This scenario was a lot more balanced than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t think unaccompanied armor facing a swarm of defenders and a plethora of guns with AT capability had a chance. However, the game ended with only a Minor German victory. The Russians were able to get 12 steps of tanks south of the river, stranded two and the Germans eliminated 14 steps of Russian tanks for a final 30-24 margin. The tanks had no luck at all putting any kind of dent in the defenders.

The Russian assault was a three-pronged attack with the fast tanks attacking the East and West flanks and the heavier, slower tanks sticking to the road and trying to pin and wear down the defenders in the center. Germans spread their guns along the south bank of the river to cover all approaches with an infantry screen in front. Once in position, the infantry Dug In and waited for the tanks. The Russian attack was successful in the west, with all 4 tank platoons making it south of the river without a scratch by the end of Turn 8. In the east, only three steps of 7 made it south of the river, falling prey to some great initiative rolls from the Germans and one lucky AT shot from a 37mm. Otherwise the AT fire was pretty ineffectual. Things in the center held for a while but when the Russians pushed their luck just a little too far, it fell apart quickly.

The Germans had ridiculously good morale rolls all game, they only failed three Morale checks all game and only one unit reached Demoralized status (and promptly recovered completely on a “snake-eyes” recovery roll). They also had fantastic Assault rolls, almost completely opposite the Russian rolls. The higher morale and great leadership made a huge difference. Even the OBA got into the act, forcing a couple platoons of tanks to take base Morale checks which they failed miserably.

If a few more rolls had gone the Russian’s way or if they’d been a little bit more conservative in the center, the game could have gone either way. Nice, tense little scenario with lots of subtle options for both sides.