Philippe D.
Elder Member
Played AP143 Late for Chow, from the latest Action Pack.
This scenario has strange setup conditions. It uses two boards (4 and 54), and the attacking Germans have to cross the two boards, or close to it (they get Exit VP for either, well, exiting, or occupying some buildings close to the edge with Good Order units). The strange bit is that the defending Americans have to setup somehow close to the entry edge of the Germans, in two predefined groups on the sides, with a 15-hex-wide strip in the center that has to contain no defenders.
So the Germans can choose between several rather different options: attack on the side, and initially have to face only half of the enemy OB (there are some reinforcements coming on turn 3 of 6.5); or try to go in the middle, where there is better cover and no defenders, but then the Americans will be on both flanks.
As the Germans, I picked the latter option. Things went pretty well initially, and I reached the second board quickly enough - that's where the bocage becomes the dominant terrain. And that's where my attacked started to bog down, as my opponent managed to position his forces so that I had difficulty advancing. I the end I managed to put enough units in the buildings to grab a win, but this involved a lot of running in open ground (or along roads bordered by Bocage with Americans on the other side, which is close to the same thing) -- so it could really have ended up very different. The Morale differential (ML8 German paratroops vs ML6 1st-2nd line Americans) definitely helped here.
A nice scenario, at least for those who like the tactical challenge of Bocage.
This scenario has strange setup conditions. It uses two boards (4 and 54), and the attacking Germans have to cross the two boards, or close to it (they get Exit VP for either, well, exiting, or occupying some buildings close to the edge with Good Order units). The strange bit is that the defending Americans have to setup somehow close to the entry edge of the Germans, in two predefined groups on the sides, with a 15-hex-wide strip in the center that has to contain no defenders.
So the Germans can choose between several rather different options: attack on the side, and initially have to face only half of the enemy OB (there are some reinforcements coming on turn 3 of 6.5); or try to go in the middle, where there is better cover and no defenders, but then the Americans will be on both flanks.
As the Germans, I picked the latter option. Things went pretty well initially, and I reached the second board quickly enough - that's where the bocage becomes the dominant terrain. And that's where my attacked started to bog down, as my opponent managed to position his forces so that I had difficulty advancing. I the end I managed to put enough units in the buildings to grab a win, but this involved a lot of running in open ground (or along roads bordered by Bocage with Americans on the other side, which is close to the same thing) -- so it could really have ended up very different. The Morale differential (ML8 German paratroops vs ML6 1st-2nd line Americans) definitely helped here.
A nice scenario, at least for those who like the tactical challenge of Bocage.