An interesting scenario and one of the first I have played with the Airborne map used with other maps. They are not very compatible, with roads not matching and no SSR's on in the scenario, it makes it hard to play. But I just played it as is all the terrain existed. As for the battle it was interesting as the Soviets needed to maintain a set amount of troops across the river and the Germans need to prevent this and have clear lines of fire from the north to the south of the board. I had to read the VC's several times before I understood it.

As for the forces the Soviets have the edge, more troops, tanks and the setup. Morale was even and the "flip" of the leaders favored the Germans. The Germans will enter the board from the south on board 2. There is heavy snow which slows off road movement, so the Germans will advance up the road, even though the Soviets are heavily defending the town.

The advance starts with the German infantry moves on first to close on the board 2 town. Heavy Soviet OP fire disrupts some units but German leaders keep most in good order. German OBA tries for the units in the town but has no effect. Soviet BM-13's open on the German AT's and mortars disrupting some. The Germans continue to close on the town against heavy OP fire. The Germans weather the fire and next turn should be able to assault the town. But BM-13's come crashing in and demoralize the main assault force of INF and HMG's Germans counter with their OBA reducing a Soviet HMG. Other German units fan out from the road to try to the flanks of the town, but OP slows them down too. Soviet armor starts to maneuver out of town to attack the lone German tank before the reinforcements arrive. German AT's are in position to cover the flank but they are at long range and will not get an opportunity to close the range with the tanks on the move.

Next turn, has the Germans closing one the town and recovering the main assault force. The Soviets try to slow them but their fire is weak and the Germans are back into the battle. The T-34's move out from the town into the heavy snow and slowing work their way down to the Germans. Long range German AT fire misses and the lone German panzer (I know there are PZII's but they are not effective against tanks) maneuvers for a better spot. OBA and Soviet rockets miss their targets.

The German assaults begin with three separate assaults into the town. The first one score a demoralization on an HMG and INF, second get locked in combat with results and the third reduces a Soviet INF. Good start for the attacks. The Soviets look to reinforce the assaults with other INF's. German AT guns find its mark on a Soviet BM-10M but Soviet OBA demoralizes on AT gun.

The assaults continue with the Soviets coming out on the short end. Two hexes are cleared and the other is still locked in combat. The Soviets commit the T-34s to stopping the advance and they start to do it by reducing a German INF and demoralizing the rest of the stack. German OBA coming in and hits Soviet reinforcements to the assault hexes.

The mêlée stays general in the town for the next couple of turns. Several German INF's are disrupted and demoralized and will need to recover before they continue. The big change is the the T-34's cornering the lone German panzer and it is lost to AT fire. The German reinforcements appear and move up the road to take on the Soviets. But the Soviets are getting the edge in the town and the German infantry needs more an more recover rolls. By the end of the game the German has most of the town but the Soviets still have well over the required number of units and win the game.

A couple of items make this sub pair, the maps and the victory conditions. The Airborne map was not used and really doesn't match up well. The VC's are odd and need a lot of though to figure them out as the Soviets must be reduced below the required units fire and then the German needs to line up his troops, without losing too many units. To me this was just too many odd items in this scenario.

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Soviet Union
Play Date	2023-01-22
Language	English
Scenario	TaBa026

As has already been mentioned by others, board 13/201 doesnt gel well with the other geo maps. The size doesnt line up, the roads dont line up, and no one quite understands why there are hedgerows in Russia, but thats a minor concern. This entire scenario will take place on board 2 unless the Soviets put some throwaway troops on board 13/201. Thats not at all why this scenario gets a "1".

Scenario has a combined arms German force entering from the southern road on board 2 against a Soviet combined arms force that sets up anywhere east of the river (river on board 13/201). There sits the problem. Now, rule 16.53 (dust off those rule books) will let the Germans spread out their entry IF the Soviets set up on that single entry hex. So they don't. They set up 2 3xSMG stacks adjacent and flanking the entry hex, and 2 2xHMG+1 INF stacks adjacent and in front of the single entry hex. Then they run a circle of T-34s behind it for AT coverage.

Germans can only enter in this one hex, as their entry is not strictly blocked per 16.53. A very broad reading of that rule would still place them entering adjacent to the death stacks. So the Germans walk on the board, die, rinse and repeat. Thats it, thats the scenario. Gamey as ever, but I'm not going to purposely play "bad" for the sake of my logged plays.

Now obviously some balancing errata should have been included, such as the Soviets could only set up at the town hexes and back so the Germans can at least get on board. However, they will still get shot to bits, especially the SPWs against all those T34s.