A very nice small scenario that was played over several sessions with a new Skype opponent, Armyduck95. The scenario has a sizable Soviet force trying to drive though a German defensive line around Yelnia. The Soviets have two infantry battalions and a tank battalion with good mortar and artillery support that needs to push past the Germans and get off board. The German reinforced infantry battalion must try to stop them by killing more steps and holding ground. Morale is equal and the leader selection slightly favored the Germans. Armyduck95 had the Soviets while I had the Germans.

With the German setup, I decided to try to slow the Soviet advance rather than try to fight it out head on with the Soviets. A series of roadblocks were setup on the north-south road to attempt to slow the attack. Flank protection was setup with a company in the town on board 1, reinforced with an hidden AT gun and a company to the right is the woods on board 5 with hidden AT gun support in the fields behind them. Mortars setup in the town to command the northern part of the road and the Major with in 75mm IG setup on the small hill on board 5.

The Soviets started across the whole northern board edge. The main force of the infantry battalions move down the north-south road with the tanks advancing into the fields to the German left and their mortar support advancing to the German right. A forward German leader tries to fire on the advancing Soviets, but the Soviets draw first blood with a mortar attack on the leading roadblock. The Soviets slowly build a juggernaut of infantry the slog their way down the road eventually making contract with the first roadblock.

German OP fire comes into action and is able to take out four Soviet INF steps. But the large Soviet juggernaut threatens to overrun the German roadblock and the German slowly start to pull back. Soviet OBA and OP fire kills two step of German infantry in the move, but one more Soviet INF step is lost. Slowly moving back the Soviets are forced to slow down and fight.

The Soviets close on the Germans and are able to get some key assaults going and get five German steps in the assaults without a loss. This gets rid of the second German roadblock and the remnants of the Germans fall back to the third roadblock. Meanwhile the Soviet tanks have shifted from the German left to the right and prepare to attack the German right flank defense in the small wood on board 5. In a combine INF and tank attack they get lock into assault with the Germans. The German AT gun in the fields is able to take out one step of BT-7s supporting the attack, before it is disrupted.

Back to the juggernaut force moving down the road, the Soviets start taking quite a few disruption and demoralization losses. This slows them down a bit as they need to recover as well as the German left flank defends moving in behind the Soviet force to hit the straggles as well as strike the rear of the large force. German OP fires start to take a toll again as the Soviets advance on the third roadblock. Five Soviet INF steps are lost in the advance, but it still keeps on going. The close near enough to assault but take heavy fire as they attempt to destroy the Germans. Pulling back again a fourth road block is setup and the German continue to slow the advance. But the Soviet eventually get the Germans in assaults, but time is running out and they need to get troops off the board.

To the German left, the Soviet tanks move around the Germans trying up their infantry in the woods. A close assault on the lone AT gun clears the way for the tanks and mortars loaded on the trucks. In the center the Soviet infantry still needs to overcome the last German roadblock, which they do through a hail of German fire. They eventually get 18 steps off the board giving them a minor victory.

It was a very good game, as it came right down to the last turn for the Soviets to get the troops off the board. German fire was accurate, but there was just too many troops for the Germans to stop.

Soviet Minor Victory.

Overall this is a very well balanced scenario that poses multiple dilemmas for each side. Each side has multiple courses of action. Victory conditions are based on step loses, controlling the town, the Soviet player getting steps exiting the south, and the German player preventing more than 15 Soviet steps from exiting (tanks counting double).

I played campsawyer over Skype. House rules used for balance: AT Guns are hidden until spotted to prevent "perfect" Soviet knowledge at start and prevent massed arty and tank avoidance.

Scenario Consideration:

Soviets - The Soviets can get 15 VPs for occupying the town on board 1. However, if the Germans defend with at least a company, they can sufficiently deny Soviet control of all 5 hexes, tie down 3 x worth the Soviet force and make him split his efforts to have insufficient force to attempt a penetration. So - at best- the Soviets could get 15 pts for the town, but fail to get 15 steps off board and end with a net result of 0 PTs - leaving it to pure step VPs. When you do the math, it adds up better to give the Germans the 10 points he gets for the town, deny him the 15 he gets for preventing penetration. In that case the Soviets end up with +5 pts, plus points for every step exited, this puts victory in favor of the USSR and masses his forces 3+:1 vs. dug in Jerrys. The math comes down to how fast can you move your slowest units - namely HMGs and in this case it ties them to the roads. Additionally, an interesting special rule is that the Soviets lose initiative for EVERY leader casualty - so that makes leaders very attractive targets to the Germans more than usual and are a potential center of gravity for defeating the Soviets.

