Panzer Grenadier Battles on April 27th:
Arctic Front Deluxe #40 - Children's Crusade Broken Axis #14 - Târgu Frumos: The Second Battle Scenario 3: Sledge Hammer of the Proletariat
Army Group South Ukraine #6 - Consternation Road to Berlin #73 - She-Wolves of the SS
Errors? Omissions? Report them!
Sneak Attack
Eastern Front #2
(Attacker) Germany vs Soviet Union (Defender)
Formations Involved
Germany 505th Infantry Regiment
Soviet Union 67th Rifle Division
Display
Balance:



Overall balance chart for EFDx002
Total
Side 1 42
Draw 0
Side 2 1
Overall Rating, 44 votes
5
4
3
2
1
2.2
Scenario Rank: 901 of 913
Parent Game Eastern Front
Historicity Historical
Date 1941-06-22
Start Time 05:00
Turn Count 16
Visibility Day
Counters 47
Net Morale 2
Net Initiative 4
Maps 2: 2, 8
Layout Dimensions 56 x 43 cm
22 x 17 in
Play Bounty 43
AAR Bounty 51
Total Plays 43
Total AARs 21
Battle Types
Breakout
Surprise Attack
Conditions
Off-board Artillery
Scenario Requirements & Playability
Eastern Front Base Game
Introduction

The German 505th Infantry Regiment (291st Infantry Division) began an unprovoked invasion of the Soviet Union with an early morning attack on the defensive positions of the Soviet 67th Rifle Division's 114th Rifle Regiment near Vindava. Already understrength and not fully mobilized, most of the division's troops were defending the naval base at Liepaja. The Germans struck the thin Soviet border defenses, with orders to break through quickly and attack the naval base.

Conclusion

The Germans pushed through the Soviet defenses and drove on to Liepaja. Scattered across many kilometers and badly led, the 114th Regiment had little chance of holding its line, but the rest of the division fought furiously to hold the vital naval base.

Additional Notes

G2 note: No idea who the 114th Rifle Regiment is, it does not appear an any of my lists, or come up in a search. The 67th Rifle Division consisted of the 9th, 452nd, 719th Infantry Regiments, and the 3rd Artillery Regiment.


Display Relevant AFV Rules

AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle
  • Vulnerable to results on the Assault Combat Chart (7.25, 7.63, ACC), and may be attacked by Anti-Tank fire (11.2, DFT). Anti-Tank fire only affects the individual unit fired upon (7.62, 11.0).
  • AFV's are activated by tank leaders (3.2, 3.3, 5.42, 6.8). They may also be activated as part of an initial activating stack, but if activated in this way would need a tank leader in order to carry out combat movement.
  • AFV's do not block Direct Fire (10.1).
  • Full-strength AFV's with "armor efficiency" may make two anti-tank (AT) fire attacks per turn (either in their action segment or during opportunity fire) if they have AT fire values of 0 or more (11.2).
  • Each unit with an AT fire value of 2 or more may fire at targets at a distance of between 100% and 150% of its printed AT range. It does so at half its AT fire value. (11.3)
  • Efficient and non-efficient AFV's may conduct two opportunity fires per turn if using direct fire (7.44, 7.64). Units with both Direct and AT Fire values may use either type of fire in the same turn as their opportunity fire, but not both (7.22, 13.0). Units which can take opportunity fire twice per turn do not have to target the same unit both times (13.0).
  • Demoralized AFV's are not required to flee from units that do not have AT fire values (14.3).
  • Place a Wreck marker when an AFV is eliminated in a bridge or town hex (16.3).
  • AFV's do not benefit from Entrenchments (16.42).
  • AFV's may Dig In (16.2).
  • Open-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables, but DO take step losses from X and #X results (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT). If a "2X" or "3X" result is rolled, at least one of the step losses must be taken by an open-top AFV if present.
  • Armored Cars: These are Combat Units. They are motorized instead of mechanized. All have their own armored car leaders, who can only activate armored cars (6.85). Do not provide the +1 Assault bonus (ACC).
  • Reconnaissance Vehicle: 8.23 Special Spotting Powers Both foot and vehicle mounted recce units (1.2) possess two special spotting abilities. The first ability is that they can spot enemy in limiting terrain at one hex further than the TEC specifies for other units and leaders. For example, an enemy unit in town can normally be spotted at three hexes or less, but a recce unit can spot them at four hexes.Their second ability is that they can place a Spotted marker on any one enemy unit they can spot per turn, just as if the enemy unit had "blown its cover" by firing. Such Spotted markers are removed as described earlier.

