Soviet Minor Victory.

Overall this is a very well balanced scenario that poses multiple dilemmas for each side. Each side has multiple courses of action. Victory conditions are based on step loses, controlling the town, the Soviet player getting steps exiting the south, and the German player preventing more than 15 Soviet steps from exiting (tanks counting double).

I played campsawyer over Skype. House rules used for balance: AT Guns are hidden until spotted to prevent "perfect" Soviet knowledge at start and prevent massed arty and tank avoidance.

Scenario Consideration:

Soviets - The Soviets can get 15 VPs for occupying the town on board 1. However, if the Germans defend with at least a company, they can sufficiently deny Soviet control of all 5 hexes, tie down 3 x worth the Soviet force and make him split his efforts to have insufficient force to attempt a penetration. So - at best- the Soviets could get 15 pts for the town, but fail to get 15 steps off board and end with a net result of 0 PTs - leaving it to pure step VPs. When you do the math, it adds up better to give the Germans the 10 points he gets for the town, deny him the 15 he gets for preventing penetration. In that case the Soviets end up with +5 pts, plus points for every step exited, this puts victory in favor of the USSR and masses his forces 3+:1 vs. dug in Jerrys. The math comes down to how fast can you move your slowest units - namely HMGs and in this case it ties them to the roads. Additionally, an interesting special rule is that the Soviets lose initiative for EVERY leader casualty - so that makes leaders very attractive targets to the Germans more than usual and are a potential center of gravity for defeating the Soviets.

Germans - Ultimately, the German has to decide if he is to spread his meager force and try to defend everywhere and disrupt a Soviet penetration sufficiently or to give up the town and mass his defense to try and block a penetration. He has to put some force in the town, or else he surrenders VPs to an unopposed Soviet sweep. But he cannot put too much in the town and risk it getting bypassed. He has to place the AT guns where they can best range most of the board and lure the Soviet tanks into engagement areas.

Set-up/Plan:

GERMANS: The Germans revealed their set-up as a standard disruption pattern. I assessed he would try to defend the town, and disrupt my movement down the road sufficiently to try and conduct an AT ambush and delay me from exiting forces. - He place a singular leader in the large woods on board 1 to serve as a forward observer and prevent any strategic movement. -He placed a reinforced Infantry company (3 x INF, 1 x HMG) in the town, plus a mortar battery in 0302 (3 x 81mm). -An dug-in HMG company (2 x HMGs, 1 x INF) just north of the intersection marked his initial disruption zone - An Infantry Company (3 x INF) in the woods on board 5 anchored his right flank - An Infantry company (-) (1x INF) and 75mm Infantry Gun wer set up on the hill anchoring his left flank with 2 x INF PLTs dug in the vicinity of 0709 as a blocking force. - I assumed his AT Guns would be in hex 0707 (I was right) and 0811 (I was wrong - it was in the town)

SOVIETS - I decided I would go all in on the penetration. My plan was to use the Infantry Regiment to attack along the road in the center. The road would anchor the HMGs to allow them to move in a bounding manner down the road at movement "3" I would try to maintain a solid chain of command to allow single activation to mass movement and never keep forces from moving due to Fog of War. The LT COL was centered in the regimental column with Infantry advancing in adjacent columns by bounding platoon on the east side of the road in order to avoid direct fire from the town would try and stay out of mortar range as long as possible. I would use the large woods as a rally point for fleeing infantry and a base of fire for my mortars, 120mm mortar. mY BT-7 BN and SMGs were my Reserve. They were to advance into the field near the town to demonstrate near it and fix German forces there until I could quickly move tot he east side of the road to get off board. I intended to never use them in the combat but instead use them to penetrate off board and get the most VPs I could for them... but I changed that to my detriment.

Execution: To Be Written

Assessment/Techniques, Tactics, Procedure Recommendations:

GERMANS:

1. SUSTAIN Overall, I thought the German disruption set-up was valid. IMPROVE -However, I feel he left his dug-in positions too hastily and allowed me to maintain momentum to get to a point where I could get off the board quickly. Recommendation - when dug in with higher quality leaders and fire power but facing an enemy who is faster outnumbers and your mission is to delay... fight to die in place.

