Columbus Day seemed an excellent opportunity to play some PG, so we dragged out Edelweiss Expanded and turned to the German/Soviet scenarios. Second scenario for the day was National Socialist Ardor. In this scenario a heavily outnumbered high morale Soviet force is defending a city against the encroachment of a large but poorly led low morale SS force. The city is the German goal, while the Soviets are trying to keep the approaching roads closed; casualties also count.

I divide my Soviets into seven groups. The 76.2mm is in the city out of view and with no leader, the mortar is in the heavy woods of board 9, two rifle platoons guarding the woods of board 6, one on the border of boards 6 and 9, and two stacks of one rifle and one HMG guarding the road and intersection of board 9. Very thin line to cover two board widths. The SS all come in on board 9, half on the road, half on the far board edge in an attempt to run up the side.

The board edge force creates huge panic in the Soviet defenses. The platoons on board 6 are of no immediate use, and must quickly shift to board 9. The intersection defense stack must try to move to the board edge through heavy forest, while the SS can move faster in an attempt to bypass and make a run on the city. The other large Soviet stack must delay the Germans on the road while the three rifle platoons can approach. The mortar even begins to move as a cutoff force towards the board edge, realizing any assault means death. The light woods across all but board 2 means that Soviet artillery has no targets; but then again neither does the substantial German OBA.

Delay attempt in the center are extremely successful. The Germans are afraid to approach the strong stack, and the platoons all get within engagement range. My opponent despises engaging my Soviets in the woods due to past tenacious defenses by small forces. The pattern extends here, as my Soviets seem to shrug off the first couple arty strikes and give as good as they get in assault combat (thank you morale difference!). The Germans eventually do wear down the rifle platoons, inflicting three step losses but taking several themselves. Soviet artillery also manages to mess up the low morale SS, sending some troops reeling. The Germans have very little stomach to hit the strong Soviet stack with their disarrayed force, and are putting their gamble on the board edge running force.

The Germans have their two poorest leaders leading five GEB, one Engineer, and two HMG platoons up the side. The Soviets try to cut them off with one large stack, but can’t quite do it without subjecting said stack to intense German OBA. The Soviets do force a division within the German force. The Soviet stack stays to pound the trailing Germans while the other half of the Germans run for the city with only one mortar unit in their path. The Soviet artillery throttles the trailing Germans just before the stack goes in for assault. The Germans eventually lose four steps and a leader with the other two units withdrawing for no Soviet losses.

The remaining Germans make for the town. The Soviet lieutenant leading the mortar team sets up one hex into the woods with one hex of light woods between his team and board 2. The German force makes its break onto board 2 without an appreciation for the fact that the light woods covering three boards does not extend onto board 2. The Soviet lieutenant takes fire control of not only his mortar platoon, but also the Soviet OBA and the 76.2mm in the city. The effect is devastating, as the first strike hits the two unit stack with the SS leader and not only inflicts a step loss, a demoralization, and a disruption, but even kills the SS leader! The remaining Germans are now unled, and have no path to the town without leadership. Continuing barrages rip the German units, and the shaken survivors begin retreating towards the woods on board 9. But the strong Soviet stack, having crushed the back half of the German force, are closing the pincer on the panicked Germans. The German commander surrenders at this point with the Soviets taking a major victory.

I was not wild about this scenario. The Germans should have run the board edge force up the other side of the board, and merely being present on board 17 would have cost the Soviets five points. The fact that both of my heavy stacks could engage his entire force gave me a huge advantage, but placing them that way was critical to keep the city and the approach road as clear as possible. The Soviet screening force is way too small for a four board scenario, and I felt a constant level of frustration vice excitement. If I could have redesigned the scenario, it turns out it would have looked much closer to the original version from the original Edelweiss set, but with only boards 2 and 9 vice 6 and 1 (back to a two board scenario), and used this version of victory conditions. Perhaps even raise the German step lost morale to 5. In all fairness, my opponent really liked the scenario, and does not agree with my 2 rating. Neither do other players who have scored this, obviously. I guess it’s just my issue, but until I had the chance to blow away his runners with arty I just felt frustrated. You can just label me as harsh in this case.