Display Order of Battle

Germany Order of Battle
Heer
  • Motorized
Soviet Union Order of Battle
Army (RKKA)

Display Errata (6)

6 Errata Items
Scen 2

The German 75mm in this scenario should be a 75mm IG. There are no 75mm AT guns in the EFD counter mix.

(plloyd1010 on 2011 Jul 07)
Overall balance chart for 2

Two 105mms (ID#s 1204, 1205) have "16-31" fire values in black (direct fire), when they should be in white (indirect fire).

(Shad on 2010 Dec 15)
Overall balance chart for 20

The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France.

(plloyd1010 on 2015 Jul 31)
Overall balance chart for 63

The morale and combat modifiers of German Sergeant #1614 should be "0", not "8".

(Shad on 2010 Dec 15)
Overall balance chart for 54

The movement allowance on the counters in Airborne is misprinted. It should be "3."

(rerathbun on 2012 Jan 30)
Overall balance chart for 951

The reduced direct fire value in Kursk: Burning Tigers is 4-4.

(plloyd1010 on 2015 Jul 31)

Display AARs (21)

Another learning scenario
Author campsawyer
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2010-01-01
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

This was another learning AAR, but a solo attempt. The Soviets setup per instructions and try to cover all the possible angles of attack. There is not many Soviet units to cover and will have to try to OP fire to stop the Germans. The Germans setup on board 2 close to the border of 2/8. They will look to advance up the border and attack the corner of board 8 and create a small lane to move the troops off the board.

The attack start slow as the Germans try to keep the troops together so that means moving at just 2 hexes per turn. By turn six the leading units are in position to attack the corner, but the Soviets see the attack developing and try to shift move INF units over to cover the corner. The slow race is on. INF/HMG units fire on a defending INF unit disrupting it. OBA fires at the next dug in position without effect. Infantry units move closer to the defending dug-in units. The Soviet move reienforcements but they are two activations away. In the next turns covering fire misses, but the assualt force moves in and disrupts on hole and get locked in close combat. Soviets move the reinforcements over to assualt in the next turn. German OBA hits the reinforcements and demoralized one unit. The next turn has the first assualt killing the on dugin infantry the other disrupted. Soviet reienforcements move up and the demoralized units try to rally withour success. Soviets mortar fire score a demoralization on a supporting HMG. Reinforcements move up. The Germans look to add troops to the other dugin assualt, but this time the first fire scores a morale check a the two German INF's fails. German OBA fires at the Soviet reinforcing units but miss. The Germans shift out the disrupted units for good order INF and HMG and this scores a step kill and demoralizes the remaining half squad. The Soviets need to start rallying troops but the lower morale has a hard effect on them, no one rallies. Soveit mortars try to have an effect on the troops moving up, but fails. The next turn sees the loss of the second dugin hole and the Germans have the corner open for units to move off the board. At this point the Soviets need to rally quite a few units. They get a couple but it will require several more turns to get them all back to good order. Meanwhile the Germans move off the required eigth units to get the win.

I beleive this one is slightly unbalanced toward the Germans by the Soviet setup rule that has the units setup two hexes away from each other. This allows the Germans to hit the corner with their full force while the Soviets have to try to move to slow them down. Lack of any other mobility makes the Soviets very slow on the recovery.

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Near cakewalk for the Germans
Author Hugh-G-Rection
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2011-02-20
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Rating: solo 3; FTF 1, unless one player wants an extreme challenge.

I chose this scenario to play solo as my first learning game in the series. It seemed like it would be easy enough to AI the Soviets since they had strict placement rules and were defending. They placement strategy was to put dug in full strength INF and HMG units with the two Lieutenant as a front, and then bring up the scattered extra units to reinforce them.

