I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the local American football team is revered. After they had won a couple championships the pre-season predictions were all quite sure that they would win the championship again. A journalist asked for the ability to follow the team during the season and chronicle what was supposed to be another championship. As you would expect with a build-up like that, the team did not win the championship that year due to several small but ultimately critical failings. The book that resulted from the journalist's observations was titled "Three Bricks Shy of a Load" and was received quite well in sports and critical circles.

In this scenario, the Germans will probably find themselves three bricks shy as well. Their job is to cross two boards of open ground, dislodge a larger force than their own and take a town. They do have a morale advantage and they do have decent OBA but the task is difficult. While I found that the Germans had the strength to get into the town they were just a little short of having the force to "take" the town. I ended up with two hexes of the town controlled by Germans, two hexes contested and one held by the Soviets.

There were a number of points in the game at which a better roll would have meant a better chance at German victory but there were also four straight Kommisar morale checks in the early game which led to "reeducations". This despite the fact that the Kommisar was a "10" rated Komissar, so luck would seem to have been pretty even.

Don't get me wrong, with another 4-6 turns the Germans would probably have taken the town but the attackers would have been completely fought out. As it was, they were not full of vim and vigor at the end of turn 20. Only the comparative weakness of the Soviets kept the Germans from being ejected from the town. Lots of choices for both sides in this one. I give it a "4".