In this scenario, both Germans and Soviets have lofty territorial objectives but not enough time or materiel to get the task accomplished. The Germans have to control all town hexes on maps 1 and 2 to win and the Soviets have to control all town hexes on all three maps but the catch is that the Soviets can also win by eliminating 12 or more German steps (tanks counting double). No matter how many town hexes the Germans control they cannot even get a draw if they lose those 12 steps, so this scenario very much favors the Soviets but is still a fun play.

With the Germans I first used the very fast moving armored cars, the SdKfz222s and P204fs, to race into the larger town on map 2 to gain easy control of it before the Soviets could get units in. The Soviets on the other hand race into the smaller town on map 1 before German units can gain control of it. What results is two separate town battles with the one side attacking against one and then defending in the other. This also required both sides to divide their forces up and in that case the Soviets had the edge in numbers of both foot and armored units. The one handicap for the Soviets was that to move any of their formidable tanks they had to roll 1-3/d6 each time for each group of tanks. I ended up keeping all the German Pz35ts in the larger town, on the defense, gaining some protection from the limting terrain and drove armored cars around in circles harassing the thinner-skinned Soviet tanks. Ultimately, the p204fs were the only German armored units able to eliminate any Soviet ones, easily eliminating 3 steps of the Bt-7s in the course of the battle.

Only the T-34As were lucky enough to move as soon or often as needed while the KV-1 and T-28s remained stagnant most of the time and when they were able to move didn't get very far with the movement of 5. The Pz35ts defending in the larger town tried in vain to inflict damage on the T-34s but needing to roll "12s" they weren't successful and even with a -1 defensive bonus of being in the town they didn't stand up too well against the T-34's AT rating of 5.

The German attack on the smaller town on map 1 didn't go very well once an assault was made and for every Soviet step loss inflicted the Germans lost an average of 2 steps. Somehow though, being as cautious as possible as the overall attacker in the battle, German step losses did not reach 12 until 23:00/turn 13. It was then that the Soviets were able to claim a victory with no chance of the Germans getting a draw but with still 11 turns to go I finished the scenario out in it's entirety. This gave me time to practice setting up crossfire opportunites with the Germans. With the Soviet tank movement handicap I was able to set-up crossfire twice with the assistance of the remaining armored car units. However, by this time, late in the battle, the German initiative levels had dropped a few points and with both chances at crossfire the Germans had to get two activations before the Soviets. In both cases the Germans only got to activate once before the T-34s could return fire and both times the Pz35ts that would of benefited from the crossfire were easily eliminated before they could fire!

By the end of the battle the Germans had been driven out of the smaller town on map 1 with INF units chasing after them but the Soviets were not able to take the larger town on map 2. A triple stack of T-34As did get into the town but all the Soviet foot units outside kept getting whittled down from German OBA and none of them were able to support their tanks. A German combined arms urban assault with a reduced P204f, 1 HMG and INF led by leader with both a 2 combat and morale mofifier was made on the triple stack of T-34s (18 v.s 24 on the assault column) and one step of the T-34s was eliminated at the cost of two German steps and then it was all soon over. So in the end neither side was able to control the required amount of town hexes and from that aspect it was closer to a stalemate. I don't see how the Germans attacking or defending either town could get any remote success without losing 12 steps though I'm sure it is possible somehow, just beyond my capabilities. Germany lost a total of 35 steps, tanks counting double but 12 of those steps were foot units alone so even if all armored confrontations were avoided to prevent step losses my play still would of ended with Germany losing it. In rating this scenario I had to decide if or how much I enjoyed playing it. It was enjoyable enough to get a '3' rating for a solo play and what I got out of it the most were chances to attempt crossfire more than once thanks much in part to the Soviet SSR tank movement handicap and the swift and sometimes effective German armored cars. Also liked the way it played out as two separate battles going on at once for two different towns with each side having a go as attacker and defender. I also think this is may be a good training scenario for bigger armored and urban battles to come in EF.