This game was played over Skype in a very quick session against head-to-head learner, Nebelwerfer. The game was supposed to be 30 turns but ended in 5. It has a tough force of Germans requiring to eliminate 10 steps of the enemy Soviets plus exit 15 step equivalents after travelling up 3 boards placed width-ways. The Germans have the advantage in quality of tanks, morale of troops, range, a 30col OBA shot available and on average, 15 turns of air-support from 1 aircraft counter. Can the Soviet force, who have the infantry numbers hold them off. We found out very quickly.

0600 & 0615 the Germans speed eastwards from the west along the main road at top speed in trucks and APC's whilst the Soviets come onto the east edge and head straight for the fields. This was what appeared to be a well thought plan by the Soviets as they were basically saying "Come in, take point blank fire before attempting to remove 10 steps". However, there was a serious flaw in its execution. The out-dated T26's were positioned on the edge of the fields facing the German advance. The consequence of that we shall see soon.

0630 German infantry & HMG's begin disembarking from their soft and armoured transports close to the field area seeking out the enemy. The Soviet T26's,instead of holding their fire that could have impeded the movement of the panzers, decide instead to activate and dig-in, thus allowing the hitherto unactivated German armour to speed in to close range and ready themselves for the next turn (Germans have a 4 v 2 initiative advantage). Also, German OBA disrupts Soviet infantry nearby positioned in a stack of 3 platoons.

0645 hours - The German wins initiative handsomely and the panzers, as threatened, unleash their salvo against the 4 x T26 platoons. The PzIV, rolls 2 x 11's, eliminating both platoons completely (8 step equivalents). However, the 3 x PzIII's miss with their 6 volleys giving the T26's a chance of reply. One of the T26's slips off into unsighted fields whilst one hangs back to fire ........ and misses ! A German Hanomag is destroyed by Soviet small arms fire as it closes in too close in the fields, but all other advancing German forces manage to get within assault range without damage. Meanwhile, the 2 x German mortars bombard a 3 stack of infantry and cause a step loss as well as demoralising 2 of the platoons. With very little to lose now, the Soviet infantry rush forward to counter-attack in a desperate effort to try and eliminate the 7 more German steps.

0700 - Just two activations here. The turn kicks off with the German OBA bombarding the mainly demoralised 3 stack. A compounded demoralisation result eliminates the 10th and required Soviet step. The 2nd activation has the 4 x German Panzer platoons exiting the road (for a 16 step exit) and also dodging a lone Soviet AT shot. So with 10 steps eliminated and 16 German steps exited, the Soviets lose in 4 and a bit turns ! Truly Shock & Awe :-)

This is only getting a '2' rating from me. Although Brett made a couple of errors, there should be no way the German loses this one unless the 'ambush' in the fields does actually work. Forget the advantages the Germans have that I mentioned above. Instead, simply cut the scenario from 30 turns to 15 and you should have a frenzied exciting and better matched fight. That all said. The fifth turn is a very quick loss for this scenario. However, I'm pretty sure that Brett is learning far more nuances of the game/system than he did in 70-80 solo plays. Face to face can be very severe when mistakes are made.