I played this last night with Pooch (All Teutonic Screaming Fallschirmjaeger) and found it to be a real hoot, do-able in four hours and reasonably balanced. A detailed AAR is pointless, as Pooch and I were playing CX after a long work day. Being good friends, we constantly offered each other golden opportunities, and equally graciously, consistently overlooked the same. My crappy but determined troops failed morale checks at every chance, but I always had just enough Good Order boys to hang onto my gains. Pooch was less fortunate, and by turn three had six squads eliminated or broken - his only highlight was an uber8-1 that wounded twice, ELRd, and then battle-hardened and went heroic. Of course, my sniper killed the insolent SOB. I made a game of it by neglecting to pay attention to the VCs (preparing for AvalonCon) and had to scramble for my fifth building, but Pooch's early luck buried him for the endgame.
The highlight of Pooch's defense was a well-sighted 50L in 6G4, with great LOS to a couple victory buildings plus the ridge on 39. This gun went on a ROF tear, immobilizing one Sherman and shocking two more, and was a general pain in my backside. The second gun was in 6J7, I think; maybe not where I'd put it, but it's tough to find decent locations on this board. The Germans have tough 468s, which fail NMCs less than half as often as the 666s and 546s they face in this scenario. The 50Ls generally ping Sherman hulls, but they can cut the turret front 1/6 of the time and shock on a '5', and are good against side and rear facings. As noted elsewhere, bocage is Panzerfaust country, so that is a real threat to the US armor as well. Finally, to win the Amis must capture one of three buildings against the far mapedge, and the German reinforcements are powerful and timed to anticipate and meet the American thrust.
The American side has crummy morale but a lot of firepower, and plentiful leadership. He needs the leadership to scrape up wayward GIs, and the firepower keeps him in the game in the meantime. Once across the road below the ridge and into the bocage, the American has rally terrain close at hand and the claustrophobic terrain begins to work for him. Armor/Infantry cooperation is essential to protect the M4s from nasty 'fausts, but once the -2 aquisitions build up on well-sighted MG nests, the German D starts to slide. Also, though lax, the Americans have enough squads to risk beating on the German in CC, always with the upper hand strength-wise.
I recommend the scenario highly, epecially those who enjoy the tactical problems offered by 6 morale troops. I also suggest you amend your scenario card to read, "Americans Move First", to avoid giving away cheap wins to the likes of Perry Cocke. Give it a try! Take care,
JR