Let's remind ourselves that in this small contained scenario that we are dealing with one of the truly elite cavalry units of the entire war. They have an 8/7 morale and get a +2 for a charge bonus, added to their morale differential and their (usual) leader gives you a +4 on assault so charge away!!

The scenario begins with the Soviets dug in to protect a bridge over a major river which can only be crossed at the bridge. There is a small woods to the north which they inhabit as well to discourage flanking moves.

Unfortunately for the Soviets the 2 company cavalry group refuses to be intimidated and immediately sets out with one company on either wing. The Soviets patiently wait for the cavalry to show itself (it hides in fields and woods) to get the highly anticipated +1 for shooting at cavalry. Suddenly the cavalry is attacking the small group in the woods to the north of the bridge. After one desultory opp fire the Soviets come screaming out of the woods completely disorganized and out of the fight.

The Sovets can now see some of the cavalry and begin hitting them with their artillery when the second company comes into the open. At this point I should mention that the cavalry also has some pretty snazzy artillery - the Voloire units, which are highly mobile, well trained 75s which can quickly limber and unlimber making them much more flexible than your usual on board artillery. They were quite busy in hammering the dug in Soviets resulting in some routing and weakening of the dug in positions.

So the second cavalry company presents itself within range of the dug in position and gets hammered with direct and indirect fire. Some steps are lost but the cavalry keeps its morale intact and the next turn sweeps into the Soviets causing near total destruction of the position. The Soviet reserves move up to challenge the attack and expose the bridge position to assault.

Did I mention that this is a small scenario? The Soviets felt comfortable exposing the bridge hex due to the small number of Italian cavalry. Only one unit remained uninvolved in the current melee. The Italian looked at the +4 column modifier and charged the hex resulting in a complete routing of the defenders at the bridge! Wild success and cheering. The Soviets were all either tied up in assaults or demoralized and running from the field. All that remained was a leisurely advance on the mortar position in the nearby town and a major victory would be captured.

There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip, right? On one of the weirdest turns I can remember five out of five full strength Soviet units recovered from demoralization (requiring a five or lower roll) leaving the Soviets plenty of chances to get back to the bridge. There was now urgency to the situation as the scenario has a variable ending depending on a die roll.

The Italian cavalry began running this way and that to eliminate the newly disrupted Soviets but not before a Soviet unit in good order got adjacent to the bridge. The 75s disrupted him and the fourth direct fire at that unit that turn managed to disrupt it. It failed to recover on the subsequent turn (which was an extended end turn) was assaulted and disappeared.

So, all that was left to get the major win was to take control of the town from the two mortar units. However, only one cavalry platoon was available to pursue this task given the need to "clean up the battlefield" process described above. They duly assaulted and watched as for forty five minutes (3 turns) the mortar refused to buckle and ultimately denied the Italians a major victory.

The victory conditions worked quite well in this instance, forcing the Soviets to take their recovering units and try to get back to the bridge to deny the Italians a victory and forced the Italians to try to do too much with too small a force. You will be micromanaging the situation as either player but there is a lot more management on the Italian side as they have the leadership needed to do so. The Soviets have lousy leadership and not enough as is usual in early war situations. A completely lucky pick for a quick scenario and one worth playing, despite the parity in forces. The Italians really do have a great chance to win the scenario, regardless of the force equality.

The Italians never got far. The Soviets had set up across the river at the bridge and the Italians had to run a gauntlet just to get to the bridge. Soviet fire continually disrupted and demoralized the Italians who almost refused to recover. Italian fire pushed back several Soviet units who became demoralized, but the Italians could not recover enough to even get a small assault going before it ended. The Soviets controlled the town and bridge. Soviet victory.