Author	treadasaurusrex (Spain)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	PANISTA
Play Date	2023-03-31
Language	English
Scenario	BluD019

This was a very long - but fun-filled - 6-session, extended slugfest with the gracious, yet implacable & ruthless, PANISTA, leading the attacking Soviet Horde, and me playing the ultimately doomed Spanish side. It was a close one that came down to the last 6 turns for the Russians to win out after 36 game turns of mostly intense combat. We used the FOW, consolidation, excess initiative, smoke/illum and extended assault optional rules. We also experimented with the following 4 house rules: 1) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up, across, or down slopes hexes, 2) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units, 3) Firing Through or Over Friendly Personnel Units All AT guns, AFVs, Infantry guns (direct fire), Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns and HMGs may fire over or through friendly personnel units. In the case of HMGs, AA guns & Infantry Guns, there must be one unoccupied hex between any friendly unit that is being fired over and the targeted hex as in the current rule (10.1, page 24), and 4) Enhanced Anti-Tank (AT) Gunnery Unless prohibited by special scenario rules, ALL dedicated, dug-in, entrenched, or town-occupying AT gun units including Self-Propelled AT guns may fire in opportunity fire (OPFIRE) TWICE just like tanks in the standard rule set. For example: dug-in, German PaK 36 (37mm); PaK 38 (50mm); or British 6-pdr towed AT gun platoons would therefore be able to fire TWO times per unit in OPFIRE situations.

In the gloom of night, the godless Soviets moved to contact from the eastern edge of the battle map. They rapidly closed on the railroad. Our first 2 sessions witnesses the forward-deployed Spanish units get overrun and destroyed in bloody close assaults. In about game turn 13, the Soviet wave parted into a pair of roughly equal left & right flank columns of attack. They were slowed in the south due to the woods and fierce Spanish defenders, and on the right flank, they were able to make serious inroads and took a great deal of the railroad track hexes. In about game turn 18, they had consolidated their gains in the north, suffered a decapitaion of their senior leadership, and began converging both prongs of their advance to attack the heavily-garrisoned, town. All this came at a terrific cost for both sides, but especially for the Soviets, whose Kommissar probably murdered more disgruntled Russian steps than the Spanish were able to eliminate outright for much of this play-through. There were also plentiful leader casualties on both sides in the mid-game, which particularly hurt the Soviets as their Forward Observers were repeatedly killed in action. Spanish adjacent-hex direct fire was often deadly, as were their mortar platoons and counter attacks. This slug-fest went on for turn-after-turn and the final step loses were: 18 for the Spanish, and a staggering: 46 for the Soviets. Sadly, by the last 8 turns there were simply not enough Spanish troops left to do much more than desperately hold onto the town and a few hexes of the southern portion of the railroad. There were 13 FOW-shortened game turns of the 36 we played. Several of these resulted in stoppages & dislocations in the sequencing of Soviet attacks to the detriment of their overall strategy.

In the end, this was a close, but very costly Soviet victory, in a scenario that we felt favored the Red Army side. There were multiple times where it looked like the Spanish would be able to hold, and even successfully counter attack, as they had drawn better leaders and were not losing them at the same rate as the Russians. There were a combined total of 29, combat 7-die rolls thrown in this over-long scenario. The house rues we tried worked well. I give this one a 3, and recommend it for both SOLO and SHARED play.

Soviet forces enter during the night from the east. This allows them to get very close to the RR before the fighting starts. Early action saw the Spanish easternmost positions get swamped and overrun but the Soviets who took a quick 6-1 step lead in casualties.

The Soviets used a three pronged attack and made progress through the woods in the south. In the middle they were unsuccessful, but in the north, aided by decent OBA captured the much of the Railroad. They reached their minor objective quite easy and then focused on combining all their force against the town.

The Casualty Count was climbing rapidly and soon only a handful of Spanish forces remained, but these proved to be very difficult to crack. The Spanish had some good attacks of their own and the Kommissar began executing troops, aiding the Spanish cause. Another Soviet hrudle was the lack of leaders who kept dying or deserting. For a few turns they had no leader who could safely spot for OBA against the Spanish mortars despite having multiple INF platoons firing with direct fire!

In the end the Spanish held out in the town and actually pursued the Soviets in the south to get them off the railroad, but there were still a few too many.

Final casualties saw the Spanish lose 19 of 20 INF steps(!), half their HMGs and guns. Soviets lost 30 of 40 INF steps and half their HMGs.

Scenario Rating: 2/5 - Major kill fest. Victory objectives push each side to succeed via genocide. Forces actually feel quite balanced, and without the early Soviet good fortune, this could have swung the battle the other way, although I suspect the Soviets are favoured.