Oh heck, in for a penny...
Great entertainment value here, gents. Convinced me to become a patron; watching you guys is certainly worth my entertainment dollar.
I'll skip criticism of the setups. Here's some various things I noted in the first two turns. All points intended respectfully, of course, and not just trying to be a snarky know-it-all.
Russian Turn 1 -
PFPh - not sure what the T-34 was hoping to achieve with that prep fire. Odds didn't seem good. I'd rather see him doing something more helpful like Armored Assaulting with the infantry, putting down some sD smoke, or simply probing the left flank where there's so much open space.
DFPh - That PSK shot against the infantry in I9 seemed ill-advised; they needed a 4 to connect and wound up X'ing out a very useful antitank asset.
APh - Would have been good for the Russians to advance somebody from 22J9 to I9, just to get a leg up on next turn's movement to advance to the wall around the factory. That 348 in Z10 wasn't much threat to prep fire at anybody in the upcoming German turn, and in fact somebody in I9 could have fired at the 348 as he tried to fall back behind the factory wall.
German Turn 1 -
PFPh - Didn't seem necessary to Prep Fire at the Partisan Hero; the Germans lost Concealment and risked activating the Sniper and instead could have waited until the CCPh to crush that guy. Sure there were some backfield moves that the Hero could interfere with, but not much, and the 658's could even just try throwing infantry smoke at the guy if they really felt like it was necessary.
MPh - Not sure why the Hero didn't First Fire at the Germans as they Bypassed at the 23W6/W5/X5 vertex instead of waiting till X4; I think that would have been a 1(-3) shot instead of the 1(-1) shot he wound up taking at X4. Heck, along those lines, the Bypass itself was unnecessary, since the Germans could have just moved V6-V5-W5-X4 and stayed in Orchards the whole time anyway. FWIW, the Russian HMG had LOS to both this move and the Bypass move; would have really been nice to score an 8-down-3 shot at the German 8-1 and 658 as they moved from V6.
- No shot from the 248 in EE10 at the 348 moving into Z9? 1-down-1 seemed worth it...
- The German HT really should have just Buttoned Up during his move and unbuttoned in the APh; would have saved him from being shot at by the Russian HMG. It also seemed like S10 or thereabouts might have been a better place to go than where he did (V8?). Out of LOS from the Russian HMG but still covered the Russian approach to the wall outside the Factory. If the Russians diverted anybody to go pressure him, they'd be diluting their main attack.
DFPh - nice move firing into the Melee
AFPh - still no need to fire at the Partisan Hero! He's Marked For Death in the upcoming CCPh!
Russian turn 2
PFPh - I didn't think the HMG had LOS to the 348. On my VASL board, the LOS crosses Z10 and would have 2 blind hexes.
MPh - Nice move with the T-34 to distract the Panther. I think some German infantry hugging the wall outside the Factory would have been useful in terms of denying the Wall to the Russians. Couldn't help note Dave saying "You get all the luck" after his Panther scored after needing a turret hit on a TH DR of 6 (which I think had just a 7/36 chance of success)
That German HT could have tried kicking into Motion at some point; might have helped his survival.
Russian turn 3
MPh - When the Russian stack moved to W10, I'd have been sorely tempted to try a shot from CC9. Turns out the LOS is blocked, but IMO it was worth trying.
Tough call to make on whether the Panther should stay or go (ie, make a motion attempt) when the IS-2's rolled up. He needed to get a turret hit and with a TK of 5. To me, that's when it's time to try to live and fight another day. And being a large target, even at > 2 hex range from those AFPh shots, he's valuable enough to think about throwing sN9 smoke to help protect himself. If we WAS gonna stand and die, then I'd think some Intensive Firing might be called for.
The Panther passed up a shot at the T-34 as it moved to the Russian left, I think in J8; I think he ultimately needed like an 8 to hit with a near-guaranteed kill. Seemed worth taking; those 9-2 AL's sure do make a difference.
CCPh - Withdrawing on the CC DR of 12 was a good idea but I didn't think Y8 was the best place to go to. I could see X8 for a short-lived but glorious attempt to get a turret hit on the IS-2 in X9, but that would pretty much guarantee handing the Russians a captured PSK once that guy died. I think X6 would have been better, in terms of living to fight another day and perhaps providing some flank protection for the bridge against the Russian armor.