Author	NBGB (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Draw
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2026-08-25
Language	English
Scenario	FitS016

Played via Vassal with cjsiam using Peter's double blind rules.

This was an entertaining albeit unusual scenario. The Nazi horde was a recon unit with their power being in the multitudinous halftracks they possessed. The defenders of the Motherland were entrenched in a town across a minor river which the horde had to take for victory. They had a few platoons of light tanks which could enter the fight once the horded stepped foot in the town.

My strategy as the leader of this unusual force was to use the available recon units to forge the river as far north of the town as possible to swing around behind the town and scout and also set up potential crossfire positions for the armor when they appeared. Meanwhile the infantry and halftracks would hide in the woods until the above could occur. The measly two mortars took position to harass the defenders during this process. We would then storm the bridge with our meager infantry to pave the way for the hell bound halftracks. The Russkies entrenched in the town and a strategic woods hex overlooking the bridge crossing and sprinkled their horse cavalry units in the woods and town.

The beginning third of the game involved the moving of the aforementioned scout units. They were subjected to some AT fire and many cavalry charges. This was because of their daring movement to spot units in the town and woods. They suffered some losses to a motorcycle company and a step or two some armored cars. The troops in the woods maneuvered to go for the bridge under smoke. They suffered withering op fire but managed to grab a toehold on the bridge. The Russkies cavalry charged the bridge position but took a beating from the mortars and an mg unit op firing. The bridge held and allowed the rest of the infantry to advance on both of the entrenchments under the cover of smoke.

The key entrenchment in the town was assaulted by a brave platoon of infantry which effectively shut down the AT gun there for the duration of the battle. The other entrenchment in the trees was similarly assaulted and the AT gun there suffered the same fate. Now the path was clear to bring in the dreaded halftracks across the bridge. The Russian clever use of their cavalry kept reducing scout units and impeded progress on many ingress attempts to the town.

Now the tanks appeared but they circled to the north to avoid potential AT fire as planned. This gave the horde a few more minutes to get the tracks into cover in the town and woods. This also allowed them to unload the three 37mm AT guns in position to keep the Russian tanks from encroaching the rear.

At this point the battle was for the town with massive assaults. The Russians cleverly postioned their tanks and AT firepower just outside the assault hexes to reign hot AP fire on any tracks that were in assaults. Now it was a dice rolling contest for the last five or so turns. The Germans had many complex moves to bring in halftracks and cycle blown up ones in and out of assaults and to use the very meager infantry to best possible advantage.

the defenders held despite furious fighting. The town entrenchment was never able to be breached and there were two platoons of cavalry in another hex that laughed at the Hitlerites.

the Germans lost about 20 steps and the Russians 16. This was a very fun scenario and extremely challenging for me to try and formulate a plan with no OBA and very meager infantry. The double blind rules worked very well but do require some overhead so the jury is out for me on their usefulness in a large scenario. However, in most cases they seem to function perfectly fine.

Thanks to cjsiam for helping with the rules and providing a great challenge that ended with a whimper, not a bang.