Failure to Communicate ETO (id:#64841)
See Also: A Failure to Communicate by Failure to Communicate by Multi-Man Publishing
Onhaye, Belgium 1940-05-14 ()
Designer: Chas Argent
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
GermanFrench
40.384615384615%

Overview:

In the early hours of May 13, Rommel pushed units of his Panzer-Division 7 across the Meuse River in the vicinity of Dinant, where they clung to a shaky foothold. While infantry were able to cross on boats, Rommel's tanks would have to cross on a ferry until a bridge could be built. That evening, under cover of darkness, Schutzen-Regiment 7 succeeded in reaching Onhaye where it overran several French positions. The next morning Rommel received a wireless transmission which proclaimed Schutzen-Regiment 7 was "encircled". Rommel, fearing for the safety of his tenuous foothold, ordered Panzer-Regiment 25 to take every available tank and race to their aid.
Attacker: German (Schützen-Regiment 7, Panzer-Division 7, and Panzer-Regiment 25)
Defender: French (4ème Division d'Infanterie Nord-Africaine and 1ère Division Légère de Cavalerie)  
6.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:14.0 D:12.0
AFVs: A:5
PzKpfw 38(t) A x 3
PzKpfw IIF x 2

AFVs: D:3
AMR 33 x 2
AMD 35

Guns: A:0
5cm leGrW 36
PzB 39 ATR x 2
D:1
Canon AC de 25 SA-L mle 34
Mortier de 60 mle 35

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: Variable add-on OB
Overlays: St1
Errata (source)
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Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2025-11-15(A) Dave B vs Joseph L DiCamillo German winThe French 10-2 leader went berserk early in the game. This was not good for French discipline and tactics, to say the least. After dispatching the insane Francois in close combat, the Germans proceeded to roll over the town, despite valiant efforts by the North African colonials under Francois' erstwhile command.
2025-07-12(D) Andy Goldin vs Paul Washington German winHuman Wave 2025.
I managed to sufficiently delay Paul’s attack on the southern board but the decisive move for him was an attack on the northern multi hex building where I had only a token force. Because of this he didn’t have to attempt to take my redoubt in the south and I instead had to try to take back a building and had insufficient force and time to do so. Altogether I knocked out two tanks and killed a couple squads, earning not nearly enough CVP. Clear German win.
2025-05-25(D) Andy Goldin vs John Gorkowski German win4 hrsI had difficulty putting together a good defense due to sub-optimal lines of sight for the defending French. Turns out I over-weighted the defense of the lone stone building on Board 42, which meant I didn't have enough AT defense to keep John's Germans at bay. I chose the Mine and ATR option and converted all my mines to AT. While that seemed like a good idea at the time, it would have worked better had I placed the mines somewhere John actually went (Board 59) vs Board 42. Once he got close, John sleeze-freezed my key defensive positions (such as my 10-2/MMG stack) to allow his infantry to close mostly unmolested. I did have some good results with my tankettes which gave his infantry a hard time but it was not enough. I got at least a few good hits with my ATR (including a CH) but couldn't score a single kill due to the low odds and above-average dice roll results.

On Board 59 I had initially managed to trade ground for time, withdrawing in good order, but once John fully committed his Panzers I lost my freedom to maneuver and got ground up by his combined arms assaults. By the beginning of Turn 5 I had lost nearly all of my defenders on Board 59 and, having little other than some concealment markers and an 8-1 with a malf'd LMG, conceded. Next time I'll try the option to buy the second ATG to see how that works.
2025-05-17(A) Jim Liang vs David Wiesenhahn French win

