PS NJ
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U25 Breakout from Borisov
Ron Duenskie and I played this classic monster. I was excited to play this scenario as it's an original from Cross of Iron. The Russians have 54 squads and 12 tanks (5 heavy and 7 light) vs 24 german squads with only 5 tanks (plus a 37L HT and a 20L AC). The germans do have 5 HTs, which we expected to be crictial mobile VPs int he endgame. VC are for the Russians to have twice as many GO CVP on more of the 5 boards. The board layout gives the germans half a dozen 2nd level stone buildings from which their 10-3 and two -2 leaders (plus a radio observer for a 100MM OBA) can overwatch most of the playing area. The desert board isn't in play, but LOS/fire can be traced across it. The germans also get 1-3 stukas. Both sides enter with the germans going first, but having only partial movement. It's a long scenario at 10 turns. The Russians moving last is big, as they can game out exact VC points.
I put about a dozen squads (mostly 426's and 527's) on the left two boards, thinking they would hang out to game end. Most of the units and tanks moved through the right hand board (board 4) towards what I figured would be the big fight on board 3. I moved a pair of fast BT tanks on to 2nd level hills on the right side of board 3.

German turn 2 Ron had a StugB run out of AP shooting at the BTs but then it smoked the one in LOS and then killed it in my turn with a low HE TK roll (it later killed a hulldown 2nd BT on a snakes Advancing fire shot). My 152 KV immobilized due to its red #'s. My 76 gun tanks did a good job in forcing Ron's HMG teams to re-position, only KIA'ing a couple squads running across the open. Ron got two Stukas in turn 4.
I setup my two HMGs in a central woods out of OBA/HMG LOS near my heavy tanks to cover them via AA fire. Unfortunately for me Ron's OBA scattered to an adjacent hex and obliterated the stack, plus shocked a T-28 tank. The stukas then came in and took out two light tanks using MG's.
I had fun and we played through six turns. The OBA and HMG stacks preventing the russian infantry from creating a solid defense. While my infantry losses were relatively light, the ongoing tank losses reached about 50%. The prospect of losing one or two heavy tanks to Stukas bombs (and the light tanks to MG fire) made me think of the german tanks circling and harassing the Russian infantry from the rear. Those thoughts convinced me to throw in the towel. It was a fun experience to play this. I thought maybe I could finesse a win through cautious russian play, but the overwatching firepower, OBA, and Stukas make it tough for the russians to last throughout the very long game. We discussed some ideas for rebalancing the VC, as without the level 2 buildings the russians might be able to roll right over the german troops. We couldn't come up any quick fix.
Ron Duenskie and I played this classic monster. I was excited to play this scenario as it's an original from Cross of Iron. The Russians have 54 squads and 12 tanks (5 heavy and 7 light) vs 24 german squads with only 5 tanks (plus a 37L HT and a 20L AC). The germans do have 5 HTs, which we expected to be crictial mobile VPs int he endgame. VC are for the Russians to have twice as many GO CVP on more of the 5 boards. The board layout gives the germans half a dozen 2nd level stone buildings from which their 10-3 and two -2 leaders (plus a radio observer for a 100MM OBA) can overwatch most of the playing area. The desert board isn't in play, but LOS/fire can be traced across it. The germans also get 1-3 stukas. Both sides enter with the germans going first, but having only partial movement. It's a long scenario at 10 turns. The Russians moving last is big, as they can game out exact VC points.
I put about a dozen squads (mostly 426's and 527's) on the left two boards, thinking they would hang out to game end. Most of the units and tanks moved through the right hand board (board 4) towards what I figured would be the big fight on board 3. I moved a pair of fast BT tanks on to 2nd level hills on the right side of board 3.

German turn 2 Ron had a StugB run out of AP shooting at the BTs but then it smoked the one in LOS and then killed it in my turn with a low HE TK roll (it later killed a hulldown 2nd BT on a snakes Advancing fire shot). My 152 KV immobilized due to its red #'s. My 76 gun tanks did a good job in forcing Ron's HMG teams to re-position, only KIA'ing a couple squads running across the open. Ron got two Stukas in turn 4.
I setup my two HMGs in a central woods out of OBA/HMG LOS near my heavy tanks to cover them via AA fire. Unfortunately for me Ron's OBA scattered to an adjacent hex and obliterated the stack, plus shocked a T-28 tank. The stukas then came in and took out two light tanks using MG's.
I had fun and we played through six turns. The OBA and HMG stacks preventing the russian infantry from creating a solid defense. While my infantry losses were relatively light, the ongoing tank losses reached about 50%. The prospect of losing one or two heavy tanks to Stukas bombs (and the light tanks to MG fire) made me think of the german tanks circling and harassing the Russian infantry from the rear. Those thoughts convinced me to throw in the towel. It was a fun experience to play this. I thought maybe I could finesse a win through cautious russian play, but the overwatching firepower, OBA, and Stukas make it tough for the russians to last throughout the very long game. We discussed some ideas for rebalancing the VC, as without the level 2 buildings the russians might be able to roll right over the german troops. We couldn't come up any quick fix.