Another one of those EF scenarios where the VCs state if neither or both players win; the Soviet player wins. Nothing unusual about that except for the fact that the Germans have not a snowball passing through the flames of purgatory and landing facedown on a barbecue pit in hell's chance of winning this one; unless of course an odd random event requires the Soviets to withdraw their entire force or if the VCs are modified for balance. A German force, outnumbered more than 2-1 must prevent any Soviet units from occupying any road or adjacent hex AND somehow not lose more steps than the Soviets. Add to the fact that all German forces must deploy on the road and no more than one combat unit a hex AND that no German tank unit may deploy adjacent to another. Other perks for the Soviet player: 2x20 and 5x12 OBA and that German tanks count triple for step loss VCs and that German trucks also count. Bearing all that in mind I not only gave this one a go but completed all 36 turns of it knowing it would end in a Soviet victory.

In this case I adjusted my personal goals for both sides and decided to make a battle out of it anyway; the Soviets would attempt to eliminate every German unit on the board(s) and the Germans would fight them every inch of the way and be content if they ended play with any combat units or leaders left at all. The Germans organize their forces as best as they can after starting strung out so far from each other and bring as many double stacked tank and foot units as possible to the one hill; HMGs doubling up and panzers combining with INF units promptly digging in. The rest of the German force hides in the wooded areas. What ensued was one very long slugfest chock full of assaults and casualties. I liked it to something like the Zulu War's Battle of Isandlwana; the Soviets being the Zulus of course. In that perspective it wasn't THAT bad of scenario and the Germans put up a hell of a fight for the one hill, holding onto it until 15:15/turn 24. Though the Soviets could not "lose" this battle they did pay a very high price for every bit of ground they gained. After the hill was cleared the remaining German units were chased down through the woods, along with the many trucks and a last stand was made at the far southeastern portion of the board. At the conclusion of turn 36/18:15 there were still German units left holding on defending in an assault. The Germans manage to overcome being thoroughly annihilated with a Major and a Lieutenant huddled together with a reduced INF, reduced Pz38t and reduced P204f armored car unit still standing. That, and not one German truck perished! Of course there were plenty of Soviet units left to occupy the road to prevent any chance of a German win and with tanks conting triple managed to eliminate plenty more German steps for the Soviet VCs.

However, the price the Soviets paid for this backhand was:

A Captain, 2 Lieutenants, 21 INF, 1 RCN, 2 CAV, 1 HMG, 1x45mm AT gun and 2 steps of Ba-6 armored cars.

I can absolutely NOT recommend this one for competitive play but still not the worst solo play I've had yet so it gets a "2" rating despite it's yuck. It did allow me to play the Soviets very aggressively with no abandon or concern for casualties whatsover; throwing wave after wave of infantry into harms way to be ground into hackfleisch and still being able to "safely" claim a Soviet victory.