The reports on this one made it seem like it would be a pretty easy win for the Germans. Using what I learned from other people's experience, I remembered to use the smoke rounds for the Germans and build my French line forward. What I didnt do was soften up the defenses before putting engineers in the water. Engineers with troops stuck in the water kept things tied up for several turns, and made me happy to have the smoke available. Every OBA shot succeeded in hitting, at least for the Germans. French with their single 14 factor OPA had a few close calls with friendly fire. I set up the half-board from left to right starting with 3 of the casemates. When I play solo, I pull the casemates and place without looking, so I cant work with that knowledge while movinga and figting the Germans. With the first casemates on the south side of the river, I started 3 of the entrenchments one hex back but somewhat filling the gap behind the casemates and the town hexes. The last entrenchment went in to a clear hex behind the town, and the mortar went in a woods hex behind the town but adjacent to the southern entrenchment. The last 2 casemates went into town hexes so that they covered every other hex of the four from the east edge. With town hexes and enrenchments, I placed at least one infantry in each with the HMGs in the forward town hexes and in the central entrenchment, and placed leaders with all the forward troops and the middle entrenchment with the commanding officer in the entrenchment south of the town. Germans were set up so that the Major started a chain of command in both directions, allowing the engineers to be deployed early and for spotters to get smoke or bombardment fire going as soon as possible. The Germans started with the initiative and mainained it throughout the game, but at times this seems to work to the defender's advantage when the French can react to what the German does. While leader draw, OBA and Initiative rolls seemed to be in the German's favor, rolls to get accross the river were just the opposite. It took 4 turns before the first Germans were on the south side of the river, and smoke didnt always keep the French from disrupting the engineers and crossing troops. I used the mobility of the German armor to move to places where their fire wasnt masked by friendly troops stuck in the water, but there were still several turns that the Germans couldnt fire accross the river either for fear of striking friendlys or because the smoke hid the enemy as well as it did friends. By turn 9, the French had lost 4 steps, with 3 of those being casemates, and had Germans assaulting the town and 2 entrenchments, but these assaults stagnated and by the end, the French had only lost a total of 5 steps to the Germans 7, four of which came from reductions of the PzII and StuG IIIa, the latter having made it accross the river only to become bogged down in assault for the rest of the game. In the end, the tally for undemoralized unit steps were 16 French to 17 German, making it a draw. I gave it a 5 because of how close it came down to the very end. Great game.

I played this with a modified (less effects) of an artillery optional rule I am testing, which turned out to have little to no effect on the scenario. This is a good little scenario that is cleverly designed. Having the effect of a pre-game aerial bombardment disrupt all the French units makes it for a scramble for the Germans to get across the river and for the French to rally their troops. GD chose to cross on the east edge of the map where they used smoke and artillery to get he Pioneers into the water and then as much infantry across as they can which is tough with the low crossing numbers. The French did have an opportunity to hammer the Germans on the water but their artillery and mortars either had no effect or Germans brushed off the morale checks. Once across the Germans methodically expanded the bridgehead then broke around the south to the west and started to envelop the French. Once it became apparent the Germans were going to build up combat power across the river, the Germans became less aggressive and engaged the French with ranged fire and artillery. The final score was 34-17 for a German decisive victory.

Author	Schoenwulf
Method	Solo
Victor	Draw
Play Date	2021-09-08
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF010

Battle: in mid-afternoon of May 13, 1940, units from Grossdeutschland IR were attempting to cross the Meuse River near Sedan, but they ran up against a well-entrenched French position manned by troops from the 55th Division d’Infanterie. By 1600, the first German platoon had crossed the river and was disrupting the French right. On the French left, German artillery and MG42 fire had weakened the defenses, but the German engineers were shell-shocked and unable to assist in crossing the Meuse. The Germans continued crossing against the French right and slowly compromised the defenses there using two engineering groups to assist in the crossings. One was forced to retreat from the river while the other had difficulty transporting large groups. By 1745, the Germans had established a strong bridgehead on the French right but failed to cross as many units as they had hoped.

