It could of been such a great raid on German positions until Stavka got involved. The Soviet counterattack came from the north, through the woods, and slowly crept down the map with the "liberated" Bt-7s leading the way. Suddenly, at 09:15/turn 2, there is a change of orders and one Soviet LT along with 6 infantry and 2 HMG steps are sent elsewhere as reinforcements due to a random event. Despite this very early set-back the attack continues. Some tanks emerge from the woods and soon get a lucky shot at the dug-in StugIIIB east of the road, reducing it. Then Soviet INF and HMG units begin to mass and prepare to emerge from the woods. Predictably the Bt-7s begin to take a few losses from the combination of the reduced StugIII and 37mm AT guns.

At 11:15/turn 10, the Soviets recieve another change of orders and again, another LT and 8 more steps are sent off-map as reinforcements. This leaves just the remaining Bt-7s and a handful of foot units left to attempt to carry out an attack. Soviet air support tries to help the situation and manages to eliminate a few 37mm AT guns and mortar units but it is not enough. Instead the Germans mount the only real counterattack and send INF from the town into the woods to overrun Soviet armor. The Germans take a few INF step losses but are able to chase the remaining Soviet units, pushing them back up north from where they arrived. By 17:00/turn 33, there are no Soviet leaders or units left except for a few trucks. None of the German geographical objectives were ever seriously threatened.

So it is hard to rate this one because I chose to use random events and this was the first time that the "send reinforcemants elsewhere" ever came up as a result and twice! I still enjoyed playing this one out though the outcome was very predictable. I still give it a "3". I think one of the worst things for the Soviets was that they actually started off with some very good leaders for a change; a 9-1-1 Major, a 10-1-1 Captain and a 9-0-1 Lieutenant. The Kommissar also had a 10 rating. The irony was that they didn't have much left to command with the two early and abrupt changes in orders. I do like using random events when playing solo though. This was the first time that one came up in an 'Eastern Front' game. Now having gone through this one once solo I would be interested to see how it would turn out in shared match without using the random events, playing either side. If the Soviets were able to stay alive for 33 out of 44 turns, minus the two leaders and 16 steps from the intial deployment then they would probably of had a decent chance at a win. The only way to find that out is to play this one again sometime.