Played ftf agains Matt W in less than 2 hours.

I like scenarios with multiple objectives and the level of victory determined by the number of objectives attained. The Indians have 4 objectives in this one and must attain at least 3 to win.

Time is critical in this one as the Indians infantry have to beat some Razakars out of a forest and then help in assaulting a distant town. The Sherman must also eliminate the Stag as their high movement factor means they can potentially steal 2 victory conditions away from the Indians should one is in good order late in the game.

Matt set up problems which I did not solved and his Razakars earned a major victory.

Having said that, I think it's possible for the Indians to earn a victory but it will be a real challenge against a good defender.

I really enjoyed the different challenges of this scenario and give it a strong "4". It's one scenario where both sides have to make decisions almost every turn. I suspect it plays even better via PBEM because of the limited number of units and the importance of each decision.

Played in a single session against Tony L using Skype this battle has Indian tanks chasing RAZ militia and running into regular Hyderabad units. The Indian AFVs get support from a Gurkha company who arrive from GT5 or later depending on dice. The Hyderabad militia are hidden in the woods on board 6 with the a INF company in the town on board 1, on GT1 more support arrives in the form of several platoons of STAG armoured cars. The Indian commander has 4 objectives, clearing the roads on both boards, clearing the small town on board 1, and not losing more than 5 steps, he has just 20 turns to do at least 3 of these tasks just to gain a minor victory. This is a tall order. I deployed three platoons of RAZ spread out on the edge of the woods in the hope of getting at least one good shot at the Gurkhas as they enter the board the remainder were deployed in two stacks with leaders north and south of the road. The Indian SHERMAN'S raced down the road without bothering about the Hyderabad units hiding in the woods, the rebel INF advance from the town and dig in on the road. The next few turns see the STAG and Indian tanks play cat and mouse with the Hyderabad armoured cars trying to lure the SHERMAN'S into range of the single A\T gun based in the town. This ploy was only partially successful as two platoons of STAG were destroyed with only a single step of SHERMAN'S lost and that was to a very lucky shot from the 6pdr. The Indian infantry arrived on the second time of asking and two platoons began to engage the Hyderabad militia while the remainder continued down the road in order to attack the town. Here the Hyderabad player has more look winning the initiative several times on the trot which let the RAZ slip away from the Gurkha's. This convinced Tony that he could not clear the woods and therefore he pushed all his foot units towards the town in effect conceding control of the board 6 roads to the Hyderabad. Meanwhile another SHERMAN step had been lost to another long range shot from the gun and the armoured cars were roaming behind the Indian lines. As the scenario reached its climax RAZ burst out from the woods to join with the armoured cars to threaten the Indian rear. Indian tanks were forced to cover this threat leaving the job of clearing the town to the PBI. In fact the tanks were charged by the fanatical RAZ and would be held in assault to the end of the game. The Indian foot struggled to make any headway towards the town and the Indian attack was called off resulting in a victory for the Hyderabad player. This is a good scenario which is a lot of fun but really tough for the Indian player to win. Tony played a good game but ran out of time. To balance the game would be tricky though as the Indian forces outmatch their foes and would win any stand up fight. Perhaps making it a 24 turn game might do the trick.

Looking through my collective titles for a good skype game to play against Wayne Baumber, I looked at several of my supplements that I had not cracked open yet and came across Indian Unity. Looking over the components and scenarios, several of them looked good and I really liked the look of Hyderabadi Burgundy Red against Indian Cream against the light brown of Eastern Front boards. Wayne and I narrowed it down to 2 and I selected this one as the one to play. Even though I lost, I am glad I did.

The 4 objectives for the Indians are "simple": Control the roads on both boards (2 of the 4 objectives), capture the town of Kodad and suffer no more than 4 step losses. Wayne selected the Hyderabadi forces and on looking at the units (and reading the previous AARs), though I would have the significant advantage in firepower, I also had the disadvantage of having to attain at least 3 of the 4 for an Indian Minor victory. The Hyderabadi Razakars (RAZ) were setup hidden in the woods and the regular militia were setup in Kodad with a CAPT, AT gun/wagon and 2x INF in 0303 and a LT, INF and HMG in 0302.

