Played my local opponent. Germans set up with all units within one hex of the bridge, with the 9-1-2 leader on the bridge hex. The French advanced and within a few turns had begun to assault units adjacent to the bridge hex. Eventually they eliminated the German units while other units advanced into the bridge hex. Over the last few turns the Germans were doing the assaulting in an attempt to keep the engineers from blowing the bridge. They were able to disrupt the engineer units but the French recovered and were able to blow the bridge on the final turn for a narrow French victory. All in all a really fun scenario and one that would warrant replaying numerous times.

Author	cjsiam (France)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	France
Participants	treadasaurusrex (AAR)
Play Date	2022-04-20
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF032

The first play against this worthy opponent....a simple game, but a night game...the french forces must sneak up on the weary Bosch and destroy the Bridge (5,6 with Eng). I cleverly sent one company (2 platoons+1 Eng) to cross the river to the north and attack from the east, just in case... The remaining forces came in directly too the town, but awaited developments on the east side of the river before starting to attack the Germans who had set up to the west of the bridge. After the crossing north of the bridge--the germans responded to try and keep the french away from the bridge using a platoon and officer. At that point the French jumped into Assault to pin the germans, while sneaking units onto bridge to attack the remaining unit--a mortar--bringing one of their engineers. The Assaults in the main town (near bridge) and the eastern threat both were painful for the french--losses and disruptions--but two times units went from demoralized to CLEAR with rolls of 2!!... The Capitaine and the Engineer got onto the Bridge on turn 9...on turn 10 they rolled and Viola! the Bridge was toothpicks! Vive-La-France!

There has recently been a bit of discussion on the forums concerning urban battles and the ability of PG to adequately hold interest in an urban slugfest such as Stalingrad. Board 30 from Fall of France should give you your answer. It is a highly urbanized area punctuated with green space, much as Stalingrad was.

In this quick playing nighttime scenario a group of highly motivated French need to get some engineers to a bridge to blow the bridge and slow down the German advance. The Germans have a company to defend the bridge, the French have two companies and some random tanks to help them try to lever the Germans out of the way and get the engineers into the bridge hex with enough cover to try to blow it up.

The problem is much more difficult for the German player. To be sure of success he must keep the French engineers either out of the hex entirely or out of good order if they are in the hex. The issue is that their force is small and they do not have morale superiority. The use of pinning assaults by both sides and decoys movement through the towns is useful and necessary. Since the fight is at night there is not much art to the movements - the eventual assaults will be strength against strength.

In my situation the Germans were levered out of one covering position and were able to assault the bridge hex. This permitted the engineers to advance to join the assault and after two turns blow the bridge on turn 10. They did manage to lose three steps as well as the accompanying tanks while only causing two step losses to the Germans but with the bridge blown behind them the remaining 7 steps of Germans are likely to surrender.

As I said before, this one is quick but I could not really warm to the situation - it seemed almost too technical given the small forces involved. I give it a "2" and would suggest it for solo play only as the German player has very little to do.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	France
Participants	cjsiam (AAR)
Play Date	2022-04-20
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF032

This was an exciting, quick, single-session play-through with a seasoned and able opponent on another continent, who played the winning French/Moroccan side. I played the hapless German side with a mere infantry company charged with holding the bridge on the Escaut River (Hex 0713) in the town of Bouchain, France. We played using the optional smoke/illumination and excess initiate rules and without the defense-favoring Fog of War rule.

This one looked like an easy late night victory for the French from the start, but turned out to be an interesting and exciting scenario that hinged on a series of cold steel close assaults in Bouchain, punctuated by a number of crucial morale recovery die rolls. Fierce close assault fighting resulted in no German losses, and by game turn 10, when the bridge changed hands and was blown up by the intrepid Moroccan ENG unit, only 3 steps of French Colonial troops had given their lives for their country's glory.

The French commander adroitly maneuvered his 3 columns of excellent, well-led, Moroccan troops from 3 directions, forcing the Germans to spread out their small force in what proved to be a very brittle defense with no depth. The flawless and methodical French movement-to-contact included a successful river crossing about a kilometer north of Bouchain. Wisely, my opponent split German fire into two major sectors as he closed with the enemy.

This scenario was decidedly unbalanced in favor the larger French/Moroccan force, especially when well-led by a skilled player. It does make a fine training scenario with emphasis on close assaults, urban defenses, and night-time operations. Readers interested in a more balance encounter should consider adding an AT gun platoon and a second German HMG to the mix, as well as allowing the Germans to setup as hidden units.

Author	Bangla (France)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	France
Participants	tlangston28
Play Date	2021-02-19
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF032

This was a game played with Tony Langston aimed at playing something we could finish in one Vassal session. In that respect, it definitely worked. the other plus for this scenario would be that it could be used as a very good teaching game, at least for most of the game mechanics.

The big downside is that there are very few decisions the Germans can really make. Setup is one, and perhaps then whether they shift a hex here or there depending on the direction of attack by the French. Playing the French, I was able to quickly tie up one German stack in an assault, lay down smoke in front of the other one (in the bridge hex), then assault that hex as well. Because of the town, night, plus the smoke, even adjacent opportunity fire has negative column shifts. Once the two assaults were established, the French then moved out a couple of Escadrons and replaced them with Engineers. The French aren't trying to harm the Germans ... just blow up the bridge. The French Engineers sneaked into the assault in the bridge hex on turn 7, then had two turns where neither could get the bridge to blow. On turn 10, with the Germans resorting to even firing their mortar shells into the assault hex to try ANYTHING!, one of the Engineers finally succeeded.

Unless the die rolls go badly, the French should be favourites here. Not sure there's any replay value in the scenario though.