In Scenario 9 from Blue Division (Holy Thursday), the Spanish start in the middle of three boards, and must hold out against a numerically superior Soviet force. Both sides have reinforcements that enter on a roll of 6 (more on this later). The scenario lasts 36 turns.

I set up most of the Spanish in town and woods hexes, and experimented with placing two small stacks on the shoulders of the main town in Dug In positions. I thought perhaps they would be able to disrupt any Soviets approaching for assault by forming fire groups. The mortars are set up in such a way as to reach the hexes in front of the main town. It is also worth mentioning, as it will become a key theme, that the Spanish got an incredibly good selection of initial leaders, including an 11-1-2 (!) and a 10-0-1 Teniente. The Soviets weren’t so lucky.

Turns 1-8#

The Soviets push forward, and inevitably begin to get hit by off-board artillery. As they get closer, the Spanish experiment with Dug In “shoulders” proves to be a failure. Since they are not in limiting terrain and thus can be spotted, the Soviets call in long-range artillery and one stack is disrupted. The other stack immediately retreats through some field hexes, and will eventually make it to some woods hexes unscathed. The Soviets lumber forward, their ranks dispersed now by OBA and mortar fire. They manage to reach and assault the disrupted stack and kill off two steps. But try as they might they cannot dent the defenders in the town. With base morale of 8, a leader with 11 morale giving them a +2 morale modifier, plus the town column adjustment, the Spanish defenders cannot be moved. Even if a lucky shot disrupts a unit, the Spanish player uses the next activation to bring it back to good morale. The Soviets are eventually able to accumulate enough undisrupted units next to the town to advance into assault, but it’s the same story. The Spanish player is getting a +2 modifier each time (leader plus morale advantage), while the Soviet has a -1 (-2 town, +1 leader). The fighting swirls back and forth, with the Spanish reserving his activation to recover from disruption, and the Soviets shuttling fresh units into the hex to replace disrupted and fleeing demoralized troops. A similar situation develops in a woods hex to the west, with a stalemate setting in as repeated Soviet assaults fail. As turn 8 begins, the Soviet player desperately needs his armor reinforcements; maybe they can blast away with point-blank direct fire to set up an assault.

Turns 9-17#

But it was not to be. Nine straight Soviet rolls fail to get a 6, and the tanks are nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but on turn 13, the Spanish player gets a 6 on his first reinforcement roll, and thus gets 3 engineer units, and some guns. The back and forth in the woods and town hexes continues, with the Soviet even trying to bombard the contested town hex in the hopes of getting lucky (he doesn’t; and some friendly units are hurt). I kept playing, even though the outcome no longer seemed in doubt, and finally decided to end it when on turn 17, the Spanish rolled a 6 on their second try to get some German units (a Panzer III and an 88).

Post Mortem#

I’m not sure what to think about this scenario. Clearly, the Spanish had very good luck (outstanding leaders, quick reinforcements), and the Soviets very bad luck (could not get their tanks). Even if that had evened out, though, I think the Spanish side is favored, as they are defending in towns and woods with superior morale. The other thing to note is that having important reinforcements enter on a roll of 6 can really produce wildly different outcomes. Perhaps if the Spanish morale had been lower, and the Soviet tanks could have entered on a roll of 5-6 or 4-6, it might have been more even.

I give it a 2, taking points off for imbalance and for the reinforcement issue.