March on Leningrad scenario #10 is a 20 turn slug-fest between the 1st Panzer and some raw but brave Leningrad militia units.

Note: in setting up the scenario I discovered that the morale, initiative and OBA info is missing for the Germans, both their starting force and their reinforcements. A quick e-mail exchange with APL clarified that the info is:

Morale: 8/7

Initiative: 4

Off-board artillery: 3 x 16

The Soviets start out with 19 INF and 8 HMG, but they are reduced to reflect their poor quality as militia. Soviet morale is 8/5, meaning most of their forces will be rolling against a 5. They also get a bunch of artillery, some AT guns, and most importantly a unit of KV-2s. Starting on game turn 4, they roll on a table to get more KV-1s, or maybe another KV-2, driving directly off the factory floor. The Soviet player stops rolling after 3 units have entered play.

The Germans get a mixed force of INF, HMG and ENG units and some guns, mounted on halftracks and trucks, plus a decent force of 5 Pz IIIFs and 2 Pz IVEs. Starting on turn 4, he rolls for reinforcements that include 2 more Pz IIIFs and a dreaded 88 gun. The Germans also get an air spotter in a SPW 250, which ensures air strikes will hit their target.

The victory conditions require the Germans to obtain 3 of 4 objectives for a Minor Victory, and 4 of 4 for a Major. The objectives are: 1) control the town on board 4; 2) keep all road hexes free of Soviet units at end of play; 3) eliminate 12 Soviet steps; and 4) exit 20 German steps off north edge of board (tanks count double).

Objectives 1 and 3 will be easy to achieve -- the trick is deciding whether to go for all 4, or concentrate on getting 3 for a Minor.

The thing that makes the scenario interesting is the appearance of the KV tank. The Germans can easily kill off the milita units and occupy the town, but they don't have a good answer for the KV-1. It has an armor rating of 5, meaning the Pz IVE needs to roll an 11 or 12 to kill a step; the Pz IIIF needs a 12! And this is for fire within 5 hexes; beyond 5 hexes the odds drop more with the -1 modifier. The answer of course is setting up flanking shots, or luring the KVs within range of the 88 once it arrives. The KV-2 has an armor rating of 4, making it more vulnerable.

The initial turns saw the Germans sweep in and start to occupy the town. Some tanks were needed to knock out the 45 mm gun in the town, then they headed to the east to attack the guns while the INF assaulted the town itself. The KV-2 lumbered south and caused the halftracks and trucks to scatter while the German armor scrambled to set up flank shots.

As turn 7 begins, the Germans are facing a challenge. They have easily killed enough Soviet steps (thereby reducing Soviet initiative to zero), and taken the town, but now they are facing a marauding stack of 2 KV-1s. Also, their reinforcements have failed to show up for 3 straight turns, but their entry is almost automatic now.

If the KVs are not dealt with, they will threaten the town and road and leave the Germans 1 objective short of a Minor win.

So as turn 7 opens, the German armor has swung around to the west for a flank shot. There is more German armor to the east, near the gap between the two woods. Getting two initial activations will be key. With armor efficiency, that will give the Germans 8 shots at the KV, with 4 of them benefitting from the flank modifier.

I have not played this very well so far as the Soviets, perhaps being more reckless with the KVs than needed. But the prospect of these behemoths tearing into the halftracks and trucks was too much to pass up!

As turn 10 begins, it looks like the Germans will have their way. They took advantage of the fact that the KV had already activated to rush the 88 mm gun into town and unlimber it. Sure enough the Germans won initiative next turn and the 88 landed a lucky shot that eliminated an entire KV unit. The remaining KV was too slow to escape the gun's LOS, so on the next turn the 88 killed it too. Like I said earlier, I was too rash with the KVs and should have left them more in the rear, daring the Germans to come to them.

The Germans also were able to eliminate the major bombardment threat posed by the stack of the 122mm and 107 mm guns in the woods to the northwest by a combination of OBA and air strikes. This left the way open for the infantry to advance up the main road. The final KV unit rolling out of the factory -- a KV-2 with a leader, is hanging back on the northern edge of the battlefield with the 2 T-60s, in a desperate attempt to deny the Germans both the road and the exiting unit VPs. But there are enough German tanks left to swing in from the left and right to set up a devastating barrage of flanking, efficient fire. This one is probably over. It should have been closer with better Soviet play on my part.

I recommend this scenario highly to anyone who gets March on Leningrad. The puzzle of how best to use, or counter, the KVs makes it a fascinating play.

This one is a solid 5, Mike Perry at his very best.

