Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Hi Ya-
Played this one twice with my buddy Randy over the weekend and well, things do not look good for the Germans in both of our playings. The scenario takes place in the closing days of 1945 with the Germans trying to breakout of a possible Russian encirclement to the west. The Germans on paper have a fairly nice force with 2 panthers, jgpz, 2 Pz IV's, Stug, flak Pz and a puma. Backing this force up is a ragtag lot of squads which includes 2 SS squads, 3 548's, 3 467's, 4 447's WW and 3 436's. A few SW and a handful of leaders round out this force. The set up for the Germans are very restrictive, one group sets up on board 42 and a 2nd group sets up on board 67 and everybody is a rider or passenger, no exceptions. So expect lot of bailing out action when the game commences.
The Russians for their part get a M3A1 scout car, a BA-6 AC, 4 458's, a Baz 44, LMG and a 9-1 leader which set up on board 59 as a weak blocking force. Coming on map from two directions are 4 T34/85's, 2 SU 85's and tw SU 100's with a 9-2 armor leader. Along with the oncoming armor, the Russians get 8 squads a couple of SW and leaders to round out the Russian attacking force. So basically the Russians are entering units in the German back field, on their flank with an onboard blocking unit already in place.
Dont forget to take the 50cal off the M3A1, that is a nice HT killing weapon. Keep the crew inside the M3A1 to drive on to the board 59 bridge to partially cause any German thinking about going that way a bit of a problem.
The Germans to win must exit 45 VP's off board 59, at first glance it looks doable but once you sit down and read the SSR's, it might be rougher on the Germans then it looks. The Russians have MOL for their 458 squads, the Russians on turn 4 receive either 2 FB's (no bombs) or two 120 harrassing fire missions, this can and I think will end the game no matter what is happening but in both of our games, we never reached that point since the Germans took too many losses to continue the battle. With around 97 VP's in vehicles, the Germans can not lose 40 points. This might not seem like much, but if that Russian player is getting his APCR and scoring hits on the weaker armor, then the Germans will be in trouble.
Also, it should be noted that in the SSR, road movement bonus is NA plus the Germans have to pay an extra +2 per a road hexside, so no zooming around here. Board 67 is no cake walk either to move around on either, lots of woods, buildings and brush make getting anywhere almost impossible. This is why I kinda laughed when I saw the OBA/ FB SSR, if the Russians get the OBA it will truly be curtains for the Germans, the FB's probably not as bad, but they can attack the more thinned skinned vehicles at their pleasure.
In both of our games, we tried to take our germans around the east part of the board, since in both games, the Russian player just parked his SU 100's next to the exit area, backed up by a T-34 or two. The Rest of the Russian Armor would try to rampage along the German flanks, leaving no real room to maneuver. in both games the Panthers were either DI'ed or blown up with lucky crits. Both of us tried using smoke but then we were not moving and that plays right into a Russian victory. Perhaps the Biggest problem for the Germans is trying to deploy to form up an attack to break through, very tough to accomplish on board 67.
My final thoughts on this one, well I would rate it 75% pro Russian, the Germans have to traverse MP intensive terrain and try to get enough points off to win, which is unlikely. Too many points to exit off not enough time to do it and the SSR with OBA and FB's I think is most likely a game ender. I also kind of wished the designer used a more open village board then board 67. I also think the Germans have no room to lose points since the point total is very high but who knows, I suck at this game so what do I know lol.
Scott
Played this one twice with my buddy Randy over the weekend and well, things do not look good for the Germans in both of our playings. The scenario takes place in the closing days of 1945 with the Germans trying to breakout of a possible Russian encirclement to the west. The Germans on paper have a fairly nice force with 2 panthers, jgpz, 2 Pz IV's, Stug, flak Pz and a puma. Backing this force up is a ragtag lot of squads which includes 2 SS squads, 3 548's, 3 467's, 4 447's WW and 3 436's. A few SW and a handful of leaders round out this force. The set up for the Germans are very restrictive, one group sets up on board 42 and a 2nd group sets up on board 67 and everybody is a rider or passenger, no exceptions. So expect lot of bailing out action when the game commences.
The Russians for their part get a M3A1 scout car, a BA-6 AC, 4 458's, a Baz 44, LMG and a 9-1 leader which set up on board 59 as a weak blocking force. Coming on map from two directions are 4 T34/85's, 2 SU 85's and tw SU 100's with a 9-2 armor leader. Along with the oncoming armor, the Russians get 8 squads a couple of SW and leaders to round out the Russian attacking force. So basically the Russians are entering units in the German back field, on their flank with an onboard blocking unit already in place.
Dont forget to take the 50cal off the M3A1, that is a nice HT killing weapon. Keep the crew inside the M3A1 to drive on to the board 59 bridge to partially cause any German thinking about going that way a bit of a problem.
The Germans to win must exit 45 VP's off board 59, at first glance it looks doable but once you sit down and read the SSR's, it might be rougher on the Germans then it looks. The Russians have MOL for their 458 squads, the Russians on turn 4 receive either 2 FB's (no bombs) or two 120 harrassing fire missions, this can and I think will end the game no matter what is happening but in both of our games, we never reached that point since the Germans took too many losses to continue the battle. With around 97 VP's in vehicles, the Germans can not lose 40 points. This might not seem like much, but if that Russian player is getting his APCR and scoring hits on the weaker armor, then the Germans will be in trouble.
Also, it should be noted that in the SSR, road movement bonus is NA plus the Germans have to pay an extra +2 per a road hexside, so no zooming around here. Board 67 is no cake walk either to move around on either, lots of woods, buildings and brush make getting anywhere almost impossible. This is why I kinda laughed when I saw the OBA/ FB SSR, if the Russians get the OBA it will truly be curtains for the Germans, the FB's probably not as bad, but they can attack the more thinned skinned vehicles at their pleasure.
In both of our games, we tried to take our germans around the east part of the board, since in both games, the Russian player just parked his SU 100's next to the exit area, backed up by a T-34 or two. The Rest of the Russian Armor would try to rampage along the German flanks, leaving no real room to maneuver. in both games the Panthers were either DI'ed or blown up with lucky crits. Both of us tried using smoke but then we were not moving and that plays right into a Russian victory. Perhaps the Biggest problem for the Germans is trying to deploy to form up an attack to break through, very tough to accomplish on board 67.
My final thoughts on this one, well I would rate it 75% pro Russian, the Germans have to traverse MP intensive terrain and try to get enough points off to win, which is unlikely. Too many points to exit off not enough time to do it and the SSR with OBA and FB's I think is most likely a game ender. I also kind of wished the designer used a more open village board then board 67. I also think the Germans have no room to lose points since the point total is very high but who knows, I suck at this game so what do I know lol.
Scott
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