Nothing comes to mind quite like Greek mythology when playing the Slovaks. Well, actually a lot of other things come to mind but let's face it, when you have to choose between two significant dangers the only thing that comes to mind is Scylla and Charybdis, unless you have received a modern U.S. secondary education, in which case you think Scylla and Charybdis is a new hip hop group out of Oakland.

In any event, the Slovaks start this one having cleared three boards in Scenario 9 (intriguingly titled Slovakia's Battle Phase I to which this is Phase II) and are tasked with getting into Lipovec, the only town remaining to their front. Blessed with better knowledge than the pathetic Colonel Pilfousek, we happen to know that in 45 minutes a battalion of bloodthirsty (well maybe just thirsty, forgive the hyperbole) Soviets are to land on their flank. Rather than station the artillery well to the rear (and a prime candidate for being slaughtered) the Slovaks place their artillery and all their troops on the large hill immediately in front of Lipovec, leaving two boards of roads open to the flanking Soviet force.

At the start the Slovaks carefully slid to the south of Lipovec and entered the woods to the SE of town. The Soviets had a picket in place that caused the Slovaks some difficulty and which did not die. The Slovak tanks milled around, out of sight of the Soviet AT guns in the town.

Once the Soviet troops entered the board things got interesting. They chose a short flanking with the idea of getting behind the Slovaks but staying close enough to be able to cause casualties as well. So they came up on the east side of the board just behind the hill. They established themselves in the woods on the SE of the hill and on the road immediately beyond the hill.

The Slovaks made an instant decision to hold up on the assault on Lipovec in order to deal with the flanking force. It was this decision that made the win possible. The Slovaks immediately detached all of their armor to face the oncoming Soviet flankers who had no AT capability. During the daylight the massed direct fire caused significant disruption to the Soviets and caused many to retreat or hold their position.

During this wild melee I was watching the VP situation. On turn 7 the Soviets had a commanding lead 32-10. By turn 14, the score had flipped to 23-31 in favor of the Slovaks. The armor and the cyclists who had been held in reserve, along with a company of infantry had cleared the road again. While the Soviets were trying to climb the hill through the woods and would ultimately have some success with this route, the troops along the road had been chased away with some significant losses (by turn 14 the Soviets had lost 16 steps to the Slovaks loss of 7 steps, primarily due to the defensive posture of the Slovaks).

The Soviets noticed the passive nature of the "assaulting" Slovaks and issued a raid from Lipovec towards the Slovak artillery park. This company was routed and destroyed by a scratch force of cyclists and armor freed up by the arrival of the German cyclists around turn 14.

The arrival of the Germans led to extensive nightime assaults and the destruction of the remaining Soviet flanking force. The Soviets threw some strong attacks at the Germans and also at the Slovaks near Lipovec but were turned back in three separate major assaults and the offensive capability of the Soviets was eliminated from that point forward. There simply weren't enough troops left for the Soviets to mount anything other than a stationary defense.

As a result, with the score now 30-56 in favor of the Slovaks, the Soviets called it a day (well actually a night, but who could see their watch at 10:30 PM to figure that out?). There were immediate claims and counterclaims between the Slovaks and the Germans as to who was responsible for the resounding victory before Lipovec. The Slovaks claimed that it was their stout defense of the hill and their disruption of the Soviet flanking force. The Germans claimed that it was the impact of their cyclists entering the fray and clearing out the remaining pockets of Soviets to avoid having to later come back to clear individual units dug in on the roads. The Soviets may have the strongest claim, however, for entering neither close enough to Lipovec to reinforce the defenders and crush the Slovak attack nor far enough away from the hill to establish control of the road and force a counterattack to deal with them.

The true secret to the Slovak victory, however, can be seen in one simple statistic. Colonel Pilfousek, who, from the scenario descriptions, can be seen to have been incompetent to a surprising degree, became demoralized on turn 7 and did not recover to good order until turn 20. During that time the Slovaks rallied from a 32-12 deficit in VPS to a 27-50 lead. Had he been able to exert control over the Slovak forces one can only imagine the damage he would have caused.

The Slovaks and their German support successfully navigated the Scylla and Charybdis by crushing the flanking force while keeping sufficient force to deal with a sally from Lipovec. Keys to the victory were halting the assault on Lipovec to deal with the Soviet flanking force and the inability of the Soviets to enter in either of the two manners designed to help them acheive victory. Lots of options for both sides and a wide open battle with forces incapable of maintaining their morale. A good scenario over all. I give it a 4 for enjoyment and the puzzle of it.