Played solo in 3 hours.

Same exact battlefield as in scenario 2 except this time, the Spaniards control the towns on the western map and the Soviets must dislodge them.

The Soviet penal troops rush forward and survive first contact in relatively good order. Even worse for the Spaniards, one platoon of penal troops is disrupted next to town and make it impossible to fire at the Soviet troops until they get into good position.

The Soviets send troops in the north woods to assault the village from the rear, and a powerful fire group to the south woods to spread out the Spanish defenses. The Spaniards take a few opportunity shots at a few units moving into the woods and, what do you know, snake eyes twice in a row!

The Soviets use combine arms to assault the town but their few assaults failed badly and must waste 1 hour to recover morale. Three hours into the scenario and the Soveits do not yet control a town hex. Time to act rashly and I send a detachment to the 2-hex village for the Soviets to have a chance.

Helped by very precise artillery support, the detachment ejects the Soviets defenders from the small village. The battle for the larger village rages on and the issue is in doubt until the very end. The Soviets have favorable odds in every assault but “1s” and “2s” just won’t cut it.

The Spaniards still hold 3 town hexes and have inflicted 1 more step loss than they received. Spanish victory.

I rated this scenario a “4” and recommend it for both solo and shared play. The Spaniard player will need to react to the Soviet movements and the Spanish fanaticism SSR will make them hard to control.