I knew the large hill would be the key to this scenario. Little did I know the price I would pay to take it.

As the German, I grouped my forces into battle groups that I thought had sufficient punch to achieve their initial goals. One group of infantry and PzIII Js, bolstered by two Tigers, was to proceed up the trail. The next group- mostly the poorly armored modified SPWs, the mortars, a handful of infantry and the StuGs were to get through the fields between the trail and the large hill. A third group, which contained the remaining Tigers, a bunch of infantry and 747rs, as well as a few of the heavier Pz types, was to directly assault the hill. A tiny group of infantry was to approach the large town, and a final group of infantry and PzIII Js (and a few more heavier Pz types) were tasked with taking the tiny three hex hill before turning on the larger town.

This was an insufficient allocation of forces, to say the least. I thought I was clever in using the SPWs to scout out the position of AT guns, but I found out I was in a worst case situation- where I had the weakest tanks (on the small hill side of the large town) the Soviets had one of those huge AA guns. AND, a line of minefields, backed up by entrenched machine guns, controlled the only viable approaches to the hill and the town. The other huge Soviet AA gun was right on the top of the big hill, with two 76.2s on either side. All the Soviet infantry and machine guns were massed between the German lines and the AT assets. As such, I had to redirect forces toward the big hill as best I could. It took the Germans ten turns to break through these defenses, at a ghastly cost- over 50 step losses, most of them armor.

On the trail board, the defenses seemed set more to cover the approaches to the hill than to defend the trail itself. Even so, the Soviets proved adept at baffling my initial advances, until I realized that he was hoping I would commit my armor to assaults, only to be ambushed by armor in the next field hex!

Things I realized: Minefields can be breached by engineers, but be careful what you get across. I had six tank platoons without any infantry support on his side of the minefield belt at one point. There were three and a half platoons in just a few turns- due to assaults.

Also, counting counters doesn't hurt. it became painfully evident that there was no depth to the Russian defense. I kept looking at what was on the board and what was left in the force pool... The Soviets had put everything on the front line. Thus, once I broke the initial line, the Soviets retreated and their commander saw no point in letting the slaughter continue.

Finally, even a German infantry/tank combination with higher morale can be taken out in a massed assault.