I gave some consideration to a defense in the woods: that is, bring on the Soviets and force an in-woods infantry battle, hoping to infiltrate units onto the road by game end. I felt this was contra-indicated by: (i) no RKKA OBA support; (ii) the victory conditions; and (iii) the superior town hex advantages vis-a-vis assault e.g. -2 col shift defending (note that this cancels the +1 LDR and +1 morale shifts); +1 to morale recovery).

Initial Set-up:

Board 06: LT 8-0-0 + 2xINF in 1005; CPT 9-0-0 + 2xINF 1110; 1xINF 0714.

Board 04: HMG in 0811; INF in 0810; 45mm in 1112.

The soviet units blocking the road on Board 06 started digging in, but the Heer cavalry was able to spot them to bring in disrupting OBA. These units moved into a woods hex. Otherwise, cavalry recons to the north and along the road. Cav assaults against the lone soviet INF takes x3 turns. Soviet reinforcements arrive on TURN 2, drawing the 9-1-1 MAJ and a 10-1-1 CPT. Stalinists fill the town over next few turns: the MAJ can sit in the center with units filling the full perimeter - the x3 HMGs oriented to cover the road approach and the south. The wagon pulls the other 45mm gun to join the on-board one.

On Turn #8, those 2x45's pull a classic 2d6 = 2 on OF.

Turn #12, last soviet unit on Board 06 eliminated. German mortars had set up to self-spot "spotted" town hexes so as to deliver 12-col bombardments (from the 16 factors). OBA was a marginal factor: the combination of -2 town shifts and the MAJ who could boost the entire town's defense made BF degredation difficult: but, still, it only took one decent hit, followed by a better DF "softening" to get that one "crack" that brought the Germans into contact.

By Turn #14, first assault against the town. By Turn #19, five separate assaults were ongoing. By Turn #21, two assaults; On Turn #23, Stalinist resistance had ended.

The RKKA defended and recovered -- there was no reason at all to take the offensive. As always with protracted unban assaults, there were turns of meh (rolls of 6-8); turns where the Russians on a lower col rolled "better," but the Germans simply had sufficient strong leaders and units that could cycle into the assaults (pull the DIS ones out, pull in fresh; recover the DIS one's and rinse/repeat. Finally, the dice would favor the Heer and once the DEM's began to flee or take compound demoralizations and the defense would crack and falter.

So not the most exciting scenario from a maneuver point-of-view, but the timing seems well done ... the Germans have time to win (obviously), but they cannot afford to dawdle. Use of the cavalry was fun: they were excellent for spotting, pursuit of fleeing units, and even a couple of CAV assaults; but, with +1 for OF and +1 vs CAV, moving around a town with 7-4 HMG's made for some scary shots. I'll have to say that the CAV rolled consistently well vs. morale checks.