Setup: The Soviets begin setup dug-in along the length of the railroad, with three separate groups, which allows them great coverage of the road and the best defensive position on the board.

Play: The battle progresses rather quickly as the Germans move forward, they choose to attack the Soviets piecemeal, directly all their energy, save their tanks at one Soviet outpost after another. The German armor rushes the armored train, and quickly take losses, but ultimately the train is finished.

From here, the Germans progress steadily down the road, making sure to recover before attacking, and the Soviets begin to crumble. Then on one turn, the Soviet colonel takes a bullet to the head, paralyzing the entire Soviet defense for three turns. The Germans sweep across the railroad, clearing the way for a further attack.

Result: German Victory.

...they give me a train. A train? The train looks great on paper. It can reaction fire, then it can move; it can move then fire. But it is limited to the tracks. And those tracks are awfully close to where the Germans start off...

Needless to say, I think I bungled this game regardless of whether the Germans pulled off any brilliant tactical coup or not.

I thought my defenses were sound, most of the men set up on the tracks, a few in the woods to guard the mortars. But the train was too far back to stop the SPW's and they got into the woods to the north. the Russians got lucky with a few assault rolls in the woods- as in they weren't destroyed completely and managed to cause a casualty along the way- but the Germans weren't going to be stopped. When the train was knocked out in the 12th turn, Panfilov threw up his hands in disgust and said, "I quit."

The Kommisar then rushed over and shot Panfilov for his defeatist attitude.

Germans set up concentrated in the middle near the railroad line with a couple platoons north and south on each flank. The Soviets set up in the woods and along the tracks with a few platoons north/south of the woods dug-in. The armored train was on the western edge of map 6. The Germans began their advance through the snow and sent the tanks out onto the flanks where they were able to catch the armored train in a crossfire while it was concentrating on the troop laden halftracks. Since the Soviets had no more AT weapons the German AFV's then roamed freely aiding in the gradual reduction of the Soviet forces. By the end only a few Soviet combat units remained and the Germans had complete control of the railroad line. This play of the scenario wasn't close, but was drastically impacted by the early loss of the Soviet armored train. It would definitely be worth replaying - with more thought being given to protection of the train.

Both sides set up in a central position on their respective set up boards. On the first turn both sides move foward. Soviet mortars miss activation and cannot fire. During the next two turns the forces came together between the western village & the east woods. The Axis lost two steps in the approach. One to mortar fire and one to a lucky snake eyes on the seven column. The soviet train fell back after one ineffective shot. In an exchange of fire over the next several turns the Soviets could do no wrong. The axis quickly lost 6 steps. Two assaults with armor and Infantry that looked good in planning bogged down occupying half the Axis armored force, and cost steps to boot. The two platoons of PzIIIs never could activate after the first turn becoming spectators. The Soviets did loose three steps in exchange but the Axis were still reeling. The Soviets passed most of their morale checks and when they didn't they recovered in short order. The Soviet mortars stacked together in the east wood dug in under a 9-0-0 leader was a major factor all game long. The Axis should have stacked their mobile forces together in one flanking group. With the other group driving right down the rail line. This did occur to the Axis player during set up but he considered it too much of a risk because he then could be defeated in detail. So he decided to stick together and try to power by the Soviets, which turned into a "step" bath. Thank God these are only little cardboard counters and not men.

The Soviet Armored Train does slow the advance of the Germans both the infantry and the mechanized. However nothing stops a lucky throw on the dice. After The Train disrupting an advance on the soviet infanctry, German artillery hit and destroyed The Train with odds of 1 out of 12 to kill. Until then the Germans slowly moved forward with little to show for their efforts.