Germans - Ultimately, the German has to decide if he is to spread his meager force and try to defend everywhere and disrupt a Soviet penetration sufficiently or to give up the town and mass his defense to try and block a penetration. He has to put some force in the town, or else he surrenders VPs to an unopposed Soviet sweep. But he cannot put too much in the town and risk it getting bypassed. He has to place the AT guns where they can best range most of the board and lure the Soviet tanks into engagement areas.

Set-up/Plan:

GERMANS: The Germans revealed their set-up as a standard disruption pattern. I assessed he would try to defend the town, and disrupt my movement down the road sufficiently to try and conduct an AT ambush and delay me from exiting forces. - He place a singular leader in the large woods on board 1 to serve as a forward observer and prevent any strategic movement. -He placed a reinforced Infantry company (3 x INF, 1 x HMG) in the town, plus a mortar battery in 0302 (3 x 81mm). -An dug-in HMG company (2 x HMGs, 1 x INF) just north of the intersection marked his initial disruption zone - An Infantry Company (3 x INF) in the woods on board 5 anchored his right flank - An Infantry company (-) (1x INF) and 75mm Infantry Gun wer set up on the hill anchoring his left flank with 2 x INF PLTs dug in the vicinity of 0709 as a blocking force. - I assumed his AT Guns would be in hex 0707 (I was right) and 0811 (I was wrong - it was in the town)

SOVIETS - I decided I would go all in on the penetration. My plan was to use the Infantry Regiment to attack along the road in the center. The road would anchor the HMGs to allow them to move in a bounding manner down the road at movement "3" I would try to maintain a solid chain of command to allow single activation to mass movement and never keep forces from moving due to Fog of War. The LT COL was centered in the regimental column with Infantry advancing in adjacent columns by bounding platoon on the east side of the road in order to avoid direct fire from the town would try and stay out of mortar range as long as possible. I would use the large woods as a rally point for fleeing infantry and a base of fire for my mortars, 120mm mortar. mY BT-7 BN and SMGs were my Reserve. They were to advance into the field near the town to demonstrate near it and fix German forces there until I could quickly move tot he east side of the road to get off board. I intended to never use them in the combat but instead use them to penetrate off board and get the most VPs I could for them... but I changed that to my detriment.

Execution: To Be Written

Assessment/Techniques, Tactics, Procedure Recommendations:

GERMANS:

1. SUSTAIN Overall, I thought the German disruption set-up was valid. IMPROVE -However, I feel he left his dug-in positions too hastily and allowed me to maintain momentum to get to a point where I could get off the board quickly. Recommendation - when dug in with higher quality leaders and fire power but facing an enemy who is faster outnumbers and your mission is to delay... fight to die in place.

2. SUSTAIN - some forces in the town. IMPROVE - I think he put too much force in the town and risked too much with me bypassing him I agree with 3 x INF Platoon, but I think that would have been sufficient. His placement of 3x 81 mm mortars allowed me to skirt around his range fan a lot and prevented the mortars from disrupting my forces attempting to exit in the final turns. RECOMMENDATION - the 81mm might be better served on board 5 either behind the hill or in the fields- like hex 1106, where they could have supported a more integrated defensive line and jumped into melee as a last ditch effort to delay my final penetration attempts- which were through those fields. His HMG in the town gave him a mobile reserve to attack my rear and it racked up some good step losses, however, it was never effective in preventing my penetration of his lines - where I was gaining the most points. Recommendation - add that HMG to the integrated defensive line somewhere around hex 0812 thru 0908 to increase the strength of the kill zone. The AT Gun in the town was a waste, and I think even if I attacked with the SMGs and tanks into the town, it was too much of a risk for him to place it there gambling I would do that. The gun played no role. Only getting off a single shot. Recommendation - use the AT Guns in an integrated fashion dug in somewhere in 0612, 0812, 0707 area.

3. SUSTAIN - the lone leader forward observer. You have the leaders to use, and this guy was a hassle and effective for a low cost.

4. SUSTAIN - some forces in the woods on board 5. Again, some force structure here can harrass or disrupt the Soviet flanks, or even better, suck him into a fight. I ended up doing in the woods what I wanted to avoid in the town, over committing forces better used for the penetration. In the end, I thought the Germans 3 x INF in the woods would be easy picking for the time I had remaining. In the end, at the cost of his 6 steps, he prevented me from moving about 14+ steps off board.