The Soviets in this scenario are severely hampered by the "2" range of their INF units, and lack of any serious bombardment capability. The mortar was completely ineffective throughout the scenario, until it got blown to smithereens by the combined OBA that rolled a "2".

The German artillery was king in this scenario. I used to drive the dug in units out of their positions time and again, by demoralization and then failure to rally. It seemed too easy given the full visibility range. I noticed the scenario starts at 5AM, but there's no mention of reduced visibility in the Special Rules section.

All in all, it was a good scenario to get exposure to many of the basic rules, but I wouldn't ever want to play as the Soviets against a live opponent.

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Russian Suprise
Author thomaso827
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2014-11-07
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

This small battle has a small force of Russian infantry, much of which is only single step units, supported by a single mortar, waking up to find WW2 starting in their foxholes. I drew a 10-1-1 captain, a 9-0-1 LT and a 7-0-0 LT for a slightly above average leadership for this one, while the Germans had a lot of 10s and 9s in their leadership. Germans have to get 8 units off the north edge of board 8 while the Russians have to kill 2 steps. While the lynchpin Russian position, a single step platoon dug in at the northwest corner of the victory area, held on for 6 turns, even rallying a couple of times with leader help only once, the rest of the force didn't fare so well. Russians have to set up 'not within two hexes' of each other, so 5 dug-in forces start as the front line, with a second line that I start digging in as soon as the bullets start flying. Both sides had very ineffective mortar fire, as both rolled 7s pretty much the whole game. The lynchpin Russian traded shots, absorbing fire from the Sdkfz222 as it went by but holding on. Turn 5 saw the first 4 units of Germans walk by while other German troops went to assault dugin positions that hadn't yet succumbed to artillery fire. In the end, after only 7 turns, the only Russian left on the board was a disrupted LT, who kept managing to evade German units that went through his hex on their way to the northeast, and no German losses were inflicted, for a total German victory.

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A surprise in the dark
Author Coniglius
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2015-03-31
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

This is a good introductory scenario for someone either just learning to play PG, or someone looking to refresh themselves after a long hiatus.

The Germans launch their attack on the first day of the Russian Campaign against a completely unprepared and unaware foe. The Russians are scattered and lacking in most of the necessities of war (Leadership, armor, artillery, air support, transport). Essentially, the Germans need to clear a path with which to exit their units and move on to a larger scope of the campaign, while the Russians must hold/delay the inevitable. In my opinion, even the most seasoned of Russian players would have a difficult time containing the German assault.

Most of the German units slipped past the Russian defenses unnoticed and unmolested. A strong screening force, supported by OBA and the armored car systematically reduced the few Russian positions. Bombardment, followed by close in direct fire, left the Russians demoralized and reduced, and ripe for a final assault. Half of the Russian OOB was destroyed in this manner, while the rest was too far away and too slow to respond. Some lucky Russian mortar fire succeeded in causing various disruptions to the German advance, but superior German leadership and morale quickly overcame these setbacks, and allowed the advance to resume.

Again, a good scenario with which to learn/refresh on the mechanics of the system, but a bit of a yawn for the Russian player. Same scenario as Panzer Grenadier scenario #40.

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Sneak Attack
Author Kithikor
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2020-10-12
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

I started off using some other turn tracker, but by turn 3 I used one from Dave Davieau. The German artillery pounded the Soviet unit that was where the Germans needed to exit. Being dug in made it tougher for the Germans, but with sheer numbers, better officers and equipment, it was no competition.

I would manage to route the Soviets, but they would just recovery and come back for more. For the Mother Land ;-)

The Germans did manage to destroy the 1 mortar unit the Soviets had. That was the start of the fall.

Dice rolls were on average.

This is a really GREAT scenario if you are new, returning or need a refresher with the rules. There was only 1 armored vehicle, German side. There were transportation and some long range direct and bombardment units.

