A small but powerful Soviet force seeks to hold a town against a larger but fragile mobile force of German recon units. This scenario is short (10 turns) and the German has a bunch of odd units to contend with. The Soviets have a strong position but will find it hard to use their strength fully.

This one plays as more of a puzzle. The Soviet player has a lot of powerful AT capability, 2 T-34s (Guards) a T-70 a 57mm and a 76.2mm as well as an ATR. The German has a lot of vehicles but, as befitting a recon unit, much of the force is light on armor and relatively high on speed, with the exception of one reduced Tiger. They do, however, outnumber the Soviets significantly. The puzzle is how to get this force to approach the town without experiencing high levels of loss in order to permit a win.

The Soviets set up with their AT guns in the fields to the west of town and their armor and infantry in the town itself. The open space surrounding the town to the west provides ample killing ground as the Germans approach. By only putting a couple of soft steps in vulnerable locations I have limited the likelihood that the Germans will try a standoff approach. I want them to assault where my combined arms bonsues will give me column shifts and, with any luck, plenty of step losses.

The Germans enter in two forces in order to draw fire. The first force consisting of leg infantry and the Tiger approach from the northwest. The Tiger is sent to skirt the fields to the north and the infantry digs into the fields to root out the AT guns. The second batch consisting of all the motley vehicular stuff (Pz IIs, Pz IIIs, SPW 250s, Kugelwagens, and the odd armored cars and SP guns) as well as the MTC company come onto the board in the southwest and use the woods for cover, waiting for the northern arm to do some damage.

Just a quick note about patience. PG is a game that demands that the player be patient and avoid exposing their forces until the opportune time. I know this because I have lost more than one scenario due to a lack of patience. This lesson is never more important than in a short scenario where time pressure can force one to forget and rush into attacks underprepared.

The Germans spend the first 5 turns of the scenario clearing the AT guns from the fields and hiding their more pwerful, fragile units in the woods with clear lines of fire to the town. The MTC company takes a trip around the south of the town to end up in the fields to the north, drawing fire from the T-70s and other troops in the town (permitting them to be spotted, drawing fire in a careful way gives you shooting rights!). The T-70 is then reduced to ash. The T-34s engage the Tiger which shows up north of town.

On turn 6 the T-34s both shoot their entire fire at the Tiger and the accumulation of vehicles south of town rush to take advantage of the situation. They are taking a chance since, if the Germans fail to get the initiative on turn 7 they will be sitting ducks. They do, however, get the initiative and manage to get to the opposite side of town, out of sight of the T-34s who now must choose whether to continue to engage the Tiger or move to engage the softer vehicles. The T-34b doesn't get to think about it long however as the Tiger finally hits (it has a +3 AT fire against the T-34b in town) and it promptly demoalizes.

The soft skinned vehciles approach the town and let loose with a dizzying array of direct fire, causing losses and demoralizations to the stunned defenders. The leg infantry which had been clearing out the fields advances to assault the western edge of the town and the Tiger continues to fire away at the T-34c. On turn 9, with one town hex having fallen to the Germans the T-34 moves to engage the soft skinned side of town and its fire does kill one tank step (a Pz III of all things) but it is too little too late. The Germans take one town hex and contest two others. The Soviet losses are significant, while the German losses are light. The final score is 17-6. I could perhaps have cut the lead to 14-6 by assaulting rather than just firing with the T-34 but at that point the writing was on the wall.

The keys to the victory were, clearing out the AT gun screen in the fields without exposing any of the lighter units to fire, drawing the fire of the T-70 and destroying it from long range, keeping the Soviet attention on the Tiger while maneuvering the recon units to the opposite side of town.

For the Soviets I would strongly suggest that the T-34b be "away" from the Tiger, wherever it may show up. The T-70 should be behind (in the eastern hex) the town, using the town terrain to shield it from the German fire. It is ultimately more important for the Soviet player to keep the AT threat against the soft skinned units as the German player will need their firepower to accomplish their goal. I know that the 3 points for the Tiger are very, very attractive but a 1/36 chance of a hit, without a crossfire, just isn't worth the turn or two given to the Germans to get around your flank.

This is a good learning scearnio for combined arms tactics. There is a lot going on yet there are only a few units. It would be fine ftf for a short session (say a Skype play) but is probably even better as a solo play). I give it a 3 but a fun three neverthe less.