In general I have to say this map isn't my least favorite 4-medal map. Both sides still need to think about how they maneuver, and while the Germans only have 4 cards - normally not enough to construct a useful hand - they do have some time, if the allies don't have center/left cards early on.
Also, as can be seen in the first match, when one side keeps getting cards for the RIGHT flank, then the opponent has much higher odds of drawing LEFT flank cards. This is usually a good thing, because it increases the odds of both sides actually getting cards to fight on the same side, but in this case, where one side has no units on that flank and the other does, it just leads to a lot of cards getting discarded.
So my starting hand determined this game from the beginning. ATTACK Center + ATTACK Right (useless since I had 0 units there), RECON center, THEIR FINEST HOUR (always a gamble as we shall see later), CLOSE ASSAULT and BARRAGE.
And, I have to confess I deliberately didn't play the "BARRAGE" as the first thing - because it has a 41% chance to just eliminate the German artillery, which I find slightly unsportsmanlike, and if it had succeeded it would just had made the game completely uninteresting. But just so it's clear - if you're out to win - always use BARRAGE and/AIR POWER on the artillery.
Any way - enough excuses. I had to move carefully since I had no good combination of cards to get my rangers up and over the cliffs. You can't just climb over the cliffs and not have a follow up, leaving the Germans to snipe at you. I think Edocentric soon realized I didn't have a good hand, becasue he implemented the brilliant "Run-away-and-hide-by-the-big-gun" strategy. Had I known this was his plan - and that I wouldn't be able to catch him, I might have reconsidered my bombing the Artillery...
Still - he didn't just run - but also slowly wittled down my infantry within range of his beach-bunker. I had to get him out of the way - and used a THEIR FINEST HOUR to move him out of range - and here I completely missed that I had another activation. It wasn't the last time that THEIR FINEST HOUR was wasted in this game, though...
What followed was a lot of taunting calls from the Germans to come closer, a lot of throwing away right-flank cards and slowly advancing closer to the German lines. I had an opportunity to play "COUNTER ATTACK" on "BEHIND ENEMY LINES" - ususally a no-brainer in a game with a hard-to-reach objective, but again, I had no cards to follow up that move.
In the end I got saved by Edocentric playing "THEIR FINEST HOUR" (move 179) getting 0 units activated and me getting 5 units activated in the COUNTER ATTACK.
4-3... I had to pull a rabbit out of my Stahl helmet.
But unfortunately my helmet was empty.
I did get "GENERAL ADVANCE" - but I didn't get any time to set up a counter move - because Edocentric got right into my face in the center. Whereas the first match had been a great back and forth, I must admit I put up no resistance as the Germans.
As mentioned, this is not the worst of the 4-medal maps. And one thing that is different in this port from the original online version on Days of Wonder is that it's not possible for the Germans to move down the cliffs and attack (it's a 2hex move from both sides). Not sure what version is right - but it does make an already hard map even harder for the Axis.
