WWII Scenario - Drive on Bjerkvik

28mm FIW Project:
In what was to become the second company of 15th Regiment of foot, a bit of memory lapse resulted in white facings on the sixteen 1st Corps British figures. By the time I discovered my mistake, the figures already had white facings. Not wanting to rework the facing colors, I maintained the white facing and christened this unit as fourth company of the 47th Regiment of Foot.

The second company of the French regiment, Voluntaire Etrangers, is nearing completion. Painting is complete and I'm awaiting the dullcote to dry before basing.
With the completion of these two companies, my inventory (notwithstanding a collection of miscellaneous command) of FIW figures is exhausted.

28mm Napoleonic Peninsula Project:
Three mounted French officers are complete and awaiting basing. The Front Rank officers are really excellent sculpts and will look great on the table. These figures will be mounted individually on 50mm round bases. This change of mounting officers on round rather than rectangular bases will prompt me to rebase the few British officers I have.

15mm Napoleonic Project:Austrian flag sheets have been created and I'm preparing to reflag all of the Austrians in my collection.

On the painting table are 24 Russian grenadiers that will be forming two combined grenadier brigades. In addition to the grenadiers, I pulled 24 Austrians in shako and 20 British line from the bin and primed them. These 24 Austrian figures represent the last of the Germans in shako. The British line will form the core of 2x12 British regiments and allow me to utilize four British rifles that I've already painted.

Drive on Bjerkvik:The guys gathered on Saturday afternoon to refight the Norway 1940 scenario, Drive on Bjerkvik. Instead of using 1943, Battlefront would be the rule set in play. The game began similarly to the 1943 replay but quickly turned into a blood bath for the allies. Taking severe casualties on their advance along the coast road from the FJ heavy weapons, Austin called off the attack before the Poles could engage. In the northern end of the valley, Don's Norwegians, likewise, took heavy casualties as he tried to outflank the Germans holding the woods. The game ended in a complete disaster for the Allies.

I reset the scenario and replayed using 1943. As in the other game, the Irish advance along the coast road quickly bogged down with 1st coy losing 1/3 of its strength and becoming pinned. The Norwegians experienced better success and chose to use one coy as a diversion to attempt to slow the German advance south while using the 2nd coy as a spearhead towards the coast road. With the Irish advance stalled and the Brits continuing to take heavy casualties, I stopped the game.

In both games, cross country movement in the snow is so difficult that an advance along the coast road quickly outstrips any chance of support from follow-on companies. Perhaps, a more rational approach for the Allies is to attack out of the woods and across the valley rather than attacking along the coast road? Combined with the quick dash by the Norwegians down the valley on skis, this might be the solution for which I've been searching.