A very exciting scenario that could have gone either way! Technically a Draw as both sides only attained Minor Victory status, realistically it was one turn away from being a Soviet Major Victory (10 Soviet Steps eliminated, while all PzVs were eliminated with the exception of one "one step" demoralized PzV troop).

At setup the Soviets kept a ready reserve of mobile Inf at the ready to immediately try to tie down the PzVs while Anti-Tank firepower could be brought forward. Choke points were manned, the Germans decided to break through as one group along the Southern edge, but became bogged down by fearless Guards Infantry units that successfully closed with and disabled the Panthers in close range assaults.

When the time was up, one Panther troop managed to circle around back to the North and reach the "Alte Oder" - but stalling there as the Panthers came under fire from a rapidly redeployed Anti-Tank Battery.

This scenario was highly enjoyable and very replayable, recommended both for solitaire and FtF play.

As mentioned by others, this is an interesting scenario. Here the German is faced with the ugly prospect of having to take out Russians with a pure armor force and he is facing a nest of ATGs. This one becomes a game of positioning and maneuvering akin to those old days of PanzerBlitz.

The Russians set up with e SU-76s forward to interdict the Germans if they enter and try to blitz down the road and then spread out the ATGs and ATRs to set up traps where the panthers would get caught in a crossfire no matter what. The Russian set up knowing that some of the forward positions would be sacrificed but that the Germans would have to close to get all the steps needed for even a marginal.

The Brandenburgers in the north west part of Bd 18 and headed to the 0704 town and woods are to set up overwatch and force the Su-76s to fall back or die early. the Su-76s fall back knowing they are too expensive in the VCs. The Germans then cleared out the 18-1208 town while over-watching the 85mm ATG set up in 20-0810 which was a great position that dominated the whole board.

The Su-76s went to the field at 20-1105 and the Germans followed but lost a step from the 85mm ATG doing so. They caught two soviet platoons fleeing and now their count was up to 8 steps of Russians killed, minor victory in sight. if only they could catch a Su-76.

The Panthers converged on 20-1102 woods after trying to clear, unsuccessfully, a 45mm ATG from the back side of the swamp at 18-1013. A firefight ensued, and both sides took losses. The Germans got to 10 kills first and were about to withdraw for the Minor Victory when the Russian ATG fire got hot and rolled a 12 killing a whole platoon. The score was 10 kills for the Germans to 6 kills for the Commies; both sides at minor victory with one turn to go. It ended in a draw.

En este escenario seis pelotones de tanques alemanes Pz V ("Panther") se enfrentan completamente sólos a dos compañías de infantería de la Guardia más dos pelotones de artillería autopropulsada "Su76", seis baterías de artillería y antitanque y artillería fuera del tablero. La situación de los alemanes parece desesperada en principio, dada la total ausencia de unidades de apoyo, pero la extraodinaria calidad de los blindados alemanes consigue al final la victoria.

El fuerte blindaje de los "Panther" hace que la artillería soviética deba cruzar los fuegos para conseguir destruir al enemigo. Los soviéticos se valen hábilmente de los pelotones de infantería dotados de armas antitanque portátiles (ATR), para beneficiarse del fuego antitanque cruzado y así consiguen destruir cuatro "steps" de tanques. Sin embargo, los tanques alemanes responden aniquilando o desmoralizando los ATR soviéticos, a la vez que destruyen también las piezas antitanque enemigas cuando cambian de posición en sus transportes blindados (KMS) o bien a quemarropa en sus posiciones fijas. Al final casi todas las piezas antitanque o de artillería soviéticas son destruidas y a los soviéticos sólo les queda como último recurso el asalto con los pelotones de infantería y HMG. El problema es que los "Panther" son más rápidos y más letales.

Al cabo de 15 turnos los alemanes han destruido 12 "steps" enemigos (baterías AT y de artillería, infantería y un pelotón de los mal blindados "Su76") y han conseguido sacar 5 "steps" de "Panther" por el borde oriental del campo de batalla, con lo que consiguen una victoria "mayor". Los soviéticos se tienen que contentar con una victoria "menor", una derrota en definitiva.

Magnífico escenario.

Late in the war, German assets were thrown into the mix without regard to the experience of the commanders to work with the weapons provided. In this scenario we get to see the results. Two companies of panthers must take on a battalion of Soviet infantry heavily fortified with AT weaponry and assault guns. The goal of the Panthers is to cause losses to the Soviets and to run through them after causing the losses. Unfortunately for the Panthers the SS Corps commander, who had no experience in armored warfare, sent the Panthers ahead without artillery support or infantry protection.

The Soviets, who have read the rule book, set up several opportunities for crossfire situations. The Germans advance with an eye towards experiencing maybe one turn of crossfire and then getting on a flank of the Soviets, roll them up somewhat, get to the loss point and then run for the east edge with all speed.

The problem for the Panthers is that to cause the losses they want to cause (10 steps for a minor victory and 12 plus exiting for a major victory), they have to get close to the Soviets. This permits the Soviets to assault the Panthers which, in combination with dead eye shots by the 85mm AA battery was enough to leave several demoralized, reduced Panther platoons dotting the countryside. These were destroyed in detail over the final third of the scenario resulting in a major Soviet victory to compare against a minor German victory.

It wasn't always that way, however. The Germans entered the board and pushed to the south with the idea of surviving the first crossfire and then, being on the flank of the Soviets, destroy their positions at leisure. Unfortunately the crossfire was very effective, resulting in two step losses. In addition, the OBA was also effective resulting in several disruptions and demoralizations over the course of the scenario slowing the Germans and causing the number of Panthers which reached the river to be too small to accomplish the goal. Both sides hit their minor victory condition by turn 8 but then things went rapidly downhill for the Germans as their advance was strung out by the OBA, skewered by the AT fire and smashed by assaults.

The scenario itself plays very quickly given the small number of units available, especially for the Germans. Again, the play clearly indicates why tanks were not used without sufficient infantry and artillery support. With any significant artillery the AT guns of the Soviets would have been silenced and an infantry screen would have kept the Soviet infantry away from the tanks and permitted the assault to go forward.