Battles in the North - an appraisal

[Abatis]

Reading carefully all opinions you'll find those saying that scenario is OK, others say that is definitely pro Allies, and others will say that it's pro Axis......

Hmmmmm....looking at it that way, with all of the opinion factions represented, mayhap balance has been achieved? ;)

Balance or not, for me at least enjoyment has been achieved. Even in the first one where the demolished bridge sealed my fate early, I still gave it a good fight and fought hard for some kind of moral victory(namely managing to lose by a minor instead of major...if I recall correctly) which was fun...plus my partner getting a win that round helped take the sting out of it! Good on Ed and Slawek for bringing a tourney set in a atypical WWII theatre too! THAT was brave indeed. ;)

[Steelrain60]

Great thread; all opinions are welcome!

I'm not moving off my opinion that this one is pro-Axis, however.

Infantry: Advantage - Axis
Engineers: Advantage - Axis
MGs: Advantage - Axis
Artillery: Advantage - Axis

The Allies have a 40mm Flak platoon, and that is the one weapon for which the Germans have no answer. But the RGT HQ is so far back and is fixed, so once it's low on ammo, there's virtually no way to get it re-supplied.

The Allies have powerful reinforcements, but they enter the game far from the battlefield, and at a very late turn. Therefore, they don't have much effect.

The only way for the Allied player to survive is to conduct a retreat. Notice I didn't say fighting retreat. The Allied player that tries to conduct a fighting retreat is going to lose those troops to the Germans' superior infantry firepower. As long as the German player keeps his units 3 hexes away from the Brit platoons, they are fairly safe from his firepower. Also, with a firepower of 6 at 3 hexes, they stand a pretty good chance of damaging a Commonwealth or Norwegian infantry platoon at that distance. If the Allied player has poor luck with his artillery re-supply, there's almost no way for him to hurt the German troops.

I also maintain that, from a defensive standpoint, the terrain is no better than mediocre. There are some great fields of fire, admittedly, but the Allies simply don't have the infantry weaponry or artillery to take advantage of it. Only the town of Vist and the area around it offers the Allied player an advantage. The German player simply has to maintain his mass and to use his heavy artillery against the Allied positions to have an advantage. Plus, the German player has more smoke than the Allied player, so he can conceal his advance and protect his troops in the open.

[SGT Rice]

I've enjoyed all the scenarios except the first ... the blown bridge meant we basically stared at each other through binoculars for the second half.

But I don't know that I would have enjoyed playing Allies; for all the subsequent scenarios I thought the Germans had a decided advantage ... in pure infantry fights with limited supporting artillery the German's superior range and attack factors consistently led to large stacks of disrupted Norwegians/Brits being surrounded and destroyed by plentiful German infantry taking light casualties.