ARGENTAN/FALAISE POCKET
This scenario focuses on the closing of the Falaise Gap by the Canadians and Poles. Because it is a US campaign, I have taken an a-historical approach with their involvement. By the time the scenario starts the US XV Corps and others were in striking distance of closing the Pocket but Bradley chose to halt them around Argentan - partly due to supply reasons but also to avoid friendly fire incidents as the British advanced from the north. This allowed a huge number of Germans to escape that would go on to reform in Belgium and German in coming months.

To make the US player's involvement more significant I have assumed Bradley will give Patton his head with the XV Corps and continue to attack. This makes it much more interesting!

I had no idea so many SS divisions were involved in this battle - 1SS LSSAH, 12SS Hitlerjugend and 10SS Frundsberg were all in danger of being trapped; while 2SS Das Reich and 9SS Hohenstaufen mounted a counter attack from outside the pocket to keep the gap open. It was a huge catastrophe for the Germans and largely due to Hitler's insistence on mounting the Mortain Offensive 'Luttich' earlier. I am beginning to believe Hitler was the Allies' best general! :)

Eisenhower's words about what he witnessed on a tour of the battlefield two days later are sobering.

Scenario design
This scenario made me more frustrated with the AI than any other but I did learn a lot about it (just in time for it to change when AK comes out!) I wanted there to be a general, phased retreat but it's not simple to set that up. I tested and tested what the AI would do with AI triggers (Default, Defender, Attacker, Hold Position) and individual settings. It's fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

For example, I set the 9SS and 2SS to launch their counterattacks but I wanted them to not be on the map until certain conditions had been met. I could get that to work AOK but I couldn't get them to go anywhere! Set them to Attacker or anything and they just stayed put. And then I noticed something - they were 'circling the wagons' around the AA and artillery units they had. What if I take away the AA and artillery, I thought to myself. Sure enough, without the comfort blanket of these the SS divisions began to do what they were supposed to do - attack! Good lesson to learn.

So I wanted one of the victory conditions to be dependent on how many German units escaped. How to do that without exposing them to US fire at the map edge? I constructed the map to have an area in the east clustered around a number of objectives set just off the map edge. The German units set to Defender marched toward them. To prevent the player being able to attack these escapees I created a very tough unit without an icon and placed them along a straight line - so as far as the player is concerned they have a force field in front of them!

The escaping units are weak - 2 strength each - and can be attacked and destroyed easily before they reach the escape hexes. However, doing so will use ammo, of course, and may also distract the player from the coming SS counter attack. It's up to the player...