Soviets set up with one unit on each of the hill hexes and one platoon to the west of the hill. The Germans set up in an east-west line south of the hill with the 81mm mortars another hex farther back out of sight of the Soviets. On turn one the German infantry moved adjacent to the hill while the Soviet opportunity fire was ineffective. On turn two the Germans had the initiative and immediately assaulted one of the hill hexes, reducing and demoralizing it's Soviet occupant. The Soviets tried to move other units up for support, but the scenario special rule kept them where they were. The next turn saw the Germans take the assault hex but their stack of units was then hit with fire from adjacent hexes and many units were disrupted. Turn four saw the disrupted Germans recover and other Germans assault two other hexes. By the end of the fifth turn the Germans had captured three hexes, however some of their units were disrupted and would need time to recover. The two remaining good order Germans assaulted the final two hill hexes occupied by reduced units on turn 6. By turn 7 the Germans eliminated all Soviets on the hill and and won the game. All in all, a great little scenario that requires a great deal of aggression and luck for the German player to win. He has to assault because the hills and darkness make direct fire less effective. Also, if he gets held up much at all the seven turns will fly by and he won't have time to capture all the required hexes.

For a player like me who is trying to become familiar with the subtleties of PG and not too concerned about which side has the advantage, this is an excellent short (7 turns) scenario. There are only a few units. Infantry, HMGs and SMGs, some leaders, and for the Germans, mortars and an IG. The Soviets must defend Hill 747 and therefore do practically no maneuvering. The fighting takes place at night, which means the troops will be asked to "close with the enemy and destroy him."

The Germans deployed in a line, with their 81mm mortars and 75mm IG on the right, controlled by a sergeant. Their plan was to assault the hill with 2 infantry platoons, supported by 1 x HMG. One infantry platoon was held in reserve.

Their initial fire by the mortars and IG had no effect, but at 2200 hours the infantry platoons advanced anyway to the base of the hill. One was disrupted by Soviet opportunity fire. At 2215 one infantry platoon assaulted the Soviet HMG in hill hex 0713. The fighting was inconclusive. The Soviets reinforced the assault hex with 1 rifle platoon, costing the German platoon 1 step. In the assault hex, 2 Soviet platoons were disrupted. The reserve German platoon moved forward, preparing to reinforce the assault; Soviet opportunity fire from a HMG had no effect. A Soviet SMG platoon assaulted into hex 0713. Continued fighting in that hex left a Soviet HMG demoralized and a German infantry platoon disrupted.

The ongoing battle for hex 0713 occupied the remainder of the game. At 2245 the German sergeant left his mortars and led the German HMG toward the hill in an effort to provide better support. By 2300, when I ended the game, the 2 Soviet HMG platoons were demoralized and fleeing the battlefield, and the remaining Soviet forces were mostly disrupted. German morale, initiative and leadership won the day--the mortars and IG played no role at all.

I'm sure I got some rules wrong and made many tactical blunders, but one of the nice things about playing solitaire is that you can just push on and hopefully handle the situation correctly next time. This scenario is great for practicing assaults and exploring some of the more advanced concepts like night fighting. It is also an excellent demonstration of how initiative, morale and leadership make all the difference in small-unit combat.

The Soviets are badly outmatched in this one. The Germans have firepower and morale and start out very close to the Soviets, in the dark. On the other hand, as the statistics point out, this is a very competitive scenario as the turn length forces the Germans to be more aggressive than their force mix can clearly accomplish.

This is very short (7 turns) and very small in terms of units engaged and is well suited for a learning scenario to get a feel for morale differences, hill terrain and assault combat. It is not a sufficiently involved situation for those looking for a challenge but it is perfectly well suited for a teaching tool for new players.

I would suggest this for a ftf play or two. There's not a lot going on from a maneuver standpoint but there is plenty of variability in results. If there is a true beer and pretzels scenario in PG this might be it.

