This is the first scenario I chose to play from my first boxed game, Road to Berlin. Its small size and low turn count made it good to get the rules down better.

The Soviets deployed forces in both towns to start, although the greater weight of forces was located in the larger town. The Germans decided to only advance on the larger town, and they split into three company-sized task forces and advanced along the tree line towards the bigger town. The approach went smoothly as darkness fell, and once within range of the town, the Germans tried to soften to Soviets up a bit before committing to an assault. Unfortunately, the single 81mm mortar platoon was woefully inadequate artillery support, and direct fire accomplished little. However, in spreading themselves out, the Soviets had left one town hex open, and the Germans jumped on the chance to enter bloodlessly. Opportunity fire from the Soviet defenders hampered the German push, but eventually the Germans made it into the town, and from there the assault began.

Things quickly bogged down. The inferior morale of the German forces gave them much less staying power, and soon enough a number of demoralized platoons were headed to the rear. The Soviets had pulled forces from the small town to reinforce the big one, so the Germans altered their strategy and made a push for the small town, but they were unable to push the remaining Soviets out, and soon more Soviets arrived to neutralize the threat. At this point things were looking bleak for the Germans, so a desperate attempt was made to outflank the Soviets and enter an unoccupied hex of the small town. The Germans made it into the town hex, but Soviet fire took a heavy toll on the Germans as they advanced, and on the following turn, the Soviets kicked them out. Faced with bogged down assaults for the larger town and the failure of the push for the smaller one, the Germans tried a last desperate push for the bigger town with some reformed platoons, but it just wasn't enough. The Soviets brutally smashed the German attack, wiping out an entire platoon and forcing the Germans to abandon all of their assaults. The end of the game saw the Germans controlling only a single town hex, which translated into a quite comfortable Soviet victory.

The low morale of the German force was quite frustrating, as once the German platoons became demoralized, it was incredibly difficult to get them back in the fight. Desperately needed forces spent hours hiding away in a demoralized state, and precious leaders had to be pulled from the front to try to reform them. The efforts to soften the defense failed miserably, and it produced predictable results: a weak attack that floundered in the face of a solid defense. With the burden of attack on the Germans, the Soviets always felt comfortable in this one. Despite the result, the game was still fun, as the Germans had multiple attack options to consider, and the Soviets had to use their small force wisely to cover both towns and stop the German attacks. The scenario was also helpful for getting the rules down, since it was small and manageable, but that did take some of the fun and excitement out of it, since it was pretty basic and lacked many of the "bells and whistles" involved in WWII tactical gaming. I think bigger scenarios with greater unit variety will improve my enjoyment of the gameplay, but this wasn't a bad start.