METZ

This is a hard scenario to make challenging for the player because the US had overwhelming material superiority, an almost inexhaustible supply of men (some of whom were not experienced, however), command of the air, and the Allies' most audacious general in Patton.

What they didn't have command of were the elements. The roads turned to mud, the supplies were harder to get through and the Moselle River threatened to flood the whole valley and in places did break its banks. Snow flurries were beginning to fall.

So, for this scenario, I chose to use the elements to slow the US player down a bit - oh, and the 17SS Panzergrenadier Division, which was in the area. The Moselle is now a major river requiring bridging engineers to cross, the weather has a decent chance of rain and mud and the enemy is well dug in. The fortresses around Metz are tough but not nearly as tough as in real life. I watched the following video on Youtube and Fort Dinant and For Jean d'Arc were much tougher than in this scenario but I didn't want them to be the focus.

Battle of Metz (Parts 1-3) on Youtube

The 17SS PG has become the player's nemesis in the campaign - they were at Carentan in the D-Day scenario, adjacent to the 2SS Das Reich at Cobra, and now forming the major enemy at Metz. They'll appear again around Nuremberg in the final Germany scenario, too. Tough mudders!