20 Turns

Victory conditions: Germans - Control all town hexes on boards 2 & 3 Soviet - Germans lose 10 or more steps or keep Germans from controlling town(s)

Set-up:

Germans - Loaded on trucks on the Western edge of Map 8 ready to roll. Tanks are spread out in spearhead formation on Eastern Edge of Map 8. Armored car with a leader to the North and South to act as Artillery Spotters.

Soviets - I put a small token force (including the Tankettes) in the small town and in the woods on Map 3. A mortar team w/Leader on the northern hill of Map 2. The Artillery units with support troops on the larger southern hill with a Leader perched on the 40m hill (giving him a 24 hex visual range) The rest of the troops went into the protection of the large town.

Turn 1: Huge Initiative to the Germans 10/1. Northern cell moves into the treeline to the North. Southern cell of Tanks move to bridge - drawing AT fire from the woods resulting in no harm. Four columns (x3) of truck move forward and unload troops. Soviet Lt. positioned in the treeline calls for artillery and gets 2 disruptions and 1 Demoralization on the closest column of trucks and unloaded troops.

Turn 2: German Artillery Spotters begin calling in Heavy OBA. Soviet AT is demoralized as is the 1/2 strength Inf. Both fail recovery later in the turn -Inf. flees, AT gun is abandoned.

Turn 3: Germans begin clearing forest south of town, getting a bloody nose from Soviet Opportunity fire - 1 German Inf. getting Demoralized with another getting disrupted. More units cross bridge while trucks retreat to a safe distance.

Turns 4-5: Most of the Soviets in the small town are now demoralized from heavy bombardment, which nets 2 soviet step losses. Soviet Mortar Team on the northern hill are able to get a disruption on a loaded SPW, which in turn draws OBA on to there position, eliminating them. Germans suffer their first step loss from Op fire from a T-37.

Turns 6-7: Small town and woods to the South are cleared of Soviets. 1/2 strength T-37 is assaulted and eliminated. A column of Pz IIIG take out the remaining T-37.

Turns 8-10: Germans now turn their attention to the fortified Southern hill. The artillery on top is becoming quite a nuisance. OBA is called in - eliminating the other AT gun and getting a disruption on 1 of the Artillery units. Combined HMG/SPW's get Op fired on and recieve 1 INF step loss, 2 demoralizations and 1 SPW eliminated. Soviet Artillery is ineffective.

Turns 10-11: More OBA directed onto the hill - resulting in 1 Soviet Battery getting eliminated. Lone Soviet battery able to get a step loss on a PzII as well as eliminating an armored car before German tanks roll over it.

Turn 12: Last Heavy barrage on hill nets more step-losses to the Soviets and the Germans finally take over the 40m hill and can now direct OBA fire into the city. German forces begin to surround the town.

Turns 13-15: Multiple OBA's into the Soviet forces in town net half a dozen step loses while some mopping up outside of town captures 2 Soviet lone leaders. Soviets able to get another step loss on the Germans.

Turns 16-17: The God of War (OBA) is fearsome, attaining 3 more step loses. The noose tightens as 2 more Soviet step losses are gained from DF.

Turn 18: Three more step losses to OBA and the final Soviet step falls to a massive two hex DF. The 3 remaining Soviet leaders were rounded up and shot.

Conclusion: I rate this Scenario a 4/5. I think if I play this again, I will put a much larger force around the Soviet Artillery units and leave the small town more or less undefended. If I was able to keep the Germans from attaining that 40m hill for a few more turns, I could have prolonged the battle to a draw, if not a Soviet victory, which with getting 8 1/2 German steps as it was, wouldn't have been too difficult. This Scenario is a good learning scenario for anyone just getting started. A lot of counters to keep track of if just starting out though, but still manageable. All major points in the rules are touched upon in this scenario. Realization of what is the real "God of War" comes quickly!

On a side note, the half sheet of Soviet counters (the ones with the side nubs) were really frustrating. They are half as thin, I believe someone mentioned that they were printed along with the counters of Beyond Normandy, and a pain to get a hold of with tweezers, especially when you have multiple stacks like I did in the final turns in the town. I have recently fixed this by replacing those counters with the ones that came with the original Panzer Grenadier game. The ATR counters are the only ones you can't replace since these were not part of the original, but all of the INF, HMG, SMG, 76.2m and trucks can be replaced.