Kenneth has done a great job of outlining his battle plans, narrating the battle from the German perspective, and adding some retrospective lessons learned. I will not attempt to duplicate this detail. In fact, I won't even come close.

This was the first game of this type that I have played since the early 80s. After Squad Leader took centre stage, games like Luftwaffe, Third Reich, Diplomacy, Panzer Blitz, World in Flames, etc. never regained their initial level of interest, at least among my tiny circle of gaming friends. All is to say that I didn't have a clue how this Rock of the Marne scenario was supposed to be played. But my initial gut-wrenching feeling was that it was going to be hard for the Allies not to take a good shellacing. Our first match proved to live up to my doom and gloom prediction. Unfortunately, I had the Allies!

A quick look at the CRT reveals that an attacker will want to keep all of his attacks at 6-1 or watch his forces rapidly "attrit" over the course of the game. Moreover, because the Germans only need seven points for a win, they don't need to risk a lot and can take their time securing the Allied trench line. If Kenneth is content to simply occupy all the vacant Allied trenches and sit tight, he will easily hang onto seven hexes for a win. What's an underdog French general to do?

Well, apparently not much. :(

My plan--and I hesitate to call it a plan--was not to try to prevent a German victory, but rather to try to retain some dignity after an anticipated Allied defeat. I would do my utmost to hold the "Fort," but give ground all along the front. (My green meanies would reunite ASAP and defend the "Fort.") My left would fallback behind the Vesle. This would compel the Boche to attack across this river, thereby diminishing their striking power. The regiments in the centre would fall back to shorten the line and slow infiltration by all those sturmtruppen. I would breakdown as many divisions as possible in order to achieve two tactical objectives. One was to force the Germans to attack each regiment in turn and risk taking step losses. A second objective was to plug gaps, especially roads in broken/wooded terrain and limit the mobility of his fast-movers, i.e. exploit-capable units.

I had no major plans for a brilliant Allied counterattack, as I could not see how it could be done. The Allied divisions are agonizing slow and have low attack values. Tthe fastest units are the French break-down regiments, which unlike the Sturmtruppen, cannot exploit. Finally, the Allied reinforcements enter late in the game. They will have only one crack at dislodging Germans from the French trench line directly north of Suippes, and then only if the Germans do not block the road north.

As Kenneth has already described, he slowly ground his way through my regiments, took Beaumont without a fight and withdrew back into the French trench line on his last turn. Because I was able to deny him Fort St. Hilaire, he did not gain as many points as I feared he might. He made no concerted effort to gain Chalons, so that helped too. However, despite the attrition he suffered taking the trench line and dealing with my 4th Corps, he still managed a respectable German victory with 19 points.

From my perspective, the scenario is far from balanced. Indeed, I cannot see how a German player can lose. Did I miss something? I hoped not. Our next match would give Kenneth a chance to prove my hypothesis wrong.

Chris