This was a 3-session play-through with my favorite former-combat infantryman leading the Germans to a well-deserved victory in this relatively short & unbalanced scenario. I played the hapless Soviets tasked with attacking a well-positioned and resolutely-held Russian defense in the village of Nizhny Kurp on Map 2 -- with no support artillery, or Luftwaffe support.

The Russian OPLAN called for an aggressive series of urban attacks that mostly were bloodily-repulsed due to the combination of the low morale of the Russian troops; frequently disrupted attack sequencing; and the very accurate German artillery & direct fire. As a "spoiling attack" this Soviet effort was a complete, very costly failure.

The Russians began to assemble on and behind a hill that stood between them and the town, with critical support weapons being brought up to assist in their attack. Suddenly, from their left appeared a couple of Panzer III platoons who caught the weapons still limbered to their wagons and knocked out a couple of the guns. The other two guns were dragged up to the top of the hill, but when the German off-board artillery became available in turn two they were also destroyed/abandoned leaving nothing but infantry and cavalry to try to assault the town. The initial Russian advance was broken up by the German 105mm guns stationed at each end of the town, with units eventually advancing to within one hex from the town before they became disrupted, demoralized and then fled. The cavalry was slaughtered by the Panzers, and the rout was on. At the end of the game the Russians had lost 17 steps and most units remaining had morale problems that made them useless. Colonel Ivanov, who led the attack, was taken away in shackles with a single gunshot heard moments later. The Germans did not lose a single step. This was a slaughter.

Muy desnivelado en favor de los alemanes. Los soviéticos no tiene casi opciones de victoria. Es enormemente costoso para los soviéticos dañar a los alemanes situados en la ciudad. Por contra, la artillería alemana desorganiza y desmoraliza con facilidad a los soviéticos (moral 7/5). Victoria alemana. Flojo.

The name of this scenario has an echo in the WW I tactical series by Avalanche for a reason. The Soviets have a reinforced battalion attacking two companies of infantry and a company of tanks supported by a huge amount of artillery which hold a town. The Germans will be reinforced during the Soviet attack. Inexplicably the Soviet command thinks that it is possible for their troops to either take the entire town, or destroy the German tanks.

The Soviets really have no chance to get into the town and the German artillery makes it very tough to get their strong AT guns into play against the German armor. But they pays us to play these things, not assume that they can't be played.

My Soviets were aggressive, they were able to wipe out a platoon that had set up in the hills to spot for the artillery, I was able to get two AT guns into position on the right flank, heck I was even able to get a flank column into the town on the east side but when it was over the southern edge of town was carpeted in Soviet bodies and by turn 12 there wasn't a single step of Soviet troops in the town and most of the Soviet guns had been silenced.

Despite the fact that the action happened in 1942, it felt like 1917. The Soviets had to advance across a relatively featureless front against strong machine gun fire (one HMG and the two tanks). The lack of OBA for the Soviets means that they have to arrange their own artillery fire and it was subject to being hammered by the German OBA and on board artillery hidden deep in the town.

It was surprising that even this late in the war the Soviets were incapable of consistently having a clue as to how to attack. While this was more of a spoiling attack it is hard to see what they accomplished other than causing 50 casualties and making the Germans shoot off a lot of ammunition.

This one was a bit too much of a foregone conclusion. I give it a "2".

This scenario is well known for being stacked against the Russians. The only real advantage they have is numbers, which doesn't account for much when going against combined arms in a city. However, it does let the Russians spread out along the entire map to allow flanking infiltrations of the town, no matter how the Germans set up. They can pin key German units in assaults while taking the rest of the city, and then hope for some lucky die rolls to take the whole thing, right?

At set up, the Germans declined to contest the hill, and thus the Russian board entry; instead focusing on tightly defending the frontage of the town. Their tanks were set up guarding the approach on the north/south road, machine guns guarded the south eastern corner, and the artillery took a central position behind the front line. The infantry units concentrated on the south west and south east corners leaving a gap in the center. If the Russians wanted to drive into this gap, they would have to get through the cross fire of the machine guns and tanks, so exploitation seemed unlikely.

The Russians entered the board overloading their infantry on the right in an attempt to overwhelm the German defenses. A small force of infantry also moved up the center to divert fire away from the main column and heavy weapons, or take advantage of the center if the Germans allowed. The AT guns and artillery attempted to set up on the hill to provide fire into the towns, and compel the Germans to withdraw their tanks from the front. They also left their mortars behind the hill so as to protect them from enemy spotting and begin firing earlier. Their cavalry entered on the far left in an attempt to flank on the left and probe for weakness and targets of opportunity if they presented themselves.

Early action in this scenario was fairly onesided. The lone brightspot for the Russians was that a German LT was sent running forward to attempt to spot for artillery behind the hill. He was quickly captured by the advancing cavalry before any bombardment could be called in. On and off board artillery fire destroyed all the Russian 76s and one of the 45s before they could get in position on the hill, but this did allow the infantry to advance on the right relatively unmolested. The Germans repositioned their infantry to guard against the main Russian body, leaving the left protected only by their tanks which were pushing back the minor Russian infantry force in the center.

As the game developed, the Russian Cavalry was able to flank around the tanks on the left and ended up tying down the German 105s an one INF unit in a perpetual assault. The remaining 45 battery popped one step off of the tanks, which withdrew towards the right after the Russian center dissolved. The Russians were able to advance their main infantry column up the right side and behind the town, gaining a foothold on the northeast corner. By this time, they were getting torn up by German off board artillery strikes.

Late game ended up devolving into 3 main assaults, which the Russians could not resolve. Throwing more and more men into it would never come out ahead without some more punch (the lack of HMG units was very noticeable). The Germans had no reason to counterattack, so they didnt and remained on the defensive. Ultimately the German reinforcements came and reclaimed the town from the Russians sans the 3 assault hexes and time expired.

Despite losing per the scenario VCs, this was the strongest showing I have ever seen from the Russians on this scenario. The defacto stalemate they caused before the German reinforcements arrive really tempted me to call this one a draw, but those arent the VCs and thems the breaks : /

As a minor note, I was not allowing AT fire against wagon units this game, as I usually play with a strict interpretation of the Truck exception to the no armor value/AT rule. Im not really sure if this played much of a role in this game, but it could have been played differently if it were allowed.

I also allowed for the random event rule for nostalgia purposes while i continue my replay of original PG. It triggered once in this game, giving the Germans air cover for a turn which disrupted the Russian mortars for a turn, but the game was already a stale mate at this point so it really didnt change anything.

If i played this again, I might mix things up, and have the Russians go all out for tank hunting to see if they could trigger the alternate VC. It could make it a bit more interesting.