Eastern Front Deluxe scenario 43 – Romanian armor vs Russian Armor. Solo

This scenario would have been best played by the Romanians as a speed run avoiding combat when possible. However I just couldn't resist that urge to shake out the road column into line and engage! 6 platoons of Romanian tanks are available and three need to exit the south side of the board and as other reports have shown, it is quite possible for the Romanians to win. However there were two platoons of T-34s and 5 of T-26s trying to goal keep from the south.

Romanian air was available on a 50/50 roll and being either a 12 or 10 SP concentration.

Turn 2 the Romanian air showed up and demoralized one of the T-34s. Romanian death from above! The other T-34 being a leader stayed with the DZ T-34 to keep it moving forward when it recovered. In hindsight I should have made each of the T-34s a leader. 3 tank leaders were available for the Russians and 4 for the Romanians. The Romanian tankers felt invigorated by the Romanian air's reports and shook out into an east/west line to fire on the approaching T-26s.

Turn 4 saw two steps of burning T-26s but further south the T-34 had rallied. The Romanian tank leader, Captain Stefan Tepes Stanescu, viewed the dark exhaust smoke and dust trail to the south and new the one sided exchange could very well change soon.

Turn 6 and 7 - The T-34s were within range and killed one Romanian step then being answered with the loss of a step of T-26s. I thought at this point, though too late, I had better head the Romanians toward their victory condition

Turn 8 saw one of those battle turning events(doubles on initiative roll) . The Russians would receive a hex worth of units getting a 2nd activation. As the Romanians split to the east and west of the soviet forces the stack of T-34s activated twice. Losses at end of the turn: Russian 3 Romanian 6.

Turn 9 on - Two full platoons of Romanian tanks made it off the board but the last platoon was trapped, forced back into the small town on board 1, demoralized and then finally destroyed by the lowly but capable T-26s.

Turn 12 final losses Rus 3 Rom 8.

Lessons learned: 1. When the Romanian air showed up it did have occasional stellar effects. But it was not a sure thing. 2. I should have split my forces earlier or made a lopsided one side of the board or other continuous rush.

This was my second scenario played, solo as usual, and the first with tanks and aircraft. I think scenario 43 is a nice little intro to those particular rules and am ready to control some Sinister Forces next.