I'm not one to normally become involved in the command side of a battle. Oh of course I'll act as a mission leader plenty, but that normally only means I have to get shot at while fixing the map. At Moreuil near the very end of the campaign I did just that, I stepped up to try and help a poor situation. I may have hesitated, or been too aggressive, or used supply I shouldn't have since in the end we still lost the town; but in the end those involved in the battle at least seem to have enjoyed themselves.

When I looked in on the situation it seemed pretty hopeless. The Germans controlled all but the army base and were pushing the town with 4 brigades from Villers-Bretonneux, and 2 other brigades from Bouchoir. Six brigades against our single beleagured brigade. I asked that an Armored brigade be moved down from Amiens to the rear area town of Essertaux and despite not being a part of Allied High Command myself they obliged and I did something I thought I never would. I organized a large relief column to try and help the town. Initially the players were slow to answer but the rally came and eventually we had more than 2 dozen Shermans and M10s on the road. We took a cross-country route to avoid any early contact and didn’t take any fire until nearing the army base. The terrain was against us, the army base lying in the lowest part of town, and we started taking casualties from the large numbers of panzers and anti-tank guns in the area.

The column didn’t last very long unfortunately, after the first shots nearly all the armor had been destroyed within 20 minutes but it seemed to have at least given us a chance, the noose around the army base had been cut and the defending infantry started pouring out again. First to the nearby Essertaux depot, and then across town taking 3 other control points, including one very active German spawn. The players performed superbly; armor, guns, and infantry all worked together in the drive and kept each other informed of where the enemy was and where the next attack would be. The map was excellently marked as well, and I learned that marks will use lower case letters, uppercase letters, and numbers as it fills up more and more. This also goes to prove that the map isn’t always the game of high-command chess some people claim. The Allies, through excellent gameplay and communication, stretched what should have been a quick 6:1 axis sweep of the field into an afternoon and evening long fight delaying their push on the southern flank.

I will still leave the map moving to the high command, but I think in the future I won’t be quite as hesitant to put on the commander’s hat on the battlefield, especially considering the soldiers around me.

Submitted by ''Stu"

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