In this scenario, the British must defend a crossroads that is intended as the jump-off point for the next Allied advance, whilst the Germans must snatch it for exactly the same reason.

We’re playing along the length of the table, giving us a width of only 120 cm.

The British are under hidden Blinds around the crossroads

With artillery units on the hill nearby

The Germans will arrive from the other side of the table, and do so with a careful, co-ordinated advance.

The German units on the British right flank are quickly Spotted, so they must deploy within the forests, which are the only places to get cover in otherwise really open terrain.

The rest of the units are more difficult to spot, as the British left flank is covered by a couple of forests.

On the British right flank, German troops entering the forest are intercepted by small British Recce units, which slows down their initially rapid advance.

The British FOO, forward in the forest, calls in the artillery onto those German units that have been spotted.

And the first casualties of the battle occur

Meanwhile, the Germans are gradually discovering small units of British troops, hidden to spot as quickly as possible German troops that are advancing towards the crossing.

The Germans are also spotting the British positions, and their artillery is doing its job

As this point the German avalanche looked unstoppable by the British troops who opposed them, especially because the German tanks were perfectly positioned to beat the British Sherman and Churchill facing them on the left flank.

Although it would probably have taken another two to three turns to be sure, all agreed that the Germans would eventually carry the day.

Burt Minarot