A mix of Soviet tanks, mainly T34's with some KV1's take on German PZIV's and III's with some infantry support. Mud keeps the Germans on the roads and in the towns, while slowing the KV1's to a crawl. Our game started with the German tanks scurrying into the town while the Red Army's finest advanced a whole single hex from the south. As the Soviets drew closer their was a few turns of cat and mouse but finally the German commander decided that he could not let the brave Soviet tankies encroach too close and he let rip with hus furst salvo, destroying 2 T34,s. The reply came back and the superior fire power of the 76mm gun also took out half a platoon of PzIV's. The problem for the German commander was that while his tanks demoralised the Soviets did not break. The tank duel at the edge of taown carried on for the next 45 m ins with the Germans just getting the worst of it. By then the lumbering KV1's arrived on the scene and the Red Army tank commander decided to force the issue. The KV1's and T34's drove into the town, the KV1's quickly got bogged down in assault with the infantry but more German tanks fell to the Soviet armour. The Russian commander withdrew one of his KV1 platoons from the mess they had got themselves in but was happy to write of the other if it kept the German infantry busy. This it did lasting for quite some time before finally being destroyed by then the German tanks had been pushed out of the town and were being shot up in the muddy countryside by the rampant T34's. The German commander had had enough by then and conceded the field. A tough scenario for the German's and Vince did little wrong during the game, he was right to retreat to the outskirts of the town and was a litle unlucky not to get two hits at least in his first salvo. Once though he got behind in the initiative it was going to be tough to make any headway against the superior armour at the disposal of Katukov. A good little puzzler of a scenario, and quite tense during the initial exchanges

October 11th, 1941.

The German offensive is rolling along, however at some points in the front, the Russians mount fierce counter attacks that stun the Germans and make them think twice about how easy this war will be. On the outskirts of Mtensk, one such battle happens early in the morning, around 10am.

Elements of the 4th Panzer Division are counter attacked by the 4th Tank Brigade, which consists of around 30 or so T-34A's and some 12 KV-1's.

To hold the tide: Just 13 PZIII's, 15 PVIV's and some infantry.

This game was played between my friend Jeff and I and was our first large scale game of PG: Eastern Front, so neither of us had the games tactics down yet. However by the end I would learn about cross fire real well.

TURN 1 10:00am

The Russians rumble in off the west edge of Board 1, meanwhile the Germans, stuck in the mud and the grime of the Russian fall season, try to take up spots that will allow for spotting and cross fires early. The Russians are not hindered by the mud and they come on fast.

TURN 2 10:15 am

The Russian armored column fans out, and so do the Germans. The mud limits their movement, but the Panzer IV's anchor the right flank and the mass of the Panzer III'3 fan out and take the left flank. The infantry on the trucks disembarks and takes the town over.

TURN 3 10:30 am

At firing range, all heck breaks lose and the guns of the T-34's crackle to life, as the Germans take 5-6 shots at each T-34 Platoon and find that the Panzer III's cant reall penetrate the armor! The left flank is in trouble as the Russians have no problem picking off individual Panzer 3 platoons 3-4 tanks at a time!

On the right flank a platoon of Panzer IV's scores a hit and forces a unit of T-34's back, but it takes SIX shots to finally dent the massive armor of the Russians. To the south more German units become demoralized! The combat is fast and furious, so many tanks and shells flying everywhere!

TURN 4 10:45 am

The situation worsens for the Germans, and they now realize that the left flank is doomed. The Panzer III's are unable to stem the tide of the Russian T-34's and the wave rolls them over. First 6 then 10 Panzer III's are eliminated. The left flank of the Germans falls back toward Mtensk. Meanwhile north, a nasty Russian crossfire blows 5 Panzer IV's off the map and suddenly the Germans are 3 whole platoons down. Firing back, another Panzer IV platoon gets frist blood after 5 shots and takes out 5 T-34's, but the situation is critical.

Falling back to the town, the German Panzer III's strike one last blow and force a platoon of Russian T-60's back away from the town.

Facing odds that they cannot stop, the German Lieutenant in charge of the infantry defending Mtensk orders them to re load aboard the rickety trucks and retreat back to the east, to rejoin the stronger units that are coming along to reinforce Mtensk

The Germans are forced to withdraw from the Mtensk area and await air support to stem the Russian metal beasts that they are not used to encountering in such force.

The things Jeff and I learned here will go a long way toward understanding the mechanics of Panzer Grenadier.

First off, October on the Easter Front stinks! The mud reduced all my movement by 3, and it doubled the terrain cost of everything but roads. I was bogged down and could not use my armor properly.

Secondly, T-34's my GOD. Sometimes I had to take 6 shots and roll as high as 12 on two six siders to even dent his armor. If he had moved or I was at long range, I could not even hurt him

All in all a good game and we played till about 11pm.

This battle was played face to face with Wayne Baumber. As part of our New Year, we decided that from now on, we would go back to 'roots' PG and randomly select 3 scenarios to play from the book that we had not yet touched. Chosen by rolling percentile dice, this tank battle was the first one of the three to be selected as such

As German units entered the burning outskirts of Mtsensk, on the road to Tula, south of Moscow, Marshal Zhukov once again committed Katukov’s tank brigade.to drive the Germans back. Again, 4th Panzer division fell victim and again the T34 demonstrated its superiority. At Guderian’s urging, a commission came to investigate the tank.

