Finished a game on Skype with Rich Valle. Very good play and good to clear up any ambiguities I had previously. It’s a small board and few units, but we managed to get a old furball going at the west edge of the map. His T-34s tore up my MkIIIs and Mk IVs pretty good as expected. I managed to pull my infantry to a good defensive position and counterattacked in the woods twice. The first one went well, the second had minmal results but allowed me to keep enough astride the road for a win. Great game and very fun with an opponent.

Setup: Both sides enter the map.

Play: The Germans and Soviets rush towards each other, the German tanks sticking to the roads due to snow while the Soviets attempt to move off road to out flank the road bound Germans. The tanks decide to race ahead of their respective infantry forces, and a duel begins in the center of the map.

The Germans gain a quick upper hand by destroying the reduced T-34 with a lucky shot at over a kilometer, and proceed to direct their fire against the lightest tank, the BT-7. The Soviets manage to damage a PzIII, but two turns later, after several ineffective shots, the Germans manage to take out the other T-34, who fails his morale and retreat. The remaining BT-7 is no match for the Germans.

But the Soviet infantry begin to engage the German armor, but the German infantry arrive to block the attack, and the combined arms fire whittles the Soviets away, and the Germans thus chas them towards the eastern edge of the map.

Result: German Victory.

In the snows of November, a Soviet tank brigade charges into elements of a German panzer division, attempting to halt their advance. Each side enters the board in this meeting engagement scenario.

The Germans sent their PZ-IVE and one PZ-IIIF straight down the road before veering into the fringe of the woods, while sending the rest of the tanks on a flank move around the north end of the woods, and sent their infantry into the woods (where it could avoid the Russian tanks and get closer to the road without being exposed.) The Soviets countered by mirroring the German approach, sending the T-34's up the middle (and then into the woods, within sighting range of the German tanks) while positioning the BT-7's as a guard against the flank move, and sending the infantry likewise into the woods.

The contest evolved into several isolated encounters. The infantry clashed in the midst of the woods in a series of assaults and counter-assaults. The T-34's got the better of the two panzer platoons facing them, and (while losing a step) the BT-7's, surprisingly, beat up the other German tanks. After disposing of the tanks facing them, the T-34's moved west and helped the BT-7's finish off the last of the PZ-III's, then returned to the road to guard against any infantry threat. One reduced BT-7 was jumped (in a woods assault) by German refugees from the infantry struggle, and though eventually joined by the other reduced BT-7, the assault ground on until late, when the Germans were set in flight while one of the BT-7's was destroyed.

Late in the game, two German INF platoons and the major broke out of the assaults and made a break for the road. They were blocked by the T-34's, who entered into an assault in the woods despite the lack of infantry support (and lost a step as a result.) Joined in the final turn by a reduced SMG unit, the tanks managed to keep the German infantry from the road.

The Germans suffered heavily: All 8 tank steps plus 2 infantry steps. The Soviets took punishment in return: 3 BT-7, 1 T-34, 3 SMG and 1 INF steps. But they kept the road clear, and thus secured the victory.

This is a small but potentially interesting scenario which pits roughly equal forces (1 tank and 1 infantry coy each) against each other for control of the road on board 6.

The initial phase of the engagement consisted of an armour skirmish which the Germans came out of better off. While this was taking place, the Soviet infantry occupied the southern woods, while thier German counterparts took those to the south. This was a mistake for both side - the open ground and reduced MA due to snow meant any unit trying to cross was heavily shot up. Meanwhile, the surviving Soviet tanks also withdrew to the woods, where they holed up.

The battle was now the Germans to lose, but they decided to secure the result by launching thier armour into the south woods and destroying the surviving Soviet tanks. This being done, the Soviet infantry were bottled up in the south woods and the game was called at turn 16 of 18.

While both sides had exceeded thier kill objectives, the Germans occupied a road hex, so claimed the victory.

Scenario #81, Tankers of Volokolamsk, ended with a German victory, as the Soviet couldn't clear the road and took a beating trying to do so.