"Allan Parent" wrote in message news:... Ok, since it has been said that no one is discussing the game, here is my AAR of a "what if" scenario included with the game called AL Bde Assault. It assumes the Allied 1st Landing Bde with its greater firepower made the initial assault on the Arnhem bridges. I will try to make this brief. I will be playing the Germans. My objective is to deny the Allies the rail and road bridges in Arnhem. The German forces consist basically of the remnants of the 9th SS Pz Div. While this sounds impressive, it's not. My forces consist of 3 scratch units of infantry in Arnhem made of engineers that have no combat training or experience. I have a flak unit and bridge garrison at both the rail bridge and main road bridge, both of poor quality. KG Harder, Buttler and Kraft are of better quality but are depleted and are scattered around the Arnhem area. Finally, I have KG Weber (Luftwaffe) guarding Deelen AF to the north. I realize that if I am to have a chance, I must consolidate my forces since allied paratroops have been report 3km north of the road bridge. I immediately detach KG Harder and Kraft and order them to take up defensive positions around the road bridge. I also order my scratch engineer units to dig in and hopefully delay the allies in their push for the road bridge. I know this amounts to suicide for the engineers but I need to buy time for my units to organize a defensive position. I order my 9th Pz SS HQ and its associated units to Arnhem since they are 18km to the north. Hopefully, they will hit the paratroops in the backside as they are making their push for the bridge. Finally, I order KG Buttlar (6 soldiers!) to help out with the rail bridge defense. All I can do now is wait while my units carry out orders. After about an hour, the paras start a push for the road bridge. My horrid scratch units haven't even budged and are still prepping defenses (in part due to their weak commander). They meet the allied onslaught and are immediately routed or pushed back. So much for buying time. This opens the way for the lead airborne elements to engage the bridge garrison unit which promptly surrenders along with its flak detachment. Luckily KG Harder and Kraft arrive in time to push these lead allied elements off the bridge. But the bridge isn't secured by any means, especially with the main body of the allied force just a km away. Meanwhile, a second allied force has just appeared 2km from the rail bridge. Things are not looking good. The main allied force engages KG Harder and Kraft at the bridge and erupts in bitter fighting with neither side getting control of the bridge. The second allied landing near the rail bridge pose a major threat so I order the bridge garrison to deny (blow) the rail bridge. Just as I do this, lead elements of the second landing start firing upon the rail bridge garrison. They immediately pull back without blowing the bridge! This second landing group leaves a few units to secure the rail bridge and start moving on the contested road bridge. Just in time, I start getting piecemeal reinforcements. If my units can just hold on, these reinforcements could make the difference. I decide to gamble and order KG Weber from the airfield to help contain the enemy forces at the rail bridge. Meanwhile, I order my reinforcements to try and cut the allied forces avenue of approach to the contested road bridge. Once again bitter fighting ensues with heavy casualties. I now have a detachment of artillery at my disposal which aids in the attack. With KG Harder and Kraft barely hanging on to the south portion of the road bridge, my reinforcements cut the head off the allied attack. The troops from the second landing are now trying to push on the road bridge to aid their cut off comrades. I have to prevent this force from breaking my ring around the surrounded allied troops at the road bridge or the battle is lost. Luckily I get more reinforcements and retake the rail bridge with KG Weber leading the way. Hurray for the Luftwaffe. However, the battle is still in doubt at the road bridge. I decide to use my 9th PZ SS HQ and associated units (remember them?) to try to disrupt the allied attack by ordering them to attack the flank of the paratroop relief force. They are outnumbered but this has the desired effect of breaking up the allied attack. I then take one last gamble by ordering KG Harder and Kraft to clear the north side of the bridge. Both of these units have excellent commanders and hopefully they will push their troops for a maximum effort. The HQ's of these units commit all of their reserves to the attack in a final desperate push. Both sides take extreme losses but the allies are pushed off the bridge and it is secured. There are still plenty of allied units around but the wind has been taken out of their sails and they make no more major attacks. The scenario ends after 2 days with a decisive German victory. Casualties are as follows German kills: 1599 infantry, 42 guns, 0 AFV's. Allied kills: 1119 infantry, 18 guns, 17 AFV's. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed playing it. Allan