Soviets set up in the large town and dispersed among the two boards. The Germans entered and quickly took many casualties from Soviet artillery. The German airplanes were used prior to having the Luftwaffe command vehicle enter and all rolled ones and couldn't attack their targets. The Germans were mired south of the town until their reinforcements arrived on turn 6. After that the Soviet defenses began to crumble. Still, due to many turns ending early due to Fog of War and because Soviet forces held out in the large town for many turns, the Germans had trouble advancing. On the final turn the Germans were able to exit the remaining number of steps necessary for a minor victory. The Soviets had only two non-demoralized units on the road so it could have been a major victory with a little more German luck. Conversely, it could easily have gone the other way as well had the Soviets had a little more luck near the end. A fun, close scenario that warrants replaying, although playing it with two poeple may not be very fun for the Soviet player. Most Soviet units have a morale of 5 and break very easily, meaning the player seems to spend most of his game dropping artillery fire and trying to rally units.

This battle was played on Skype with Joe Oppenheimer over 3 sessions. I was attracted to this due to a report I had read on CSW from another PG player and thus looked forward to it. It offers a lot of different scenario specific rules, such as Militia, tanks coming off the assembly line and requires the Germans to obtain at least 3 out of the 4 VC conditions in order to win. Something to look forward.

The Situation And Plans

The DNO, backed by some professional artillery soldiers deployed in two main areas. Their forward position was the town of Pulkovo itself, armed with HMG units with some support from AT guns situated close by, a platoon of weak T60’s and some mined and entrenched areas. The main road was also mined intermittently along its course leading up to the heights of Pulkovo itself. On this large raised hill area, the main Soviet force deployed. Many ordnance pieces, dug-in infantrymen and some KV platoons. Also promised were more KV’s from the factory. For the Germans part, they interpreted the set up to be too weak on each of its flanks. The Soviet deployment was very centralized, and they therefore determined that the way forward was a step-by-step advance in this order. Take the town, inflict heavy losses as the advance went on and then flank the enemy to continue the push further and beyond towards Leningrad. The road, well, that was not so necessary to capture just yet.

The Attack On Pulkovo Town

As planned, the initial wave of German troops struck out at Pulkovo and this was at 1000 hours. German OBA took out some Soviet Mountain batteries and an HMG platoon though the troops of the 1at Panzer Division got a rude surprise when the militiamen’s AT support knocked out a couple of PzIV’s and some APC’s early on. This sent the initial tankers in the attack reeling back towards some farmsteads for cover. But this was a blip. The rest of the force pressed on at Pulkovo, and the brittle moraled Soviet Militia found it hard to stand up to sustained OBA and concentrated MG fire from supporting APC’s. This left German infantry and numerous PzIII’s to flood Pulkovo and enter street fighting with the enemy. After an hour of attack, the Militia had stood up surprisingly well overall, but were now on their last demoralized legs having sustained many casualties in and around Pulkovo. Just after 1100 hours, defence around Pulkovo had finally crumbled with the loss of around 200 soldiers, 3 batteries of guns and the platoon of T60’s. German losses to this point were around 50 infantrymen and the aforementioned 2 PzIV’s and APC’s.

Pressing On

With the town pocketed and now with reinforcements arriving, the Germans were able to eye their next objective. Surveying the enemy positions, they decided they would throw out some feints to the centre and left flank and then swing the majority of their force from the centre over to the right in a bid to exit past the Soviet defence. The Russians meantime had muscled up the defence of the road with troops digging in and their ordnance constantly bombarding the German efforts. KV tanks were also arriving to the help of the defenders straight from the factory lines. From the perimeter of Pulkovo, German HMG support backed by APC’s laid down a swarth of lead to the front of the advancing infantry in a bid to suppress and obliterate anything to their front. This had quite some success and helped those infantrymen in their task. Meanwhile, the mass of Panzers in the force, around 24 of them swung right, supported by some platoons of infantry and ordnance in their flanking attempt. Meanwhile, to the centre and left, German infantry struggled forward against severe shelling in their effort to tie Soviet troops down there.

Battle Comes To An End

The cumbersome KV’s, although monsters, once deployed struggled to push over to the flanks in any numbers. This made for the main German attack on the right flank be able to advance pretty much unmolested. The same could not be said for the feint attacks. These were being disrupted liberally, though some of the men did make it to the heights and engage the enemy in close assaults. But it was on the right that the battle would be decided, and here, the German Panzers rushed passed the enemy as their infantry advanced to and then engage the small amount of Soviet infantry and a troublesome battery of 107’s there.

By 1315 hours, the Germans had achieved enough for a victory. Admittedly, the road still was blocked though I guess this would be dealt with later. In the meantime, Panzers were streaming forward, Pulkovo had been invested and casualties inflicted on the enemy. Total casualties sustained came to 126 German infantrymen, 4 tanks and a handful of 251’s (10 step equivalents), Soviet losses were unsurprisingly higher given most of their men were militia, 372 soldiers including 20 guns and 4 tanks.(22 step equivalents)

The scenario was interesting as the German in that it requires some planning ahead of time as to how the best way to tackle the VC's should be taken. There are only 20 turns, which leaves minimum time to be too methodical and forces some aggression where at other times, patience may be the best policy. For the Soviet, though I'd wait for Joe's summary, I guess their headache is how to defend the whole front with so many poor-moraled militia. Tough quandry ! I also enjoyed hooking up with Joe himself and as well as his friendly demeanour, I also learnt what Pistrame (spelling) was as opposed to salami which I DO know :-)

This gets a 3 from me. Another where I'd like to give 3.5 but thats not available. It had enough quirky things going on to take the 4 points but at the same time, didn't quite reach the 'heights' (excuse the pun on the scenario name) in itself to attain the 4 pointer

I was Vince's Soviet opponent in this one. As he indicated I rather botched my setup by putting too much emphasis on holding the road and not enough units on the flank.

