Author	treadasaurusrex (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	PANISTA
Play Date	2023-02-21
Language	English
Scenario	BluD016

This was a fun-to-play, 3-session, infantry-heavy shoot 'em up with the redoubtable, PANISTA, leading the well-dug-in, but outnumbered defending Spanish force. I led the attacking -- and very hungry & thirsty -- Red Army contingent in this relatively-balanced scenario. Both sides had luck drawing leaders. Others have reviewed this one, so this AAR will be in summary form only.

We used the consolidation, excess initiative, smoke/illum optional rules, and skipped the defense-favoring FOW. We also experimented with the following 3 house rules: Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units. Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up or down slopes hexes. Firing Through or Over Friendly Personnel Units All AT guns, AFVs, Infantry guns (direct fire), Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns and HMGs may fire over or through friendly personnel units. In the case of HMGs, AA guns & Infantry Guns, there must be one unoccupied hex between any friendly unit that is being fired over and the targeted hex as in the current rule (10.1, page 24).

The Soviets are in a mass raid & pillage attempt against the Spanish lines. Their victory conditions specify the capture of entrenchments (and food) and taking at least 4 town hexes while keeping their step loses to less than twice as many steps as the Spanish. They cannot lose more that 8 steps in the process. The Soviet's somewhat rushed movement to contact avoided the minefields and went directly for the Spanish-held town which was completely occupied by the end of game turn 9. Red Army units then managed to outflank, infiltrate and suppress the remaining Spanish forces in the entrenchments. Multiple close assaults followed, that luckily were remarkable successful for Stalin's boys. Spanish counterattacks were bloodily repulsed and step loses mounted rapidly with the Soviets just managing to keep below the required double the losses of the Spaniards to the end of our third session, with 7 step losses total. By the end, the outcome was costly Bolshevik victory by a very narrow margin. Notably, only a combined EIGHT combat 7-die rolls were thrown in this scenario's 18 game turns.

IMHO, this well-designed, scenario could have gone either way and looked like it would be a draw for most of the game. I give this one an enthusiastic: 4 and recommend it for both SHARED and SOLO play. The 3 house rules we tried worked very well in this one.