A mixed force of Germans is trying to push past a Soviet blocking force. Both sides have infantry with armor support, but neither has transports or on-board artillery. Both sides set up in two groups, attempting to cover the width of the field.

The Soviet infantry rides their tanks up to the southern fields and digs in. Meanwhile, the Germans move forward, using the northern fields for cover. The German armor moves out into the open to draw fire from the Soviet tanks.

The Soviet tank fire is ineffective at first, while the Germans take out three of the Soviet tank platoons. Then the Soviets find the range and reduce two platoons of StuGs.

Meanwhile, the German infantry moves too cautiously at first, staying in the cover of the fields despite being out of range of the Soviet fire. They left themselves very little time to move past the Soviet defense.

Once the Germans reduce the tank force on the Germans right, both German forces make a break for that side. Soviet Opportunity Fire is ineffective, and part of the German infantry assaults the Soviet infantry to pin them while the rest of the Germans make a run to get past them.

In the end, the Germans exit only four steps of infantry (giving the Soviets a net 6 victory points). Step losses even out the score for a draw. The Germans missed a minor victory by rolling three consecutive 1's on the 30 column of the Assault Table.

The two lessons I learned from this scenario are (1) Move more quickly when time is limited and (2) roll the dice better (for both sides).

This is a very good small scenario -- German quality versus Soviet quantity with both infantry and armor. It plays quickly and was fun.

Trying to stop an advance with lower moral than your opponent is very difficult. Soviet smgs have a short range of fire and no staying ability in an assault so the defense of the mother land is left to the T-34s which did an excellent job as long as they could. The Germans never had a single unit reach the southern edge of the battlefield until the very last turn. However the Russian peasants laid dead across the field in numbers large enough to assure a German victory. There was an German tactical error early in the battle but I was not in a position to fully take advantage of it (this can only occur if you are playing double blind). I did enjoy the possibilities the scenario offered.

I started this scenario short two platoons- my fault!- and I didn't realize it until my opponent asked where they were hiding, or if I still had them off board somewhere!

Anyway, this scenario was a typical German Juggernaut vs. bravely dying Russian hordes. Once you catch them, the Russians die quite readily in assaults. But the problem is you have to catch them first, and my opponent always makes it very difficult to catch him. I've never been able to orchestrate a fighting withdrawal as skillfully as he.

I couldn't get my units off the board, but I slaughtered enough Russians to win. Yay, slaughter.

Okay, apparently the real life Soviets learned some lessons from the earlier fighting, I did not. This is a scenario where points are given for eliminating units of the other side and the Germans gain points for exiting units from the board, while the Soviets get 10 points if fewer than 10 German steps exit the board by the end of the game. The Germans have a dozen SCH platoons, 3 HMS, a Marder III and a few StuGIIIGs. The Soviets have 7 SMG platoons riding 6 T-34s and an SU-122, and some T-70s. Both sides have off board artillery, with the Germans possessing a bit more. This is a short, 1 map, 12 turn scenario.

The first couple of turns were just positioning. The Germans advanced from the north, mostly hiding in fields, while the Soviets did the same from the South. First blood came on turn 3, when a T-34b took out a step of StuGs. On turn 4, the same unit took out a step of SCH as the Germans began advancing across the open spaces. This was pretty much the high water mark.

On turn 5, a T-70 platoon that had come out of cover was eliminated by StuGs. Another T-34 and the SU-122 destroyed another SCH platoon and, unfortunately for the Russians, was able to be spotted by a Marder which promptly destroyed the T-34s. While the Soviets were putting a dent in the advancing Germans, their cover was being blown, and the Germans were coming into contact with higher morale and local numerical superiority. Add to this the 1 range of the SMG units, and things were not going the Soviets way.

On turn 6, the Germans killed 1/2 of the killer T-34b platoon, while the Marder took apart another platoon of T-34s. Fog of War ended the turn before the leading Germans could advance. At this point, the Russians had lost 14 steps (counting tanks as 2 steps) while the Germans had lost 5, which wasn't terrible, since the Germans weren't close to exiting. Then came turn 7. Close assaults by the SCH took out 2 more platoons of T-34s, who just couldn't stand up to the swarms of approaching SS men. The lesser Soviet morale (these were RKKA troops, not Guards) was beginning to show with increasing numbers of demoralized units. The Germans were now advancing on a broad front and pushing for the board edge, but were again brought short by Fog of War.

Turns 8 and 9 were fairly quite, but the Soviets were running out of troops. By the end of turn 9, the casualties were 25 for the Soviets and still 5 for the Germans. Turn 10 was very bloody. More Soviet tanks trying to take out the infantry were exposed to return fire from the Marder and StuGs, who were sitting outside the effective range of the Soviet guns. The SMG troops were too thinly spread to stop the wave of SCH, however they were able to at least delay them long enough that none of them could make it off the board by the end of the game. Unfortunately, the casualty count at the end of turn 10 was 36 for the Soviets and 8 for the Germans. Even adding in the 10 points for not getting enough Germans off the south edge, the score was 36-18 and the Soviets were just about out of troops and conceded the scenario.

This is not a bad scenario, I think my tactics as the Soviets were not the best. The biggest thing I believe I should have done was fire by echelon. Every time a Soviet tank exposed itself it was vulnerable to being picked off by the superior German armor. Instead, I think having 2 lines so the spotted units could hide again while others replaced them would have helped limit casualties. This was made challenging by having only 4 Soviet tank leaders for 10 tank units, and it could have helped. Also, perhaps defending farther back in the fields, so the Germans had to get very close before being able to fire might have helped. Given how quickly this one played, I might give it another shot sometime. I do think it would make a very good PbSkype/PbEM scenario.

