Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 28th:
Spearhead Division #15 - Dillenberg
A very close run on opening day of Barbarossa
Author Brett Nicholson
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2013-11-26
Language English
Scenario EFDx001

I went into this scenario believing it would be an almost effortless win for Germany and it turned out to be a very desperate struggle. German victory conditions were not met until turn 20, the last turn.

This scenario required a lot of coordination in regards to the German forces and managing them was a challenge in itself. With the Soviets, I divided their forces as evenly as I could between the village and town leaving just a few reduced INF units by the bridge and road to act as speedbumps to slow the German advance down. I didn't have much hope in generating the required 10 step losses for a Soviet victory or draw so instead, I did everything I could with the Soviets to avoid unnecessary combat. A lot of this involved waiting until German units moved or fired first and then either rallying or moving to another spot where LOS was blocked if possible - a lot of bullet dodging. This strategy worked for quite a while, in fact, the smaller village did not become completely German controlled until turn 16. Luckily I had a good draw of Soviet leaders to rally units as well.

With the Germans I played very conservatively, maybe too much. However, as a result of that, there was only one German step loss the whole battle from an INF unit taking in opportunity fire. I also attempted a river crossing with the Germans early on and it was almost met with total disaster when 76.2mm shells disrupted the ENG unit assisting the crossing which in turn disrupted all other units in the river hex. I only managed to get one HMG unit across before aborting the attempt. By that time the bridge and road had been cleared but it costed valuable time. I probably didn't go about the German attack in the best manner by being cautious and there were times that I thought the Soviets would manage to hold on. Eventually, despite some mistakes and setbacks, I managed to surround and eliminate all Soviet units except for one reduced INF and a few lone leaders that scattered, leaving someone to tell the tale and/or possibly get court-martialed and shot. It was a tough timetable for me to keep with the Germans but soon, though not a moment too soon, the last town hex was cleared and secured. A long story short, a very painstaking and tedious German victory. It wasn't the rollover I had expected and believe that the Soviets have a lot fairer chance of winning or getting a draw than the stats for the scenario here may suggest. I believe that I could of both deployed Soviet forces a little better and inflicted a lot more German losses though I think I also did well with delaying actions. With the Germans, I could of taken more risks early on and reached objectives sooner. I would be very interested in revisiting this one as a shared play and think it may actually be more enjoyable that way. I noticed that from the recorded plays that they were all logged in solo like this one. I give this one a solid '3'; nothing more, nothing less.

3 Comments
2013-11-27 04:56

Brett, this is one of those scenario's which if played FtF can result in total slaughter of the Soviets, if the Russian player trys any other tactic than the one you outline above. Imagine new players starting out with this scenario.

2013-11-27 08:06

I played this one long ago, Worried Morning being the AAR for that experience. It looks like you did the 2 stage defense rather like my opponent did. What I wonder about your game is what the Soviet plan was for after the first town fell. In our game it was to catch the German tanks in an AT ambush (it came close to working too).

2013-11-28 10:40

First Wayne -this would be a very discouraging and confusing scenario to start out with as a new player as it frustrated me a lot at times with playing the Germans. I took the possible loss of ten steps very seriously and had to be patient with making assaults. Lloyd - the Soviet plan was to keep moving around in the larger town hexes with the leaders and units, do whatever it took to delay the inevitable. Also, at key moments, fog of war came into play to the Soviet's benefit. The smaller village did not fall as quickly as anticipated or forecasted so there were two separate urban assaults going on for quite a while. I suppose if I had a Soviet strategy it was to divide the units as evenly as possible between both towns by proximity to their size along with dividing the Soviet leaders with morale modifiers between them. In the Soviet leader draw I was lucky enough to get three of them with a +1 modifier. Another factor -luck. The Soviet plan was to spread out in the larger town and keep moving sround until there were no spaces or good order units left. As far as AT ambushes go, both the 45mms were eliminated as soon as they fired and missed targets and with INF versus tank assaults, well, too many tanks to risk losing ground in town hexes. I probably should of attempted those assaults in hindsight as time was running out as tanks are worth two step losses and a draw may have been forced but even that seems like a longshot.

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