When I started play, I had that funny feeling that given the balance of forces, the VC's for the Germans were a tall order. 12 German infantry squads, 6 HMG's,and two engineers oppose 16 NKVD, 9 RKKA and 9 RKKA SMG units. Not really a German advantage. In the tank department, the four Stug IIIB are clearly superior to the seven T-60's on the Russian side. The Germans field an assortment of seven onboard guns, while the Russian weigh in with 6 x 45mm ATG's and whopping five dual purpose 76.2mm field guns. The Germans get a total of three off board artillery modules, the Russians none. I stacked three of the 76.2's for 30 artillery factors, giving the Russians some decent bombardment strength.

With this OOB, the Germans need to control all road hexes reaching from the east edge to the middle of the western board and have ten steps of units across the Neva River. Now I may not be the best PG player, but I don't think this is happening for the Germans. Granted, the Russians will have to spread their forces to protect the road, the river and the town (which features in the major victory for the Germans), but there is enough material to contest control of the road as it winds its way through forests and have some forces to protect the other objectives.

Fairly early on, I changed the VC to the Germans just taking the road portion between the two forest patches on board 6 and not lose more than 10 steps. This turned out to be a tight and enjoyable contest, with the Russians controlling the road in just one hex and the Germans losing 13 steps.