(VASL Log)
2024-11-13(D) Eric Partizan Eric vs Pierre ProustA French winNeed the German balance.
2024-06-23(D) Daniel Soukup vs Patrick French win
2023-11-12(A) Shane Pask vs French winI managed to burn 2 of the French AFVs but nothing else went my way. I lost 2 cc to smaller defenders and when the 10-2 battle hardened to a 10-3, I conceded. All over by the end of French turn 4 with 0 buildings and 12 CVP against me (all infantry losses).
2022-12-15(D) Jeff B vs John Fedoriw French win5.75 hrsI was concerned about a northern push across the bridge with the vehicles and setup my defense with this in mind, as well as to protect my 10-2 MMG stack with a nice LOS down the road. I made a bit of a mistake not setting somebody up on 1st level to strip the German concealment during their approach, and their kill stack situated themselves in 59E8 to quickly scare me out of the front line of the village. I then made another mistake trying to push some men forward in the south to bolster the line, only to have the leader ELR and the LMG squad break. I did manage to keep him out of the southern woods with my mortar on watch there. John was very concerned about my gun(s), and initially quite cautious with his infantry crossing the road into the orchard. This turn delay would cost him the game in the end. Turn 3 I was still holding strong in the village, but Turn 4 saw him finally oust me with his superior force. as he got much bolder with his tanks. Turn 5 saw him clear all but the wooden building on the east bank, and this position was overrun on the following turn. He got lucky and knocked out my AC in CC, but prior to that I got lucky myself in breaking his 9-2 with an overrun on the bridge. John informed me of his devious plan of taking the board 42 building had this not happened, as he had more than enough vehicles to freeze my meager force. When one of his tanks fell into the cellar in one of the rowhouses he just didn't have enough left to prevent me from breaking and routing upstairs to preserve a victory. Not the most enjoyable game due to the overwhelming presence of German tanks with very little to stop them.
2022-08-17(A) Kevin Duval vs Dwayne Duval French winUsed German balance. Germans suffered too many losses to win out in the end, French win by reaching CVP cap.
2022-05-25(D) Paolo Cariolato vs Federico Corso French winI slowed down the attacking germans, the mines immobilized one tank and destroyed another, a CH from an ATR bagged a third and a forth was killed by a 25LL.
Federico rolle 3 boxcars on rally and gave me more points. I won for CVP cap on the sixth turn.
Difficult defence and difficult attack to mount.
2022-05-01(A) Neal Ulen vs Scott German winVery good scenario. The Germans juuuuuust eeked out a victory by securing their 5th multi-hex building on the final CC roll of the game. I think this scenario can be a tough one for the Germans if they don't leverage the smoke dischargers in their AFVs (all 5 of them have them), and the Mild Breeze blowing from the NE. I was able to place drifting smoke all over the boards every movement phase covering the German approaches. So always check the scenario wind rule, make the wind rolls, and pop smoke every chance you get. Even then the Germans barely won in a tense game with lots of wild things happening (including double boxcars in a close combat).
2022-01-30(A) Jonathan Kapleau vs Duenskie, Ron French win
2021-08-07(A) Dan Best vs Kermit Mullins French win
2021-08-07(D) Kermit Mullins vs Dan Best French winReally fun scenario. My French 10-2 managed to break the German 9-2 kill stack and slow down the initial German attack. The Germans were stalled trying to get across the stream and take victory locations. The French AT Guns got one tank before both were lost. The Armored car took took at a tank before it was knocked out and my infantry immobilized and locked a third tank in Melee. Infantry losses had accumulated and by turn 6, the Germans had lost 25 CVP and that was game and a French victory.
2021-08-07(D) Scott Sherer vs John Farrell German winCAASL August Meeting.
2021-03-09(D) Simon Staniforth vs French winDespite the 25mm ATG “pop gun” doing nothing to the German panzers despite a number of hits, the French manage to hold a final building to deny the Germans a win. The French took reinforcement Group C, exchanging the AP Mines for AT Mines
2020-10-08(D) Jason Wert vs Steven Pleva German winvASLOK 2020
2020-07-07(A) Ric Hammond vs Guy Jimenez German win
2020-02-20(A) Stephen Stewart vs David Douglas French win
2020-01-18(A) Tom Kearney vs Tim Deane German winWinter Offensive 2020. Great fun!
View all or balance report
ActionDate
BlitzkriegBeast Added a playing2026-01-04 20:10:17
BlitzkriegBeast Rated the scenario2026-01-04 20:04:01
Agoldin Added a playing2025-05-25 00:58:20
BravoCo Added a playing2025-05-17 20:54:46
Bongiovanni Added a playing2024-11-13 16:57:08
FileDescriptionUserViews
ASL233 Setup File (ASL233 Setup File.vsav)VASL SetupBongiovanni831
(!germ-french.png)Imagehoxson11304
VASL Log file (Failure to Communicate-a.vlog)VASL Game LogBravoCo550
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Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.54Votes: 24
Views: 0
To-Play list count: 2
Estimated Play time: 6.1 hours
Recorded Games: 19
Archive recorded plays:
German8
French11
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Failure to Communicate [Confirmed]
[A] German 13
[D] French 20
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