A woefully inadequate German force is beset by a large, high morale Soviet force containing a platoon of the KV-2 monsters. The thin crust of the German defense is backed by some service and headquarters troops. All the Soviets have to do is break through the German defenses, drive down the road to a town, 2 boards away and clear it of the light headquarters troops.

Then again, there's some snow on the ground, this is after all Russia in the winter. Actually there's so much snow on the ground that the monster is limited to a movement factor of "1". The four KV-1 platoons with it have a movement factor of "2". Even the HMGs and AT rifle platoons are reduced to a movement factor of "1". To those of you who are mathematically inclined, this indicates that, under no circumstances can the heavy infantry weapons actually make it to the town during the scenario and that the only way the tanks can arrive is for the Soviets to push directly down the road. The Germans were indeed able to count to 24 and set up accordingly with two entrenchments actually across the road with flanking entrenchments far enough away to set up the 50mm with a cross fire capability.

The Soviets, also not idiots, held back their tanks until the infantry could invest the AT guns on the flanks and then moved forward, crushingly. An opportunistic German officer, seeing a large stack of Soviets fired on the hex with OBA, even though it was the entrenchment containing the German 50mm. Those readers with a sense of irony know that this is simply an invitation to a "12" roll, which did indeed occur, eviscerating the Soviets and rendering the 50mm similarly hors de combat. Please note that if you are following the rules you will use separate die rolls for this combat. Me, I just plowed ahead and accepted the loss. No matter what the 50mm wasn't going to be firing while the tanks were moving by, it was in an assault hex.

It was at this point that fate (and I find this happens quite frequently in my Eastern Front games with random events) stepped in and rendering my German counter thrust strategy useless. I had kept a reinforced company out of the Soviet view in the town on Board 1 with the express intent of throwing them into the battle once the Soviets reached the second entrenchment on the road, hoping that a fire behind them would force the Soviets to take notice. The random event was to send reinforcements elsewhere - 6 steps of infantry, 2 steps of HMG and a leader... The best laid plans of mice and men...

Freed from immediate concern of AT fire the Soviets rolled over the two entrenchments, using two KV-1s and the KV-2 (assault fire 34) without loss.

The German support units had dug in on the middle board (board 8 which is remarkably devoid of cover) and prepared to receive the slowly (that MF of "1" again) advancing Soviets. One can only imagine the feeling of the men in their hastily dug holes as they watched the Soviet tanks advance for the better part of an hour. Well, actually I didn't have to imagine it as the Soviet OBA started hitting the dug in units and one promptly ran away. In the meantime the Germans used what units they had to reestablish their initial line to the east thus isolating the Soviet penetration. Useless from a game standpoint but good tactical doctrine as the supporting logistics could not operate and the penetration would end up being more of a raid than a capture of territory.

The tanks made short work of the support units but again time was passing. In short the Soviets made it to Vorontsovo with a very large force, sufficient to clear the town easily but the clock ran out on them. The German headquarters units were able to retain control of several hexes in the western part of the town and, by and large, were able to avoid combat while doing so.

It is CLEAR that the Soviets would have taken the town but their inability to keep the road clear behind them spelled trouble for their spearhead in any event. The "win" for the Germans works for me.

The movement restrictions created by the heavy snow are critical to an understanding of the scenario. No matter how much time you think you need to accomplish a task, realize that you are under fire for much longer before you reach your objectives and that you will leave a trail of disrupted and demoralized units as you move. A solid "3" with a hint of "4" for the scenario ranking. I really enjoyed the interplay of the German delaying actions and the Soviet frustration with the slow movement.