So you want to clear out a light enemy force with minor loss to your own forces and you see, waiting anxiously for an assignment, an elite large group of cavalry. Before you pick them consider the fact that with superglue and double sided tape, the demand for standard, Elmer's type glue has been reduced considerably.

The fragility of cavalry makes them terribly unsuited to these types of engagements. Where they shine is in situations where their shock value (the +1 for a charge) can disrupt a defense in order to permit more conventional troops take over and do the nasty clean up. You WILL have losses, lots of them.

Consider the fact that in WW I cavalry virtually disappeared from the battlefield after the opening campaigns due to the increased firepower of the infantry. Then add in the added firepower of WW II weaponry and you can see how terribly these units must suffer.

I like the rules in Fronte Russo for the Italian cavalry permitting them to dismount and therefore reduce their profile. But then again those units were superbly trained and highly disciplined and although the Romanian cavalry was an elite unit they still did not reach that level of training.

In this scenario I did set up the hedgehog on the hilltop as addressed in other AARs on this battle but frankly I never got to see if I could take it. Several "2" and "3" rolls on the OBA for the Soviets made that a moot point. By turn 6 the Romanians who were still working on clearing out the fields to the north of the hill had already lost 7 steps and had several demoralized units as targets for the Soviet OBA.

As I mentioned in my article the lesson of the scenario is clear. There is virtually no way the Romanians can accomplish this with their cavalry. If they could use their infantry as well, even as poorly led as they are, and could pool their artillery getting a "21" barrage and you could remove the ("if they tie the Soviets win") Soviet favorable victory conditions and permit a draw, a draw is clearly possible. Short of that, the Romanians will lose every time - just as they did in real life.

I am disappointed to be unable to help the Romanian statistics in the database but that's the way it goes. Great example of the inability of cavalry to participate in WW II action in a stand up battle. Difficult game play. Scenario gets a 3.