You can tell this is an earlier PG scenario, from an era when the design/development wasn't quite as tight as today. I still liked it quite a bit, for reasons I'll try to elaborate on.

Its a small, straightforward scenario. A German company must get a unit into the Russian town without losing more than 1 step. The Russians have a weak company to defend with. Here's the kicker: a scenario special rule for reinforcements that gives the Russians a 1/3 chance each turn of receiving a platoon in every town hex not yet entered by the Germans. In my game, the reinforcements didn't show up until turn 5, the turn after the Germans entered one hex of the town. At that point the game changed completely.

Having accomplished their recon mission, the Germans began to withdraw, already having taken a single step loss in the approach to the town. The Russians, with only 2 lieutenants, had to figure out how to advance about 2 battalions (!) worth of reinforcements that apparently had all just been roused out of bed, with the objective of taking out one German step before they retreated off the board.

The Germans were retreating under cover of their HMG, but a human wave of Russians poured out of town at them. A few turns of disciplined retreat was enough to exit one platoon and an AT battery, but the Germans still had 2 platoons of infantry and a HMG in jeopardy. Ultimately the volume of opp fire from the pursuing Russians was too much, and none of the remaining Germans made it. A draw.

That special rule is a bit loopy, because you get a huge number of Russian reinforcements with no leaders. I enjoyed the challenge of creatively leading the hordes, directing some to fire while some advanced. Ultimately a few platoons got left behind each turn, but the disruptions they administered to the Germans were enough to allow part of the wave to catch up and surround the Germans, wiping them out in a close-range firefight.

This was my first scenario played from 'Eastern Front' and also my first match against Wayne Baumber so the title "First Blood" seemed fitting enough. I went into this one believing first off, that the awake Soviet garrison would wait a turn or two to see where my scouting force would approach the village. Instead the Soviets came right out in the open and challenged the Germans halfway to the town, slowing my advance down. Some shots were traded with no effect on either side for a few turns. The second thing I expected to happen was that Soviet reinforcements would awaken right away or at least before I could get a unit into the village. Turns out that they must of tied one on the night before as the first Soviet INF reinforcement did not arrive until turn 7 or 8. I had split my forces up in three to scatter and confuse the angry garrison and this ploy worked, passing one reduced INF set-up in the road to slow me down and managing to avoid effects of opportunity fire while advancing one unit of INF into a northern town hex. That was the easy part, now I chose to retreat from the village and link up with the rest of my units to attempt some sort of fighting withdraw. At this point I had already taken one step loss and had some demoralized units outside of the town and the challenge was to endure 9 more turns without taking another loss.

I attempted to consolidate my good order units and give a fight at the same time but another Soviet INF reinforcement had awakened during this time and so 2 more platoons had left the village to counterattack -the horde was upon me. I was able to eliminate one step of Soviet INF until turn 11 when I took my second step loss and we called an end to it all with a draw as we had both met victory requirements. This was a very intriguing scenario and of course would of panned out much differently if the sleeping Soviets had awakened earlier. Then I most likely wouldn't have been able to slip a unit into the town hex unchecked and would of had to of tried inflicting 4 step losses to meet victory conditions without losing two of my own. I give it a solid '4' rating from my own personal experience with this one, especially since it was also a shared play. It was a good game of cat and mouse to start and I had originally intended to split my forces as I did but wasn't expecting the already awake Soviets to rush out to greet me. I am also very much looking forward to my next play with Wayne and it was a very enjoyable two hours time well spent.

