So ... my regular opponent and I select TOT 2 "First Attack" as our new scenario to play. We randomly select sides, and I end up German.
Look at the terrain. Read the SSRs. Grok the KGP mist rules. OK, no biggy there. Grok the Bayonet Charge rules. OK, lots of verbiage, but the actual play of the rule seems fairly straight-forward. Remembering the rumours about TOT scenarios, I interpret the fact that the Germans "may" use BC actually means that they "must" use it or be hosed. OK.
Americans set up. OK. Germans roll a "6" for the recon dr, excellent, lots of snooping around in American positions. Oh look, there's the US radio observer. Cool.
Get the Germans ready in their cloaking boxes and start the game ... let's see ... wind DR, nothing, mist DR, a 3! AAUGHH!
All of a sudden, the "wall of night" the Germans were expecting to enter behind vanishes. The "very heavy" mist still provides lots of LOS hindrance, making movement through the open fairly safe, but since the Americans can see almost completely across the board now, the German cloaking benefits and the American "No Move" restrictions have effectively disappeared. And the Germans haven't even entered the board! Oh joy. This is not going to be a good game, I thinks to myself.
But wait, it gets worse. A turn or so later (the first turn having been careful movement and largely ineffective fire from the US), a small detachment of three squads and the 8-1 leader with FT move up the center to take the first, most forward building. The squads distract the defenders and the leader trots forward ready to hose the building with burning petroleum. So my opponent shoots him with the 60mm MTR, rolls snakes, and kills the poor bastard outright - AND malfs the FT as well.
On the German right flank, the 8-0 leader and a squad find themselves within easy walking distance of the American radio operator, who suddenly realises that his supporting US infantry has vanished (thanks to some good firing from these Germans in the previous turn). Cool, thinks I, sounds like a good time declare a bayonet charge to cross the distance with higher morale and get the SOB into CC before he can scoot away. The BC TC works fine, US def fire is feeble - right until I get into the actual woods hex with the US leader. Then a lone 5-4-6 rolls *another* snakes, causing a 1MC. Oh well, these are Germans on a BC, their morale is 9, a 1 MC is not such a big deal. Ho ho. The leader rolls a "12" and promptly dies of his wounds, and the squad rolls a "10". I start banging my head on the table.
And so it goes. Incidentally, of course, none of the numerous snakes that my opponent has been rolling (there were several in addition to the couple I describe above, although the others haven't been as painful in effect) have inspired the German sniper in the slightest.
I want my mommy.
We're still playing, and the Germans are by no means hosed yet, but there are three squads broken (out of a total of nine) and two of the three leaders are dead. The US have only a couple of squads broken, they can all move freely, and the only good news for the German is that I've managed to completely bypass the US pillbox line of defense and he is having trouble concentrating his forces due to my flanking actions. With luck (ha!) I'll have him chasing my "main force" rather than blocking me. But I still think that first-turn mist DR has screwed me.
Bruce Probst