Analysis: This scenario is a single map, 12-turn scenario with VP’s based solely on enemy unit morale reduction or elimination. As is typical for these blitzkrieg scenarios, the Germans have an extensive unit and FP advantage, while the French enjoy strong defensive positions across a major river. Only about half the map is actually in play,and there are many town hexes for protection as the Germans advance. Since all the bridges are blown, the Germans need to get engineers in position under fire and provide as much adjacent morale bonus as possible to keep them healthy while German troops try to cross. Suppression of French FP is critical since crossing must happen fast; the only steps that count as VP’s are those on the French side of the river. At game end, the French still retained 16 undemoralized steps on their side of the river, and the Germans had 15 undemoralized steps. There were two active assaults at game end and two engineers still in the river, with the final result being a draw. This is a great small scenario for introducing many concepts in the game, e.g. casemates, entrenchments, major river crossings, OBA , armor, & indirect fire. All of this on basically half a map and only 12 turns!

An interesting scenario as all French units start the game disrupted. I set the French pretty evenly along the entire playable river line except along the double river area.

Seeing this, the Germans decided to place a fire base to oppose the main defensive line, but concentrate the river crossing in the twin river area. The French had a decent draw of casemates including several AT types. They quickly disposed of the German Bufla. The Germans proceeded to cross the river at the east. The two firebases basically traded ineffective fire for most of the scenario.

The German rolled very poorly in their river crossing attempts, and the French were unable to take much advantage of the Germans in the river. Slowly, plattons started to cross, and eventually a melee ensued with the French eventually losing the town. However, this is a short scenario, and about the time the Germans were crossing in force, time ran out.

The game ended with the French having two more steps than the Germans south of the river, so the game ended in a draw.

The French were set up evenly along the river's south bank. It looked sturdy but also proved too static later on. Especiall when I decided to put all the German effort on the east side under cover of the town hexes and a lot of smoke on top. Although the French rallied their disrupted troops as if they expected the attack, the first German infantry crossed the river within the hour under further cover of the Bufla and the Stug. The casemates within range of this crossing were of the weaker type (4-4) which did not improve the French predicament.. Within 2 hours most of the German units were across and as the French defense was so static the Germans only had to sit still under the many trees and wait..

Fun small sized scenario with a few toys like the Bufla and the casemates to play around with. A deserved 4.

En este escenario tres compañías de infantería del regimiento GD, apoyados por ingenieros, varias unidades de tanques (PzII, StugIIIA) y una sección de artillería autopropulsada (Bufla), tienen como misión cruzar el río Mosa y establecer una pequeña cabeza de puente en la ribera sur. Los franceses defienden el sector con una compañía de reservistas apoyados por cuatro secciones de ametralladoras pesadas, una sección de morteros, una batería AT de 25mm y cinco casamatas. Los franceses empiezan el combate desorganizados, ya que previamente han sufrido un bombardeo aéreo de cinco horas.

Los alemanes dividen sus fuerzas en tres grupos y se dirigen con decisión hacia el río para concentrar su fuego sobre las posiciones defensivas enemigas. Ambas riberas del Mosa están cubiertas en casi toda su extensión por edificios. En el sector oeste de la zona francesa, sin embargo, no hay edificios, pero los franceses lo han protegido con un campo atrincherado.

Los franceses se recuperan poco a poco de los efectos del bombardeo aéreo y ofrecen una decidida resistencia. El combate es virulento. La potencia de fuego de los alemanes es muy superior, pero los franceses están bien protegidos y resisten bien el castigo. La táctica alemana es simple: anular o debilitar la resistencia francesa en primera línea, al menos en algunos puntos, y aprovechar los huecos para cubrirlos con proyectiles fumígenos y cruzar el río. Sin embargo, la primera línea francesa resiste casi milograsamente el diluvio de fuego alemán.

Los alemanes comprueban que se les echa el tiempo encima y se ven obligados a enviar a sus ingenieros para facilitar el cruce del río en sectores donde aún hay una consistente resistencia enemiga. Al final el resultado es decepcionante para los germanos. Sólo una sección de infantería consigue cruzar a la ribera sur del Mosa, con lo que los franceses obtienen una victoria mayor, aunque por estrecho margen.

This smaller scenario is a nice one for a shorter play. With only 12 turns and a half board there fight is simple, Germans must cross the river and the French need to stop them. The Germans have the GD division that is prepped for the assault the French are regulars that have just been heavily bombed by the Germans.