This is a small scenario which is supposed to depict a German probing mission to see if a town is occupied by Soviet forces, all the Germans have to do is enter the town at some stage during the scenario and not lose 2 steps. The Russkie's have to prevent the former occurring or not lose 4 steps. The Soviet's also get the chance to roll for reinforcements every turn on a 5 or 6 another INF pops up in any town hex not adjacent to a German unit. This was also a chance for me to play Nebelwurfur9 aka Brett for the first time. I played the brave Soviet's and decided to try and screen the town with my initial units and await the reinforcements I hoped would come flooding into the town. So the first few turns were spent in some fire and movement tactics by both side with little effect. Slowly the Red Army was pushed back towards the town, and finally two German unit entered the town from the north, however a lucky shot from the Russian's and gotten a step loss. To balance that luck by GT8 I had still yet to get any reinforcements. Brett now had a choice, he could have tried to move his units into the town and fight off the Soviets for 10 turns without losing a further step of try and move away from the town and avoid any further combat. Having lost a step and had his best leader and the unit with it DEM he decided to run away. At last some Russian reinforcements arrived and scurried after the retreating Hun. The German commander retreated behind a HMG unit but an amazing shot from a reduced Soviet unit caused more demoralization's this gave the Red Army the chance to swarm the HMG this in turn led to a 16 firepower shot from my HMG and another step loss on the Germans to force the draw. Well this is perhaps not a scenario for the purist being very dicey. I would imagine if the Russians got reinforcements very early then it would be hard for the Germans to even enter the town, however great fun and all over in less than 2 hours. Looking forward to my next game v Brett.

Not enough Germans present, at least at my level of command skill, to earn the victory against Soviets sipping vodka in town.

I should confess that this was one of my very first forays into PG, so if I replayed it now I might have a different result...

One of the things that appeals to me with PG is the way that a few random rolls of the dice can do anything from skew historic results to completely rewriting history. The case in this scenario was certainly the latter.

The German patrol had planned to slip around the north side of the town and then divide up. One section, reinforced with HMG's and a 37MM would keep the defenders busy while the other one entered the town. After all, since the beginning of the Russian Campaign eight days ago, the Soviets' performance had been, at best, atrocious. What could possibly go wrong with elements of an elite German outfit going on a patrol against them in broad daylight?

The Germans found out in short order. The Soviet HMG was just effective enough to disrupt approaching enemy units and throw off their timetable. The Soviets also kept reinforcing the town at an alarming rate. Then came the coup de grace: the German HMGs, still loaded on their wagons and contemptious of the Soviet forces, ventured too near the Russian forward position. Intense Soviet opfire eliminated the wagons and with them two steps of German MG's. The final kick in the teeth came a few minutes later when yet another platoon of Soviet INF further reinforced the town.

The German patrol turned back. They had learned a few things the hard way: There were Russians in the town, about twice as many as when the patrol first set out. They could also report back that the intensive on-the-job training that the Soviet soldiers had had in the last week was beginning to pay off; they were learning how to shoot.

Author	cjsiam (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	Dan Storm
Play Date	2019-07-11
Language	English
Scenario	EFDx019

So---- The Defenders of the Motherland set up in the city....we knew of the Hun invaders in the area...so we concentrated in a few hexes facing west---as we waited, we saw the wagons and infantry approaching from afar along the road to the Town....

We defenders of the Soviet motherland began demonstrating and waving flags as they came within twice Machine gun range---we feared Nothing from the Hun!!! So...turn 3...we roll for initiative---and get a Random event....a 3---NEW ORDERS for the Germans!.... they no longer have to enter the city or make soviet loses---instead they must exit the board---with (required 3 inf units and an MG) only their AT gun (what???) able to remain....

So---it was a Draw---we successfully prevented the Germans from entering the town---so Soviets won...but the Germans got their men back off the board---so the Germans won.....

it was quick, so we started again! And I'm sure the Mighty defenders of the Motherland will be victorious once more!!

Author	cjsiam (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	Dan Storm
Play Date	2019-07-11
Language	English
Scenario	EFDx019

After a quick -- Random event ended our first run at this---my erstwhile opponent agreed to have another go....Again...I set up in the town waiting for him...and he came at me down the road stacked all up with his infantry and wagons loaded (HMG and AT).... Russians rolled to get a extra infantry on turn 1...not a bad thing....

By turn 3 the Germans broke into two forces, with the hvy weapons and an officer going south around city and the infantry breaking north....trying to pincer the city....a lucky snake-eyes took out an officer at max range of the HMG as he moved with the Inf...the Sargent...it was a good omen...

