Tigers are predators. Every predator needs prey. In this case a single platoon of Tigers gets to feast on a host of T-34s from the RKKA 96th Tank Corps.

At first the scenario looks to be a walkover as the SS need to dislodge some Soviet Guards from a town, establish a presence on an extended road, exit some units and keep from losing too many steps. If all that was around was simply the initial Soviet force this would be simple but the 96th Tank Corps is sending 10 platoons of a variety of T-34s (models a through c) and 9 platoons of SMGs to support the Guards. In addition the SS is primarily an infantry force with three platoons of StGs, one of Marder IIIs and one of Tigers.

Since the Soviets are amply supplied with AT gunnery capability the SS entry is calculated to protect their armor. Even at that one step of Marders are destroyed almost instantly (that darn 1 1/2 range will get you every time). What then ensues is a process of the infantry rooting out AT gun after AT gun and the Tigers pulling into sight in order to get the AT guns (and the 76.2s) to shwo themselves. I would expect that the most frequent sound heard on the battlefield was the boing and thud of AT rounds bouncing off the Tigers armor.

As the Soviet hold on the town began to slip and the AT guns in the fields began to lose their cohesion the 96th Tank Corps arrived. The Germans worried some as the T-34s dropped off their SMG riders and moved to a crossfire position. The Tiger, however focused its fire at long range on the a's and b's which had only 4 armor and quickly lost steps and (with a reduced morale of "6") demoralized and the StGs helped knock out one leg of the crossfire. This left the T-34s firing at "-2" and praying for miracles. While they ultimately did get one step of Tigers reduced they lost 15 of 20 steps of tanks and the SMGs were mainly demoralized. Unfortunately for the SS their losses were slightly too high (by four steps) but all other objectives were reached.

This leads to a minor German victory.

Again, the urgency of the German assault is palpable in the scenario. The terrific pace of the battle is felt through each fog of war stoppage (and most of the turns ended that way!). Losses are tremendous and the power of the Tiger tanks in comparison to the early model T-34s was stunning. While not the tour de force of the previous scenario (#3 Attack of the Lifeguards) it is still a heck of a play. I give it a "4".