This is a tough scenario for the Soviets but has a lot of interesting features. It's tough to make good use of the five morale militia. Most of the time they will fail even a simple morale check and they will demoralize very easily. They are extremely tough to rally --- once demoralized they only rally on a two or three! Coupled with limited Soviet leaders (and only one with a morale modifier) I was forced to mostly use them as speed bumps. Vince was able to approach them without a great deal of fear (they are rated 2-2) and they typical started to crumble the first time they were fired on. I did have a few make heroic stands and even recover on their rally roles, but their main job was simply to slow the Germans.

The KVs are another story. These tanks are absolute monsters and it was nice to play an early war scenario where the Germans had to fear Soviet tanks. Their only drawback is that they are slow so proper deployment is crucial.

The Soviet player is really on the defensive here. The trick is to maximize deployment, decent artillery and anti-tank guns, nearly useless militia, and extremely powerful tanks.

I will say that I was impressed by Vince's skillful sequencing of moves and attacks and the masterful way he used terrain (his units always seemed to be one hex out of range or just blocked by a stand of trees).

Author	cjsiam (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2024-02-17
Language	English
Scenario	MaoL010

The Germans have to get through open ground in front of a hill, and then over a hill, clearing the road over the hill and get units off....They are faced with "Militia"...one step units with pretty abysmal morale of 6....(The Designer suggested this--we used it--to my opponents eventual regret perhaps). The Militia forces have some hvy arty, entrenchments, minefields and roll-for tank reinforcements (reduced)...

The Germans have a 9tanks and and equivalent infantry force, full strength PG--with weapons, and transport. Good OBA, and strong onboard Arty...as well as an 88 and some 50mm...(again, some changes suggested based on period (75pak just not there...)).

We were playing Double blind and FOW, and using the 4th Ed. "ala Lloyd" Rules....things like AT guns are efficient, one MP per hex for AFV movement in open.

The Soviets have to try and NOT leave any big gaps---and really have "brittle" units...once they become disrupted (or for non-militia take a step) they don't come back readily. So pretty much abandoning the Southern town as a death trap (though one unit left to force some slowing---slowing the advance was key) and then setting up some strong points in the open under the hill (AT Rifle in Dug-in conditions, AT guns in Entrenchments on lone hill and in Forest Copse in center as well as a small force in the Eastern Forest) Trying to force the Germans into the Area of Crossfire possible shots below the hill. Digging in along the road on the hill, mortars on hill top with a big Artillery piece in an Entrenchment. Deployed Mines to block (mostly) the Eastern board Edge--backed up by Entrenchments with AT guns...

So the Germans invested the Town, Began to push in the center with Infantry and tried to approach through the woods when the mines were revealed (this was a error in my part--but gave Peter and extra move to react with his units as I revealed incorrectly--I'm not perfect with the Double Blind rules yet..my bad). The 88 got set up and took out KV-1 at range and demoralized both light tanks as they ran to get over the hill...to no avail...I had to bolster the back side, just in case he got over with enough units toward the last few turns...

The Germans kept coming--I had multiple lucky shots with ATguns taking out half-tracks (with an AT gun transported) at long range from small hill, some lucky Artillery--at one point I think even Friendly OBA Fire hurt the German attacks on the central small forest copse. Shooting everything that could bear, but revealing the big pieces of Arty only when I had too--caused a trickle of Disruptions, and occasionally the dodge to cover---To slow the Advance....I had to be about slowing the advance--forcing him to be cautious.

As the game wound down we had a couple of Turns foreshortened by FOW, and then another at the last turn. In the end The Town and Casualties Objectives were met--leaving a Minor Soviet victory--while the Road Control and Exit were missed. The Trickle of Fire, and some Box-cars (I think three times) on some fires for the Russians (Germans got some too--but I probably benefited more from luck this game) kept disrupting units, and slowed the inevitable Fire/suppress/Assault German push into Entrenchments and forest or Dug-in positions...by end of Turn 17 we called it with the Germans at the bottom of the hill in the Eastern forest, the Dug-in road as yet untouched..and the Forest Assault about to absorb most of the Leading germans in the Woods, with my militia and KVs remaining...

A satisfying game...the historical outcome, so it seems to make sense. My thoughts are that if the Germans were to concentrate and just blow a hole on one side or the other--that was my greatest fear as the Russian...no way I could react in time, and I'd not be able to bring enough to bare--even with what limited Tank forces I might have consolidated...