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Un peu un massacre
Author Ifig
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2006-11-01
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Les allemands (10 INF, trois HMG, et une voiture blindée) arrivent par le sud-ouest et doivent évacuer huit unités par le nord-est en quatre heures. Ils ont de l’artillerie sur et hors du terrain. En face, quelques INF russes très peu motivées (moral 6/5), qui doivent se répartir au maximum (au moins deux hexagones d’écart entre chaque unité initialement). Et nulle part où se cacher ! Un scenario très déséquilibré : les allemands perdent s’ils ont deux pas de perte, et je ne leur en ai pas infligé un seul. Mais intéressant quand meme pour découvrir les grands espaces russes. Les canons de 105 sur la colline en bas à gauche couvrent tout le terrain, et il est toujours possible de tirer dès qu’on est à portée, contrairement à la Normandie où on se cache facilement.

Plus de detail : La situation globale, les allemands sont au sud-ouest avec des canons sur la colinne. Les russes au nord-est, avec une seule unite par hexagone sur la ligne.

Au début, je bombarde, et j’approche les allemands à trios cases pour qu’ils restent hors de portée de l’infanterie. J’accepte les tirs des HMGs, qui d’ailleurs disruptent une unite au milieu. Le mortier russe a aussi pu disrupter une unite.

Après quatre tours, suite aux bombardements et aux tirs à distance, les unites russes au milieu de la ligne ont disparu. Les allemands vont maintenant aller vers le nord. Les bombardements suivants vont démoraliser le mortier russe.

Après 7 tours, les russes ont tenté une attaque désespérée en regroupant des forces, pour essayer de faire un peu de dégât à l’assaut. Je suis arrivé au contact sans trop de perte (juste une unite démoralisée par les tirs d’opportunité), mais les allemands ont l’initiative et refusent le contact. (On les comprend). J’ai quand meme pu faire un tir sur la colonne 4 en DF, sans effet. Le tour d’après, les allemands commencent par trois activations, choisissent d'effectuer deux bombardements (externes et internes) et je tire 2, puis 11. Les deux dernières unités russses disparaissent, et les allemands gagnent avec deux heures d’avance sur l’horaire.

Conclusion : un petit scenario très vite joué pour se familiariser avec la plaine ouverte. Mais que c’est dur de se faire tirer dessus à trois hexagones de distance, quand on ne peut tirer qu’à deux ! Uniquement pour apprendre à manoeuvrer.

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Strange scenario
Author waynebaumber (Soviet Union)
Method Face to Face
Victor Germany
Participants vince hughes (AAR)
Play Date 2008-07-05
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

This is a wierd scenario and one I can not recommend. In our playing the German player got his forces off the board pretty quickly and I conceeded the game. However if I had not done so a Soviet counter attack may secure a win (lots of luck).

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**Run Away! Run Away!**
Author Matt W
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2008-08-08
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Plays like Monty Python too. Let's face it. There is simply no way in which the Soviets can even stay on the board. The Germans will hit them quickly and then run them off the board, if they survive at all. The morale differential and the low absolute morale make it impossible for the Soviets to fight well.

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Russians are caught with their pants down.
Author GeneSteeler
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2008-09-26
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

The time is 5am…

5:00am German forces, consisting mostly of regular infantry with a few heavy machine guns, move north. They are accompanied by a number of SdKfz222 armored cars, a few 81mm mortars and some 105mm artillery.

5:15am German elements continue sneaking northwest but encounter a dug-in Russian platoon. The Russians fire some shots into the dark but no casualties are inflicted. A klaxon sounds and Russian forces, strewn out towards the east begin moving west to assist their dug-in comrades.

5:30am Three German platoons assault the Russian infantry and eliminate them (not-so) silently, but swiftly. The Russian ‘line’ is broken and the German SdKfz222 races through. Russian forces continue their western migration and the enemy platoons begin to “bump” into each other in the dark.

German artillery fire whistles through the air and shatters some of the Russian defenders. The distant pounding of Russian 82mm mortars can be heard, but isn’t felt.

5:45am Lt Col. Chuck von Norris and two infantry platoons eradicate a Russian HMG nest in close assault. With nothing between them and the way to the naval base German troops begin to disappear north into the dark. The remainder of the troops make a safe corridor for their infantry guns and AA Guns, loaded on wagons, to traverse through.

6:00am A Russian half platoon, led by Lt Imdedikov, are cut down by German HMG while trying to “jam up the corridor”. German artillery is limbered for movement.