The battle that prompted this was one fought where the Russian Steppe was little more than a mud slop. The German PzIV’s & PzIII’s were forced to stay on the road and in Mtsensk itself as off-road movement would just see them get bogged down and then picked off with ease.

The Soviet attack commenced about 1000 hours and just after 1100 the Soviet T34’s came into the range of the PzIV’s lined on the western outskirts of the town. A good salvo from the Germans knocked out 4 of the enemy vehicles but to the Germans surprise, deterred the enemy not. The Russians then returned fire, with their effort being as good as the Germans, and likewise, 4 German PzIV vehicles were brewed. Unlike the Soviets, this quite demoralized the German defenders and their fire cohesion petered out ending any effective defense on the west side of Mtsensk. This allowed the Soviets to close in on the target town unharmed any further.

To the south of the town, yet more T34’s were closing in on an area defended by nothing more than PzIII’s. The Germans here had to slowly give ground, especially as the Soviet fire was proving to be horribly accurate and knocking out quite a number of the German tanks. Street by street, the German tanks retired, but were gradually running out of room to retire further.

The battle slowly degenerated into a tank v tank melee within the town, with a couple of platoons of German infantry holding up the dreaded KV1’s. Over the course of 3 hours, the T34’s slowly wittled and grinded away at the enemy within the town, knocking out most of the enemy tanks there. In this reign of terror, eight German tanks made a bid to escape over the open ground northwards, but bogged down in the mud, they were eventually and easily picked off by the excellent Soviet guns.

Though the battle lasted four and a half hours, it had been a depressing and convincing defeat for the invaders and it was no wonder Guderian ordered the commission to investigate the T34 and see what the Germans could take from it. There had been little option but to hold the town, but the poor early German gunnery matched by good Soviet fire tactics and movement won the day for the Reds.

In all, 36 German tanks (18 steps) were pulped for the loss of just 10 Soviet beasts (5 steps). A complete wipe out !

Despite the massacre here and in previous results, this is actually one that I believe the Germans CAN actually get a minor victory on occassions. With a bit of luck swinging their way with the shooting (the PzIV's have to pick up this mantle) and the Soviets performing less than par, the Germans CAN get more than 4 units to survive and knock out the requisite Soviet units. I gave this a 3. It is a scenario that gets the brain cells working, has variable entry points and will test German tank commanders. I'm just glad I lasted 18 turns as opposed to just 6 that the writer did of the previous AAR

The T-34 really showed it's power here, as a large force hammered the Germans, completely destroying the PzIIIs and half of the PzIVs sent against them. The Germans vacated the map in Turn 7, having too few forces available to mount a serious defence of the town, especially as the KVs hadn't even been engaged at that point, and 4th Panzer could only provide 3 steps of PzIVs and two infantry platoons to counter a Soviet force that had only taken three step losses in the entire gsme.

I felt that the scenario was a bit unbalanced, but that may have been faulty tactics on my part. Certainly, if the Germans get into a straight-up shooting match (as mine did), it seems that the outcome can only got the way it did for me.

NOTE: It was only after reading everyone else's AARs that I realised I had played this through without the mud SSR. So there will be a replay, afer I have learned to read all of the SSrs before setting off :)

(If you’d like the scenario details, please refer to the Eastern Front book. This merely reports the results)

In Europe, there are many things to frighten and embolden you. Tanks, for example. From the west, a German parade of armor slid down the muddy road, careful to avoid sliding off into the mud and becoming an instant museum. From the south, another, yet much smaller division rolled loudly toward the town. Both lines had as their goal the northeast edge of the town, which would provide cover for the now-revealed Russians advancing from the northern sands. Russian tanks, while slightly quicker today, just couldn’t hit anything but air and ground, allowing the Germans to smile a little as they picked off tank after tank. The Russians employed a lot of crossfire, as did the Germans, but at the end of a short fight (or long one, if you were a Russian today), the Germans held the town with no real threat ever presented. It played out like this: The Russians massed just behind a hill that blocked the Germans, even though they were aware of the Russians’ presence. The Germans stood in a line across the whole end of the town, with the few infantry they possessed hiding out in the line on the extreme northeast. As the Russians moved out, the German tanks pounded them. The Russians had a few very good tanks, and one that was there for comedic purposes, but each time they fired, the gunners apparently closed their eyes, sneezing while they pulled the trigger. Nothing upsets even the calmest commandant more than allergic gunners! The German gunners, however, had eagle eyes and painted the Russian armor with such force that the final tally was that the Germans had one lost division, while the Russians, well, lost. They conceded and the few tanks that were left found a five-speed reverse they never knew they had. It was wondered afterwards if the Russians would have fared better had they rounded the town and run it through while attacking, forcing the Germans to reclaim their lost city blocks and therefore winning the battle. Maybe we shall rewrite history tomorrow.