Immediately, the Nizam's militia moved his CAPT and 2xINF down the road to setup a dugout position on the road. The Indian Armor rushed down the road to round up the rebels. The Stags moved on with 3 platoons moving north of Kodad across the plain and 2 platoons moving south of the road towards the woods, hopefully looking to setup a cross-fire. With the Indian infantry not expected for at least an hour (5 turns), the armored units would need to try and catch the Stags in a position where they could be eliminated and then force the town. For 5 turns the Shermans and Stags played cat and mouse and by the time the infantry showed up on the board, (turn 6) the Shermans had eliminated an armored car platoon and were chasing the others. The Gurkhas arrived on the scene, splitting 2 platoons off under command of a CAPT to engage the RAZ rebels in the woods south of the road while the remaining troops used the road to get to Kodad as soon as possible. Halfway through scenario (turn 9) the CAPT and his RIFs were able to rout the RAZ but seeing what it took to take one, decided that the focus should be controlling board 1 and the town and proceeded out of the woods to follow the other Infantry. About this same time, the first of two step losses inflicted on the Shermans occurred and another Stag was destroyed. Over the next 6 turns, I spent the time trying to corral the "mice" and getting into position to remove the dug-in units and assault the town. In addition, The RAZ began popping up all over board 6 and moving slowly towards the rear of the Indian area. Another shot from "Dead Eye Pete" on the 6-pounder took another Sherman step as the Gurkhas closed on the Hyderabad positions on board 1. Those Sherman steps were the only step losses I would receive.

Looking at the board at this point, I had no objectives achieved except one (suffer no more than 4 steps) so I began to look at safer attack options. I thought that I could bring Gurkhas within 3 hexes of the dug-in units (Hyderabad INF has range of 2) and do a turn with direct fire with a 3-stack of 2x INF and a WPN to possibly inflict morale results, separate and then charge into the dugout, taking the road and then assaulting the town. Wayne immediately recognized the attempt and moved his HMG unit to support the dug in troops, causing me to abandon this plan. This turned into a hectic battle as the bulk of the Gurkhas assaulted the dug out positions after surviving adjacent and HMG fire, eliminating the position and engaging the HMG unit. With time running out, The CAPT with 2 RIF advanced passed the dugout position to attack Kodad. The lone full-strength Sherman braved the AT fire from Kodad and came to help - eliminating a Stag unit positioned with the defenders in town just before the RIFs moved into assault. The push was not enough - The road had been cleared but the bulk of RAZ units in the woods were able to move into position to dig into the road behind the Indian lines despite the present of Shermans, even going crazy enough to assault the Shermans on the remaining turns. An attempt on the final turn to dislodge the RAZ from the road and at least salvage another objective failed and I conceded the game. The result: a major Hyderabad victory.

I normally don't like road control objectives as it tends to gear play towards using "gamey" tactics, though in this game it lended itself well to the play. Indian Unity pits a superior Indian force (both firepower and morale) against what is basically a militia force that in a head-to-head battle would never stand up. It showed in this scenario, where every battle or assault involving infantry ended up as a rout for the Hyderabads - the only step losses were 2 Shermans by long-range shots - and had it been a simple matter of taking the town, this would have been a rout. However, as Wayne mentioned in our post-game discussion, it’s not the counter mix or maps that makes the scenario a great one (though that is part of it), it is well written and designed victory conditions, along with those tactile components that truly make a great scenario, and the road control objectives really turned this one into an interesting puzzler. Though these victory conditions seemed a bit steep for the Indians given the time (Wayne mentions adding 4 turns) this was another one that I enjoyed, even though suffering the Major defeat.

Played ftf with Hugmenot.

The Indian tanks raced forward looking for those Razakars who had run away from them earlier but they seemed to have vanished into the woods. "Fine", thought the commander, "let's see what's behind them." Apparently an anti-tank trap. The Stags and 6-pdr were able to knock out five Shermans (2 steps) before becoming smoldering hulks themselves, the 6 pdr being run over by Shermans as to tried to move to help defend the town.

The following Indian infantry found the Razakars hiding in the forest and was able to chase them away from the road but the combat was so fierce, with the Razakars making their morale checks over and over and causing leadership problems amongst the Indians (disruptions and demoralizations of leaders) that they were ultimately unable to help the Shermans fight on towards the town and control of the roads further on.

The Indians had four victory conditions, control of all the roads on each board (2 conditions) capture the town and lose less than 4 steps. The loss of the Shermans early on in the tank trap finished the ability to gain that conditions and they were only able to control the road on the board with the Razakars.

In viewing this one during setup I have to admit that I didn't see a win for the Indians and that was ultimately the case. The variety of battle types (hide and seek, armored combat, rural and urban assault make for a fun mix. I give it a "3"