In the play the French were slow to recovery from the pregame bombardment, but it took two turns for the Germans to position for the attack. Initially heading to right and center to cross the river the Germans found the center to tough and shifted to the left to cross. A few tense moments as the initial platoons crossed but the German leaders were able to keep the GD platoons together so as to assault the entrenchments holding the river. Support from the German tanks keep the casements limited in firing as they crossed as well as the artillery. French units demoralized easily and had a hard time recovering. Eventually the fled to th rear and the Germans were across. Final score German 17, French 7.

Fall of France - Scenario 10 - Hell River

This is a PBEM I played against Matt Ward. His first PBEM game and my first Fall of France Scenario.

Turns: 12 (starting at 1500hr)

Victory Conditions: Germans - Get across the river in good order. French - Stay in good order while demoralizing any Germans that get across the river.

Set-up: Die roll gives me the Grossdeutschland. Matt sets up his forces, all of which begin the scenario disrupted:, along the river. Not knowing what casemates he pulled, this could be problematic for me, since the only thing I really have to fear is his 4 HMG and 1 25mm AT gun. Looking at his set-up, I see two possible crossing points and setup my forces accordingly, one to the West and one to the East, being sure to make use of the vast road network to get all of my units to the rivers edge as quick as possible.

Turns 1-3: Are used to get my forces up to the river and begin using my OBA to soften up the forces in the East part of town where my first crossing attempts will be made. Matt uses this time to recover his units to good order. I'm able to destroy 1 casement and Matt in return for this travesty, destroys my Bufla. I'm also able to get a Leader and an INF unit across and into a town hex on the Eastern river crossing.

Turn 4: River crossings begin in earnest on the Eastern crossing, getting an ENG and an HMG unit across plus two more Leaders. My OBA and DF attacks from across the river are effective, obtaining numerous Demoralizations in the Eastern and Western sections of the river, which Matt fails to recover and is forced to flee away from the river. The ENG's are able to gain a crossing in the West.

Turns 5-6: I start assaulting in the Eastern part of town, gaining a disruption and a demoralization on Matts troops. Matt attempts recovery, and his HMG is forced to flee. More of my troops cross the river in the East and now the West. My armor unfortunatley is stuck in the middle of the river, unable to make its crossing attempt, but one HMG and 2 Leaders get across into the town on the Western edge.

Turns 7-8: All of my forces are across the river on the eastern side. Assaults have netted me 1 more Casemate and an RES unit at a cost of a few disruptions and 1 demoralization. A lucky French HMG burst at my troops still in the river hex to the West demoralized my ENG's, effectively demoralizing my INF, PZ II and Stug. I am able to recover my ENG and INF units to disrupted, but the tanks are forced to flee back across the river. With my Western crossings effectively stalled, my concentration will be turned to rolling up the French flanks to the East.

Turns 9-12: With 2 OBA's not getting firing missions due to communications breakdown, German progress slowed dramatically. German troops were able to destroy a Casemate and the Mortars on the hill and 1 step worth of HMG. The Northern river crossing was completely shut done with French OBA and DF attacks gaining a step loss each on the ENG's and an INF in the River and then demoralizing both of them. The Stug and PzII were eventually able to recover, but too late to be of any use.

Germans pull a minor victory out nonetheless.

Conclusion: A solid 3 out of 5. Getting the French out of the Towns and Entrenchments in the later game turned hazardous. With OBA communications breakdown in effect adds a whole new element to this scenario, and too late did I realize I had the option to use smoke. Not until I was rereading the VP's to tally up after the game was over did I notice this. Would have made for a much different approach to the battle.

Fall of France - Scenario 10 - Hell River

This is a PBEM I played against Matt Ward. His first PBEM game and my first Fall of France Scenario.

Turns: 12 (starting at 1500hr)

Victory Conditions: Germans - Get across the river in good order. French - Stay in good order while demoralizing any Germans that get across the river.

Set-up: Die roll gives me the Grossdeutschland. Matt sets up his forces, all of which begin the scenario disrupted:, along the river. Not knowing what casemates he pulled, this could be problematic for me, since the only thing I really have to fear is his 4 HMG and 1 25mm AT gun. Looking at his set-up, I see two possible crossing points and setup my forces accordingly, one to the West and one to the East, being sure to make use of the vast road network to get all of my units to the rivers edge as quick as possible.

Turns 1-3: Are used to get my forces up to the river and begin using my OBA to soften up the forces in the East part of town where my first crossing attempts will be made. Matt uses this time to recover his units to good order. I'm able to destroy 1 casement and Matt in return for this travesty, destroys my Bufla. I'm also able to get a Leader and an INF unit across and into a town hex on the Eastern river crossing.

