I believe it's been noted more than once before that this is a great training scenario for learning to use armored units, but this one was still a challenge for me as I am not the best at handling tanks or with entering and exiting-type battles. The Scenario allows 40 turns for either the Romanians to exit three R-2 tank units off the south edge or for the Soviets to eliminate four Romanian steps. Also, the Romanians have a 50% chance of receiving air support each turn; it's not much but at least something as neither side has any OBA available.

The Romanian tankers get the intiative and head straight down the road from the north edge but plot their movement to end just out of long range of the anticipated T-34's path. The Soviets do drive the T-34s down the road to meet the R-2s head-on while the T-26s move to cover the flanks by the western town and fields and the eastern woods. Of course the Romanian tanks are no match for the T-34s head-on so they split up off-road. I seemed to of made an error by sending half of the Romanian tanks towards the fields instead of just a token unit or two and they soon found themselves trapped. Meanwhile the other tanks are just barely able to outrun the faster T-34s and make it through the woods. I believe I also made a mistake with the Soviets by only assigning one tank leader to the T-34s which forced both of the units to stick together whereas the T-26s didn't need two separate leaders (the scenario allows just 3 Soviet tank leaders total). The T-26s cannot outrun the faster R-2s and do not have a great firing range so they should of just remained somewhat static just to funnel the Romanian tanks to where the T-34s could best contend with them. Had I assigned a tank leader to each of the two T-34s then one unit could of stayed on the road at all times while the other T-34 manuevered off road to better entrap or eliminate Romanian steps. Anyway, hindsight is 50/50.

On the western flank there was a brief exchange of fire between the R-2s in the fields and the T-26s but neither side got any results. This was the only time the Romanians fired any shots the whole battle. The T-26s roll back into the town behind them for more protection and keep that flank covered. On the east flank the R-2s roll out of the woods to make a run for it and then divide up to scatter. The T-26s are waiting for them but they are not able to score any hits. Knowing that the R-2s will easily be able to outmanuever the T-26s, the T-34s both move off-road to catch them but stay close to the road to be able to hop back on should the other R-2s make a break for it. The R-2s on the east flank move further south and stay by the board's edge and are able to get out of range of the T-26s and force the T-34s to fire at long range; none of the Soviet shots get through. Now the Romanians are very close to exiting the three required units off-board for a win. The R-2s on the west flank realize that they have to make a run for the north-south road while it is vacant as it is unlikely they will be able to bypass the T-26 occupied town without any losses. The T-34s are at odds as to what to do next; they can move closer to the units about to escape the south edge or protect the road. Either way it seems most likely they will be fighting for a draw one way or the other. As anticipated the three Romanian units do manage to exit as they gain the intiative to move first; the sluggish T-26s vainly fire off a few shots at long range needing "12"s to hit and miss. Now the Romanian tanks on the west flank break for the road. The T-34s have to use opportunity AT fire at the tanks moving down the road or else they will be able to get out of their range. The T-34s need to roll "9"s with the (-1) modifier and both shots miss rolling "8"s twice! Soon there are just two R-2 units left to escape and they also brave the road and the nearby T-34's opportunity fire. The first Soviet shot yields even another "8" but the second shot does hit. However, the now reduced R-2 passes it's morale check and is able to keep traveling down the road and out of range to safety. So on turn 10 the Romanians get the intiative and are able to exit their remaining units off the south edge for the win. One other note was that out of the 10 turns the Romanians received air support on 8 of those turns; and almost every time it was the stronger JRS-79 aircraft with a 12 DF rating. One airstrike did manage to force the T-34As to make a morale check with an X result but even with the Soviet morale at 7/6 both tanks passed. If I had used the 4th edition rules those airstrikes could of been much more effective with the (+2) adjacent unit modifier and possibly caused more than just Soviet morale checks had a 2X or 3X result had been obtained.

Anyway, to wrap this up it was a nice little scenario though there wasn't too much of a battle to it. I give it a "3" for the solo play that it was but feel this one go much better with a shared match; just not the greatest thrill trying to outsmart one's self with manuevering. I don't know if it really favored one side or the other but do believe a draw is very likely to occur. What I also like about this one is that can be set-up and played very quickly without having to draw for leaders, so perhaps when one of my 4 hour skype sessions ends with and hour or more remaining it can be replayed against an opponent. Also, it was the first time that the Romanians had won so far after losing the 5 previous scenarios and puts them on the scoreboard for the overall EFD campaign perspective.