| To the River! | ||||||||||||
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This is an interesting scenario. Having noted the commentary on this site before beginning, I took a moment to consider the relative advantages of both sides. For the Rumanians, there are two big advantages: higher morale and a large number of tanks. The Soviet advantages are larger numbers of infantry and artillery. My plans briefly were as follows: The Soviets divided into three groups of roughly company strength. One began dug-in around the bridge (with machine guns and AT guns) another was positioned in the eastern town (also with machine guns and AT guns.) The third company-sized force I positioned centrally near the bridge as my reserve. Since there is only four leaders, I chose not to place any of them forward as artillery spotters. The Rumanian foot units set up in their trucks outside the twelve hex spotting distance of the Soviets with the intent of driving quickly to the southern woods. The tanks set up north of the trucked units positioned to feint towards the northern woods. Here is how the battle unfolded: The Rumanian truckers were able to reach the woods without loss… maybe it would have been a better idea to place a spotter and risk losing him? The Rumanian tanks thrust forward in their feint towards the woods staying on clear terrain to discourage tank hunting teams and traveling along dead ground safe from AT fire. The feint drew the Soviet reserves north (even as the Rumanian infantry approached the southern town, I decided a large number of tanks under cover within range of the bridge could be disastrous.) After the Rumanian infantry deployed at the edge of the southern woods to prepare for the attack on the town, the tanks moved south to support them, carefully avoiding giving the soviets crossfire opportunities and staying at least six hexes away from each AT battery. When in position, the assault on the town began. The Rumanians had all the luck at this stage in the battle…their tanks moved up close to the town and eliminated it’s AT gun and leader very early. Likewise the Soviet OOA also did very poorly. I was able to get a couple of Soviet reserve platoons into the town, but after a few turns the Rumanian tanks were able to cordon off the town. A that point, the soviets stopped trying to break through and focused on digging-in its reserve’s survivors around the bridge at the same time the OOA and AT guns nipped at the Rumanians at long range. In game terms it took a couple of turns to clear the town. The tanks would spend a couple turns reducing the defender at point blank range then reposition while infantry-HMG teams mopped up. After a couple turns to regroup and recover morale, the attack on the bridge began roughly turn 20. Unlike the assault on the town, the Soviets had all the luck on the battle for the bridge. Soviet OP fire was able to slow the Rumanian advance and OOA was able to inflict several step losses. Most importantly the last remaining AT gun was able to destroy two steps of tanks (one with a tank leader.) Throwing caution to the wind I kept attacking and the scenario ended with the Rumanians nearing the end of their tether after having only dented the defenses around the bridge. I can’t imagine a Rumanian victory happening under these conditions. A more skilled player might be able to pull it off, but let’s face it; the Rumanians are operating under some stiff disadvantages. Regardless of the imbalance, I enjoyed the scenario. I did not expect the Rumanians to do as well as they did during the first half of the game. I just did my best with both sides and the result was pleasant if lopsided game. |
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