INTRODUCTION

EFD #10, "The Duel" pits elements of the German 1st Battalion, 15th Panzer Regiment against elements of the Soviet 10th Tank Division. This is a mostly armored affair with a small company of German infantry and a platoon of HMGs thrown in. I selected this scenario as what I felt would be a short, quick, maneuverable scenario that would be fun to play. I also have a turn-by-turn photo AAR in the forums in the General Discussion folder under the same title here.

SETUP

The Germans setup on the western edge of the board 8 with the Infantry units lead by the 10-1-2 LT on the road followed by the HMG platoon being led by the SGT 8-0-0. There were 2 platoons of Pz IIIs deployed just south of the road and the remaining tanks (2 PzIVEs, 3 PzIIIs and a Pz II along with 4 hanomags, deploying in a line north of the road. The Soviets deployed the BT-7 platoons on the western edge of Sabinovka (hex 0307 - board 2) and the T-34s and KV-1 units deployed on the hills to the north.

BATTLE

At 0900, the German infantry and HMG units approached Sabinovka down the road while the tanks just south of the road, used the open ground to begin setting up a prime position to provide flanking fire. The soviets countered by moving the BT-7s out of town and into the plain to try and intercept the infantry. This triggered the distant Pz IIIs and PzIVEs to try to fire against the thin-skinned tanks. With all guns blazing, the 6 units were able to pull off 1 hit that demoralized a platoon of BT-7s in addition to a step loss. The T-34s and KV-1 moved off the hill and began a slow approach across the northern plain. At this point, I had realized one big mistake I had made in assigning my tank leaders. As I was enamored with the idea of maneuvering tanks, I had not paid attention to the fact that the KV-1 moved half as fast as the T-34s. This effectively forced me to keep these units together and move like turtles across the plain. I would split them later but it would be to my demise.

The Soviets attempted to recover the demoralized BT-7 units while firing on the approaching Panzers in the south with the remaining good-order BTs. The distant Pz IIIs continued to fire on the BTs as well and all this fire resulting in no hits. THe T-34s and KV-1 units moved south to try and keep them in proximity to the BT-7s, however, the Soviet commander chose to ignore the German infantry and leaders (Lt. Ubermensch and Sgt. Sturm) continuing down the road. The Pz IVs, seeing this movement, struck out from behind the hills and began a cautious approach. After putting the T-34s into what I thought was a good, centralized position to strike either north or south, I watched in horror as the German infantry moved up the road and ran across the plain and got into postions to launch an assault in the next 15 minutes. I realized at this point that if I did not win initiative, I would suffer an assault lead by the German Super-Lieutenant on my best units.

Fate (or Hamete, in this case) was not kind.

On turn 3 (0930), the Germans win initiative with 2 activations before the Soviets perform 1 and the Lt and Infantry run at the T-34s, throwing everything they could find into the fray. Immediately, both T-34s become demoralized, with one step being lost whilst the Germans laughed off all attempts at counter-fire. The BT-7s, realizing that the Germans could conceivably win this assault and move into position in the next turn decide to head back to town, ending in 0309. In the midst of all this confusion, the Pz IIIs to the south were able to fire on the KV-1, ultimately setting up a cross-fire for the PzIVs in the north. This resulted another step loss to the Russians. Any fire the Russians were able to perform bounced harmlessly off the Panzers or into the Russian plains.

Over the next 45 minutes (3 turns), The Germans were unstoppable as they got two consecutive turns with 4 activations before the Soviets got 1. The T-34s were wiped out after failing to recover in the assault and being forced to flee, suffering free-shots and step-losses to both fire and demoralization. Another long shot from the Pz IIIs in the south to the retreating BT-7s destroyed another step. The KV-1 headed for the hills where they started and the rout was on. The Grenadiers moved to the edge of town and did come under point-blank fire but were able to withstand it. The Pz IIIs that had been proviiding covering fire moved down the road and were able to enter Sabinovka unmolested and position themselves behind the BT-7 positions. A final assault on the BT-7s by the infantry and AT fire from the tanks in town sealed the Soviets fate while the reduced KV-1 platoon limped off the battlefield.

AFTERMATH

The title of this AAR fits perfectly with how I felt I played this game. This games provided 22 turns to resolve the battle and we were done in 6, but Soviet hopes were dashed by the time turn 4 came around. In discussing the game with Vince afterward (which lasted almost as long as the game itself :), He mentioned something that rang very true: the fact that the game does not reward simple, blind rushing into combat to try and get kills but allows for players to plan and execute moves that taken over the course of a game, should lead to ultimate victory (or defeat as sometimes there is simply no chance). I feel that I made three crucial mistakes in this game:

1. Assignment of Tank Leaders. I assigned a leader to a T-34 and a BT-7. The T-34s and KV-1 made up one attack group and the BT-7s made up the other. Had I realized that I could move most of my tanks around without fear (and without a tank leader), I should have assigned the leaders to the T-34 AND the KV-1, leaving the BT-7s as a mobile reserve that could move into position to take opportunity shots at the approaching infantry.

2. Ignoring the German Infantry. Moving the T-34s into the center of the plains on board 8 looked like a good idea as I was cutting down the angle of fire so that I could avoid the cross-fire, but I put myself into position where I was an easy target for assault.

3. Patience (or lack thereof). I should have kept my head and made the Germans commit their moves before revealing mine. In the same discussion, we spoke of the fact that the Germans could potentially get 4 shots per unit at the Soviets if the situation was right, and in some cases, I was my own worst enemy as I put myself in positions to fail.

The funny thing about this was that I was worried about the crossfire, but when it was all said and done, I suffered more casualties at the hands of the infantry (6 steps) than I did from AT fire.

In spite of the result, I really enjoyed this scenario and actually would like to play it again to try out some of my other ideas and lessons learned. I don't think I would have enjoyed this nearly as much if I had played solo - although I probably would have at least got ONE hit!