When choosing my solitaire games, I tend to look for scnearios which are easier to play on your own which normally means one side on the defensive with limited options or scenarios which have an intresting plot. This scenario is one of those. 30 poor morale Soviet 1/2 steps have to cross 2 boards against a small but elite Spanish force. Russian cavalry come on from the other side of the board to assist the inf. The reds have also got good offboard artillery support, although not stated in the rules I played a house rule that only the cavalry leaders could spot for the artillery. The VC state that for the Spanish player to win no unit of the 46th Rifle division can exit on the east edge of the board. I can't see that not occuring so the Spanish player has in my view go for the draw that is stop more than 5 steps exiting and not lose 8 steps himself. This is where the beauty of this scenario comes in, as there are lots of stratgies and tactics to employ. I went for a forward Spanish deployment and for the Soviet inf to come on in four seperate groups in an attempt to split the Spanish forces so single steps could bypass the fighting and race for the east edge. In the game the Soviet forces did exactly that, and the cavalry lept into the asssault on the two main Spanish stacks therby tying them up. I even managed to do a sucessfull cavalry charge. By game turn 11 it was all over the Spanish had lost 8 steps and at least 7 Russian inf steps were legging towards safety. This is an excellent solitaire scenario but FtF players may find it unbalanced. I will play this one again!

BATTLE SUMMARY

Soviets enter in the west as the Spanish open fire and do some last minute manoeuvring to cut them off.

Soviet cavalry enters in the east to assist. Spanish Infantry Gun is hit and eliminated by Soviet artillery. Soviets begin slipping past but lose 6 of their units. Pursuing Spanish motorcycles are disrupted by Soviet artillery

Soviets break past the Spanish in the north and south. Their cavalry continues their charge across the open.

Spanish on Motorcycles pursue as the Soviets focus on moving eastward with the 46th. Spanish Ski Company eliminates two more platoons and their LT. Cavalry charge!

Soviets are 45 minutes away from exiting.

Soviet cavalry charges but is slaughtered by the awaiting Spanish. They lose a platoon and a half of horses, but the 46th reaches the eastern edge and begins to exit the map.

By turn 12 Soviets have exited 2 units, with another 4 to exit next turn and the Spanish concede victory.

SOVIET VICTORY!!!

Aftermath

This was a very fun scenario, but very hard for the Spanish to stop everyone. Perhaps a solid line across would have been more efficient forcing the Soviets to try to get past within 200m range. The Soviet OBA really makes this one unfair, and I suggest you may choose not to use it at all if playing competitively.

Scenario Rating: 4/5. This is a hard one to rate. The victory condition seems impossible for the Spanish and I can’t imagine them achieving more than a draw. But it is so fun shooting at morale 5 reduced platoons that the victory conditions hardly matter. I’ll give it a 4/5 for fun!

Author	treadasaurusrex (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	CavDo
Play Date	2023-01-19
Language	English
Scenario	BluD010

This was a 3-session play-through with a relatively new-to-PG rookie leading the better-morale and officered Spanish force trying to hold way too much ground in the face of a significant number of low-morale, but hard-charging Soviets. Once again, I am doing additional penance by playing the Red Army side, with no accompanying armor in sight! We used the FOW, consolidation, excess initiative and smoke/illum optional rules. The Soviet leader draw was middling, the Spanish draw was far better then average. Between us, we threw 12 combat-7 die rolls, and there were 6 FOW-shortened game turns. By mutual agreement we decided to call this one on game turn 15 as a Red Army victory.

Others described what this 2-map scenario is like. One that featured a mad Soviet rush for the starving infantry to exit. The bulk of the Soviet force enters from the west, while their cavalry come in from the east. By the middle of game turn 4, some Soviet platoons are already slipping through the porous Spanish line. The Soviets steadily lost step-after-step to the well-led and equipped Spanish defenders whenever they got within range. Like Wayne describes elsewhere, the Russian Cavalry were able to greatly improve the lot of their scrambling infantry with a pair of successful close assault chargse over open terrain against a scattered counter attacking set of Spanish units in the open. This move, and accurate Soviet OBA provided the opportunity for multiple steps of Soviet infantry to escape off the east edge of the battle map. The Spanish side simply cannot be everywhere and hope to contain the small number of Red Army steps required to exit for a win in this battle. Spanish step loses totaled 9 by the end of the 14th game turns. By that point, the Soviets had already exited 8 steps and there were 5 more steps with range to exit.

The victory conditions in this unbalanced scenario are virtually impossible for the Spanish to achieve. In our play-through, the advantage of substantial Red Army OBA made almost all the difference. As others have reported, the best the Spaniards can hope for is a draw. This one is too long and should probably be about 18 turns in length, max. I give it a 2 as a shared play option, mainly because it was fun to play online with a determined opponent. It is really only merits a 1, as I doubt that it was play tested, but is a good choice for SOLO play.