A most excellent scenario. I played this with Fog-of-War, Smoke, and Road to Berlin optional "Razvedka" rule. This scenario is one of the better designed ones in all of PG. It captured the desperate final days' battle of the Reich. The Soviets are coming like a steam roller and the Germans are desperately trying to cobble together a defense. I liked the low fuel rule for the Germans and the lowered morale of the German tankers; both aspects made the German commander think hard about what to do with the panzers.

The Germans defender the two Board 17 towns stoutly and but tanks forward, with the Panther in the center forward town. This forced the Soviets to deploy early and get the infantry moving on foot. They Soviets cam with a main attack moving on the east side of the Board 18 woods with the goal of clearing the first town while a supporting attack of a company of tanks and infantry went down the west side to fix the two Pz IV platoons anchoring the German left. The attack on the town immediately fell apart as the Panther clobbered tow Emcha (Sherman) platoons. The Soviet commander immediately reassessed his plan.

he chose to bypass the Germans in the town by going east around the southeast woods which was defended by a some infantry and a PZ IV platoon. The Soviets figured they would get bogged down in a tough fight for the towns and the Emchas were way outgunned.

Using cover of smoke and the fields the Soviets headed for the woods, dispatched the Pz IV and pushed the landsers into the woods. The Germans reinforced the woods and suddenly the Soviets were bogged in a fight in the woods. But the attack on the German left battered the Pz IVs defending there and broke through. Now the Jerries were threatened on both flanks. The Soviets disengaged from the fight in the woods and set up for a run off the map. Once the tanks that attacked in the west were poised to run off the board, the Soviets executed their ext. A Pz IV platoon and JagPz IV platoon were set to fire at any Emchas trying to ext. The remaining Soviet smoke concentration allowed the west tank company to exit and then the east flank moved. The German armor took a step of Shermans but the rest, along with some infantry got off the board for the Soviet win.

Plenty of tactical options for both sides and plenty of maneuver made for a great scenario.

J'ai fini Final Panzer battle, dernier scénario de Road to Berlin. Le 7 mai 45, les Soviétiques essaient de fermer en Moravie un corridor par lequel les Allemands évacuent vers l'ouest. Je suis arrivé à faire sortir par le bord sud 3 pelotons d'infanterie et demi et cinq et demi de chars M4A2, soit 29 pas. Il en faut trente pour une victoire soviétique mineure ! Bon scénario où les chars peuvent s'échapper en passant de zones couvertes en zones couvertes. Les rares PzV sont dévastateurs (tir AT de 8 contre blindage de 3).

This scenario I played when I was on the road work a couple of years ago. This one I found to be interesting as the German tanks can run out of fuel as well as the Soviets are using American lend lease tanks. The Soviets have the victory conditons control the roads and towns or exit units. I had opted for the control, a little harder as well as more action. The Germans setup is to control the roads and towns as this will need to controlled for denial of either conditions. The advance was quick, tank riding SMGs and INFs quickly moved to attack the infantry in the town. The German Panther ran out of gas on the first turn, so he was out. The other German tanks put up a fight knocking out several M4A2's but the Soviet numbers overwelmed the Germans. Even though the Soviet KOM decide to kill an demoralized HMG. The soviet Lt. Col. was ready to drop all the OBA on the KOM position. The Soviets took the last town and road hex on turn 22.

A force of Soviet RKKA, 17 infantry and SMG, plus mortars and machine guns, and 12 Lend-Lease Shermans are approaching from the north, attempting to exit the south edge or take control of the road and the two small towns on it. Opposing them are 12 grenadiers plus machine guns, along with 6 tanks, mostly Panzer IV's but with one Panzer V.

The Germans set up first, in woods and towns on the southern of two boards. Most of the infantry sets up in the southern town, and in the two large woods flanking it along with the tanks, hoping to set up a crossfire on the approaching Soviets. One smaller group, with tank support, sets up in the northern town. A second small group sets up in the woods to the west of the northern town.

The Soviets approach along the road, and then deploy just out of range of the German tanks. The Soviet commander impatiently sends his tanks forward to attack the German tanks in the northern town from both sides. Big mistake. The German tanks take out several Shermans as soon as they get in range. The Panzers survive the return fire on the next turn and wipe out several more Shermans. Belatedly, the Soviets bring up their infantry. They take several losses approaching the town, but take it after several assaults. The Germans lose a tank unit when it runs out of gas attempting to retreat. The Soviets have cleared the Germans' forward positions, but have taken three hours (of a six-hour scenario) to do it and have lost more than half of their tanks.

Not giving up yet, the Soviets re-form to the east of the road in fields, out of sight of the defenders. They hope to take out the German force (two infantry and two PzIVH) in the eastern woods, then use the woods as cover to approach the town and assault it for the win. They send forward infantry and tanks in a rush, losing some infantry and a few more tanks on the way in. Unfortunately for the Soviets, the Germans get two activations to start the next turn and light up the adjacent Shermans and infantry before they can assault.

After that, the scenario is basically over. The Soviets can't clear the woods, although they do manage to destroy one PzIVH and demoralize the other. They've taken too many infantry losses to defeat the remaining defenders. At the end of the scenario they are left with only one reduced Sherman.

This was a pretty good scenario, but I'm not sure about balance. It may favor the Germans, or it may just be me. I seem to be better on defense than attack, and made some errors with the Russians. I'll have to try it again and see if I can do better with them next time.