Finally played my first White Eagles game: Scenario 13, Borderlands. The Polish setup emphasized putting the ATG’s in places where they had maximum coverage, including one on a slope several hexes west of town (which spent the first two turns digging in.) This severely limited the usefulness of the Soviet AFV’s since none of them have tank leaders. The rest of the setup (apart from the 75/97 arty units) was in town.

Even though the ATG outside the town succumbed early to off-map artillery, the Russian armor (apart from some armored cars that took a blind spot position adjacent to town early on) was neutralized for most of the game by the threat from the ATG’s (and the 75’s until they ran out of ammo and were eliminated.)

As for the rest of the huge mass of Soviets, they pressed relentlessly on from south and west. The cavalry swept past town and joined some infantry against the Polish artillery (plus an infantry unit that had fled into the same field), though it was actually ammo and not attack that eliminated the guns., and the cavalry took some losses.

The rest of the action was adjacent and in town, with point-blank fire and assaults the main events. The Russians ground away at the Poles and even bombarded hexes with friendlies in as many as 4 adjacent hexes. By game’s end, though, the dogged Poles held one town hex free of Russians and disputed all the rest except one the enemy had cleared.

The Soviets gained 3 VP for one town hex and 7 VP for Polish losses, while the Poles had 5 VP for one town hex and 5 VP for Soviet losses. Since the Russians needed a 2-1 edge to win, it was a Polish victory.

White Eagles, scenario #13: Borderlands

When I received The Deluge Poland 1939, I sold off White Eagles thinking they were the same thing, but before I shipped it, I realized the new version was missing the Soviet vs Poland section and few other scenarios, so I copied them to play later with my new Deluge and Fire in the Steppe game material, so this is one of those scenarios I held onto, as I really like the Soviet vs Poland scenarios or subject.

This scenario the Soviets have two large battlegroups of the 45th Rifle Division and attached armor while the Polish have depleted elements of the Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, trying to holdout in the town of Wytyczno. Both sides have a low morale but the Polish reduce side units it is only 5, so even urban combat is going to be brutal. Victory points give the Polish side a chance as the Soviet have to win by double points or more.

The two Soviet battlegroups converge on the Polish elements, and they have some Anti-Tank Guns but the Soviets have a good amount of armor: (T-26s) and armored cars: (FAI, BA6 & BA10Ms) even if they are 1939 models, they also have a ton of Infantry and a good amount of off board artillery. When it was all said and done, the Soviets had 27 victory points to the Polish 12 victory points, giving the Soviet the victory. I like the topic but the scenario was probably average.