Alan Snider  - Dec 18, 2005 3:33 pm (#11569 Total: 11637)  
On the Playtest Table: Khyber Pass Games' "The Battle of 
the Little Bighorn"; and announcing the "Northern Knights 
Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada with a retail store 
of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/ 
	 
GAMEDAY, Dec 18/2005: Terence Co and I tried the new S&T #232 Dagger
Thrusts: Montgomery & Patton. I again took the Americans, with Terence
set to direct the German defence. In my initial playthrough with the
Patton scenario, I had a really tough time clearing Metz, and this
resulted in my offensive stalling just beyond Saarbrucken/Trier. This
time, I intended to take the lessons learned an get a better
playthrough. 

I more or less chose the same airborne landing areas for the AAA units.
They landed adjacent to the Ruhr from Boppard to Karlsruhe. The Poles
landed on the west side of the Ruhr at Worms. 

The first thing to be altered from my first playthrough was the choice
to take move-move, rather than move-fight on the first turn. I took one
complete brigade around Metz ,through the woods, but ensure to block the
retreat from Metz. I was able to do this only partially, choosing to
create a superstack of 2 complete brigades set to mobile assault on the
next turn. I also managed to get a complete brigade right up next to
Saarbrucken. 

The Germans at Metz chose to pull back, although slowed by ZoCs they
could not completely extricate themselves from the situation. It did,
however, force the Americans to take move-move, or move- fight; as the
superstack was no longer in range to fight. 

The next 2 turns centred fighting in 2 areas...near Trier and
Saarbrucken, and the airborne units being attacked near the Ruhr. As one
might expect, the Poles were the first to be pounced upon, and they were
eliminated in a bloodbath (German option). Fortunately, I had placed the
balance of the airborne units in such a way that it was difficult to get
more than 1 attacking hex adjacent and the German dierolls helped as
well... the results were often DE, which is a single step loss. The
airborne units looked like they just might hang on... 

On turn 3, I received a brand new full brigade (with unit cohesiveness
intact) which I moved up to Trier. This allowed me to present a threat
of sorts to any units up in the Ruhr industrial area ie. the Germans
would have to keep units in the area to prevent that possibility. My
thinking was..I would hold them back til turn 6, then head to help
establish the bridgehead. This way, the Germans protecting the Ruhr
would not be able to arrive in time... 

The Germans to their credit, kept taking bloodbath options whenever
presented to them on counterattack. this had the nasty effect of
eliminating partial brigades and their unit cohesiveness bonus with it.
This proved such a effective strategy, that the American were left with
barely over half (4 of 7) of the full brigades intact by the beginning
of turn 6. 

On the bright side, the Americans were indeed fighting for the bridge
hexes at both Gemersheim and Mainz. As the airborne units had held at
Boppard, the American scooted a full brigade around behind Mainz on turn
6, thereby having some units attacking at full strength. The fighting
across bridge hexes alone are nearly impossible. 

The remaining German units around Mannerheim and Karlsruhe were penned
in by airborne units and a single intact brigade, just in case they had
ambitions of cutting off the American land-based supply lines. This
became a real danger on truns 7-8, as there were precious little
American units left to secure the bridgehead AND protect their supply
line. 

On turn 8, I was able to fan out and take a full 7 hexes on the east
side of the Ruhr between Worms and Mainz, with the bridge at Worms in
American hands. This was a difficult set of final moves as I need to
prevent the Germans at Mannerheim from counterattacking and reducing the
bridgehead below 5 hexes. As I had 7 Ruhr hexes, even a successful
attack by the Germans out of Mannerheim could not prevent the American
victory. The Americans were spread awful thin, but they did fulfill
victory conditions. 

The 1st turn of Dagger Thrusts is the most significant, as I believe
that if you "gack" your offensive on the first turn. that may determine
your fate. That being said: If the American can get out of the blocks in
good shape, it makes for a very tense game, with lots of tough decisions
as they race against the clock. 

Also note, I have had maybe one rules question as we've gone through 2
games. I cannot remember a rulebook where I only required one
explanation/ clarification. This game will delight wargamers with many
playthroughs, and the game is short enough (3 hours) that you can play
it twice in an evening... Perfect chance to try the Montgomery game ,
too