Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 29th:
Spearhead Division #16 - Final Accounting
Russian hordes just triumph in monster scenario
Author waynebaumber
Method Solo
Victor Soviet Union
Play Date 2012-07-03
Language English
Scenario AFDx010

I have to thank Herr Hughes for bringing this one to my attention. At the start of the year we decided to look at all the PG game sets we both own and pick the scenario's we really fancied playing then compare the two lists, those scenario that were on both lists would be our FtF games in the future. This was an interesting exercise and in fact resulted in 36 matches, however when discussing our pick, Vince in a slightly patronizing manner wondered why I had not picked this one as it was obviously a easy Soviet win. To be fair we both pick scenarios that look interesting rather than go for what look like easy wins. Of course I decided that it would be a cold day in hell before I played Vince with this one and as it is too big for Skype I decided to solo it. This took three longish sessions to complete. The Russkies have to clear a road, take entrenchment, strong points and towns as well as eliminate Finns for VP's while the Finns are on the defensive obviously have to hold as much ground as they can. The Soviets have massive off board artillery and lost of on board artillery too, they outnuumber the Finns by 2-1 and have 48 turns to cross 3 boards. The Finns have better morale and better leaders. The biggest VP for the Soviets is to clear one of the two North/South roads and it would seem to make sense to overload one road while pushing a holding force up the other but with more than a 100 units to advance a broad front option is really the only option and even then its quite a feat to get the Russian horde to advance in a military manner. After the first 20 turns I thought Herr Hughes was right and it would be a steamroller as the Russian artillery blasted away at the Finnish A/T guns and the River was crossed with ease and the first town was taken. Finnish losses were heavier than Russian losses and I could not see this lasting 48 turns. However as the Russian columns got strung out and units were disrupted or demoralized it became harder to get coherent attacks in, this coupled with 10 very short game turns, Fog of War plays a big role in this one in fact without FOW this should be a piece of cake for the Red Army, meant that as night fell the game was in the balance. The Soviet had now hit the main Finnish line of resistance and losses were mounting, the last few turns even had the Finns counter attacking in the major town to the North this did cause some Soviet losses but in the end lead to a flank attack which took the rear of the now undefended town. On the other road a stubborn Finnish entrenchment held out to the end and therefore neither road was cleared. At game end I did not know who had won, and after counting all losses and VP hexes there was only 10 VP's in it. The early Finnish losses and the late Russian town grab had just swung it the Red Armies way. Cracking scenario, just not getting a 5 mainly because the first few turns are more about traffic management than tactics and the Finns have little to do after set up until its starts getting dark as Russian artillery makes any movement in the open very risky.

2 Comments
2012-07-03 10:29

I'm gonna pick this as my self-pick fave when it comes to my turn !

2012-07-03 14:49

Well as I text'd you before you won't enjoy watching the Soviet steamroller rollover your forces, but its your choice, just do not cry over my maps. LOL

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