Turn 4: River crossings begin in earnest on the Eastern crossing, getting an ENG and an HMG unit across plus two more Leaders. My OBA and DF attacks from across the river are effective, obtaining numerous Demoralizations in the Eastern and Western sections of the river, which Matt fails to recover and is forced to flee away from the river. The ENG's are able to gain a crossing in the West.

Turns 5-6: I start assaulting in the Eastern part of town, gaining a disruption and a demoralization on Matts troops. Matt attempts recovery, and his HMG is forced to flee. More of my troops cross the river in the East and now the West. My armor unfortunatley is stuck in the middle of the river, unable to make its crossing attempt, but one HMG and 2 Leaders get across into the town on the Western edge.

Turns 7-8: All of my forces are across the river on the eastern side. Assaults have netted me 1 more Casemate and an RES unit at a cost of a few disruptions and 1 demoralization. A lucky French HMG burst at my troops still in the river hex to the West demoralized my ENG's, effectively demoralizing my INF, PZ II and Stug. I am able to recover my ENG and INF units to disrupted, but the tanks are forced to flee back across the river. With my Western crossings effectively stalled, my concentration will be turned to rolling up the French flanks to the East.

Turns 9-12: With 2 OBA's not getting firing missions due to communications breakdown, German progress slowed dramatically. German troops were able to destroy a Casemate and the Mortars on the hill and 1 step worth of HMG. The Northern river crossing was completely shut done with French OBA and DF attacks gaining a step loss each on the ENG's and an INF in the River and then demoralizing both of them. The Stug and PzII were eventually able to recover, but too late to be of any use.

Germans pull a minor victory out nonetheless.

Conclusion: A solid 3 out of 5. Getting the French out of the Towns and Entrenchments in the later game turned hazardous. With OBA communications breakdown in effect adds a whole new element to this scenario, and too late did I realize I had the option to use smoke. Not until I was rereading the VP's to tally up after the game was over did I notice this. Would have made for a much different approach to the battle.

Played PBEM, sporadically by me, consistently by Tracey (PG-Tank Dude).

A large contingent of the GD need to cross a river in an urban area. Facing them is a smallish group of reservists and a significant fixed defense (anyone who thinks that the French HMG are mobile needs to relook at that "1" movement factor). I knew I was in trouble almost instantly. The GD rolled rockstars for leaders and I rolled some of the least impressive leaders in the mix with the exception of a Sous-Lt, my most junior officer. It was clear that the "reservist" mentality extended to the leaders in this case.

Given the incredible lack of mobility and the fact that the entire French force begins the game disrupted from a prior Luftwaffe assault I felt that my only chance at winning was to deny the crossings in the first place. With a mobile force I could attack the crossings while they were one foot on either side of the river and cause severe damage but the only things with a decent movement factor ("3") were the reservists and they have a DF of only "2" which is slightly more dangerous that throwing pea gravel, but only slightly more.

I was reminded more than once of the knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who continues to demand to fight after both arms and legs have been cut off. I couldn't move, I didn't have anything particularly strong to shoot with but I had to keep fighting. I was sorely tempted to say to Tracey "Come over here, I'll bite your kneecap off." but was afraid that the reference would get lost...

The game slogged on with the German artillery pounding the hapless French with regularity while the French took pot shots at the crossing points and twice got lucky. First, early in the game I was able to take out a Bufla (both steps at once) with a good roll and then, miraculously, I was able to demoralize a large force crossing the river by demoralizing the engineer assisting them. As Tracey mentions in his AAR this was incredibly lucky but from what I could see the French are restricted to Hail Mary type shots in this one.

It took two hours but eventually the GD was able to assemble a large coherent force on the southern bank of the river and push their way through the French crust. The last hour (this is a 12 turn scenario) was comprised of the Germans pushing light forces out of their way through an urban environment. I was pleased to have a coherent force of my own after the DF and OBA had ripped through my poor reserves.

This is a tough one for the French because the initial setup represents a virtually unalterable formation for the entire scenario. You are sentenced to hoping that your crust along the river will be strong enough and resilient enough to defend and delay the GD in their crossing attempt. As a result you spend a lot of time hoping for low "odds" attacks to suceed and hoping for high fog of war rolls. On the other hand it quite accurately points out the futility of a fixed defense against the type of force concentrations available to the Germans and their highly mobile units. It gets a 3 as a study of the situation and a 2 for playability. As is my habit I will settle on the 3 for simulation value.

