Over the first few turns the Soviets made their way south along the road while the Germans moved north and occupied the town and the adjacent woods. By turn seven the Soviets were approaching the town, however there was no cover whatsoever to protect them during the assault. All they could do is advance in open ground and hope for the best. The Soviets were able to get men into each of the northern city hexes to engage in assaults. The Germans in the western woods guarded that approach, but the Soviets sent some men around the east side of the town and approached from the southeast. As the game drew to a close, the Soviets held one town hex while all the others had units from both sides. On the last turn the Soviets were in danger of losing one of the assault hexes, but the turn ended due to fog-of-war and preserved a very narrow Soviet win. Fun scenario. Well worth replaying.

Setup: Neither side setups on the map, therefore there are no notes on the setup.

Play: Both the Soviets and Germans enter the map on the south and north edges, respectively, and both drive for the town. The Germans are much closer and are able to take up defensive positions in the northern half of the town. The Soviets move forward and do not attempt to stop and exchange fire with the Germans.

Immediately after arriving on the northern edge of the town, the Soviet mass assault the German positions, making some quick advances, capturing the northernmost town hex from the Germans. The Soviets and Germans continue to slug it out in the town, each side attempting to wear down the other.

The Germans manage to delay the Soviet attack, and their weaker morale begins to give the Germans an advantage in the urban assault. The Germans begin their counterattack against the Soviet attacks, but the attack stalls and the Germans cannot recapture the northern town hex back from the Soviets. The game ends with the assault in full swing, with neither side gaining more ground.

Result: German Victory

This scenario played against Wayne Baumber in a ftf scenario. There was some debate between us about map orientation because the board numbers were in the wrong place on the scenario instructions. In the end we went with keeping the numbers at the ends they are shown on picture. This was the system we have used before. Once again, a scenario chosen by random dice rolling. The game is playable in one sitting and our one came straight after finishing a half done game and thus we got two game results in a days play

Midday. Its snowing, its horribly deep and its January. The Germans are not liking it and only feel comfortable in the environs of town cover. Worse still, against them are arrayed Siberians from the 925th Rifle Regiment. Very fleet of foot troops in these conditions and of very decent morale. On this day too, they happened to have a relative flood of good officers. Today, the German 189th infantry regiment are ordered to advance to and hold Okhvat, an important railway junction.

The march there, though hindered by conditions, is easy enough for the Germans as they have more than a head start on the Siberians. Just outside Okhvat, they deploy their 105mm batteries. With the cold, there is a distinct lack of radios that work and the artillery need to spot for themselves today. Meanwhile, the infantry push on just outside the edge of the town and begin digging in some woods as well on the flanks of the guns. Their HMG's set up, concentrated in the town's perimeter with a sweeping view of all before them. As they do this, the Soviet force push on up the main road and begin to receive the first salvoes from the German artillery. The bombardments begin to cause some disruption in the Soviet ranks as well as some demoralisation too.

By 1300 hours, the toll of the guns has accounted for 25 Siberians or so. The German HMG's also cut down the same number and now, the Siberians face a hard push forwards under such opposition. Added to this, the German mortar platoon begin to plunk in rounds against them just as Mauser fire starts to hit home. Its a horrendous advance. Despite this, skilled Siberian officers implore their troops forward, though one such fellow is felled by the MG fire. Slowly, they close on their prey and the town.

Its now 1400 hours, and the Siberians have suffered an hours worth of incoming fire. Mercifully, their own mortars zero in on the German 105's, and with a direct hit, half the guns are destroyed and the other half abandoned by the gunners who find such accurate shelling not withsandable themselves. The Soviets begin an attempt to flank round the German right. Here, they close with a couple of 37mm AT batteries, and a violent struggle ensues. On the left flank, Siberian infantry get in amongst two enemy platoons that have situated themselves in the woods. This attack appears more successful as they force half their enemy away in a demoralised state. However, yet another 100 casualties were sustained by the Siberians as they closed to contact, but worse still, their respected captain was captured in the assault on the German left flank. Command and control is difficult to filter to the men and the attack becomes staccatoed.

To counter the Soviet attack on their right, some of the Germans in the front line file back to the town to cover its approaches and keep out any attackers. Just as the Siberians were about to hit the town, the attack runs out of steam. With far too many casualties, loss of officers, a murderous HMG nest bullet sweeping everywhere to its front, comrades drifting backwards and a difficult defensive lay-out to negotiate, the Siberians called off the attack and conceded defeat on this one at 1445 hours. Casualty count amounted to 2 x German batteries of 105's (2 steps) and probably just a handful of infantry. The Soviets counted 202 men lost (8 steps).

Opinions were split on this game. I rate it a 3, despite Wayne's protestations of imbalance. He of course does not know how I was feeling during his attack, and I can confirm that my line felt stretched and tested and could have been breached had things gone wrong. He intimated that it seemed too easy for me (it wasn't). However, like another opponent, he took the risk of placing important officers out on their own. One got gunned down, and the other, the highest ranking was snatched by a platoon of mine when it jumped out of an assault and pounced on the lone Captain. If the enemy are going to put them up, then the oppotunity has to be taken. For a 1 session afternoon game, I found this stimulating. Plenty of action in a short space of time, and I think, on another occassion the Soviets may well win.

Shad's Note: I'm dumping in a bunch of my old BGG AARs. If you've followed my "work" on BGG then you've read these before...

