Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Soviet Union
Play Date	2023-02-03
Language	English
Scenario	TaBa036

This is a small scenario that has a very small and stretched German force surrounded by a larger Soviet force with flimsy morale. The Soviets have to take the entire town, and are facing a tight time constraint, but they have the firepower to get this done if things go well.

Soviets have to spread out at the start, and approach from at least 2 sides in order to fully stretch out the Germans, who wont have enough units to fully occupy the town. Seeing as they wont know from which direction the tanks will come, and having no transport for their guns, they set up their 37s in the center of the town so they can hit them whenever they breach the buildings. The rest are spread out along the edge of the town, but are anticipating some shuffling once they figure out just what is going on.

The Soviets set up their tanks in the fields north of town ready to move south and shoot up targets at a distance, advancing only once the Germans are either depleted or displaced away from them. The rest of the Soviet bodies set up in the woods south east of town, planning to advance through under cover. This is a tradeoff, as they will take up more time approaching from this direction, but with flimsy morale and German OBA this is a necessity.

Seeing the advancing Soviets, the Germans move most of their force towards the Southern edge, and the T-60s head south to close to 3 hexes and start shooting in. The Soviet infantry, after a few turns, reach the wood line and start exchanging fire with the town. They score some disruptions on their right, opening up a path to approach the town and start moving in from the east.

Soviets from the east are able to start pinning German units in assault, but not having enough punch to do anything other than tie them down. The Soviets bring up the HMGs and finally get into assault and start methodically taking the town. With enough Germans pinned, the T-60s close and start picking apart the rear guard, finally taking the north west of the town itself and exchanges fire with the 37s.

As the closing turns approach, the Germans are down to one hex with 1xINF and 1x HMG reduced, the Soviets strategically break their assault and DF pours in from every direction, demoralizing the stack. They swing in on the last turn to eject them from the town and take the whole thing.

Close fought Soviet win on the last turn. Despite appearances this one is a really fun one, with a lot of choices and very tough decisions for both players.

This small scenario, playable in less than three hours, has a Soviet force trying to recapture a German held town. The Soviets have nearly a 3-1 advantage in numbers and armour support. The Germans have better morale and in my game the mighty +2 leader. The Germans start in or near the town, the Russians at least 5 hexes away from said town. The Soviets went for a North/South attack which started well pushing the outlaying German picket forces back into the town. More German discomfort soon followed as an SOS barrage landed short causing friendly fire losses. (Trust this to happen in a solo game and not against Herr Hughes) However accurate rifle and MG fire and disrupted the Soviet southern thrust and the first large urban assault in the north had led to Soviet losses. This assault in fact would not be resolved the entire game with units disrupting and rallying but with no side gaining an advantage. The Soviet player seeing that his units lacked the close combat cutting edge tried to use point blank fire from his light tanks to soften up the German defenders prior to launching the final assault, this did cause some losses and the German lines contracted to just two stacks each end of the town. These though proved just too tough a nut to crack for the Red Army and by game end the Soviet commander had failed to take the town, as for the German VC they has lost too many units to claim a victory so a draw was the result. This game is almost perfect for a quick solo session and the result was in doubt until the last turn.