Author	J6A (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2020-12-30
Language	English
Scenario	FitS001

This was a great scenario to play to teach a new player the ropes, and to get more experience with VASSAL. My opponent was Terry Simo, it was his first play except for the games needed for VASSAL Academy. The game took us 8.5 months to play via PbEM, although there were a few lulls caused by me being a bum.

The Germans basically split their force into 2 groups, sending a smaller one north of the woods, and the cavalry and the main body through the woods, trying to push back the Russia front screen. My idea with the Russians was to just use those front troops to delay the Germans, and to get some troops onto the hill to make it a more defensible spot and guard the road. The Soviet reinforcements came in relatively early, and I quickly set about fortifying the town and sending a force into the woods just north and west of the town to cause casualties and to threaten to get behind the Germans. At least, this was the plan.

Things fell apart fairly quickly for the Russians. I had no leaders with morale modifiers, so I was stuck with the 7/6 morale. The front screen gave some resistance, however they were quickly overwhelmed. I got troops onto the hill and dug them in, only to see them all Demoralize at the first opportunity and run screaming for the east edge (never recovering until they were eventually hunted down by German cavalry). The force in the woods near the town did a little better, inflicting a few casualties, and even there they didn't last long until most of them fled to the town.

The Germans put the town under siege, pounding it with 48 point artillery shots each turn, and setting up 3 hexes away to be out of range of everything except the Soviet HMGs which were only firing on the 4 column, and slowly wearing down the defenders. Meanwhile, I could not seem to roll a recovery roll to save my life. I mean, in a town a full strength guy recovers on a 7 or less!

Finally, around turn 20, the Germans started to move into town. It was at this point the Soviets realized they hadn't taught there soldiers to aim well, as I was able to cause very little damage to the Germans storming the village. Intense fighting lasted up until the final turn of the scenario, with more Soviets dying each turn from either straight casualties, fleeing melees, or compound demoralization, and finally on the last turn the Germans eliminated the last Soviet resistance in the town (a reduced HMG) to claim the victory. The Germans lost about 6 steps, the Soviets 32 or so. The poor Soviet morale and lack of competent leadership hurt them immensely, which the Germans had good morale and good leadership. Pretty typical of 1941.

A good scenario, the Russian does have more options than just sitting waiting for the town assault, and it is likely that the battle will really come down to who takes the town. The Germans just outclass the Soviets too heavily in an open field battle. With no special rules, this was also a good intro to the game for Terry. And now we've started Scenario 2!