The Axis choose to cross the river at 0712 & 0713 & 0710. Friendly fire from the Allied OBA hampered the initial crossing, disrupting the effort. But the Allies also had trouble staying in good order. They failed to recover key units in the crossing area thus allowing the Axis to recover first. The Axis quickly took advantage and assaulted disrupted Allied units adjecent to the crossing hex.

By 1630 and axis were firmly across but not in good shape. Two of the three crossing points had Alllied units next to them in assault. At the other crossing point the two axis units defending were both demoralized.

At 1715 the axis were still having trouble getting units across the river. The allies were trying with some success to recover demoralized units to increase their presence south of the river. (The victory goes to the side with most undemoralized steps south of the river.) One turn later the Axis made an ill advised assault in to an Allied hex at a disadvantage. Two Axis steps were lost and the C.O. Major. the rest were demoralized. Near disaster. But the Allies had suffered also and had no good order units present. The axis on the other hand had reenforcements handy in the form of a fresh Eng unit, a fresh Inf and the Stug that had just crossed the river. These units combined with a 9-0-1 Lt. rolling in the 30 assault column finally broke allied resistance. After this the Allies fell back to conserve units. By this time the Axis had all units except the Bufa and and Eng. over the river. The final score was Allied steps left 14. Axis steps left 26. Axis major victory. This was a really fun scenario. Even though it is weighted to the Axis it is not overly so. The Allies have a real chance to win if they can catch the Axis in the crossing hexes with OBA and direct fire. Then they should try to fall back to conserve steps, only counter attacking when the Axis get strung out or make an unsupported move that leaves some units exposed. Even thought a somewhat unbalanced it was still a fun scenario. Rating 3. I would have given it a four if the Allies had a few more platoons to work with.

I wanted to try a fairly small Grossdeutschland senario, and this looked like a good one - until I saw the board details: Both sides locked into a half-board, with the dreaded town hexes everywhere, and a river with no bridges. Plus the French get five casemates, four entrenchements, and all of that town terrain...

But the town was actually a blessing for the Germans this time. With much of the riverfront saturated on BOTH sides by urban landscape, the Germans could use the cover to brazenly move within close range of the strength-challenged defenders, and set to blasting them with superior firepower. The French also are morale-deficient, and were not aided by the fact that only one of their leaders had a positive morale modifier.

The French covered the riverfront as best possible, though perhaps misreading the potential of the casemates - the decision to place a couple of them to the back of the front line, as a "defense in depth," may have been a mistake. In addition, there were so few French units that some of the entrenchments (placed in the gap between the woods at the west edge of the allowed battlefield and the main stretch of town hexes)were empty, planned as fallback positions. (As things developed, they never got to use fallback positions, as they mostly fled instead.)

The Germans brought on the infantry and HMG's in the center, with one group split off to the east to confront a lone casemate accompanied by a RES, an HMG, and a casemate. Two other infantry groups worked their way to the western end of the line, opposite a casemate (which proved to be a 3-3 DF only unit) and some entrenched infantry. Between these two groups, the AFV's and Bufla took position in a town hex across from the French entrenchments and commenced blasting away. But not without loss: In the initial approach, the lone French 25mm ATG took out a step of PZ-II befoe being demoralized (and eliminated whem it failed to recover) by heavy OBA. Meanwhile, some entrenched defenders in that area were demoralized and fled - the French morale was causing serious problems today - and uncovered a casemate with a 2-4 AT strength, which promptly flipped the Bufla to it half-strength side. But that casemate was soon taken out by OBA and direct fire.

Most of this proved to be a sidelight to the main effort (other than taking out some French steps south of the river, helping to pave the way for potential victory.) At the eastern flank the German INF/HMG stack ran afoul of the casemate-aided French there, eventually fleeing back further into the town north of the river. But in the center, the enhanced firepower of the GD units proved too much for the French defenders. Beside providing cover for the attackers, the town also limited the LOS for other French units, and as soon as a couple of hexes were cleared of defenders, the German engineers - having been placed backing the line, waiting for just such an opportunity - moved into the river, where infantry and HMG's began crossing at an impressive rate. One tough French leader and HMG were kept busy for the balance of the scenario in an assault, while German units rolled past the firefight in a series of crossings. The bridgehead soon bulged several hexes deep in the center, allowing some of the advance forces to take out the lone 81mm mortar and to either destroy still-demoralized French that had fled from the front line, or to force them to flee further.

