The headline to this one really should be "History Repeats Itself". The Lehr infantry and Pz IVs prepare a line with hidden troops mixed in with the main force to give the British a rude welcoming. The British, however, have a large force and will be able to move some of it beyond the Germans if they are determined to do so. Control of the Chateau would be helpful as with it will come control of the road leading into the woods and the ultimate goal of the British; exiting the field.

I have got to get a better handle on the "enter and exit" type scenarios. I tend to fight too long or put all my eggs in moving beyond the defense. I haven't found the right balance as my attacking force either finds itself in complete control of the field but with no time left to exit or all shot up with disruptions and demoralizations keeping my units from exiting. Concurrent with this one I am playing a large KuSF scenario with an exit requirement and I am finding myself in a similar situation. In all the PG types of battles I think these form the toughest challenge for the attacker.

In any event the British advance a large infantry force along the road and send their armor around the German right (east) wing along with three understrength companies of RIF, with the intention of pinning the German infantry and exiting with the flanking group.

The Pz IVs were hidden on the right flank and immediately destroy the Brens but are then destroyed by the Shermans. It appears that the British have struck the right balance as they flow on past the wrecked Panzers. That is, until the Panthers show up. The Panthers busy themselves with anti-personnel opportunity fire during the next two turns, resulting in stopping the British dead in their tracks (in some cases literally) while the hidden troops in the Chateau add in their fire for a nasty crossfire. Ultimately three of the eight platoons will exit the board but it will be way too little too late for the British.

The Shermans decide to press the issue and move into flanking positions hoping to gain the initiative in the next turn (turn 4 of 10) in order to give the Firefly a good shot and absorb the Panthers' attention for a couple of turns and give the infantry a chance to get to the woods in the south. Unfortunately for the British, the Germans get the initiative and five steps of Shermans turn into flaming wrecks (a +5 on the AT roll will do that).

This could possibly have been worthwhile if the infantry could have made it off board or if the main attack had gained ground against the German line along the road but again hidden troops savaged the advancing British with opportunity fire and the Lt. Col. had trouble developed a coherent assault with the remaining troops. Eventually these troops also rolled across the right flank of the German line and ended up contesting control of the Chateau, depriving the Germans of those five VPs but at 32-15 there really wasn't much question of who won the battle.

In reading the conclusion it appears that the Panthers arrival turned the battle, much as it did for my play. This is a short scenario with only 10 turns and would seem well suited to ftf or Skype play (with a caveat that there are a lot of British units). I give it a "3" since there is little room for actual maneuver in the play. Otherwise it is a rollicking good time.

Played face-to-face against Matt W in less than 2 hours.

With us concluding scenario #09 much earlier than anticipated, we took a look at the next scenario and determined we had time to play it.

I set up the bulk of the German troops just south of the road, hoping to cause enough disruption and demoralization to the British initial advance to give me time to fall. I felt I made two critical mistakes on my setup: (1) my stacks were mostly 1-unit, not strong enough to repulse the early assaults, and (2) I had almost no reserve to plug holes.

My front line caused some disruption and demoralization but enough British troops made it and were able to assault my troops on turn 2. The net result was about half my troops were tied up in assaults and it gave the British freedom of movement.

The British commander used that freedom to move some infantry south on the hill, with tank support just behind them. With the German having no infantry reserve and not enough infantry reinforcements to offer strong opposition, the British pushed their infantry towards the exit point with their AFV watching, daring my Panthers to stop them. The Panthers tried (a little) but there were too many British troops; I conceded a few turns early.

British victory.

I gave this one a “3” and believe it’s a good candidate to be played over Skype. I would not mind replaying it someday because I was disappointed with my setup.