6:15am German small arms fire demoralizes most of the remaining Russians and Lt Col. Chuck von Norris and two infantry platoon disappear into the night.

6:30am – 7am The Russians begin to flee into the night as the German guns and mortars slowly advance as German infantry and HMG hold the passage.

7:15am Dawn breaks and the Germans spot three Russian platoons demoralized and fleeing, with only a single Russian platoon still “holding the line”. This last bastion of defence is shattered under a relentless German attack.

7:30am – 7:45am The last of the German forces heads north as the only Russian platoon, the mortars, takes pot shots, with little or no effect.

Victory to the Germans!

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Soviet Victory?
Author GeneSteeler
Method Solo
Victor Soviet Union
Play Date 2008-09-30
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

The question has been asked, how could the Soviets ever win this one?!

The answer is by having a seasoned old soviet Commander face off against a German Rookie learning the game for the first time.

This was more of a "learning" scenario for the German commander who was learning about DF, assaults and not running loaded trucks up against dug-in defenders.

I don't have exact notes on how the scenario played out, but basically the Germans lost by engaging the Soviets instead of trying to flank them. Soviets on the flanks came in together and the Germans fought on instead of going around.

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Shredding the Russians
Author J6A
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2008-11-30
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

NOTE: For a long time, I played the morale rules wrong, with units just needing to roll their morale or less to recover, not less than their morale. This is reflected in some of the commentaries.

Scenario 2 is a beginning of the war scenario and is a small one, with the Germans having superiority in numbers, morale and equipment. The German objective is to get 8 units (not steps) off the board while losing no more than 2 steps. The Russians have to guess where the Germans are going to go, and with this in mind I spread them out in a rough line to cut off likely German advances. In an earlier session report, someone asked about hex numbers, so I wrote them down. In 0302 I had a 1/2 platoon. Dug in full squads were in 0403, 0505, 0606, 0807 and a full platoon was in 1007. Another 1/2 platoon was in 1207. The 1/2 strength HMG platoon was dug in at 0603, the full strength HMG was dug in at 0505. The mortar was in 0903. The Germans light artillery was in the town while the heavy artillery was on the hill. The infantry was clustered around the road, while the armored car was near the front. The initial setup is shown in the picture below.

On the 0500 turn, the both the off board and on board artillery hit the full strength HMG and while the on board forced a morale check, the HMG passed. The Soviets then began digging in their other troops. The armored car raced ahead, while the infantry split into two groups, one heading north, one heading east.

At 0515 the Germans had a 3 impulse advantage and didn't get much out of it as the off board artillery was ineffective, as was return fire from the Soviet mortar. The armored car took a pot shot at the Soviet 1/2 squad in 1207 and demoralized it, however it quickly rallied to disrupted. The Germans advanced into range of the full strength HMG and and were able to escape casualties.

At 0530, the Germans continue their advance. Artillery demoralized the 1/2 strength HMG squad that came out of dug out, while spirited return fire from the Soviets actually took out a step from the Germans. The German HMGs didn't take out any Soviet steps, however they did demoralize the dug in squad in 0807. This was the start of many problems for the Soviets, because their leaders weren't any good, and once they got demoralized they tended to stay that way. Even worse was the plight of the 1/2 strength platoons, with a morale of 5, were basically doomed.

By 0545, the Soviets were already in trouble. Germans were in contact, and there weren't enough Soviets to go around, and not enough adjacent to leaders to move to shore up any holes in an already thin line. The armored car headed towards the north edge through the gap in the Soviet lines created by demoralized units.

At 0600, the Soviets ran into more problems when the German on board artillery took a step off the full strength HMG and sent it running. The Germans were into close combat now, and the Soviets stood no chance against the superior firepower and morale, even where they had had first fire for being dug in. The Germans were now pouring through their lines.

Soon it was all over but the dying. The Soviets had nothing with which to stop the Germans. Demoralized units just hunkered down in panic, with Germans on all side. For their part, the Germans eliminated a few of the Soviets and mostly bypassed them.

