| Date | Reporter | | Opponent | Result | Comments |
|---|
| 2020-10-28 | (A) X von Marwitz | vs | Lars-Peder Jensen | German (SS) win | I remember first playing this scenario as a playtest and already liked it back then. This time, I played the published version which was very similar to the playtest version, the sole difference being the Special Ammo Depletion Numbers being reduced for the Germans.
The scenario is set one day before the end of the war in Europe. A German SS-force, well supported by armor, including two American Sherman tanks (no Captured Use penalties apply) have to enter the playing area, push through a small defending Russian force, all the while being hotly pursued by a larger Russian force that enter on the same board edge as the Germans - but one turn later. This is a very original and exciting concept.
The Germans needs to plan a fast route to exit a very significant part of his forces. A hip Roadblock will likely block one of the paths. He will carefully have to consider with how many of his forces he will hold back and delay the chasing Russians. In the process, he will rarely have the chance to rally his troops that break, melting away from the number that he can exit.
I played the Germans in this one. I planned the entry of my forces to make best use of every MP (and yet I could have done it a bit better). Delaying the Russian on my heels on the eastern flank worked quite well. I also found the Roadblock a the spot where I had suspected it.
In dashing forward with utmost speed, I chanced my halftrack loaded with my 9-1 leader, a 548+LMG. Alas, it was destroyed by the Russian T-34/85 with everyone being killed. However, this opened the opportunity - still somewhat risky - to swarm his tank, which I could take out with his crew surviving. That Russian crew, though, absorbed incredible amounts of fire, inclusive of a CH by a Sherman gun until finally going down in turn 4.
Meanwhile the Russian tanks pushed hard from behind, partly loaded with riders. Altogether, though, my opponent was unlucky with his tanks. He overlooked that one stretch of woods could not be bypassed and thus detoured through the stream where the T-34 M43 bogged and mired and was thus effectively out of the game. He pushed hard - probably a bit too hard - with the two T-34/85 with riders across the bridge. At first, this seemed to pay off because I couldn't take neither of the tanks out with my Pz IV or with PFs, though some Riders bailed out to become Berserk, which was highly unpleasant. Luckily, during the AFPh, the Russian tanks 'only' managed to immobilize my Pz IV, the crew of which kept its nerve and remained in the tank. Yet it seemed that the hours of my Pz IV were numbered with a Berserker ADJACENT and in the beads of three Russian tanks, two of them at PB range. This is the time, when Intensive Fire is not an option, but a neccessity. I figured my best chances were not to fire at the acquired ADJACENT tank with the first shot, but rather at the unacquired one at 2 hexes range. If I could kill or even burn that one, it would create 'Russian Smoke' to protect me from the third one on the far side of the bridge. Luckily, indeed, this worked out, also killing that tank's Riders. The Intensive Fire shot then killed the ADJACENT tank and either that shot or a subsequent PF shot blazed it. With that, my Pz IV was 'saved' for the moment, because the chances of the third Russian tank of hitting it were now low - and it indeed did miss. Next turn, the Russian Berserkers charged into my immobilized tank's hex but luckily got blasted to bits by its gun firing into its own hex.
My Jagdpanzer was staring down the road towards the middle of the village and was (too) boldly confronted by the Russian T-34 M43 of the northern force. Amazingly, both vehicles must have traded about half a dozen shots at double point blank range, until finally the T-34 went down and my Jagdpanzer prevailed.
Thus, the Russian tank force was seriously weakened and allowed me to surge forward with more units and vehicles than would otherwise have been possible. The Shermans and my second Pz IV could keep the Russian infantry of the northern force in check while the Russian infantry only emerged from the eastern woods, when my infantry already had put some distance between them.
To make matters worse, the remaining Russian T-34 M43 with Riders bogged and mired on the western flank when attempting to circumvent its own Russian Roadblock.
In this situation, I had enough squad equivalents / vehicles to exit during German turn 5 - altogether 7. But none more could have come after those. So the Germans escaped the Russians to break through into the American sector and into American captivity when the war ended...
