Many Axis soldiers in Arbuzov arose on a bitterly cold Christmas Day to discover that they had been abandoned. The main force had apparently continued on their retreat without rounding up all the soldiers in the column from their scattered nighttime resting places. The abandoned soldiers, about 1500 in number, mostly Italians, believed they were doomed and decided to sell their lives dearly. Soon they heard the sounds of approaching Soviet troops. . .
Attacker: Russian (44th Rifle Division)
Defender: Italian / German (Remnants of Ravenna, Pasubio, and Torino Infantry Divisions and elements of German 298th Infantry Division)
4.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:11.0 D:9.5
AFVs: A:1
T-60 M42
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0 D:0
Misc Rules:
GS, 2 random building Blaze locations. WC for infantry on both sides.
Eric and I played at ASLOK 2024. I used the tank and a couple squads to attack from the north, my base of fire (the MMG and two squads) attacked by fire from the northeast, and the main effort attacked from the east, entering along the road in the center of the board. I used my HS to 'bump' into his dummies and discovered pickets at least a couple times. My northern and eastern pincers blasted the defenders, with attacking from both directions and aggressive actions all along the front enabling elimination of a few of his defenders through failure to rout.
My tank had a close call when I sent it ahead of the escorting Russian infantry but Eric's street fighting dice roll wasn't quite good enough. I managed to approach the remaining defenders in the western part of the village from all sides of the compass. Once they broke, it was over and Eric conceded.
Eric was a gentleman and a scholar, knowledgeable about the rules and gracious in play, win or lose, and I’d be happy to play with him again.
2024-03-30
(A) Louis Langdeau
vs
CR Holmes
Russian win
CR deployed a nice set of speed bumps, successfully bluffing a street fight with two dummy stacks in the center, and then stacking a large set of Italians on his right. I pushed in with the Russians, trying to use the T60 mostly as a VBM freeze against a kill stack of Germans. Italians put up some truly heroic results in defense, and I think the game was CRs since he still had two Italian squads on his back left that could run back to J and successfully hold me up from clearing the area. Unfortunately, CR made a bit of an error and decided to hop into combat with the two instead in the hopes of clearing out a small squad of mine. I managed to survive the round, and then in the next turn piled in to pick up the last few groups thru surrender and CC.
Really fun scenario, and a great pick for a quick game. The Axis need to hold on by their fingernails against a vastly superior Russian force, and the Russians need to MOVE to make it happen on time.
2024-03-25
(D) Mark Thompson
vs
Steve Lampon
Russian win
The Russian attack quickly attrited hobbled Axis forces, ably used T-60 to OVR/FTR, and secured victory on their Player Turn 5. Due to WARR tournament rules, Russians received balance (extending game one full turn to 5 1/2 turns). This IMHO makes the game (short of ridiculous DR/luck) unwinable for the Axis. Note too that this version (AP18) gives only the Germans Winter Camo whereas the updated version A275 in Hollow Legions gives it to both the Italians and Germans. Latter is probably the better and more interesting version to play, as this gives the Italian units more mobility/survivability and therefore a bit more options to what in essence is a sit there and take it game for the Axis.
2022-08-21
(D) Ken Rutkowski
vs
Bill Thomson
Russian win
2022-06-04
(D) Rich Weiley
vs
Steve Lessing
Italian / German win
Had the defending Axis in this one, after bidding for sides (missed out on getting the Soviets but exchanged the German 8-0 for a 8-1). Had some luck in this one. Sniper took out the Soviet 8-0 leader during the initial movement phase. I misplayed the German component by sticking around a turn too long to fire Prep fire on some squads sitting in the open which allowed them to be VBM freezed by the tank and swarmed in CC. However my now battle hardened 9-1 and squad managed to hold on for a couple of turns and taking advantage of sequential close combat, managed to eliminate 1.5 squads and the Soviet 9-1 before succumbing. With only one leader in play my opponent struggled to maintain the attack's momentum, particularly when a couple of his units got tied up in inconclusive melees. The surviving Italians and sole German halfsquad slowly retreated toward the board edge and I held on for the win.