I think it would be next to impossible for the Soviets to win this scenario. They have inferior numbers, inferior troops, less artillery, and inferior leaders. The just have to hope they can get a couple of lucky hits on the Germans to win the game. While they start dug in, if they shift to meet a German threat, they lose that advantage. I think this scenario was very well suited to solitaire play. At least it went quickly.

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A most casual and near effortless rollover
Author Brett Nicholson
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2013-11-27
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

I would like to say that the Soviets didn't have a chance but they did, for maybe about two activations apart from making morale checks and recovery rolls. A '2' rating for obvious reasons but actually enjoyed playing this short scenario out. It was more of a show of strength with finesss for the Germans than an actual battle. I can't even count on one hand the amount of times the Soviets had good order units capable of returning fire, when in range before getting annihilated or ending up in some state of shell-shock.

Not one German unit was so much as even disrupted and there were no step losses either. On-board and off-board artillery easily battered, flattened and/or scattered Soviets out of the way clearing the way for foot units at a steady pace. The Soviet morale of 6/5 also contributed to an easy rollover. Every, not just 8, units were able to exit the north edge without the threat of any opportunity fire at 08:15/turn 14. The German forces may been able to roll on through to Liepaja earlier but I wanted to conduct a casualty-free and near-flawless operation. The only thing the Soviets had that may of slowed down this blitz was one 82mm mortar unit but it never got a chance to fire before it was disrupted right away, then recovered and then eliminated by 05:30/turn 3.

Not much else to say about this one other than it was a nice, brief excercise in preparation for future 'Eastern Front' scenarios to come, at least for the Germans. Perhaps there is a chance for the Soviets to inflict 3 step losses and prevent 8 units from exiting the north edge of board 8 other than sheer luck. This was hard to contemplate spending almost every activation attempting to rally or regroup units.

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Hopeless race
Author CricketHawk
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2014-08-15
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Played as night. Thought shading of turn counter mattered rather than leaving it day since scenario silent. Soviets have no chance. Even if Soviets can get all the forces engaged, their low morale prevents a real fight.

Germans ran north to get past the soviets. One group of southern Soviet units ran in behind the advance after the guns left in the rear, but the security left behind was more than though to repulse the raid. In the main northern engagement, enough Soviet forces were gathered to potentially deal the Germans a fatal blow. German forces cooperated with an error, leaving a unit far enough back that the soviets cut it off & assaulted in force. The Germans were able to hold off long enough to get assistance while soviet forces just got ground up steadily, fleeing the assault & leaving Germans intact & able to advance to victory.

As said, good for training as experienced player would be challenged with Soviets even with a brand new player commanding the Germans.

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Good for a Newbie VS Experienced - if the Newbie Takes The Germans.
Author Dan Storm (Germany)
Method VASSAL
Victor Germany
Participants cjsiam (AAR)
Play Date 2018-07-28
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

I don't know - it seemed too easy playing as the Germans and I have only played a few scenarios against real live human opponents. I used the LT Colonel as a hub in a wheel - the captains were next to him - the LT's next to the Captains and the SGT's next to the LT's. I had [3] combat units stacked with each leader and the guns off to themselves in the city in limiting terrain.The scenario starts at night so the stacks of Germans made a bee-line to the North Edge and the SGT's were all alone and used as spotters for the Off Board and On Board Arty. When the turn chart said viewing distance = 2 - the SGT's called in the Arty and Mortar. Granted I did get a few favorable High and Low dice rolls - but it seemed like way too much indirect firepower for the first [3] action sequences. The Dug In Russians were disrupted and demoralized - and needing a 5 or 6 on a 2D6 for recovery - there was a lot of fleeing. Then the HMG's were brought to the front lines with a range of 5 to further reduce / demoralize the Russian platoons at the front lines and push the Russians even further back with Fleeing recovery rolls. Once the Lone Russian Mortar was out of the picture there was no longer an immediate threat to the German stacks with [3] combat units per hex - the Russian Platoons with a range of 2 had no way to even bring any firepower at all to the German Infantry platoons with a range of 3. And the German HMG's with a range of 5 kept the Russian HMG's with a range of 4 retreating. The German stacks moved slowly North to the top edge of board 2 - the East to board 8 and then exited off the North edge of board 8 using the HMG's and Arty to keep the Russians fleeing east and trying to regroup. We understand this is pretty much how the original battle went - and that this is one of the very first APL PG Scenarios - but it still seems semi unbalanced.

