Lancing The Abscess - Combat Mission: Fortress Italy

Real slug fest at the start and gives you a good feel of the Anzio assault, but once the germans break though it seems to drag on

It started off lots of fun, but already before half-way through the weight of German heavy armour was literally crushing.

A PBEM-balanced scenario would slash the number of Tigers, make the game quite a lot shorter and give the Allies a nice big grid of TRPs.

This is a big battle with lots of armour, infantry and artillery to work with. The map is large and there is an excellent mix of both terrain and unit objectives. Also, the weather is a neat additional factor to consider as the muddy terrain and limited visibility also increases the challenge of the battle. Overall, the scenario appears to slightly favour the German attackers but I would need to play from the US side to be sure.

While the battle is enjoyable as is, there is definitely far too much artillery on the German side - 7 mortar missions along with 5 heavy missions including nebelwerfers! Cutting the artillery in half would make for a more enjoyable game as it would increase the importance of fire and manoeuvre.

Yanks really had no chance in this as the Germans just ran roughshod right through them.