First Crisis at Army Group North ETO (id:#56090)
Multi-Man Publishing (ASL 1 - Beyond Valor (3rd Edition) ID: 125)   [next]   [previous]
Prior Publication: AH: The General #19-5 SL T1, AH: The General #25.3 ASL M
See Also: First Crisis at Army Group North by Avalon Hill
Designer: Unknown
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
RussianGerman
38.095238095238%

Overview:

When Army Group North moved toward the River Daugava, the Russian command detailed the 3rd Mechanized Corps to stop them. Over 100 of the Soviet tanks were the new super-heavy KV models. The Germans had no guns which could penetrate these monsters. The 6th Panzer Division was cut off. The following day, the 1st Panzer Division was ordered to reinforce and relieve the 6th, while the Soviet force continued to force its advance. The two efforts immediately collided. . .
Attacker: Russian (2nd Tank Division)
Defender: German (Panzer Division 1)  
7 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:8.0 D:4.0
AFVs: A:7
T-26S M37 x 2
KV-1 M39 x 3
BT-7A x 2

AFVs: D:5
PzKpfw IIIH x 3
SPW 251/1 x 2
SdKfz 7

Guns: A:0 D:2
8.8cm FlaK 18
3.7cm PaK 35/36

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: No unit may use Road Bonus (B3.4) nor the half-MP road rate. D: PaK 35/36 enters Towed.
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
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Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2022-11-22(A) Martí Cabré vs Eoin Corrigan Russian winThe Germans rushed their tanks early trying to do as much damage as possible to the Russian tanks. A KV got its threads destroyed and a couple of smaller tanks were destroyed, at a cost of all German tanks. Then with the Russians I slowly moved north keeping the group together and finally made a rush exit will all of them to avoid giving too many shots to the 88. Even so he could IF one last time for a win so with the last tank I moved into the gully and reached the map board moving inside the gully, using the Russian infantry to keep the German AT guns at bay, for a Russian win.
2022-10-26(A) Craig Renier vs Jim Vasiliou German winThe Russians advanced slowly keeping AFVs and infantry together for support. The Germans gradually withdrew preventing any significant breakthrough. The Russians helped the defenders early when one AFV failed its mechanical reliability check and two more malf'd their MAs. One Russian MA was repaired, but another malf'd and the Germans immobilized another Russian AFV. On Turn 7, the German 37L was neutralized in CC offering a minor respite. But the 88 and last PzIII were covering the exit side. With only 4 AFVs remaining, one with a malf'd MA, the Russians made a valiant attempt to exit. The malf'd AFV moved to overrun the 88. The 88 wrecked the attacker but lost ROF. The last 3 Russian AFVs moved to exit. The Germans let the KY1 go, but struck as the T26s moved. With a single shot, one was wrecked and the Germans sealed a victory.
2022-09-09(A) Craig Renier vs Dave Mareske German win
2022-09-09(D) Dave Mareske vs Craig Renier German winWhile the German armor was not stellar, they managed to survive enough to keep the Russians from exiting. With two Malfed German tanks the Russians tried to make a quick exit, but the guns managed to get ROF and at least one CH. The German 88 was splitting open the KVs. This is a good maneuver scenario but I really think the Russians need to use all the time given to them.
2022-05-10(A) Mark Hatfield vs Solo German winRussian started out well. Lost the BT-5s (burning wrecks) and had one of the 3 KVs immobilized, but destroyed or recalled the entire Pz III platoon in exchange, over the first 2.5 turns. Which left the Germans with just a doorknocker (37L) and a 88 AA Gun. The doorknocker did nothing of course. The 88 knocked out both the remaining KVs (only 1 burned, but, sadly, no crew survived the other hit) as they made their bid to exit, and that was all she wrote. The 88 actually rolled boxcars on it's very first shot, to break it, during Defensive Fire, but was able to fix it immediately in the German RPh and then proceeded to destroy with rate everything it fired at, even when it had to turn (although it does have a turntable, so is a fast turret equivalent - although with the rolls it got it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway). The infantry for both sides was largely pointless, and unengaged for most of the scenario.

In hindsight, I believe the poor record for this scenario is largely because the Russian player is not patient enough. One resource the Russian has is time, and they need to use it. In this way, can they get all their tanks (including the radioless platoon-movement T-26s) into play in a meaningful way. The BT-5s are much faster than the other Russian tanks, but using this early is a fool's proposition (as I found out). They are the only Smoke platforms, and should be guarded carefully to be used as such during end-game. Their PRIMARY goal - smoke out the 88. That's pretty much it. Maybe Smoke out a Pz III if it helps. The Russians want to get setup to make a mass run, with all tanks they have left, to get off the enemy board-edge in 1 turn. This, along with the use of Smoke, and maybe sacrificial hindrances (burning tanks create smoke after all), and just plain trying to overwhelm the 88 with more tanks that it can shoot at, is the end-game goal, and what will carry the Russian through to victory.



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ActionDate
Hutch Modified the Defender's AFVs2025-06-25 11:17:48
Hutch Modified the unit counts2025-06-25 11:17:48
Hutch Modified the Defender's AFVs2025-06-25 11:17:14
Hutch Modified the unit counts2025-06-25 11:17:14
Hutch Modified the gps location2025-06-25 11:16:44
FileDescriptionUserViews
VASL Scenario Setup (ASL 125 First Crisis At Army Group North v667.vsav)VASL SetupTuruk376
KV-1 heavy tank (kv1.png)Imagehoxson11432
(raseinia battle.png)Imagehoxson11139
(!sov-germ.png)Imagehoxson11090
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KV-1 heavy tank
 
Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.44Votes: 32
Views: 13915
To-Play list count: 3
Estimated Play time: 5.5 hours
Recorded Games: 21
Archive recorded plays:
Russian8
German13
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