AAR of my very first Panzer Grenadier scenario: Road To Berlin #26. I chose it for its relative simplicity (ie few turns, not much armour, no arty) with a few special rules (night time, bridges).

0100 Hrs - Game start. Overall plan for the Germans was to march to the village of Kienitz under cover of darkness and straight assault into the town hexes, at first I thought it would be a cake walk, 17 German GREN to 5 Sov SMG, with the Germans aided by a full strength armour. For the Soviets - easy, just hold onto the town hexes, deny the bridge.

0230 Hrs. Germans at the outskirts of Kienitz, plan is to obtain casualties through Direct Fire first, then follow up with Assaults. The main problem is the Soviets have far superior initiative (+3), which constantly allows them to restore morale and hold the town.

0330 Hrs. The Assaults start, and things are not working out for the Germans. The Panzer IV's decide to reposition to the Southern sector of town, and end up being completely annihilated by the depleted T34's lurking in the town. Thus far initiative and rolls have been completely with the Soviets! Unfortunately the Soviets' beloved Lieutenant lays down his life for the motherland during the fighting in the Northern Sector.

0430 Hrs. The "Herr Major" realizes the assaults by his "Leutnants" are not producing the desired results, and must act decisively before dawn and Soviet reinforcements arrive!

The Major takes direct control of the remaining full strength Grenadiers in his vicinity and launches an assault into the Southern (weaker) sector, success! The Soviet Captain and his troops are forced to retreat to the other side the bridge, subsequent Morale recovery rolls are unsuccessful and his troops retreat into the darkness on the Eastern side of the map.

0515 Hrs. Game end. With the evacuation of the Southern sector and the wild panic of their fellow troops, the SMG platoons that have been valiantly holding off repeated assaults by desperate Germans retreat to defend the Bridge Hex, leaving only a depleted platoon behind to tie down troops. Hopefully this action will keep the Bridge itself in Soviet hands until reinforcements arrive.

The German Major orders one of his already tired Leutnants to assault the Bridge and take it at the last possible minute to deny passage to Soviet reinforcements. After the Major Direct Fires into the Hex, the Leutnant Assaults - Sieg!! Major Victory at the last possible minute!!

Overall excellent first scenario. Soviets are outnumbered but have initiative and town cover on their side. Only question remains (for me personally) is a clear definition of the characteristics of bridge hex 0704- Bridge in a town hex over a major river. For the purposes of this scenario I treated it as a town hex.