Another situation where the Slovaks must delay a strong detachment of Germans. While there is more time than scenario 21 (7 full hours in this one), they must cover twice the distance and also have twice the effective width to cover. On the other hand, the Slovaks do not have a river to content with so wherever the Germans choose to enter it is likely that the entire Slovak force will be eventually able to contest the crossing.

In addition, the Slovaks pulled their super Porocik (a 1-10-2) and use him with a company of infantry in the first truly defensible position, a town on the western edge of the board. They have their AT strength (2 75s, an 88 and a Marder placed so as to give the PzIVHs fits with potential crossfire set up with the 37s and 1940 era tanks (35s and 38s). They also, somehow, have air support.

The Germans enter on the western edge of the playing surface, directly hitting the super Porocik. In a huge surprise the town falls quickly to the Germans and the Porocik is killed in the first shot at his hex. The 88 is quickly dispatched after its first shot, a lousy "3" on the AT table...

The Germans remain concentrated, trying to ensure that the Slovak tactic of hitting to delay with disruptions and demoralizations rather than pursuing kill shots (continued pounding of the same hex to gain double demoralizations) in order to delay the Germans. At the same time the Slovaks are rallying their forces from the eastern side of the board as the Germans are fully committed to the western axis.

Halfway through the Germans appear poised to gain a major victory by exiting nearly their whole force. Up to this point, they have only lost 6 steps to the Slovaks 17 and 5 armor steps. The concentrated German force is difficult for the Slovaks to assault and the Slovak artillery is too weak to cause any significant damage. At this point, however, there begins a series of 11 turns, 9 of which have endings determined by Fog of War rolls. Apparently, the German commander was taking a siesta given the ease with which they had rolled through the first 2/3 of the battlefield.

While the Slovak resistance improved at this point it remained too feeble to cause any significant losses (ultimately 10 plus 2 armor) but their delays on the Germans did keep 7 steps on board and with some better rolls earlier in the scenario they might have pulled out a victory. The end was not close but the play was interesting throughout. The key is to realize that the Slovaks will not win in a fight but the German morale is such that they will fail many of their checks and will have difficulty recovering. The Slovaks need to keep the Germans in sight and take chances to disrupt and demoralize the German units as often as possible.

The variety of Slovak units makes for an interesting set of defensive strategies. While they didn't work out for them in this play it is clear that they can win this one. I give it a "4" for the variety and general fun of it.