0700

German SS forces flood against the 170th Tank Brigade in the north. (Want to avoid the Soviet Guard’s Su-100s in the south.

The German advance is not spotted except by some SMG platoons in the town in the far north east.

0715

In the South, the Guards mobilise as fire erupts to the north. The SMGs are overrun and an armour battle erupts between the 10 T-34c platoons and the Panzers. The T-34s are hit hard with 3 platoons being reduced. One advancing PzIVH is hit.

0730

Soviets win the initiative and a PzIVH is hit! Return fire decimates the T-34s with 3 platoons lost and others reduced. 2 platoons pull back.

The Guard Su-100s to the south (left) line up the disrupted and reduced PzIVH.

Soviet initiative reduced to zero. 5 German steps lost so far. I will keep track of German losses and tally Soviet losses at the end.

0745

PzIVH eludes the Su-100s which have a firing channel (south to north) in front of the main panzer line. T-34 wrecks clog up the roads in the town making it all but impassable to mechanised and motorised forces.

0800

Tigers and Panzers destroy the T-34s in the woods. The front German armour advances to the town and is hit close range, but their armour proves too tough for the Soviet 76.2mm guns.

German infantry advances and disembarks from their trucks. They come under Soviet artillery fire.

0815

Germans win initiative and T-34s in town are destroyed. Still worried about those Su-100s, German infantry crosses to the northwest town on foot.

0830 – 0845

Germans capture the northwest towns.

German armour advances into the Su-100 sights, but the Soviet armour misses! German infantry charges into the open to assault the tank destroyers but they are hit by Soviet artillery (6th German step casualty)

German armour in the east “stands watch” as the infantry pass through the north toward the east.

0900 onwards

Germans win initiative and the Su-100s are eliminated by the Tigers and PzVs.

Germans take another casualty at the hands of Soviet artillery. (7)

PzIVH chase the last T-34 which is fleeing into the woods in the northwest.

Guard infantry is too scared to charge across the open through the sights of the German armour standing watch. German infantry is about to exit to the east.

Soviets, having lost too much armour surrender and allow the Germans to pass.

Within the next 15 minutes, 15 German SS infantry platoons exit the area.

GERMAN VICTORY!!!

Aftermath

Soviet VPs: 8 town hexes (24), 1 GREN eliminated (4), HMG reduced (2), Two PzIVH reduced (8) = 38 VPs

German VPs: 15 INF exit (30), 4 SMG eliminated (8), 1 AT Gun destroyed (1), 11 and a half platoons of T-34c and Su-100 destroyed (46) = 85 VPs

Even if the Germans completely abandoned the north, the Soviets still wouldn’t have the VPs to win (the Germans would have also gotten a heap more exit VPs). Also, there were just too many tanks and artillery for the Guards to try to advance against the Germans on foot. The German armour also is more mobile.

Therefore the battle was ended.

Scenario Rating 3/5. This was a fun battle and not overly long, only taking about 2 hours. I preferred Scenario 3 (AAR coming soon) over this one though, which is the Viking Panzer Division advancing on Death’s Head right flank.

Played solo in two sessions.

Germans troops enter in the north taking advantage of the cover offered by the fields.

At 7:30, the tank battle starts badly for the Germans: one PzIVH step lost while the panzers move into position.

At 7:45, the Germans lose another another PzIVH step loss and all panzers miss!

At 8:00, the Germans win the initiative and inflict 5 T-34C step loss before the Soviets can react. The infantry also move into assault position.

At 8:15, the Germans win the initiative and inflict another 5 T-34C step loss to the Soviets. The Germans assault the town and disrupt the defenders.

Meanwhile, half the Russian Guard force rush across the board to take positions into the north eastern town in the hill between said town.

The Germans split their force into two, one half attacking the north eastern town, and the other half attacking the south western town.

It took another 4 hours before the Soviets surrendered but the issue was never in doubt; easy German victory.

Final tally

Soviets score 56 VPs: 2 town hexes under control (6), 5 PzIVH reduced (20), 2 SPW 251 destroyed (4), and 13 infantry steps eliminated (26).

Germans score 107 VPs: 23 tank steps eliminated (46), 3 guns destroyed (3), 30 infantry steps eliminated (30), 18 infantry and 6 tank steps exiting the map (30).

The score would have been much more one-sided had the Soviets not surrendered.

Conclusion

Fun scenario but I can't see the Soviets ever winning this one. Recommended for solo play only.

This was a massacre. Albeit a fun one. So many toys for the SS. You get 5 Panther platoons so I substituted 1 Pz42t and 1 VK3002 from the 2016 Groundhog Day Golden journal. So 3 standard Panthers and 2 what ifs. The Russians set up with an infantry group on one board and 10 platoons of RKKA T34’s on the other. I had 8 T34s in woods and town keeping close to the tank leaders. I set up the the Nazis almost all entering on the T34 board with a few platoons entering the other board to get in spotting position. I just sent the SS tanks in blazing by themselves against the T34s. Held all the infantry back as it was not needed. The Panthers and Tiger cleared the way and the Pz 4s followed up. The Russians were on the run by turn 3 and destroyed before they could get away by turn 5. The armor efficiency and thePanther toughness was overwhelming. The variants faired poorly as the autogun Pz42 ran out of ammo after turn 1 and was removed from play. The VK 3002 was disrupted and spent 7 or 8 turns trying to get back to normal.

Never had to bring the SS troops in to play as the tanks plus the few platoons of spotters were overwhelming. Really saw what strong armor in open spaces can do when massed properly. Declared victory by turn 10 and it was really over by turn 3