I rated this scenario a '5' from my solo play because I not only enjoyed every turn of it but each turn became more intriguing as the battle progressed up until the final few dice rolls. Also, I believe that despite the stats here that it is very balanced for either side to win or at least get a draw out of it. In my personal, handwritten records I recorded it as a Soviet victory but that was due to random events which I always use when available for solo plays to keep things unpredictable and in some cases give a side a chance that has odds stacked against them to at least have one stroke of luck (or further misfortune). In this case, three times the Soviets recieved 'New Orders' and all three times the new victory conditions changed so that there was no chance of a draw, that simply if the German side did not win then the Soviets would. However, to be fair, as random events are an optional rule, I logged this play in as a draw.

With my Soviet set-up I decided to forget the town and not even try to prevent the Germans from crossing the river. Instead I had most units dig-in on the road between the two forest areas on map 6, carefully placing units so that the Germans would have to move in close to spot or get direct fire results due to woods hexes blocking LOS or functioning as limited terrain. One leader was placed alone and away from units to act as a forward observer to spot for Soviet mortar fire. I didn't consider town hexes as road hexes for victory conditions though there are roads in the town. I know it would seem logical to place at least a token garrison force in the town but in this case I gambled that dug-in road hexes spread out would buy time for the Soviets in the course of 7 hours or 28 turns and that perhaps 8 steps of German units could possibly be eliminated as well through either opportunity direct fire, indirect fire (both +1 v.s. Calvary) or having the dug-in first fire advantage in assaults. I beleived that somehow, in the end, in the worst case I could keep just the one required Soviet unit on the road to at least get a draw.

Well, the initial German calvary charges started at first light when visibilty became 2 hexes. German OBA was successful in demoralizing one of the two HMG units before the first charge and when those first calvary units made it in they were able to resist opportunity and first fire and devastate the machingun nest by rolling a 6 on the 24 column, eliminating 2 steps of the HMGs right away and then forcing a 3rd step loss from the HMG already demoralized, leaving just one reduced and disrupted HMG left in the assault hex. Amazingly the Soviet Major in the hex avoided getting eliminated or failing his morale check. This happened at just 05:30/turn 10 and by 05:45/turn 11 the Soviets had lost the other step of HMG and one road hex was cleared. Soon both the Soviet 82mms would be eliminated and there would only be INF units left with no support units. It looked like a sure German rollover with plenty of time to exit the 6 required units off the map before the end of play.

By 09:00/turn 24 all Soviet units had been cleared off the road and at 09:15/turn 25 the Germans had exited the 6 required units off the east edge but the two remaining good order Soviet INF units (the third remaining Soviet INF was demoralized in woods out of spotting or firing range) were ordered by a recovered LT to run out the woods and split up, taking two separate hoad hexes adjacent to two German HMG units stacked, which had just fired on them. With just 30 minutes/ 2 turns left it seemed there was a small chance that one of those two units may just hold onto a road hex in the end. On the other hand, it seemed also likely that either adjacent, German HMG fire or the combinaton of OBA and mortar fire would blow those sneaky reds to bits the next turn or at least leave what was left in a weakened state for a final, devastating calvary charge.

Well, by a stroke of luck, at 09:30/turn, a random event occurs giving the Soviets 2 aircraft (1xPo-2 and 1xIL-2) but the Germans still have the initiative. The HMGs fail to get results on the one Soviet INF platoon poised to run like the wind towards the vacant town. Then the airstrike, with a combined direct fire factor of 28 demoralizes one of the German HMGs. The next Soviet activation allows that one INF platoon to move further down the road and a very frustrated German LT gives chase to call down OBA but the Soviet units pass their morale checks. The remaining German calvary are too far away to catch up to this one defiant unit and have the other leaderless INF unit on a road hex to contend with. At 10:00/turn 28, the Germans get the initiative with three activations first. A final calvary charge finishes off one leaderless Soviet INF platoon on the road but nothing can catch up to the last one headed west except for indirect fire. German OBA misses by rolling a 7! Then the mortars fire and though one step of Soviet INF is eliminated a demoralized step remains on the road. And that's how it ends. Perhaps a purist would scoff at how the random events played into the turnout of this scenario but I am quite satisfied with the 'Eastern Front' events table, a lot more than the 'Desert Rats' ones. Perhaps if that one Soviet airstrike had not occured then maybe the German HMG it demoralized may have been able to mow down that one fleeing unit, maybe not. I still believe that without incorparating the random events that this one would have ended in a draw and that also there is a good balance with this scenario as it is. In retrospect I believe I should have spread Soviet units out a lot further apart forcing the Germans to to either split their forces up and that had there been calvary charges against town hexes that German step losses may have been higher. In this case only one step of German CAV was eliminated. So far, turn by turn, this has been the best 'Eastern Front' scenario for me yet and only 105 left to go.