This was a Skype game play against Vince Hughes over just one session. He as the Germans with and infantry assault force, I as the Soviets a force of blocking armor and SMG's. Most advantages go to the Germans with better morale, quality of armor and in this play better leaders than the Soviets.

This was a meeting engagement that has both sides entering the boards at the same time. the Soviets have a better chance as they are defending with the Germans needing to try to exit units off the south end of the board. The Soviet can then try to slow them up in the cover of the fields.

Riding the tanks onto the board the Soviets head for the fields to drop off the SMGs and leaders to dig in while the AFV's advance to cover them. The Germans, moving on from the north east slowing move down the east edge with the StuG's covering in the center. With their longer range the StuG's are able to draw the first blood on a T34c. The other T34's move to block the southern advancing infantry. This force the Germans to move east as the the SMG's in the fields are well dugin at this point. The T-34's respond to the shift but this puts them in range of the StuG's which are able to put highly accurate low probability shots on the T-34's devastating them.

After this the Soviet force is depleted and looks to pull back giving the Germans a victory.

As for scenario I gave it a weak 3, as the Soviet force has a lot to do to try to stop the Germans with there blocking force. I took an aggressive approach and was not able to win with it, possibly a fixed defense would work, but that will be tricky too as there is not much time to get one established. This may be a good learning scenario, because a game between two same experienced players the Germans will win, between some one that is learning and experienced player may work just fine.

This scenario was played in a two and half hour session of play against Alan Sawyer over Skype. Alan selected this one as he had selected our previous Kursk meeting. On first glance, they appear quite similar though the make-up of the forces in this one made it quite different. My task as the Germans was to inflict casualties and try to exit at least 10 steps in order to withold a large point swing for the Soviets when reckoning VC's at the end.

At 1430 hours both sides advanced towards each other. Soviet tank riders off-loaded into nearby wheatfields whilst SS Schutzen troops advanced about 2.5km away. German StG’s moved to take positions in wheatfields near to them and Soviet armour split into differing groups with some of their nearby infantry and others pushing forward. Both sides early artillery attempts were wayward and for a peaceful half hour each side was allowed to take up their positions or advance in relative safety.

1500 hours an advance by 4 x Soviet T34 platoons was met by fire from the German StG’s. One step was eliminated but the other units veered to their right to assist Soviet SMG troops as they became pressured by numerous German infantry. These German infantry had split into two groups, and 1/3 of them peeled off to the west to apply pressure to the less guarded Soviet centre and west flank. Soviet artillery, though not knocking out noticeable casualties was causing some disruption and demoralization in some of the German infantry ranks.

1530 hours (turn.5) became the pivotal moment of the battle.The German infantry pressuring the centre wiped out a Soviet SMG platoon with close-in fire whilst another platoon assaulted the T34 platoon that was with the now eliminated SMG’s. Once more casualties were taken by the Soviet tanks. The Soviet response was daring and risky. As they observed German StG’s move out of the wheatfields to try and issue a coup de grace on their struggling comrade Soviet tankers, they in turn pushed forward into effective range in order to force a showdown with the StGs. They hoped to draw fire away from their troubled friends and inflict damage on the German machines. The showdown was short-lived. The guns began to belch out their destruction at 1545 hours and the StGs achieved a hit ratio of 66% at a range of 1200m. This was a devastating blow to the Soviet cause. All their attacking armour had been damaged, disrupted or demoralized. Furthermore, some further infantry were lost and at this point the battle was up for the Soviets. There was basically no line of defence that would be able to hold any German efforts to advance.

With the field conceded, Soviet losses read 4 SMG steps, 1 officer and 7 T34 steps. No German steps were lost in this encounter. Points totals at that time were German 18, Soviet 0

This played through quickly due to the boldness of the Soviet tankers and their subsequent punishing demise. It was a brave move by Alan and I could see what he was trying to do. He could not have expected such a succession of hits to fly in at the range they did and that did for the Red tankers. Though at the same time, its part of the risk and gamble. I guess, when one boils this down, it can be worked out that the German infantry have only 5 'fighting' turns if they are to exit, and the rest of their turns in the game would have to involve forward movement in order to get off the south end of the board. Think of it like that and maybe its possible to come up with a way to delay them for those required turns. I, like Alan, rate this a '3'.

Yesterday evening I introduced my buddy Bob to PG. I was hopeful this would be a fast-playing and interesting scenario. Unfortunately, I could it's unbalanced too much in favor of the Germans.

I dropped off the SMG platoons immediately on turn 1 and dug in on turns 2 & 3 to form a defense line against advancing SS infantry. The T70s, Su-122s and Marders tucked into wheatfields. I advanced the T-34s on the StuGs to dare them to start firing. Bob immediately started inflicting casualties. While armor traded shots Bob advanced infantry up to my armor and engaged them in assaults, disrupting many. By turn four I'd lost four armor steps and one infantry step and four armor units were engaged in assaults with two disrupted, while Bob had lost only one armor step.

It was clearly trending toward the Germans, and with the evening running late I conceded.

The PG scenario where everything comes together and the system really shines still eludes me. I had hopes for this scenario. The armor mix is interesting. I conclude the Reds need more infantry and artillery, and would benefit from a little more armor, too.