Session 5 - Hells Fury III (Tank Battles)
Forgot to write this up last week.
My goodness, what a heavy draining session this was. Just 4 turns completed in 5hrs 47mins of actual play ! Had to take a couple of headache tablets afterwards to ease the brain
For all that, there was actually little change around the main reported battle at the town of Nikonovo. This town has faced the brunt of the mass Soviet assault since the start of the scenario. Each session it looks as if it will fall and yet some Germans always manage to keep clinging on. So after 21 turns, some Wehrmacht resistance is still holding out here .... surely next session it will finally end.
The next town in line for attack has been Maloe Kropotovo. Initially it looked as if this second Guards attack may have some punch. But German reinforcing tanks, OBA, long range Infantry gun fire and well, whatever else could be mustered has practically reduced this Soviet advance to a manageless mass. At time of writing, all their leaders bar one has been eliminated here and until some new ones arrive at scene, this assault seems stalled.
But there was exciting developments for the Soviets. Their reinforcements on the other side of the board arrived on turn 20 and they immediately look as if they will overrun the lightly defended small settlement of Maloe Petranovo. This will provide a morale boost for the Commander as well as secure some scenario points. An attack has also gone toward another town from these reinforcements. Podisinovka has received some pressure from some of the Soviet reinforcements in tandem with the Cossacks that had stayed in the woods nearby since the start of the game. This attack at present is being fended off by the defenders and only time will see how this part of the battlefield goes.
The Soviets added 6 German step losses in the final turn of this session which must have raised Soviet's command morale. For the session, the Soviets lost 37 step equivalents to 7 German step equivalents. Total for the game (and this is an unconfirmed total until the final tally has been computed properly). Soviet losses 120 step equivalents, German losses 29 step equivalents.