A blast of an exciting and hairraising scenario, which I can thoroughly recommend. |
| 2020-10-11 | (A) Andy Beaton | vs | Richard Hooks | German (SS) win | Sacrificed the Shermans to get through the defending tanks, sacrificed the PzIV's to hold back the reinforcements, sacrificed the halftrack to tie up the infantry, German infantry just ran through for the win. |
| 2019-05-17 | (D) Michael Rodgers | vs | Jim Runcimen | Russian win | The German failed to leave the rear guard close to the board edge, allowing the Russian to take shots at the running Germans. |
| 2017-03-10 | (D) Simon Staniforth | vs | | Russian win | |
| 2015-11-20 | (D) Michael Rodgers | vs | Andre Escobedo | German (SS) win | Andre Escobedo and I played FrF76 PAIN IN THE NECK; I had the Russians. This is a funky scenario where no side starts on board. Germans want to exit. Russian gets a small blocking force in front of the Germans and a larger chasing force behind them. Andre split the Germans. He sent some up the German left, and some up the centre. He also put two squads on the German right as blockers. He left the JgPz4 in the center to cover the main road that the Russian chasers would need to use. My initial small blocking force came in on the Russian right. On turn 2, I sent the T34/85 to the left in response to German movements. I brought my chasing force in on the German right to park a tank on the level 2 hill there. I did not realize, however, that the LOS is not 360 degrees; I would not do that again. I sent all the infantry that way to take out the German squad near there. Three tanks from the chasers took the road on the German left. One crossed the bridge to go after the JgPz4, but I forgot about the squad underneath it; I lost that tank to a PF. A second tank was immobilized near the bridge, where there was a third blocking squad that fired two PF duds at that tank. I had most of my tanks CE most of the time. A sniper small stun made my T34/85 fall to a PF. The other blocking T34 couldn't kill some adjacent German infantry and it also went down to a PF. After four turns, there was only one Russian squad left of the blocking force. I conceded. |
| 2015-02-21 | (A) Paolo Cariolato | vs | Chuck Hammond | German (SS) win | very close game, 5 and half german squad were exited, it all boiled down to one german squad AM in the open under the gun and MG of a T34/85 it passed the PIN check result for advancing out to victory. Atipical and Reccomanded scenario. |
| 2015-01-17 | (D) Jeff B | vs | Aaron Cleavin | German (SS) win | It doesn't seem the Russians have enough initial force to hold back the German mob, though a malf'd MA on one of the two tanks didn't help. A perfectly sized and positioned German rear guard severely limited the Russian reinforcements from helping the cause much. |
| 2015-01-16 | (A) Dan Best | vs | Paul Chamberland | Russian win | Winter Offensive ASL Tournament 2015. |
| 2015-01-01 | (D) Lionel Colin | vs | Hardrada | German (SS) win | PBEM game. |
| 2014-11-26 | (A) Paolo Cariolato | vs | fdpra | Russian win | |
| 2014-11-26 | (D) fabrizio da pra | vs | Paolo Cariolato | Russian win | |
| 2014-11-07 | (A) Kevin Killeen | vs | Ken Young | German (SS) win | VASL |
| 2014-10-07 | (A) Kevin Killeen | vs | Rob Banozic | Russian win | ASLOK. |
| 2014-10-07 | (A) Will Willow | vs | D. Wright | German (SS) win | ASLOK |
| 2014-05-15 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Daniel Takai | Russian win | The following is a review of a late playtest-version of this scenario. The only difference to the published scenario was that the printed depletion numbers of the German AFV were reduced by 3.
Review:
The scenario is good as it presents a very unusual situation by having the defending side enter after the attacking side AND to have most of the defending force actually chasing the attacking side. This is coupled with interesting terrain and a good mix of units. The atmosphere of the scenario is tense as the Russian blocking force sharply feels its inferiority to the oncoming Germans. The German knows that he HAS to be quick to overwhelm the blocking force before the chasing Russians can do serious damage – but they have to find the roadblock that will be hindering one of the quick routes into the village. The Germans have to carefully consider how many and which forces to assign to its “delaying force”. If it is too small, the Russians might crush it too quickly and catch up. If it is too large, it might have trouble to fall back in time and make the exit requirement difficult to archieve. The SSR granting one HS's worth of EVP per AFV nicely induces the historical situations of some AFVs being the rear-guard of the Germans.
German advantages:
The Germans have one free MPh to enter free of any thread whatsoever. They can move quickly taking full advantage of carrying Riders and being CE. While it is important for them to find the Roadblock quickly, it is quite likely that they can do so during turn 1 or at least rule out one of the prime spots for it which enables them to make a good guess for its whereabouts. Then the Germans have a full 2nd MPh in which they can take up position with their delaying force completely unhindered as the turn 1 Russians will not be able nor willing to move out of the village. The German “advance force” can still move about very quickly and can take advantage of the situation, that the Russian can hardly defend all approaches through the village effectively. This 2nd turn will set the German Schwerpunkt.
The German has two Shermans with sM8. In 1945 they are very strong with PFs and dangerous to unsupported Russian tanks – a likely situation as the Russian infantry will have trouble keeping up with the tanks. The TD is very tough to kill for the Russians frontally while very dangerous to any of the Russian tanks. The German ELR is 5.
German Disadvantages:
The exit VP requirement of 6 squad equivalents is tough. This is roughly half of their OoB. If they allow the Russian “chasing force” to overtake or tie them down, they are in trouble.
Russian Advantages:
The HIP roadblock is of some advantage because it forces the German to find it and to possibly redeploy and/or accept delay. The Russians have a quick and good tank force of Guards status with a good chance of special ammo (or that extra shot). The infantry of the Russian is of good quality.
Russian Disadvantages:
Despite having quick tanks and the theoretical possibility to use Riders to get someplace quickly, they won't be able to do so if the German defender knows what he is doing. While the German can speed around in complete safety at start, the Russian will be facing some Germans waiting for them. The Germans can either cause delay or victims by blocking the two quick routes on offer for the Russians. First option is along the 50U9/U5 road which can be well covered by a 5-4-8+LMG a tank with its MGs and the TD. The second option is 50GG7 that invites the Russian to force a Trailbreak. A force of two German HS and a full Squad and the PSK will make any attempt there dangerous and likely costly. Trying to get through the deep stream and emerging uphill is very slow going for infantry and puts the risk of bog-checks on the tanks. Movement through the woods and/or across the hills will take a lot of time, too. That said, the Russian will have a difficult time to catch up with the German infantry. Using Riders against opposition is hazardous, risking a MC on the vehicle, one bailing out and a third one when being attacked by the RFP of the original attack after having bailed out – not to mention, that any SW will be destroyed when bailing out... |
