This interestng little scenario has a group of Russian Guard cav attacking just about equal German infantry force with a 37mm AT gun and a 20mm AA gun defending a town on board 3. Deep snow slows down all offroad movement, and there is a chance for both sides to get reinforcements during the game from a list of options, but must roll a 6 when the time comes to try to get them. Germans are allowed 2 dug in stacks to start but I opted for all but the 20mm AA and an infantry to start on the south side of town and that 20mm and infantry in the woods nearby. Russians have to enter from the south edge east of the north-south road but can get access to it quickly and can be ready to charge the town on turn 2. During this game the Germans ran with the luck. Russians got the initiative much of the time, even having 3 actions to start several, but it was the Germans who got the first and only reinforcements, and that happened on turn 4, at which point the Russians had taken enough casualties to start the mandatory withdrawal, giving them just 5 turns to get everyone off the board to the south. The units that actually made it off were the demoralized cav and leaders who fled and just kept going. All good order units and leaders who had attempted to assault the town died to a man by the end of turnh 9, the last turn allowed after the withdrawal. Germans lost 2 steps, Russians 15 steps and leaders for a big German win.

I have had my eye on this scenario for a while because of the curious VC ,random reinforcements and there is no set number of turns, having examined the scenario thoroughly I believed a German win most likely so instead of giving Herr Hughes an easy win I played it solo. The VC are based on how many undemoralized steps are on the board for each side at the end of the turn if Soviets have double then they win, if the Hun have double the Soviets must withdraw and if they have lost 8 steps or more they lose. The Soviets also win if the control all the town on board 3, not a likely occurrence but possible. What makes this game "interesting" is that both side roll for reinforcements and also roll on a table for what these reinforcements are. Now the Germans roll on all even number turns, with a six meaning reinforcements arrive, the Soviets roll every three turns also needing a six. It does not take a degree in Maths to work out that Germans will get more reinforcements than the Russians. The Germans start with 17 steps on the board 2 more than the Russian, so should they roll a 6 on turn two followed by a double one or 11 on the reinforcement table the Soviets have to withdraw straight away, they have 5 turns to withdraw and the chances of losing 8 steps are small so it is possible by turn 3 that the game is all over. Hmm I can imagine if this was a FtF game there would be a few comments made on the choice of scenario! Of course the above is not likely to happen, which brings me to another point with the game ending only on a Soviet victory of 5 turns after a Soviet withdrawal this could be a long haul the rules don,t cover what happens when night starts to fall or if there are not reinforcements available of a certain type. Likely with Soviet Ldrs and CAV would be once again this would be a rare thing but possible. As to my game I decided the Soviet CAV would skirt around the town and then head North in a bid to attack any German reinforcements and also to avoid any casualties. The Germans did get reinforcements on GT 4 and it was a whole company of INF with HMG and AT support, this nearly caused a Soviet withdrawal straight away. The Soviet commander foolishly tried to close with this group and in fact caused some disruption and even a demoralization then disaster with 3-1 initiative the Soviet commander though he could move adjacent to the German troops and then next turn after winning the initiative close in hand to hand combat. Needless to say in a mirror image of what happens in my FtF games the Soviets use initiative the Germans rally, their OBA hits the CAV, the CAV demoralize and the s..t hits the fan. But wait the Soviet's roll a six and get some reinforcements could this swing things round, no a lone T34 wanders onto the board. The German player now went on the attack and destroyed 3 CAV steps thus causing the withdrawal, the lone T34 wanders off the boards. The surviving CAV desperatly make for the East but are caught by accurate artillery fire and rifle fire casuing more losses and disrupting units which are then caught in assault and destroyed by GT 9 its all over. *This scenario try's to be too clever for its own good and there are a lot of unanswered scenario questions only some of which I have covered. There is a way for the Soviets to avoid defeat or at least make it harder for the Germans. But I will let others work that out. As a fun game its OK but highlights once again AP's poor scenario development particularly in more older games. *

Author	plloyd1010 (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2023-02-23
Language	English
Scenario	ReWa011

First off there are a lot of typos and omissions in the scenario text and information. Fortunately though, experienced players should have no trouble resolving them. We played this scenario with my rewritten rules and double-blind. Our reinforcement dice rolls secret too.

I draw the Germans for this scenario. Since Soviet victory revolves around controlling the town, I set up a hedgehog defense with most of my force in the town and a small contingent in the woods, to prevent a covered approach. Nothing to do now, except hang on and wait for reinforcements.

The Guards cavalry did not conveniently charge across the bridge toward the town, not that I really expected him to. Rather he circled around the woods and used some of his force to probe through the woods toward the town. My pickets observed the Soviet cavalry coming through the woods. After a brief bit of gunfire the probing cavalry withdrew. The balance of the Soviets moved to the northern part of the map.

On turn 8 I finally get some reinforcement. An infantry platoon, armored car and an infantry gun come on the north road. The armored car escorts the infantry gun into the town, then runs back to help the infantry, who has been delayed.

The cavalry is closing in. The first charge is mostly stopped by a lucky 20mm burst from the town. As the INF and AC start to withdraw, the second cavalry charge hits home. The horsemen overwhelm the little force, but equally lose 4 steps doing so. Fire from the town accounts for 2 of those.

Those losses and a demoralized cavalry troop (yes the Russians call platoon level cavalry troops) brought the number of on-board undemoralized Soviet steps to 9, half of mine. So the 2nd Cavalry orders a general withdrawal. Even if the demoralized and disrupted Soviet steps do not make it off the map, I would not have caused enough casualties to win. Since I still control the town, my opponent doesn't win either. Game ends with a draw.

The scenario initially looks very interesting. The slow rate of reinforcement and the fact that the Soviets need a high risk ploy in the beginning make this scenario either very brittle or a long slow death.