Another Russian infantry showed up---at this point almost doubling the number of Soviets in the town, but me being forced to deal with threats now developing on both sides of the city.

As the Germans spread out on either side of city---he made an error which the Brave soviets jumped to capitalize upon...The German wagons and officer to the south were at 4 hexes from the city...HMG was focused on the Infantry to the north and so had no shots---but with the reinforcements---and moving 3---We charged out of city with Two Platoons and a Reduced Platoon and officer-- to try and get at the wagons....

We were able to get up next to them at the end of the turn.....

The Cubed war gods, seeing the plight of the poor Soviets defending the Motherland then gave us a 1 point difference in the activation, to the Soviet favor....and the Infantry was able to Assault and overwhelm the loaded transports and kill the officer....

At that point--- 3steps German were gone....and no loses of the Soviets...so immediately we have a Soviet victory (needed 2)....and with no heavy weapon and now 5 Soviet Inf squads (and possibly more with a 5,6 bringing in another every turn)...the Germans called this one a day.

Had the Germans been out one more hex, or had the Russian NOT gotten initiative, then they could have escaped.....such are the whims of the cubed gods....

Author	cjsiam (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	Les Staurt
Play Date	2019-11-16
Language	English
Scenario	EFDx019

So---this is the third time I've done this scenario---this time as Russians....My opponent rushed his units down the road to my city..... Based on the need to keep the germans out--I send a couple units out dig in and obstruct the Germans approach...try to get them to have to deal with the guys in foxholes, hold them up so I could shot them while they were outside the city.... I was very fortunate in reinforcements -- by end of game I had like 4 additional russians.

The germans broke left as they approached city...I tried to cause casualties with my HMG at 4 hexes....not very successfully....as the germans started to gang up on the unit dug in next to the road, given I'd been successful with reinforcements---I went out and engaged them as they assaulted my guy...we ended up in Melee which I could feed more units into....

I was shortly able to reduce a couple steps of Germans....for the win.... At that point we stopped....

Seems that there are too few germans and too many, and growing, russians....if the germans can get to the town--they can jump in ..and that's a win...so the russians have to keep them away---and if they are lucky with reinforcements---that's possible....IF NOT, I'd think the germans can get in....

Interesting reading that some continue playing after achieving victory conditions....and don't evaluate until full turns are expended---not sure if that's necessary or just a preference...given the nature of losing units in these actions...keeping playing after achieving victory conditions could undo you---

Author	t1M0t8yk
Method	Solo
Victor	Soviet Union
Play Date	2022-03-24
Language	English
Scenario	EFDx019

The German strategy was to split up into three groups each approaching the town with some space in between. This would be done right from the starting bell to limit potential Red Army reinforcements. At the right time they'd look for an opportunity to rush the town and meet the objective of getting a formation inside. RKKA strategy was to stay in the town cover but spread out as necessary depending on how the Germans approached, and take advantage of opportunity fire to generate high odds shots at any Germans attempting to get into the town.

As it played out, I started and stopped at least three times, but every time the RKKA got three and often more additional platoons in the the first half dozen or so turns. This was not a script for German success. It's not necessarily a bad scenario. The problem is the random reinforcements too often distort the situation too much in favor of one side or the other.

PG is frustrating to me this way. The 4th edition rules are really tight. There's a good game in here! Unfortunately, AVP's scenario standards are among the most lacking in the many tactical games I've played. Once again I conclude to make the scenario more interesting one needs to implement house rules to constrain things like random reinforcement results that degrade the quality of the scenario.

Update: I played it one more time using a house rule to limit extreme reinforcement results in either direction. With this change I had a lengthy battle that went almost the distance. The Germans were able to get into the town. The Russians whacked one German step and were working on the second but lost too many of their own in the process, yielding a certain German victory at the end of turn 16. This would have merited a 3 rating - decent but nothing special. Since I only pulled this off with a balancing house rule I'll leave my original rating unchanged. However, I'll make a mental note to use similar house rules with other questionably variable reinforcements.