This scenario has a small force of German infantry and armor holding two towns and a large space in between from a rather large Russian force of infantry and armor. Russians have to do at least 2 of 3 things to win, being get 15 steps off the north edge of the board, eliminate 8 steps of Germans, and/or take at least 8 town hexes. Since the closest town to their entry is a 7-hex town in the southeast corner of the board, it is the obvious first choice for attack. I deployed the German Pz IVF2 in the town with 2 StuG IIIBs, an infantry platoon, HMG and the infantry Captain, along with the 37mm gun and it's truck, all in the 3 southern hexes, with the tank and infantry in the middle. I put one stack of infantry, HMG and LT dug in just north of the east-west road and centered so that anything trying to make a rush (not much of a rush at deep snow speeds) to get the exit conditions would take several turns of direct fire and possible directed OBA from there, and I placed the last infantry and HMG in the northwest town with the two Pz IIIs. Russians were split into two main groups, with the tanks, loaded with tank riders, along with a few more infantry and HMGs that couldn't be fitted into the trucks, and half of the leaders, lead by one of the two captains, heading directly for the nearest town, while the trucks loaded with the rest of the infantry, hmgs and 76.2 guns headed up the western half of the board, my intent to dismount infantry as close as possible to the northwest town and run the guns directly off the north side of the board as fast as possible to at least start an exit group in hopes that there would be enough survivors from one or both town assaults to complete all 3 victory conditions. Things didn't work out quite as planned for the Russians. Long range German tank fire killed 6 steps of T-34s rather quickly, with most of the kills going to the panzer ace Mk IV and a few to the two StuGs. German OBA and infantry direct fire disrupted and demoralized much of the infantry as they tried to form pincers to strike from both sides of the town while Russian armor approached from the center. As plans go, this one worked to some extent, as Russians succeeded in hitting both town flanks, while the surviving Russian armor pulled up adjacent and eliminated the Mk IV. After losing the HMG, the German infantry and Captain moved over into the hex with the StuGs along with their halftrack, forming a 30 column defense force, while the AT gun in the other corner with it's truck and a column 1 defense managed to hold the Russians for6 turns before finally being eliminated. Russians walked over all the vacant hexes, but stack after stack trying to assault the citadel in the eastern hex of town were destroyed, including the last surviving T-34s and even the KVs, with surviving remnants of demoralized infantry wandering to the woods south of town to try to recover, and where they would stay as an absence of good surviving leadership prevented their returning to more assault. On the other side of the board, Russian infantry dismounted as soon as they started receiving fire and formed into 3 assault stacks, while the trucks towing the guns broke off towards the north center and into medium range fire from the dug in Germans, where they were promptly eliminated. Fire from Russian mortars that had been driven up the middle and deployed to cover both towns had little effect, and, with the Russian OBA, managed to disrupt or demoralize the dug in Germans, who managed to return to good morale after a turn or two at most. The Russians in the northwest managed only once to actually get a stack into assault with the south central town hex, and there were destroyed to a man, while long range fire from infantry and tanks in the east and west hexes disrupted and then demoralized the next waves of Russians in the open before they could get close. As Russian numbers dwindled, they became unable to actually take either town, or to be able to get an appropriate number of steps off the board. They just barely managed to cause an 8th step loss among the dug-in force in the middle, keeping the Germans from having a major win. Great game.

Red Warriors, scenario #14: Feldwebel Schaffer

*Back to the old days of PG with a scenario from Red Warriors, reminds me of so many memories from the past but back to the game. This looked like an interesting scenario with Soviet having about three times the force but with three objectives to take for a major victory and two for a minor and the German victory levels below this. The Deep snow will made movement slow and both sides have off-board artillery. 25 Turns of fighting ahead!

*First of all, how to setup the Germans? Help defend the town hexes, and setup to block or slow the Soviets exit points, dug-in when possible and setup to do as much damage as possible. Still, there are still so many options in setup and a small German mixed force to try it with. This could play out differently with each game-play.

*The Soviets don’t have enough Transportation for all the Infantry, even if they use all their armor for tank riders, so at least 9 units must go on foot. One battle-group of Soviets head for the first town, to see if it’s possible to get 8 town hexes under their control and eliminate at least 8 German steps. The Second battle-group of Soviet tries an end-round the forest, to exit 15 steps off the North edge of the map or engage the second town in the north if all is going well in the battle of the southern town.

*The Battle for the town hexes in the South really fell apart for the Soviets, so bad in fact, that I now decided a Major victory could not be had at this point in the battle but a minor one was still attainable and was now the new goal. Losses in the south were heavy to both the Soviet Infantry & Armor units, as the Germans setup a good crossfire of armor and fortified the towns with everything else. The Soviets however had already eliminated 12 steps of Germans, so the only thing left to do was exit 15 steps and forget the German held town in the North. The KV-I moved so slow in the deep snow and everything else was slowed down as well. There was a dash for the northern border; with the remainder of the German armor trying it’s best to stop the truck loads of Soviet Infantry and support units. The Soviet unloaded the 45mm AT guns and the KV-I were finally able to assist, as the T-34A’s & T-60’s were burning or demoralized. The PzIVF2 was also gone but there were still a few StuGIIIB’s and PzIIIG’s but not enough to work in blocking the Russians.

*The Soviet had their minor victory and this is kind of an interesting battle for both sides to make decisions. It’s difficult to say which strategies are best, only playing this once, so this has replay value. The deep snow makes progress slow however.