Well, an unexpected quiet day deserved a good game. Russians hold the large town in the center of board 38 with a mostly guard force of infantry supported by entrenched anti-tank guns and mines, and even a flame engineer platoon, and a chance at 2 platoons of Grants joining them. The Germans need to take the whole town in this 12-turn slog. The muddy conditions affect the armor but not the infantry. The Germans get a Tiger platoon and a StuGIIIG to support their infantry, along with a company of combat engineers, but only 2 halftracks, which doesn't matter much since they can move just as fast on foot as by vehicle since there is no road moving north from the southern edge of the board. The Soviets set up with the 76.2 guns entrenched with their wagons, and the 57mm AT gun in the southernmost town hex with an infantry platoon to protect it, the mines surrounding the town to the south, and the entrenchments extending right and left so the Germans have to either brave the mines under fire or go around. My Germans chose mostly to go around to the west, with the Mortars accompanied by infantry taking up positions on the hill in the southeast corner of the board. Armor and infantry force moved along the west edge while the foot force centered on the SS Obersturmbahnfurer moved up just west of center, skirting the entrenchment initially and then assaulting both that western entrenchment (after OBA took out the defending gun) and the first town hex northeast of that entrenchment. The entrenchment bogged things down so much, the Tigers were called in to try to make short work of it, but things didn't go that way. Instead, the Tigers became demoralized and fled, stopping on the western edge of the board. The StuGs went in next and helped somewhat but the entrenchment became a quagmire for both sides. The German force with the LTC did a bit better, destroying or chasing out the defenders in the town hex and taking that hex before close range fire from defenders in the next two hexes demoralized the LTC and most of the force he was with. More German troops tried to move north and around the edge of town, and getting caught up in more assaults. As things went back and forth in the middle, it was the Soviet Major with the flame unit and an SMG defending against the German LTC, an infantry, an HMG and an Engineer. Both sides again became demoralized, the Major fleeing the hex and the Flame platoon dyeing in place as the SMG fled back with the Major. All around the town, the Germans were getting pounded and losing morale, and neither side could force the other out of the town. The Grants came along and down the road from the north just in time for the Tigers to regroup to disrupted, which was enough for them to take out one step of Grants and cause the Soviet armor leader to flee with the remains of his platoon and leaving the other platoon there leaderless but where the Grants could take shots at the German infantry. A combination of mortar and OBA fire took out a second 76.2 entrenchement and opened the door for an assault by the infantry that had supported the mortars, but this force gained just the one town hex and couldn't manage to get any further. In the end, Germans had lost 6 steps but controlled only 2 hexes, the Soviets had lost 9 steps and controlled 4 hexes, the rest being contested. Soviet major victory. I think the German tactics were sound, the luck was just with the Soviets on this one as Soviets rolled high enough to overcome the better German morale. The Germans OBA killed off the guns in the two entrenchments with rolls of 12, so it wasn't always the Soviets that had the luck, they just had it more often. Great game.