Well, you wouldn't expect this to be a Soviet victory, with the German possesing qualitatively superior troops and plenty of support weapons. However, the few advantages granted the Estonians by e hill position and the darkness were enogh to leave them occupying two hill hexes, just enough for the win. The German superiority in support weapons was largely negated by darkness, and the mortar battery seemed to have a terrible night, failing to inflict so much as a morale check in seven turns. Likewise, German assaukt bonuses for superior morale were matched by Soviet bonuses for the hill position. In the end, the Germans lost two of ier three rifle platoons and were out of the game by turn six. A very enjoyable re-introduction to a system I've been away from for a while, and definitely deserves more attention than it probably gets amongst the 112 scenarios in EFD.

This scenario is a very short game of few turns and few units set during the night.

** Battle Report**

Launching their attack from within 250 yards of the enemy occupied hill at 2200 hours, the German infantry platoons opened fire on the Estonian defenders supported by some 'infantry guns' too. This allprved very ineffective, firing in the dark and up hill as they were. Estonian return fire also proved just as futile. The German platoon commanders determined to on a daring flank assault.

The assault was designed to hit the weakly defended flanks and after braving the enemy's close defensive fire, the 464th infantry regiment got amongst the Estonians, lobbing grenades and firing close-in with their Schmeissers causing great panic in the defenders ranks. In the melee wrapped in darkness, Estonian casualties began to seriously mount up and before long, the Germans were controlling the hilltop and mopping up the last parts of Estonian resistance. The battle had lasted little more than 90 minutes (6 turns).

Casualties were as follows : 220 Estonian infantrymen wiped out in the surprise night attack against just 25 German infantry casualties.

NOTE: I use the notation [] to indicate a reduced strength unit.

Very short scenario (7 turns) set at night so not much time for prep fire. The Germans need to clear 5 hill hex of Soviet units. The Soviets start with 6 (2xINF, 1xHMG, 1xSMG and 1x[INF] and 1x[HMG]) units with 2 LT's and cannot start stacked. If fact they must roll a 5 or 6 to be able to move.

Germans started their forces (3xINF, 1xHMG, 2x81mm, 1x75mmIG with 2xLT and 1xSGT) two hexes from the hill (as close as they could) except the 2x81mm started further back.

I had the Germans try a fire group with the INF and HMG against the nearest Soviet unit (a [HMG]) and it did nothing.

Next turn the Germans moved up adjacent to the hill and Soviets. The Soviet moved a couple units to create a couple of stacks.

The next 5 turns consisted of German assaults to try to clear the hill. They only killed 3 Soviet steps but DEM all other units through the last turn. By this time only one Soviet unit was still on the hill (a DEM [HMG] with a 0-1 LT). All German units had activated already so it all came down to FOW and whether the DEM [HMG] could pass a morale check.

The Soviets had 3 demoralized units off the hill and activated each of them first to get to the FOW roll. The Germans had 4 activations to start the turn so all their units had already gone.

The FOW roll was a 12 so they had to try to recover the DEM [HMG]. Since this unit was in an assault a failed morale check would result in it having to leave the assault hex.

The dice were rolled and the result was a 2! The unit need a 5 or less to pass and rolled a freaking 2 for total recovery.

Looking back I made a mistake on the first turn by trying to fire on the Soviets with my INF instead of charging right up and getting the assaults started a turn earlier.

For about 45 minutes, Russian forces held firm, demoralizing one grenadier platoon upon approach. Turn 4 saw Germans finally attain a foothold in assault on the eastern slopes. Time ran out, however, before the Heer was able to consolidate their possession fully.

As a quick senario to play it might just be worth lookingat this one. But in my humble opinion this scenario is unbalanced and even worst boring. As the Soviet player you sit and watch the Germans march up to you set up a fire group cause disruption demoralisation or worse results they then close for the assault and wham bam its all over. Ive had more fun at the dentist.