SOVIETS

1. SUSTAIN - GO BOLDLY for the penetration. Going all in to penetrate focused my effort and forces to mass against the Germans.

2. IMPROVE - BYPASS difficult terrain. Time is not on the Soviet Side, especially with a few successful Fog of War rolls. I successfully stuck to my plan to bypass the town, and hill, and use field only when necessary for concealment... but I got greedy to cause enemy casualties when I didn't need to, and ended up getting a good sized component of combat power fixed on the wrong objective.

3. SUSTAIN - the "Juggernaut" Regiment in 3xcolumn formation with bounding platoons and chain of command, tied to the road so that HMGs could sustain the rate of march was essential to maintaining tempo. Though the HMGs never made it off board, they were able to lay down sufficient firepower to enable 4 INF Platoons to bypass the final defensive positions and move off board. The Juggernaut began to breakdown by the end but successfully got 1 x INF Company off board.

4. SUSTAIN - drop the 45mm AT gun and 120mm mortars off early and use the truck to move infantry or 81mm mortars. It is a better use of the transports to move more flexible forces and get them off board.

5. SUSTAIN - use infantry to try and spot the AT Guns and do not commit the tanks until you know where the AT guns are and can suppress them. The tanks are so fast and valuable for VPs and carrying SMG PLTs, time is on their side

MVP: I vote the German 10-2-1 LT and his HMG PLT as the German MVP. These guys started the game in forward positions and were generally overrun by a Soviet Infantry Regiment. They successfully withdrew from close combat and turned the tables on their attackers. In the end, I think these guys totaled about 6 Soviet steps, and ended the game in good order and positioned to continue to do some damage.

MVP Soviets: I think have to go with my 9-0-1 LT who was able to lead 3 INF PLTs across the board, successfully assault and destroy one of the AT Guns making it possible for me to exit my tanks and trucks that got off the board and then the LT and INF PLTs made it off the board. My runners up were my LT COL and the CPT that kept getting targeted but surviving long enough to keep the regiment moving to the objective.

German Casualties: TBD

Soviet Casualties: TBD

This scenario is number 6 of the second part of the newer version of Workers and Peasants but appears to be the same scenario as 13 in the older edition so I am reporting against that. The scenaro has a German battalion spread out trying to stop roughly a regiment of Russian infantry with a BT-7 company, a heavy mortar and a 45mm AT gun. The Germans get points for causing casualties, for limiting the number of Russians getting off the board to 15 or less, and for holding town hexes. The Russians have points for exiting troops off the board, for each town hex they can take, and for German casualties. This takes place accross the width of 1 board and depth of 2 boards, so the Germans really can't form much of a line, depending instead on a series of outposts and building up as strong as possible in the town and making it as costly as possible for the Russians to take. My attack with the Russians started out well, but the German 37mm AT guns reached out and killed BT-7s, first on the German left flank, nailing the BT-7 with the tank leader and polishing it off just in time before a Russian OBA bombardment destroyed it. The second 37mm AT was in the edge of the town making it a lot tougher, and it succeeded in taking out the second tank leader at long range (randomly selecting targets on the first shot but then continuing to fire at the aquired unit). The remaining BTs managed to slip out of range of the remaining 37mm and kept out of AT range of the 75mm Infantry gun, which was defending the southern edge of the town, and managed to make it off the board with 5 steps. The Russians sent the SMG elements with good leaders to attack the town supported by Russian OBA and the 3 82mm mortars, but were decimated by adjacent hex fire before they could assault, losing both a captain and lieutenant along with 5 of the 6 platoons. The main Russian column had already committed to trying for an exit victory, and managed with several losses each turn while Russian OBA and Mortars tried to destroy or demoralize the German outposts. Russians avoided assaults except for the northernmost outpost, which had tied down a much larger force of Russians than it was really worth, so the stream of Russians just kept their heads down and headed south. In the end, the Russians got 21 steps off the board, exceeding the limit for the Germans to make points on, but the Germans had eliminated 30 steps, including leaders as listed in the casualty information of the scenario, while only losing 9 steps of thier own force. The German Major was among the casualties, having left the safety of the town to try to chase down Russians and finding himself with 2 platoons in range and sight of the Russian mortars, who managed a spectacular roll of 12 for a 2X followed by a leader loss roll of 2. In the end, exit points couldnt keep up with casualty points, and the Germans win the scenario, 52 points to 30. Great game.