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A Rout before Breakfast
Author Schoenwulf
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2018-09-15
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Shortly before dawn on June 22, 1941, troops from the German 575th Infantry Regiment moved forward to attack the Soviet Naval Base at Liepaja. En route, they encountered an understaffed Soviet 114th Rifle Regiment near the town of Vindava. By 0730 hours, most of the Soviet troops were demoralized and incapable of stopping the German onslaught. The skirmish was essentially over at 0845 as the Soviets were unable to slow the German advance towards the Naval Base.

This 2-map scenario has primary objectives that involve very limited German step loss count for Allied success or unit exit for Axis victory. The German setup involved placement of all mobile units east of the town on Map #2, with the howitzers in town for bombardment of Board #8 once Soviet units were spotted. The Soviet placement is pretty restricted, so as many units as possible were spaced between the road and north edge of Board #8. With Soviet morale at 6/5 and the Germans having OBA plus the combined howitzer bombardment, once units were spotted, they were being attacked on the 21 (dug-in) or 30 column. Using their INF/HMG range advantage coupled with the bombardment options, disruption and demoralization of Soviet units occurred fairly quickly. Recovery of Soviet units was difficult since they start at 6/5 morale and are effectively 5/4 as soon as they are demoralized. By game end, the Soviets had lost 4 steps and only had one good order and one disrupted unit; all the rest were demoralized. In contrast, the Germans were all in good order, had exited 9 combat units, and only lost a single step to a very fortunate Soviet opp fire (“snake-eyes”) roll. Had the Germans lost another step, they would have lost the scenario, but once the path was cleared and well protected to the north, there was little resistance to their advance. The scenario probably well from an historical standpoint, but it's no fun being the Soviets in this one.

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not much to this one
Author t1M0t8yk
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2020-11-17
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

I recently discovered the extensive Vassal modules at PGHQ. I've embarked upon plays of the East Front Deluxe scenarios using a balancing document I found on BGG. I chose Sneak Attack for my first scenario because I thought it was among the first in the EFD timeline, and it's pretty small.

Alas, I found the balancing mechanisms didn't work for this scenario - I still don't see it as much of a contest. The Germans stayed out of range and used their on-board and off-board bombardment fire to soften up the Soviets. When it was safe they started closing range, while concurrently flanking toward the exit hexes. I pulled the plug after about five turns.

Perhaps a more seasoned PG player could put up a better fight with the Reds. While pretty forgettable, it is a good scale for a learning scenario with a noob.

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Be Systematic For Easy Victory
Author vince hughes (Germany)
Method Face to Face
Victor Germany
Participants waynebaumber (AAR)
Play Date 2008-07-05
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

Played ftf with Wayne Baumber.

On the opening day of Operation Barbarossa, the German 505th were assigned to punch through the area near Vindava. Lightly screened by soviet troops from the 67th Rifle Division, the German infantry would receive ample artillery support during their attack. At 0500 hours, the dawn was by broken by the screaming of German shells raining down on the Soviet positions.

The Germans were tasked to exit a number of troops in order to keep pressing the attack deeper into the Soviet territory. In the event, this proved a very one-sided affair as Soviet casualties mounted considerably, whilst Wehrmacht casualties were negligible. The Germans exited with ease having destroyed any semblance of defence facing them, and all in all, the battle proved a very easy one for them.

Post battle analysis did find that PERHAPS the Soviet set-up may have been better off if concentrated at a particular road point. This would certainly had made the German task more difficult, but this was not obvious at the beginning. Rated as a mere '1' as it was just TOO simple for the Germans

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Uno de los peores escenarios que he jugado
Author enrique
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2009-02-09
Language Español
Scenario EFDx002

Los alemanes consiguieron la victoria en el turno 8. Escenario descompensado en favor de los alemanes. Su artillería off-board y sus baterías de 105 mm hacen trizas con facilidad las débiles fuerzas soviéticas (moral 6/5). Escenario muy flojo.

