During the first weeks of Operation Barbarossa, the German 8th Army was moving across Latvia towards Leningrad. After crossing the Dvina, the movement of a division was being interfered with by a Russian artillery position near a village. Instead of a frontal assault, a company of about 100 men moved through the woods to attack the positions guarding the guns. The Russian garrison commander had ordered a withdrawal into positions guarding the guns and were awaiting the Germans. . . .
Peter is a veteran player and well out of my league, and the game played out as one would expect. Nevertheless, I did have a longshot (ok, VERY longshot) chance to pull out a win on the last turn. Alas, counting on several lucky DRs to bail one out is a poor substitute for sound tactics.
I find the balance statistics a little confusing. ROAR has it tilted in favor of the Germans. The Archive, admittedly with fewer postings, has it lopsided for the Russians.
Taking the required FH/entrenchments was easily accomplished very early. It was going up against those two artillery pieces at PBR that was more than I could pull off.
Still, it was a win for me. Peter was very patient, and I picked up a new tactic or two, not to mention some shortcuts for maneuvering the VASL mechanics.
The scenario is obviously an old classic that is uncomplicated and quick to play. Worth considering for those reasons alone.
2022-05-24
(A) Eric Partizan Eric
vs
German win
2021-12-30
(D) Jacob Elmqvist
vs
Ingemar Gardell
German win
2019-09-27
(D) davide galloni
vs
Raffaele Ianni
Russian win
2019-07-17
(D) David Garvin
vs
Jack Daniels
Russian win
2019-01-01
(D) Richard Jenulis
vs
Scott Romanowski
German win
ASLOK 1999
2018-02-12
(D) Jeff B
vs
Ed Donoghue
Russian win
3.75 hrs
This one seems a bit dicey as momentum shifted a few times during the game. I was quite proud of my two crews on the first turn when they both boldly abandoned their guns to ambush an infiltrating half squad in CC (and even created a leader). Germans brashly pushed forward, taking two trenches in the process. By Turn 3 they were looking unstoppable as they closed in on the weakly guarded guns (one of which was manned by a conscript that replaced a dead crew). They made the mistake of advancing too quickly though, leaving both trenches unprotected and vulnerable to recapture. But it never got to that point as their kill stack got broken to a man by a lowly conscript. They were subsequently all eliminated for FTR during the Russians MPh after the conscript crew blasted the German half squad that was shielding them. Two desperate moves during German Turn 5 were both shredded by the guns and, down to one GO leader, the game was over.
2017-09-22
(A) Dan Best
vs
Dave Mareske
Russian win
2017-09-22
(D) Dave Mareske
vs
Dan Best
Russian win
Germans failed lots of morale checks giving them no traction. Lost steam towards the end.
2016-08-13
(A) Jeff Waldon
vs
Paul Stuhlfaut
Russian win
CAWS-An early position advantage by the Germans was squandered by overly aggressive play.
2015-01-16
(A) Gabe Wert
vs
Jason Wert
Russian win
2015-01-16
(D) Jason Wert
vs
Gabe Wert
Russian win
2014-04-03
(D) Doug Fitch
vs
MIchael Barnard
Russian win
The real hero was the Russian sniper. Activated 5 out of 6 chances. Of those, 3 were the deadly sniper attacks, but one of the other two was turned from a mere wounding to an outright KIA by a bad wound severity dr. The sniper managed to take out the best two German leaders by mid-game, making it very difficult for the Germans to reach the guns.
2014-02-28
(A) Larry Rohlfing
vs
Jeff Buser
Russian win
2012-06-14
(A) Ian Willey
vs
Mac Robo
German win
Second time I played this, lost as the Germans last time, got the win convincingly as I took advantage of playing before. My opponent did not like this one though
2011-11-23
(A) Paolo Cariolato
vs
ecz
Russian win
This scenario is a waste of time. Simply awful. Skip it.
2010-07-24
(A) Ian Willey
vs
martin barker
Russian win
Martin as above set up poorly. Something he realised as soon as I started to move. I was disapointed he managed to get one of the squads out. Further agressive moves made it look like it would be over fairly quickly ashe had to give up the trenchs as I had moved around them in part. Then I started to second guess and a couple of good roles brought Martin back in. The sniper from hell finished the game but it did come down to the last turn. I have yet to find out if Martins as nice a losser as a winner!!! Good fun
2008-12-05
(D) Rami Saarinen
vs
KK
Russian win
Very odd match. My setup was abysmal but the dice was flaming hot. I couldn't get a feeling out of this scenario as the Germans were simply massacred on the first sight. My dice avg. was (I think) about 4.
2008-02-03
(D) Slyvanian Frog
vs
German
Russian win
Interesting; down to the last turn, Germans took each of the entrechments but could not take out the guns.
2005-10-01
(D) Alessandro Canevese
vs
Nicola Marangon
Russian win
2000-10-05
(A) Rich Weiley
vs
Geoff Morris
Draw
My one and only attempt at a PBEM game. Not completed.
