I think an assault on the fortified chateau is a long shot but kept it open as an option if enough tanks could pass the casino. So I attacked the casino. My armour fared poorly (1 recalled with disabled MA, one CH by the AT, a couple of shocks and an immobilise from the OBA) but I entered the casino in force on turn 4. However, the French rallied on their turn 4 and were back in the game. On the last player turn, I needed to break 3 stacks and win 2 CC. The PSW recovered from shock and took out one stack (Oops - PSW should have been BU and unable to fire), the MG stack took out another but prep had pinned the 9-1 and one of his squads so they could not break the last hex in DFF and thus a French win. Played out the CC anyway and French won one and Germans won the other. 2 hexes in the casino and 2:1 squads at the chateau.
2023-02-09
(A) Jeff B
vs
John Fedoriw
French win
Germans attacked hard up each flank, but OBA kicked their butt in the east - flaming one tank and breaking a slew of men. I've said I don't like playing scenarios where the defender in tough terrain gets OBA, and this is no exception. Both roadblocks were in the west, which was no surprise, so two tanks over there started the long process of safely driving through the thin treeline. The AT gun already showed its face trying to knock out my one tank in the middle (which had already broken its MA). Turn Two saw the ART pop up exactly where I would've put it, fortified in the SW corner of the factory. It also saw me knocking on the factory doors, but my good leaders were too busy playing motivational speaker cleaning up all the remnants of the OBA. A berserker would make things somewhat interesting, but he was mowed down rather easily with a pedestrian shot while trying to charge the ART position and, with the factory absolutely stocked with the best the French could offer, I decided to change tack and charge toward the castle. I lost another couple tanks, one from the INF gun while making a break up the middle, the other to the ART inside the factory. The trade-offs were not going my way, and this was without any further damage from the overpowered OBA - which finally red-chitted out at the start of Turn 4. I had 2.5 squads adjacent to the castle, with another 1.5 soon to arrive with the 9-2, but they were packed into just two hexes, and some lucky French shooting could end my day. One of my two vehicles there was pretty safe from danger, but the AC would shortly succumb to the INF gun. My last tank was nicely positioned in K8 to interdict any Frenchmen running back, with another couple MMG-toting squads on the west side of the factory to assist. But the French get last move, and some very poor shooting by the Germans allowed them to get add another 2.5 squads to their force around the castle, making the final score 6.5-6 French. With the silly endgame rushes from both sides, we both thought this was a hokey scenario, and I think it's way too difficult for the Germans with that French OBA.
2022-05-22
(D) Andy Beaton
vs
Eric Lindblad
French win
CASLO 2022 - Harassing fire took out 3 German vehicles, while the other 3 all malfed their MA's. Too hard a slog for the Germans after that.
2022-04-23
(A) Tom Repetti
vs
Tom Lavan
German win
French seemed too strong on their right, so the Germans pushed hard for the Factory and got there in strength before the French could reposition enough. Both players need to read B23.742 and understand what that means for hexes J10 and K12; it's easier for the Germans to get AFVs into the Factory than one might imagine. The back row of the Factory (K10 and L9) offers a nice second-level of defense, with +3 TEM from the front side of the factory since the LOS actually leaves the building depiction. Aggressive German armor tactics will help interdict French repositioning and get some much-needed Encirclements and FTRs. Seems like a lot will depend on how precise the French side can be with the OBA.