*This was a Skype play with Hugmenot over two sessions. It was a nice Skype game, one board small to medium counter mix and a town assault for the Germans. It had some tense moments during the attack, but the dice rolls were with the Soviets as it seemed that they had marked their firing lanes well.

There is advantages and disadvantages to both sides, for the Soviets, they hold the town with Guard troops. This gives them an even morale with the Germans, helping in assaults. They have 76.2mm guns that will be spotted early and no OBA. Minefields and entrenchments round out the Soviet setup to Guard the town. The Soviets have a FLM unit, but did not play a big part in the battle.

The Germans have more troops including AFV support of a StuG and Tiger, but mud will slow them down. Four HMG's can give the Germans an impressive fire group, with ENG's to deal with the town and the mines. German OBA is also impressive, 2x24, which will give the Soviet guns a scare.

Victory conditions are simple, the Germans must take the town, or at least a majority of hexes in the town. Leaders on both sides well average to good, with the Germans having a slight advantage in quantity.*

The game starts with the Germans advancing onboard from the the south. The Soviet response is to get their 76.2mm guns and 82mm mortars going. They quickly establish their ranges by scoring a step losses on a German SCH as well as mortally wounding a leader German OSTFR. The Germans quickly take the southern hill and establish a fire group for their HMG's and mortars. One group of SCH's move up the east side of the hill, while another group looks to flank wide to the west.

Several turns have the Germans maneuvering there forces toward the town. Soviet OP fire is accurate and German troops begin to disrupt and demoralize, particularly their leaders. This slows their advance with the need to recover and reestablish the attack. By turn 5 the Germans have closed on the town and have units ready to assault. But Soviet fire scores another step losses and mortally wounding another OSFTR. But the Germans get two more assault groups in position, one at the critical point held only by a Soviet AT gun. Quick shifting over the Guard units bolsters the AT support with and SMG and a leading CAPT. The Soviets suffer their first loss of a reduced ATR by the large German HMG fire group.

The HMG's have a impressive fire group, 4x11 plus a 1 firepower leader, throwing a whopping 45 DF. This will get knocked down to 22 DF after town or entrenchment modifiers, but this is still enough to get kills. The Soviet dedicate several bombardment shots to quite their fire, with some success. First they disrupted the first leader leading the attack. Second, disrupt a HMG, that remains disrupted through the end of the game.

To the east the Germans, push up the edge of the board looking to turn the Soviet flank. Again the Soviet fire is good and strips away maneuvering platoons, but the German HPSTFR manages to himself an ENG into position to threaten the positions of a 76.2mm gun and mortar. Soviet quick shifting move an HMG into the hex as well as evacuate the mortars back into the center of the town. The Germans pile in for an assault, but no effect on either side.

At this point the Germans probe the minefields with their ENG's, but prior to getting into the minefield, they are hit by deadly OP fire from Soviets in a entrenchment. This reduces the ENG's heading into the minefield. This seems to have killed the key mine removal men as the remaining ENG's miss a group of mines and stumble right into them without their clearing equipment. This destroys the remained of the ENG's.

By now the game is getting late and the German are struggling with recoveries for their disrupted and demoralized troops. But they need to press the town, so the good order HMG's and any other good order troops begin to advance on the town. German artillery and mortars find their mark destroying a 76.2mm gun, while a German assault achieves mixed success. The assault destroys the Soviet AT gun, but they loose a step of SCH in the fight. The Germans also probe another minefield hex right in the southern front of the town. This one was a dummy and the Germans take advantage of this open avenue to the lone Soviet HMG defending the hex. The rush two HMG's and and SCH with several leaders to prepare to assault the town. It will come down to the advantage of the initiative in the next turn.

Turn 9 begins with the Soviets winning the initiative, which is disastrous for the the Germans as the Soviets can open fire on the Germans before they assault. With a 30 column shoot the Soviets score a M2, which the German leaders proceed to fail as well as the HMG's and SCH. More fire by the Soviets miss but the damage has been done, the main assault will not happen and the majority of the town remains in Soviet hands. At this point the Germans will require at least two turns to get their force back in good order and then they will only be able to threaten three town hexes, leaving the Soviets with the remaining four, so the Germans retire.

A good game, but the Soviets had the better dicerolls and keep the Germans away. Other keys to success were good interior lines to shift Soviet troops when needed, morale bonuses from towns and entrenchments, minefields and good Soviet leaders. The Germans played well with few flaws with their attack, luck was not with them in this assault. As for the play verses conclusion, this was a direct opposite to the conclusion and the reason why I gave it a 4 rather than a 5. The conclusion mentions more surprise, but the Soviets can setup with good lines of fire and still shock the Germans before they get close to the town.