Eventually, with the ATG and AT-enabled casemate out in the open eliminated, the German armor was able to move into a river (though not across it, of course) and blast away with impunity at entrenched Frenchmen, who could not answer with an assault, since they had no engineers of their own and thus could not cross to the tanks' side of the river. And the Bufla even managed to move to the center and cross the river!

At game's end, the French had five Reserve steps, 4 HMG steps and 2 casemates still south of the river and undemoralized. They had lost 2 RES, 4 HMG and 2 Casemates. But the Germans not only lost just the one Bufla and one PZ-II step, they had - undemoralized, of course - a whole passel of troops south of the river: 1 Bufla step, 14 INF, 6 HMG and 2 ENG. It was a suprisingly easy German victory, though perhaps a better French setup would have made things much tougher. (Not to mention that the best French casemate - 16-4 DF, 2-4 AT - was in one of the reserve positions and was only uncovered at the end of the game, when Germans finally came into its LOF.)

I give this one, cautiously, a "4." Fun, quick, a reasonable amount of variety in units, and PERHAPS not as imbalanced as my result. This was played solo, and the only house rule that had any impact was allowing the 25mm ATG (as well as the 2-4 AT in one casemate, which must be a 25mm also) first-shot effcicency. It was the "efficiency" shot by each that took out the PZ-II and Bufla steps.

LATE NOTE - I somehow missed the fact that the French start Disrupted. That's kind of a major thing to miss...and since i had a pretty good rollover despite missing this fact, I'll drop it to a "3." Fun to play, but probably not very well balanced. (And, for the record, I never even used smoke...)

This is a small, cramped opposed river crossing on half a board. A weak force of reservists and HMGs try to hold back Grossdeutschland. In the early turns, as the first Germans were trying to cross the river, I forgot to roll for two infantry units crossing and just moved them across from the engineer hex. This advantage for the Germans was reinforced on later turns by a second and eventually a third hex on the far side of the river. While the French fought to the best of their ability, in the last half hour of the game the dam burst and the Germans were able to crush the French defenders for a major victory.

The French have a weak defending force of Reservist Infantry and other heavy support units but they do have entrenchments & Casemates and they defend on the other side of the river that the Germans must cross. The Germans have a much larger and stronger Infantry & Armor force but a short time limit to get units across the River.

Being that the French have no Idea where the Germans will cross the river, they have to spread out too much for this weak force and the Germans have three Engineer units and lot of smoke to make the crossing with. The Germans have 42 steps, while the French only have 25 steps if you count the Casemates so the Germans just need to have more steps on the other side of the river to win. They blow a hole through one of the Casemates and pour units through under the cover of Artillery & smoke and the French do not have any kind of reaction force to counter this and lose the battle. A Major German Victory. Not enough units for the French to cover the whole line and the French HMG can only move one hex per turn and the other units are too weak to counter the stronger Grossdeutschland Infantry units. The French would have to get lucky to win this one.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	Tambu
Play Date	2021-11-13
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF010

We played this miserable scenario over 3 sessions online with an opponent who conceded the game after 7 turns. I frankly agree with his choice as this is a seriously unbalanced scenario where the pathetically weak French side must simply wait to be routed by overwhelming German force and intense OBA. I must beg to differ with my more experienced brethren who have played this scenario and think it worthy.

Starting with the pre-game aerial bombardment and the disruption of all French units, it becomes a major challenge for the French to rally their few infantry platoons and casemates. Unfortunately, we played with the awful FOW rule, which made for a more-difficult-then necessary opposed river crossing attempts for the Germans. We did use the smoke and consolidation optional rules. Trying to smoothly sequence the actual crossings turned out to be real work - even on the easier to cross eastern half of Map 30. Most crossing were chaotic at best, in part caused by my inexperience; my opponent's stout defense; and also the by the relatively low crossing numbers. This combination made each move across the river a dangerous proposition. However, a series of bad die rolls by the single French mortar unit and weak OBA inevitably resulted in easy to master morale checks for the fast moving fascist invaders. Even without the concession, this scenario was simply another wipe out for the hapless French side and resulted in a decisive German victory with a final score of 21 to 9.