Author	treadasaurusrex (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany, Spain
Participants	Miguelibal
Play Date	2023-01-23
Language	English
Scenario	BluD011

This was a 5-session play through with the enthusiastic & ferocious, Miguelibal, commanding the combined arms Spanish & German force in attack mode. Unfortunately, due to losing a coin toss, it fell to me to lead the beleaguered and armor-free, Soviet side of this unbalanced scenario. As others have reported this one in considerable detail, I will just present an outline in this AAR. We used the FOW, excess initiative, consolidation and smoke/illum optional rules. There were 11 FOW-shortened game turns in our play-through. The Axis side drew excellent leaders, the Soviet not so much. The best moment was when the Russians well-positioned, "crash boom" 76.2mm AT unit nailed the German's rampaging Tiger platoon with a lucky AT shot, that was shortly followed by a very costly infantry close assault that eliminated this armored menace in the larger town. By game turn 15, the Soviets had already lost 11 steps and 2 leaders, while the Axis had lost a total of just 7 steps and a leader. As the game progressed, the number of Soviet units steadily declined as the Spanish gained the upper hand by way of repeated successful urban close assaults, and adjacent-hex fire fights. The last Russian step and leader was eliminated on the very last game turn, resulting in an overwhelming Spanish victory. Between us, we threw 21 combat 7-die rolls -- the bulk of which (13) were thrown by the hapless Bolsheviks.

I don't think that it's possible for the Soviets to prevail in this stacked scenario, no matter how lucky their die rolls may be. I give this one a 2, mostly because it was fun to play with a spirited, high morale opponent. This one should be saved for SOLO play as there is comparatively little for the Russian player to do, apart from trying to stem the Spanish tide as long as possible and hold a few town hexes. Soviet counter attacks are not a particularly good idea as the Spanish are just too tough and mobile. Taking out that single German heavy tank platoon, was both lucky and tragic, since it cost the Russians so dearly that they were doomed to ignominious defeat after the 18th game turn.