Board Game Arena

Up next is the introduction of the French Resistance in the scenario: MONT MOUCHET

https://boardgamearena.com/gamereview?table=313077271

(What seems to be a lovely little village in the middle of France today, but for some reason all the photos on the Wikipedia page are taken in foggy conditions... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Mouchet Guess the budget for advertising is very low in the Haut-Loire département)

Before we start, a few notes on the scenario in general:
I'm not a big fan of maps that can be decided before they even begin with a single BARRAGE to a cornered unit (in this case the German Armor) that would normally not be a problem, since 4fig Armor is hard to BARRAGE out of existance... but then again they're worth 2 Victory points. If this map was to 5 points, I think it would be much higher on my list.

Now the French Resistance... not as silly as 'Allo 'Allo would want you to believe!
The unit has two of the most powerful abilities of any infantry in the game - the ability to enter cover and attack and the optional 3hexes retreat per flag. In my opinion this places them above both Engineers and Special Units, even with their reduced number of "hit points". Some day I might make a tier list of the Infantry types, but let's just say that with the right map and the right cards, the French Resistance is a very powerful unit.

So, knowing that, I had to make sure not to get too far behind in our first match of the day, even though the game is 42/58 in favor of the Germans, I personally find it easier to win with the French.
My opponent made the sensible first play of a RECON IN FORCE, placing a unit right behind the forest close to my precious armor. I decided not to wait to get 3 dice on my tanks and instead moved everything into cover right next to his unit. This left him out in the open and exposed. In a 4-point game, you can't ignore the risk. Following that I picked up BEHIND ENEMY LINES - always a strong card, but particularly useful in chasing down 1figs in hard to reach locations on the map. I now sensed I actually could win round one. Edocentric punished me for putting my units so close together with an AIR POWER, but luckily I only got 1 hit on each of my tanks and no flags - so I was still snuggly in the forest.
The next couple of turns we sniped at each other. I still couldn't risk an armor in close combat, because AMBUSH hadn't been played, and the ability isn't as strong against units that have a 3flag retreat.
At move 140 the first game was more or less decided when Edocentric failed to roll any infantry or grenades on 3 dice against my 1 fig infantry. This allowed me to move in for a kill - giving me a 3-1 lead. 3 medals was what I had hoped for, and I then played more losey-dosey for the rest of round one, in the end getting a lucky flag and an infantry for the win.

So round two - I felt pretty good when I got my opening hand. AMBUSH, MOVE OUT and MEDICS AND MECHANICS, but most importantly: INFANTRY ASSAULT. This would let me do a variation of the move Edocentric tried to do in the first game: Moving my units so they were 2 hexes behind cover, then use INFANTRY ASSAULT to make a devastating surprise move and attack. Annoyingly this opened me up for AIRPOWER - and despite the single die of the Luftwaffe, against 3fig units that's pretty bad. I got off light, but had to use my Medics and mechanics prematurely. So my surprise attack (move 199) came a little late, and wasn't as devastating as I had hoped, but it still rattled my opponent, I'd like to think... And it certainly made the rest of the game harder for Edocentric, who in the end had to gamble with his panzers, leading them into a losing battle against entrenched French freedom fighters armed with nothing but hunting rifles and the CLOSE COMBAT card.

I had a lucky first round as the Germans, and a very good starting hand for round two, but as usual, Edocentric is a tricky opponent, and I always feel he has something up his sleeve (or under his baseball cap, or where ever Americans keep their jokers).

I'm quite fond of this scenario as the French Resistance makes for a powerful infantry unit with the ability to move into covered terrain and still fight. They fall behind Finnish Ski Troops in my opinion in terms of power (with the only caveat being that the Finnish Ski Troops can't target units 3 hexes away). Having said that, if this scenario had 5 medals for the victory condition it would be quite a bit more challenging for the French Resistance as a single destruction of a German Special Forces tank unit (worth 2 medals) usually wins the day.

French Strategy: I usually like to take advantage of the move into forest terrain and still fight whereas the Germans still have a restriction of not battling when moving into forest terrain. I was intending to put my forward French Resistance fighter on the left flank just out of reach of the Germans on their right flank so I could swoop in and inflict some damage when moving into the forest. Magnus surprised me with moving all units into a line which worked well for my Air Power card which I deployed in the second round. I didn't get the best dice rolls which set up my French Resistance fighter for a swift counter attack from Magnus and put me in a more defensive posture for the rest of the round. A gamble with Recon in Force (and some unfortunate dice) was my undoing in this round and Magnus take the victory 4-2

German Strategy: the key thing on this map is to deploy the German armor as quickly as possible in the open field but far enough away so that you don't run into Close Assault attacks from the French Resistance. The scenario basically hinges on whether or not the French Resistance can knock out at least one German armor unit to get 2 medals. At the onset, I felt that I had a good hand to get my armor into position but Magnus deftly played an Infantry Assault on his left flank (a devastating card for the French Resistance in this scenario since they can move into forest terrain and still fight) which put them into immediate Close Assault position with cover from the forest. I tried making a good show in the latter stages of the round but seeing my German armor units get whittled down proved to be my undoing and I lose the second round 4-2 to Magnus

Overall, I like this scenario as you have to be really deliberate about how you position / advance your units on both sides to get maximum impact. A true chess match!

reading through the CSI files

No comments from me on this one.

Thanks for doing this.