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Sneak Attack
Author Dean_P
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2010-07-30
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

This is a very difficult scenario for the Soviets. Their minimal forces, distributed setup (can't be within 2 hexes of another combat unit), lack of leadership, horrendous morale and no cover on the boards makes it almost impossible to put together any force to resist the much greater German force.

The scenario starts with the Germans setting up anywhere on the western board. This time, they set up right on the edge, thereby minimizing the time needed to cross the battlefield. The Soviets set up as close together as they could. One unit on the east-west road to slow the mechanized units and a lone HMG on the sole hilltop in the way of the Germans. The remaining units were placed so as to be as close to these units as allowed. Still, it would take 3 turns to move a unit up.

Unfortunately, the lack of leadership hampered reinforcing either of these strongpoints to any extent. The Soviets got one infantry up to help the HMG, but by then it had been disrupted by the OBA. And before any more units could get up there, both of the units had been demoralized and were fleeing. The Germans just rolled east, took the hill and then disposed of the lone infantry trying to rush up for support (along with the leader). The demoralized units kept failing to recover and had to flee to the southeastern corner of the board and only then did they recover (but they were leaderless and couldn't advance).

The road fared somewhat better, but only in that they lasted longer. The first roadblock withstood artillery and combined fire for several rounds, but the low morale finally cooked their goose. The final straw was when the lone German mortar demoralized the entire stack. They then fled back but by then the Germans had 5 units off the board (only needed 8) and 5 more were posed to exit with absolutely no resistance possible.

The battle was over after only 1:45 minutes. The German invasion of Mother Russia was off to a rousing success!

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Can't do this, can't do that either
Author plloyd1010
Method Solo
Victor Germany
Play Date 2011-07-04
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

The Soviets seem to have 2 possibilities here. They can die in their foxholes, or they die trying to kill some Germans. Neither way has a good path to victory.

The Soviets deployed to cover the Northwest corner of board 8. The HMG was in the center to move to the first threatened area, the reduced HMG was to move in support of the Brd 8 NW corner to make 7 DF points with the INF already there. The Germans arrayed their infantry for a push at the NW corner of Brd 8. German artillery and HMGs deployed in the town to provide fire support.

The battle opens with a conventional artillery barrage against the NW corner of board 8, and the Germans surge forward. The reduced HMG (which was to move in support of that critical corner is quick demoralized. Other supporting infantry is quickly disrupted.

It is quite apparent at this point (only turn 2) that the Soviets have no hope of keeping the Germans from marching sufficient units off board 8. The only other chance to make a hasty assault on the town, and kill 3 German steps. A forlorn hope if ever there was.

The Soviet infantry does manage to make it 3 hexes from the German 105s, but in the end, the result is like scene in Doctor Zhivago. You know the one where those 4 or 5 soldiers try to cross the field? 3 more dead steps and a demoralized INF.

The final analysis being, the Soviets cannot defend in front of the German advance. Raiding the German support units is wishful thinking. (Deploying for such a raid would just tip the Germans off.) German firepower and poor Soviet moral predestine the outcome.

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If you are Russian...make sure your opponent is new...or blindfolded....
Author cjsiam (Soviet Union)
Method VASSAL
Victor Germany
Participants Dan Storm (AAR)
Play Date 2018-07-28
Language English
Scenario EFDx002

So, this is certainly at best a training scenario. Russians set up dispersed--but as close as possible---with 5 dug-in--along the northern edge of board 8. The intent is to block the NW corner, where the Germans will no doubt try to leave the map. So even Dug-in, and even with the help of night...grimness.

Germans used their officers to spot at night...getting within spotting range by turn 3...they then proceeded to drop 32 offboard, 32 on board +8 mortar on any visible Russian units---promptly causing any organized defense to shatter and run east ....within a few few turns it became clear that the Russian just cannot hold up against the Artillery and when the HMGs unload and start adding 32 more to the fire...

Germans were able to clear a path off board and get their units off...with only 3 turns left...the remaining russians (about 1/2 ) too far away to cause any damage....we called it...German victory.

An intelligent German will Always win this scenario---stay out of range and let your Artillery do the walking through the Russian units....

Was an interesting game....learned the use of the tools, with audio skype. Good experience....

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