I played this scenario because it was included in the scenario list for the 2023 Canadian ASL Open. This was the first time that I can remember playing a scenario from designer and publisher Paul Kenny, although I knew of his prolific publishing efforts under the name Fanatic Enterprises. The scenario appeared in 2004.

This battle takes place on one of the dates commonly stated for the beginning of WW2: September 1, 1939. As the title infers, German infantry on motorcycles and sidecars are performing reconnaissance. Specifically, six squads with two leaders and two LMG. They are probing the village of Krolewsh for Polish defences. The Poles are initially stronger than the Germans, having eight elite squads, two MMG and two light mortars of 46mm. All of the Polish units start HIP.

I usually find the location with Google Maps and take a screenshot to include in the AAR. I found multiple towns with that name, however, and I could not easily determine the correct one.

The victory conditions are interesting. Victory is based on VP that include: CVP, two VP to the Poles for each Player Turn that they stay completely hidden, and Exit VP for the Germans on/after turn five. The Poles have additional motivation to stay hidden; the Germans receive reinforcements on the turn following the the appearance of a Polish unit on board. The reinforcing walking Germans have twelve squads, three leaders and three LMG. All of the German infantry is first line. The scenario is set on 26 rows of board 48. An SSR limits the Poles to using only Point Blank Fire and/or Triple Point Blank Fire during Game Turns one and two.

I played the Polish side. I set up a rear defence to optimize collecting the bonus points. I remembered to bore site the two MMG, but not the two light mortars. 

I do not have a log of this match, but I have saved files from the end of each turn from which to write this AAR.

The Germans deploy one squad at start and two more during the Rally Phase. They focus their attack on the southern half of the board. They run a lot through the grain in case of HIP units. Here is the situation at the end of their turn one.

During the Polish side of turn one, nothing happens. The Polish have accumulated four bonus VP.

German turn two: a brave HS drives his motorcycle down the main street. Once in Point Blank range of MMG-A, the leader directs the MMG to fire and lay down a firelane. The initial shot eliminates the HS but leaves its motorcycle. No one else braves the FL. The Germans spread out to either side of the main road. A leader, squad and two HS unload on the main road just beyond the FL and then advance into buildings on either side.

Polish turn two: They choose to reveal a squad and leader to be able to deploy. The two Polish HS move forward to contest the crossing of the northern side road. A HIP squad moves up to join the leader that was just abandoned.

German turn three: Some ineffective prep fire takes place around the crossroads. Twelve squads, three leaders and three LMG march onto the board, two-thirds move south of the gully, the rest move north of the gully. Two southern Polish units reveal themselves to fire, breaking a HS and encouraging more troops to dismount.

Polish turn three: They deploy another squad. The Germans rally their broken HS. Polish fire eliminates two HS, probably on motorcycles. The Polish mortar team successfully withdraws a couple of hexes.

German turn four: Fire breaks the southern Polish mortar team. Some units move east of the intersection. The reinforcements get closer.

Polish turn four: The broken Polish mortar team fails to rally and dies later on. The Germans recover the mortar. The Poles skulk where they can and fire where they can’t skulk. German defensive fires breaks a HS north of the main road. In the south, German fire makes a Polish squad to a fanatic and creates a hero.

German turn five: A Polish HS twelves itself in the rally. The Germans fire some, move some. One German squad breaks. The Polish HS guarding the northern side road is eliminated. The HIP northern mortar team comes on board to fire. The bulk of the German force is still west of the side road. I believe the German player at this point started to give up on the idea of winning by exit points and switched the plan to win by CVP.

Polish turn five: The Poles can’t do much except fire and hope to survive the return fire. Fire breaks one Germans HS. All the Poles survive. They still have three HIP squads; they will only have good shots if the Germans go for the exit.

German turn six: Things went well for the Germans. German fire broke a Polish leader, a HS, a squad and the MMG squad guarding the main road. One HS was also taken prisoner. Not counting the prisoners, the Poles  have accumulated 9 CVP and the Germans have 3 CVP.

Polish turn six: No Polish rally. The last HIP Polish squad in the south east corner comes on board and moves forlornly towards the action. The best Polish leader is also broken. All that is left in the north east corner is one Good Order Polish HS and a lot of broken units.

German turn seven: No Polish units rally. The Germans have no trouble moving adjacent to all the north east Polish units. Seeing the number of prisoners that the Germans will take, I concede.

ROAR shows four Polish wins to two German wins. I over-committed to preventing the exiting of German units, which left a fair number of units out of place for much of the game, but I still wonder if this scenario is pro German. I also wonder if other players remembered about the PBF SSR. If the Poles try to get a lot of CVP by shooting up mounted motorcycle troops early, then the German reinforcements come on earlier. Perhaps a better plan for the Poles is try a fighting withdrawal from mid-board and work to prevent the Germans from getting behind them. This plan still allows the Poles to collect the bonus points on turn one.

In an ASL annual, Mark Nixon gave a balance analysis tool to calculate the percentage of firepower that each side has in a scenario. His theory states that the attacker should have 62% of the total firepower in play to have a balanced scenario; if the number is higher or lower, then there should be something to account for it, like fortifications on one side. The Germans start with 48.6% of the total firepower. After the reinforcements enter, they have 72.2%.