J. R. Tracy  - Apr 27, 2005 9:22 am (#9678 Total: 9700)  
"I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." 
- Milka Duno, Le Mans 	 

David Fox and I tried The Naughty Endeavor last night. Just for laughs I
invaded in the Pas de Calais, to see if it is a viable option. Herr
Fuchs responded by immediately ring-fencing me in with panzers and SS
lurking under innocent-looking static infantry divisions. I managed to
take Boulogne-sur-Mer and lucked out with a '1' on the port delay roll,
and was soon filling my lodgement chock full of armor. I eventually
cracked David's coastal corner position to link up with a secondary
landing outside of Le Havre, and the race was on, with my Anvil/Dragoon
forces pushing north out of Provence for added pressure. 

Interlude: we had a short fistfight in the middle of the game over what
exactly constitutes a good-faith effort to hold Paris. Two infantry
divisions for the City of Light? Gimme a break! As it happens we
realized by landing north of the Seine I rendered the point moot. 

Eschewing Paris, I drove into coastal Belgium and Holland, using my last
beachhead to land outside of The Hague. Some Allied misfortune against
the plucky bicyclists holding Rotterdam held me up, but I was able to
take Antwerp without much trouble, and the cyclists' luck ran out soon
after. David fell back further, occupying the West Wall in force. Paling
at the prospect of hammering quadruple-strength Nazis all winter long, I
attempted to turn the left flank on the bounce. I got lucky and blew
through an SS Panzergrenadier division at Arnhem, following up with a
load of armor in exploitation movement down the right bank of the Rhine.
That's where we ended it, with the Allies looking in decent shape. 

Overall, it was a positive experience. Highlights are the beach and port
mechanics, airpower managment, and the Allied HQ/supply functions. The
Defend The Reich! bit is a nice touch as well. Some elements feel like
patches, like the Emergency Attack function (for the Allies, anyway),
though they serve to keep things rolling. We didn't care for the
volatility of the port-opening die roll - any where from a one to six
turn delay, with the latter a disaster for the Allies. Play value was
good as the Allies - considering where to hit the beach and managing my
various resources and constraints. David indicated the German seat was
about what he expected, no complaints but not the glory days of the
Wehrmacht, either. Even he was somewhat relieved when I cracked the
Rhine - the Westwall fight was shaping up to be WWI Redux. 

We were both pleased to see a Pas de Calais attack have some success,
though David felt he wasn't sufficiently aggressive in counterattacking
before I was well established. The downside to a Pas de Calais assault
is the difficulty in reinforcing the initial landings - this is when the
Allies are most vulnerable and I chose to build an ablative shield of
airborne divisions to preserve my precious beachhead markers. With a
couple more shoves David might've taken one or more. This would've been
very unlikely on the Cotentin, given the terrain and the ability to
immediately reinforce the landings. 

In sum, thumbs up - fast playing, not fiddly in the least, decent
flavor, hits the high points in reflecting historical decision points.
CSW kerfluffles over Paris and map ommissions didn't mar our experience.
Worth a look - three thumbs up. 

JR