2. SUSTAIN - some forces in the town. IMPROVE - I think he put too much force in the town and risked too much with me bypassing him I agree with 3 x INF Platoon, but I think that would have been sufficient. His placement of 3x 81 mm mortars allowed me to skirt around his range fan a lot and prevented the mortars from disrupting my forces attempting to exit in the final turns. RECOMMENDATION - the 81mm might be better served on board 5 either behind the hill or in the fields- like hex 1106, where they could have supported a more integrated defensive line and jumped into melee as a last ditch effort to delay my final penetration attempts- which were through those fields. His HMG in the town gave him a mobile reserve to attack my rear and it racked up some good step losses, however, it was never effective in preventing my penetration of his lines - where I was gaining the most points. Recommendation - add that HMG to the integrated defensive line somewhere around hex 0812 thru 0908 to increase the strength of the kill zone. The AT Gun in the town was a waste, and I think even if I attacked with the SMGs and tanks into the town, it was too much of a risk for him to place it there gambling I would do that. The gun played no role. Only getting off a single shot. Recommendation - use the AT Guns in an integrated fashion dug in somewhere in 0612, 0812, 0707 area.

3. SUSTAIN - the lone leader forward observer. You have the leaders to use, and this guy was a hassle and effective for a low cost.

4. SUSTAIN - some forces in the woods on board 5. Again, some force structure here can harrass or disrupt the Soviet flanks, or even better, suck him into a fight. I ended up doing in the woods what I wanted to avoid in the town, over committing forces better used for the penetration. In the end, I thought the Germans 3 x INF in the woods would be easy picking for the time I had remaining. In the end, at the cost of his 6 steps, he prevented me from moving about 14+ steps off board.

SOVIETS

1. SUSTAIN - GO BOLDLY for the penetration. Going all in to penetrate focused my effort and forces to mass against the Germans.

2. IMPROVE - BYPASS difficult terrain. Time is not on the Soviet Side, especially with a few successful Fog of War rolls. I successfully stuck to my plan to bypass the town, and hill, and use field only when necessary for concealment... but I got greedy to cause enemy casualties when I didn't need to, and ended up getting a good sized component of combat power fixed on the wrong objective.

3. SUSTAIN - the "Juggernaut" Regiment in 3xcolumn formation with bounding platoons and chain of command, tied to the road so that HMGs could sustain the rate of march was essential to maintaining tempo. Though the HMGs never made it off board, they were able to lay down sufficient firepower to enable 4 INF Platoons to bypass the final defensive positions and move off board. The Juggernaut began to breakdown by the end but successfully got 1 x INF Company off board.

4. SUSTAIN - drop the 45mm AT gun and 120mm mortars off early and use the truck to move infantry or 81mm mortars. It is a better use of the transports to move more flexible forces and get them off board.

5. SUSTAIN - use infantry to try and spot the AT Guns and do not commit the tanks until you know where the AT guns are and can suppress them. The tanks are so fast and valuable for VPs and carrying SMG PLTs, time is on their side

MVP: I vote the German 10-2-1 LT and his HMG PLT as the German MVP. These guys started the game in forward positions and were generally overrun by a Soviet Infantry Regiment. They successfully withdrew from close combat and turned the tables on their attackers. In the end, I think these guys totaled about 6 Soviet steps, and ended the game in good order and positioned to continue to do some damage.

MVP Soviets: I think have to go with my 9-0-1 LT who was able to lead 3 INF PLTs across the board, successfully assault and destroy one of the AT Guns making it possible for me to exit my tanks and trucks that got off the board and then the LT and INF PLTs made it off the board. My runners up were my LT COL and the CPT that kept getting targeted but surviving long enough to keep the regiment moving to the objective.

German Casualties: TBD

Soviet Casualties: TBD