Okay, every now and then the random event will result in some odd situations. In this one the Soviets threw themselves into the central fields of the battle, the Germans set up a large tank trap and both sides began bleeding. Due to the impetuous attack the Germans had reached their victory level by turn 7 when the random event removed the Soviet's geographic objective. "No, not that town, this one!!!!". Learned some lessons, however, about the fragility of the Soviet leadership in the early war. One Soviet leader routed away and an entire wing of the formation was stuck without the ability to move. A similar thing almost happened with the tank leaders as well. The scenario is better than this play permitted given the random event. I will probably come back to it if I live long enough. I only have another 1,280 to play before I have to repeat... As a result of the potential I give it a four.

This one was kind of quirky with the German deployment as no more than one combat unit and/or truck could be set-up in any road hex. This had German units spread out quite a distance and initial activations would be spent consolidating foot units together while the Soviets entered from the north and quickly took up positions in the the western town and eastern hills with a mass of T-26s rolling on towards the central field hexes. The German victory conditions seemed very easy to obtain with having to eliminate 12 Soviet steps in the course of 40 turns; the T-26s were not going to be able to outmanuever or hold out for too long up against the panzers and would easily fill that requirement, so right away I didn't put much faith in a Soviet victory. In fact I thought that this was going to be a very one-sided affair after the first few turns and didn't think much of this scenario to begin with. However, all the Soviets had to do was keep one unit remaining on a road hex (in any state of morale) or have a road hex in DF range by the end of the battle to pull out a least a draw.

Predictably the panzers were able to eventually eliminate all of the T-26s and German victory conditions were met by 08:00/turn 7, but 3 steps of PzIIIFs were lost in the process. Then, soon enough, the remaining Soviet foot units in the central portion of the map were all hunted down after being chased through the fields and wiped out. This left the two flanks for the Germans to deal with and they would not yield as easily. Resistance was tough in both of these areas as the Soviets managed to draw two very capable leaders out of the modest three alotted; one Major had a 9-1-1 rating and they recieved a 10-0-1 Lieutenant. Also, Soviet morale at 7/7, made reduced units just as hard to contend with as full strength ones. The Germans had to divide their strength up as there were two seperate battles taking place and be able to quickly redeploy units from one area to another as needed. Of course the road and the overabundance of trucks would help with that.

Eventually the Germans would be able to infiltrate the town and drive most of those forces back away from occupying or threatening road hexes there. On the eastern end of the map however resistance was a little more fierce with units dug-in within the hills there. The Germans mounting the attack there were constantly having to rally and soon had to be reinforced piecemeal from the western assault group. This made the overall attack quite a balancing act and as time ticked away things became more and more frustrating for the Germans as neither flank was entirely secured. Then, during the last two turns, Soviet foot units were able to breakout and scatter, making a mad dash for the road. The units breaking out of the town were eliminated along with the Soviet Major. On the other end, the units charging out from the hills made it and at the conclusion of turn 40 two Soviet SMG units occupied the road turning out a draw at the last moment. This scenario actually sat on the table for five days and to begin with didn't think much of it but for me it gradually gained momentum. It seemed to favor the Germans but in this case by forcing the Germans to attack on both the extreme ends of the map and dividing their forces up denied them their victory. I can't say that this would make for the best, balanced, shared match but as a solo play it gets a high mark from me as it was a nice tactical challenge. Also that as turns progressed so did my enthusiasm. To begin with I was ready to write it off as a "2" but midway play increased to a "3" and ended with a "4". A lot of patience is required on the German player's end and a lot of nerves on the Soviet. Also believe this one has a decent replay value, at least solo, as there are many variables as to the attacking and defending approaches.

Was the town Rovno? Probably not. Rovno had a population of over 200,000.

The strategy of the Soviets was to take the town as quickly as a and cause the Germans to retake the town. This move would be necessary because the scenario hinged o nn control of the town. Or did it? I was confused about victory conditions. Does road control only mean the east-west road? Or does it mean the much more daunting task of total road control. A bit of research shows that Rovno was captured on 6/28/41 indicating the area was under German control three days to the west of Rovno and the Soviet counterattack.

The counterattack was bloody for the Soviets shmm

it accomplished its purpose.It threw the Germans into disarray enough for them to call their attack off and withdraw from the town by turn 11.

O8

This is one of the few PG scenarios that I have felt is poorly designed. The scenario is too long and there is no mechanism to prevent the Soviets from winning by just waiting until 4 turns before the end before advancing within range of the road. The Germans could try preemptively attacking them but this throws away their mobility advantage on the defense, and they don't have the superiority necessary to finish the job.

It could be improved a lot by making it a 12-16 turn game, forcing the Germans to knock the Soviets out and forcing the Soviets to commit to an advance.

Author	t1M0t8yk
Method	Solo
Victor	Soviet Union
Play Date	2023-01-28
Language	English
Scenario	EFDx021

As indicated by others, this is not a well-designed scenario.

I followed the guidance of another and waited with the Reds offboard until the last four turns. So I had the Germans spread out evenly across the map north of the road and dug them in. The Soviets entered AFVs only on the German's right flank. Germans away from the action were tied down by the potential rush of the Red Army infantry. The Soviet AFVs took a handful of step losses, but even counting double, well short of the German victory condition. So it was an easy Soviet win.

I could replay the scenario using rules_heretics's recommendation to reduce the map by one board, but the scenario doesn't interest me enough to do that right now.