I have played that twice now and do not know how the Germans can win.............
I have played this twice, too, a couple of years ago. It seems, that I have won it twice as the Germans - see AAR of the second playing
here.
Here's the AAR of my first playing:
A very interesting and fast paced 1940 scenario. An elite German recon element with Motorcycles, some tanks and reinforcing ACs must rush forward to establish some forward fire base to win. A force of French infantry with an 25LL AT gun and more importantly two Laffly W15T CC ATG-trucks with a deadly 47L gun lurk to foil that audacious push. As the Germans have no time to lose, the speedy push forward will be hair-raising for the Motorcyclists.
Basically, the Germans can select two axis of advance, one of them leading through a valley. The French are in a pinch where to put their Schwerpunkt on the initial defence. The VPs required by the Germans to win are no piece of cake and can be raised higher if the French elect to drive one or both of their Laffly ATG-trucks offboard. Furthermore, the French have the option to set up with only some units on board and reinforce with the rest on either flank on their turn 1. So lots of options and things to think about for both sides.
In our game, my Germans selected the route through the valley hoping to dive out of LOS of some French FP or Guns. Despite I took some pains to stay clear from RFP harrowing the Motorcyclists, it is near impossible to avoid them. My plan was to have some of them dismount early, crush the "central" French defenders and then push through and remount to hunker down in the eastern patch of woods in the victory area.
Unfortunately, the French failed to break as they were supposed to, but on the other hand I got most of my units into the valley safely. I looked at emerging out of the southern end of the vally with some anxiety as only the 25LL ATG had yet been discovered. Promptly, one of my tanks was killed when it drove out of the vally right into the sights of one of the dreaded ATG-trucks. One of the reinforcing ACs sped forward to deal with that truck from behind by OVR only to be CH'ed by the French Truck's IF shot. At least it was shrouded by Smoke of my Wreck Blaze now. Some of my tanks rather placed SMOKE than moving to cover the exit of the valley for the rest of the force. This worked pretty well, so that I could squeeze through with three tanks and one AC along with quite a number of infantry before the French could block my path.
Now, of course, every French unit in creation was hellbent on rushing to the eastern victory area and both my rearguard infantry units barely out or in the valley along with the last infantry which had reached the outskirts of the Eastern "Victory Woods" were hard pressed. My tanks and the AC darted out and back into the forest in the attempt to break some infantry with a bit success but on the other hand breaking two 75* MAs while doing so.
As an added twist, the German AFV need to be STOPPED in the victory area, which means they need to reach it by the end of German T4. And the French move last in T5... The game was very tight until the end. One of the Lafflys that had started on the "wrong flank" moved offboard, upping the German VC requirement by 3 to 21. The French AC audaciously OVRed a squad in the same hex with a German AC and planned to add a second OVR to that but got killed after leaving the first OVR hex. The German AC kept their nerve after this unnerving move through their hex and managed to break a dangerous French stack aiming to attack it during the last CC phase. This was probably the desicive attack. But still, the game was undecided as a CX French crew could take out a German tank with a HS escort. This it did not manage, so the Germans won accumulating 25VP with 21 required. It was very close...
Great fun, great scenario. My recommendation.
Cheers,
von Marwitz