I admit that the primary reason that I played this scenario is that I own Red Steel and love the game system. As a result, seeing the Romanian Reserve division on the board was exciting to me. It was apparently also very exciting to the Soviets who rushed onto the hill and got their tanks knocked off very quickly. Again this was very early in my playing of the system and I learned that tanks should stand off and provide cover fire for the infantry. They should not advance by themselves or they will be assaulted without infantry support and the result will be loss of tanks. I should note that the Soviets had terrible luck with initiative throughout the game but it was fun to have the 35th reserve division hold up better than in reality.

First game back to the system I wanted to do something a little different. I decided to play Romanians and my friend took the Russians. This scenario takes place in 1941

Basically an outclassed Romanian force was attempting to move forward against better equipped Russians.

The victory conditions were simple: Step losses or Soviet player controlling all hill hexes by end of game

FINAL SCORE:

Soviet player wins 10 step losses to 1

It didnt take us 32 turns to decide this one. Once my Soviet friend found the fun of the 3 X 16 point artillery bombardments he had and his two 81mm mortar units combined in a stack he started to pummel me with morale losses and I could not recover fast enough

I had several demoralized units that would either flee or take another hit due to him winning initiative and he rolled well, causing step losses.

By the end of Turn 7 he was at 9 step losses on me and 10 wins the game for him.

I did manage to drive him back off the main hill in the middle and inflict one step loss, but he had armor and I did not. Direct Fire attacks on Tank units can only hurt them with a result of "X" on a Direct Fire role and to get that I would need to stack my units 3 high and thus give my opponent bonuses to hit me.

Once I started taking morale losses, my units started to get blown off the board fast and the game really ramped up.

I have included some screen shots of the battle and you can see how it progresses over time and I was forced back to the town on the map, which actually counted as a big HILL, not a town.

All in a good game and we learned some methods of playing and how to NOT deploy, because I really needed to concentrate my fire and didnt.

RANDOM EVENTS

This was pretty awesome. We tied an initiative roll so to the back of the scenario book we went. We rolled Soviet Sniper and on a 9 or more on two dice he could pick off a Leader of mine that he could spot. He picked my 10 morale Major but rolled a 7 and missed! Close call though.

The only thing I dont like about this game is the darn chit stacking in a hex. Since a hit to a hex effects each unit and one can be disrupted and one may pass, it makes for a lot of chit stacking and well...I am kinda sick of that after 20 years or more of playing these games.

Other than it was good fun.

I probably got my playing time's worth out of this one more than most. When playing solo I tend to take more risks than I normally would in a shared match, especially on the offensive. In this case I charged the Romanian hill positions straight on in the most bold yet potentially suicidal manner with the Soviets. Initially losses were high for the Soviets and soon half the attacking force was sent reeling back away from the hill but enough units were able to get on to the hill and flank the Romanians. Then the dreadful Soviet OBA at 3x16 began to wreak havoc on the defenders, uprooting or eliminating many units from dug-in positions. Both sides bashed each other apart and for a while losses were about equal. However, the Kommisar I drew for the Soviets had a '10' rating and was very efficient at rallying the many demoralized Soviet units; only one reduced INF unit was terminated for failing to rally. Also, both sides had only a handful of leaders but with the Soviets I was able to keep a good relay system going and getting stranded and leaderless units back into the fray.

Close to midway through the battle both sides were thoroughly battered but the difference was that the Soviets continued to not only maintain a presence on the hill but were able to keep driving on, while the Romanians kept getting run off the hill. Once Romanian units became reduced and/or demoralized there was not much hope for them with the morale rating of 7/5. They really needed a Kommisar of their own! Soon it became clear that dislodging the Soviets from the hill would be near impossible and with Romanian losses now over 10 steps a win was out of the question. However, the Romanians did come through with some heroics; especially when assaulting the two platoons of T-26's and in that gamble managed to eliminate all of them. Also, after all other Romanian leaders were eliminated the remaining Capitan did rally for one last bold but futile stand on the furthest western hill postion, taking out one last Soviet INF step before being captured. Now, with all Romanian leaders gone, their 81mm mortar eliminated and the remaining units pushed off the hill there was no way to push forward or retake postions; meanwhile the Soviets had completed digging-in on the contested hill. A Soviet victory was decisive by 13:00/turn 25.

This was the first scenario I've played that a Kommisar had played a very significant role. In any other case those demoralized Soviet units would of stayed out of the battle much longer as their morale wasn't much better than the Romanian's at 7/6. Also, the Soviets did very well with the few leaders alotted to them, even after losing a Captain. Though this one turned out to be a major upset for the Romanians they did hold out longer than I initially expected.

I was going to rate this a 1 but after going over the scenario last night in bed ( what a exciting life I lead) I decided to raise the rating by one. In our game and playing by our Hill LOS rules the Romanian's had set up exactly as I expected. This is the first black mark against this scenario as I explained to Vince the day before our meeting I has set up the scenario and it was exactly the same setup as Vince then used. However knowing what your enemy is going to do is one thing and finding a way to defeat it is another. I could not see the Romanian's to shell them I would have to cross the hill line and get a leader to spot. This I tried to do but in doing so lost a morter to his first shot of the game (a double 1) and then a leader and a inf platoon as I crossed the crest line. I then withdrew to the unoccupied hill and waited to see if he would try and win the game by driving me off the hill. He declined and I dont blame him and we called it a draw. I thought then it was a very poor scenario however thinking back if the Soviet player is prepared to gamble and throw his tanks over the crest line as a stack and survive any incoming fire which may result in MC there could be a chance then to begin to whittle away at the Romanian lines get a leader with the tanks and give the Soviet artillery a chance. The problem with this tactic is the Axis player leaping into the assault with the tanks and destroying them for 8 step losses. Even then though I still think it unlikely that there will be any result other than a draw.

If You HAVE To Play This Then Do

As I am attempting, amongst other things in PG to play the Rumanian battles in chronological order, then, as a 'completist' kind of fella, I had to play this. The game was played face-to-face, but was a pretty poor one. In fact, I rated it the lowest score I could give. Its just not interesting.

As the Rumanians, you have two choices. Either lose by moving around the board in a vain attempt to achieve something, or draw, by digging everybody in on the main hill and hedgehog the thing ! As I always play so as not to lose, I had to go for the boring draw. Here is what occurred.

On arrival at the front I saw our men from two battalions of the 35th Reserve Division positioned atop of a hill that overlooked the plains that the Russians would have to advance over.Our loyal troops had deployed much as a hedge-hog, all concentrated on the main high ground position.

As the Soviets came into sight, our lone mortar platoon was directed by an OP officer and scored success immediately on the enemy’s mortars that were plodding along on wagons. Within 30 minutes, this Soviet force was maneuvering itself into a position of attack. But before they could so, they needed to find where in the high ground us Rumanians were located. A smallish enemy recon force, consisting of a platoon each of infantry and machine-guns probed up the slope. As they neared our men, a most awful maelstrom of bullets was let loose at them. These Stalinists were cut down where they stood, around 70 plus of them including their leader, just lying still on the hill. The remaining group, about 15 machine gunners, galloped off back to the main body.

One would suppose that when they reached their superiors, they must have explained the hill was too manfully defended, for the enemy never did attack again that day and the encounter subsided into a watching stalemate.

A very boring draw ! However, we did get 2 x Airborne scenarios in that day as a result of it.