mid-south part of the board, individual units so that counter battery wouldn't take out whole gun groups, but close enough and with good leadership so that the 3 75mm guns could fire together. The German AT guns were set up to direct fire accross the river, not much firepower but enough with a lucky shot to disrupt things anyway. The crossing point chosen was on and west of the bend near the woods, offering the best chance with the least visibility by the French. France got the initiaive first but it was a rare thing for the game. The German engineers waded out to prepare to assist the mountain troops, while the troops and their HMGs fired at the French above, and even with the down columns for range and firing up hill, the fire was disrupting enough, and followed by the massive German OBA for those first turn, It didnt take long for the French to lose their initiative value, while the German leaders drawn were all such high morale that French fire hardly slowed them down. Of 4 engineer supported hexes, only 1 became and stayed disrupted for much of the game. German luck was hit and miss, but most of the infantry, HMGs and leaders were accross and assaulting the French defenders quickly. French tactics changed from placing minimal arty on a maximum number of targets hoping to slow down the crossing, to maximum damage potential on fewer target hexes. Thisa also went back and forth, one turn doing great damage, then next turn, causing morale checks that the Germans won easily. On turn 5, the Germans lost 4 OBA batteries but with daylight, got random air support, which more often than not, hit and damaged their targets. As the Germans developed their attack on the French right, French troops from the other end of the board started a trek to join the action, many being hit in the open by artillery and aircraft fire and being lost or stuck in seemingly endless loops of morale checks, regrouping and being demoralized again. The butchers bill added up quickly, but one French infantry/HMG stack was able to move through the woods, slowly as that was, and avoid contact while staying out of sight, while also threatning any German force to make contact with a 42 FP OBA barrage before they could shoot or spot for their own support. The cat and mouse game lasted until the end of 15, when I decided to call it a game, the Germans having succeeded in 3 of their 4 objecives, giving them a marginal victory. The presence of the one French stack on the hill mass was all that prevented a Major Victory. 26 steps plus wagons lost for the French to 7 steps lost for the Germans. Another great game I look forward to playing face to face.