An entrenched Soviet hilltop, surrounded by a minefiled awaits an assault by a slightly larger, mixed German and Itlaian force. The Italians have slightly better morale but they are only in company strength. The Soviets have massed artillery being able to throw 42, 30, 30, 36 and 16 factor barrages each turn.

The goal of the Axis force is to gain a foothold on the hill. The Soviets, of course, want to keep them off. With only a 12 turn scenario there isn't time for the Axis to try turning movements, etc. This is a simple go at 'em scenario.

Of course, if your Germans end up hung up in the minefields, losing steps becoming demoralized and getting hammered with artillery, eventually losing 14 of the 16 steps that they started with you can imagine the results. This was a slaughter. I pushed the Axis much harder than I think they would have once they recognized the incredible amount of artillery fire available to the Soviets.

The Italians did much better, relatively, keeping 1/2 of their force alive but the Soviets didn't lose a step and only had a couple of entrenched units become demoralized but through solid recovery efforts they ended the scenario in good order. They hardly had the chance to shoot their weapons during the scenario.

Admittedly the Axis rolled terribly and the Soviets rolled marvelously to create this result. I would expect it to be closer in reality but the Soviet artillery is huge for this size of scenario. I give it a "3" because it shows how the Soviets could hold a position against a superior enemy something you don't see in EFDx or any of the earlier war scenarios.

This scenario is a Soviet artilleryman's dream come true.

A company of Italian Bersaglieri and two companies of (low morale) Heer infantry boot it across ~1200m of open terrain to assault a fortified (3 x entrenchments) hill almost entirely encircled by a row of mines. One insignificant change: as I could not find a Soviet tube with a 16 BF value, I "counted" the 2x16 Soviet OBA factors as 2x15 treating them as 107mm units. Even so, the Stalinists could throw:

10+20 = 30 attack

10+10+15 = 30 attack

10+10+15 = 30 attack

12+12 = 21 attack (the 120mm mortars)

8+16 = 16 attack (the 82mm mortars).

As the Axis side's OBA was spotted by Italian leaders only, initial Russian targeting was directed towards Italian leaders.

The Axis forces were simply slaughtered on approach and this despite taking the precaution of spreading out units one per hex. German leadership was good, but the 7/6 morale base was a liability. By Turn Four, three Axis steps had been lost; 7 units were demoralized; another was disrupted; and the Italian capitano demoralized. On the subsequent turn, the only Italian units that survived approach crossed a minefield; got stopped; then hit by a '2' on the 16-col from OF by a single Soviet INF. This was after the single favorable Axis event, which was demoralizing the RKKA HMG in the same entrenchment. On the German side, demoralizations and recovery failures had the Heer companies scattered and in shambles.

It was pretty much the French taunting Arthur and his Knights. How do you say "runaway" in Italian and German?

The Hitler Jugend might have survived this approach with their 9/8 morale, but this scenario reminded me a bit of a few plays from Winter Soldiers with the US having the VT proximity fuse OBA going.

I think only very prolonged "average" rolling by the Soviets (or having TheDoctor roll the Axis morale checks) would possibly allow the Axis even a foothold, much less an opportunity for victory here. So, meh.