A very good scenario, definitely worth a replay. The Tiger II's move to the North, while a motorized column moved to the West. The end result was a complete destruction of ALL Soviet units on all boards but those on Board 24. The Soviet's played a good defense, and in the end it paid off with, the SS just making their way onto Board 24. Recommended to those looking for a decent sized scenario, but the time limit have the SS caught in a tricky position.

Russian set-up mostly prescribed, but choices as to whether to set up more numerous, but smaller road-blocks or fewer, but stronger ones. Board 21 set-up must protect the "airport" from any of the three (see below) possible German attack axes.

Germans have three attack routes: (1) N to board 17, then E through 17 to 21; (2) E through 19 and 18, then N to 21; or NE 19 to 21 directly. This latter is sluggish due to heavy snow.

The German attack was in hindsight too slow to develop and too methodical. Although essentially every unit of the 93rd Rifle division was eventually destroyed (save for a few that fled due to demoralization), the Germans simply ran out of turns and only barely reached board 21 by game end.

Russians benefited from: (1) A (very) lucky assault by a crazed LT and two RIF platoons against a pair of Tiger II platoons; said LT posthumously awarded Order of Lenin and (2) a sharp-eyed captain who, from a 40-m hex on Board 21, could follow and call in OBA on the German advance essentially all the way in from entry.

The step-loss count was fairly close (and high), though the Russians went from about a 1.5:1 deficit to almost 1:1 by the end, due to the German player having to race in some PzIVs and V's past the last gauntlet of JSII hoping to reach the airport.

I'm quite convinced now that had the German player in this scenario more experience, a replay of this scenario would find the Russians very hard pressed to hold the airport. Still, this was a fascinating scenario with dashes followed by town assaults. The Russian player gets to watch a vast number of brave, but doomed RIF platoons get crunched, but he trades blood for time/terrain.

I finished this one quite a while ago and hadn't written a report, so here goes. This scenario is by far the largest I have played, and it really brings out the fun in the system. Big-ass late war tanks going up against each other in the snow! The Tigers lumber onward, rotating overwatch duties to keep the JS tanks at bay in the forests. Huge infantry battles for the border towns. Ultimately, the Germans were slowed down enough that they couldn't quite get enough mass to bear on the airport at the end, where several large JS tanks were waiting for all comers. Overall, an excellent scenario.

Another big scenario for this one, and with snow and big slow tanks it was a bloodfest!

The Russians are forced to split their forces somewhat so it was mainly infantry and AT Rifles in the woods, but with Gun support as well. Around the airport were the excellent tanks with some infantry dug in. The Russian position was formidable indeed.

The Germans attacked from the South East and immediately hit the Russians in the villages. Again as in the last game this caused a bit of a bottleneck for a while. Both sides caused casualties at this point but by 9.00am the villages were cleared. At this point the German tanks were heading north on the road and not against too much opposition. It was soon found by the Germans that the trucks were useless and so foot transport was required.

Now both the infantry and tanks hit the main Russian line and mayhem ensued. Massive losses on both sides and the German attack really bogged down fairly early. Despite this a section of Tigers made it to the Airport only to be destroyed before support arrived.

All in all a excellent game. I like the shorter scenarios as you have a real sense of pressure when attacking and hope when defending, and especially with the Fog of War rules.

Now to a smaller one hopefully