Deployment

Because both sides must enter via the single road, the initial deployment is rather simple. The only decision of note was for the Germans to send their heavy artillery in first, in the hopes that they could get set up on the town perimeter and hit the onrushing Soviets a few times before being taken out.

The German -1 modifier to movement was a big concern, and did affect play...

Initial Moves

The Soviets rushed onto the board and down the road, but their cohesive marching soon started to string out along the countryside due to their poor command structure. One captain & three lieutenants does not an organized, rapid reacting army make!

The Germans slowly struggled against the heavy snow and began to file into the town, but realized that there simply wasn't enough room for all of them within the safety of the settlement. The unlucky stragglers were ordered into the nearby forest and wished the best of luck.

Hailstorm

The Soviet force broke up during advance into 3 distinct groups: the spearhead led by the captain and a lieutenant, the infantry reserve led by a lieutenant, and the heavy weapons group slowly bringing up the rear lead by the last lieutenant.

For a moment it looked as if the Soviet spearhead would be able to just slip into the northernmost reaches of the town before the Germans could fully occupy it, and thereby hold on until the reserve infantry arrived to lend them numerical superiority...

But then the German heavy weapons company comprised of 3 full HMG platoons and led by a more than capable German captain (0-9-1) got to that northernmost outskirts of the town first... and unleashed a hailstorm of hot lead upon the Soviets running desperately towards them across open ground.

The Soviet captain rallied what men were left alive and bid them run for their lives into the nearby forest.

Knowing the Soviets had only the weakest of artillery, the German captain and his HMG company patiently waited at the tip of the town for the next assault. (In game terms, an HMG triple stack with a 0-9-1 captain in the northernmost town hex knowing that the Soviet only has 2 x 81mm and thus nothing to fear in terms of the triple stack penalty.)

Plan B

The reassembled Soviet spearhead began to work around the German flank through the forest, and even managed to encircle and eliminate those unlucky German stragglers who had not been able to fit into the town, but time was running short.

With the Soviet infantry reserve now on the north end of the town just out of range of the German HMG company, the Soviet captain gave the order for a two-pronged assault.

On the west end the Soviets bravely dashed out of the forest and up to the gates of the village, only to panic and break under uncannily accurate fire from the German 81mm platoon.

On the north end of town the Soviet infantry madly ran towards the HMG company. Men died in mid-step, but no one retreated... except for the Lieutenant, who ran clear across the field into a distant wood and spent the next 2 hours carefully cleaning the shit from his pants while his men died on the edges of the town.

The attack was spent, only the Soviet captain remained combat effective. Two lieutenants had fallen in action and the third was doing his laundry, as mentioned. While the casualties suffered by either side had been nearly even, the Soviet command structure was broken beyond repair and the remaining soldiers refused to fight in anything but a self-defensive capacity. (Hence the headless chickenworkers...)

Game Conclusion

German Victory, all town hexes in German hands at scenario's end.

Final Thoughts

The core of Panzer Grenadier is its leadership system and this scenario dramatically highlights how differences in military leadership can overcome orders of battle. The Soviets begin the scenario with a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in infantry, but lack the leaders necessary to successfully coordinate their attacks.

I enjoyed soloing this, but I don't see much potential for variation with respect to the result.

The very next scenario in the book - 93: Tank Attack at Okhvat - reads:

After the 189th Infantry Regiment won the close race for Okhvat Station, the 249th Rifle Division made a second attempt to take the village. This time they brought tanks.

I'm very excited to play this "historical sequel" after having experienced the first battle. I recommend players approach these as a pair for maximum satisfaction and historical insight.

This good be a very good scenario : its not. The situation is in deep mid winter two force deploy towards a town, the Germans seeking shelter the Russian seeking to expel the hated invader. The Germans are outnumbered but have good morale, on board artillery and an surfeit of leaders, the Soviets also have good morale, no loss of MP due to the snow but only 4 leaders and just 16 turns to cross a board and a half and take a town. Victory conditions depend only on control of town hexes on board 3. The scene is set for an epic struggle, a race for the town and then a bitter battle for said town. Well the scene would be set except that the scenario instructions are very ambiguous as to where board 3 is set up. We followed our normal convention and this meant that the town was only 4 hexes from the German entry point. I am sure that this is incorrect, however I agreed to play the scenario out. Even moving up the road in column it will take the Soviet's 5 turns to reach the edge of the town with the leading units, to then deploy into a battle line and launch an urban assault to clear at least three town hexes in 11 turns is possible but a tall order. Of course the German have had time to set up their artillery so you will be facing 32 bombardment points for some of the time the Russians march and deploy, not to mention that my skillful opponent had stacked 3 X HMG with enough leaders to throw out 30 DF to a range of 5 hexes turns the tall order into mission impossible. I have read Vince's AAR and although thinks it was tough for the Germans I can assure you at no stage did I feel that I had a chance to even enter the town let alone capture any part of it. Yes I did expose my leaders but by cunning "enemy" did target them, how many other players would pass up a 30 DF Opp fire shot against advancing HMG just to nail a leader. He did and with another leader out of action after being targeted by enemy morters I had to be reckless with the remaining two and paid the price. Its a shame because there is a good scenario hidden away here, it needs a little tweak. As it stands though it is flawed. Any scenario which even before you start setting up units has you arguing over which way the map goes is never going to impress me no matter what the result. This is another example of shoddy scenario development which plagues what is otherwise an excellent game system.