T06 The Dead of Winter

The Purist

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One of the scenarios that made the cut for the AA3 tournament but was not drawn for play was T06 The Dead of Winter. This little classic tournament scenario is fraught with all the potential problems of small scenarios - the most feared is that the dice can quickly end the fight in favour of one side or the other.

Brian W and I sat down this afternoon to give this one a try (I had played it nearly 20 years ago) and as neither of us had a preference I rolled a random selection and came up with the Russians. ROAR had this one as 99 German wins to 80 Russian, while ASL Archive has this one at 20 German and 12 Russian wins.

The Russians must enter a platoon of T-34s and two platoons of Smertniki with an 8-1 and 8-0 ( Commissar exchange is possible) from the east one half of board 4, then wheel left to exit 20 CVP between 4AA1-GG1 in just 5 turns (prisoners do not count). The Germans have an entrenched infantry platoon led by a 9-2 and 8-1 with MMG, LMG, DC, 37L AT and a dug-in Pz IVE holding 6 Trenches with Snow, Deep Snow and Extreme Winter in effect by SSR.

The below screen shows the initial German deployment and the Russian set up

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The 37L AT could have been anywhere and I expected it near the exit area (looking for DI shots or close range flank/rear hits). The alternative is somewhere on the north side of the map where it can again engage flank and rear shots as the Russians wheel south. Neither the Pz IV nor the AT gun have very good TK#s but the Russians don't have time to get involved in a prolonged firefight if they hope to exit the 20 CVP.

The dice came to my aid early as the Pz IV was hit by a bounding fire shot by a T-34 and killed (it was actually a CH but a non-CH still had a TK of 9,...so,....). The German infantry position in X1 (467 w/ LMG) was broken early and forced to rout away (never to recover). With the German "hinge" of X1-Y1-Z0/Z1 pried open and no help immediately available I threw everything at that section of the line. The odds of getting a TB in Z0 with the first T-34 were less than 50/50 (snow and deep snow bog mods add +1 each to the +3 for woods) but even a bog would have allowed a set up for exit in the next turn (short of a Mired or Immob result). The attempt succeeded and the Russians were in place to exit roughly 17 CVP with an extra turn to spare.

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The German's last hope to slow the armour was the AT gun that popped up in CC6 just as Anton and Boris pivoted away from Y4-Z4 to move towards the exit area. There was no APCR and the AP shot against the rear of Boris failed to immob or kill. Brian decided on an IF shot, which, considering the Extreme Winter penalties, was a risky move. Had he waited AT gun could still have seen Z0-CC1 and the rear target aspect of the remaining tanks or any infantry entering its LOS. As it turned out the gun Malf'd and that effectively ended the battle. With 17 CVP exiting by turn 4, there would have been little to stop another T-34 or more infantry from exiting on turn 5 and the odds of both T-34s bogging in a trench would be very low. Likewise, the T-34s could also have pinned German infantry in their hexes allowing the Russian SMG squads an easy exit.

This is a sharp little action and the OoBs are small enough that neither side can afford overly risky choices lest the dice end the battle early.
 
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von Marwitz

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Nice AAR. I have played this one years ago as well and dimly remember having lost it - but I can't remember which side I have played.

One remark regarding the TB through Z0 and exit rout AA1 & BB0:
It seems that you used Bypass along AA1. Looking at it, this appeared to be a very close call for VBM. But I checked it - and it is indeed clear:

17318
You have had an eagle's eye. Well done!

von Marwitz
 

fenyan

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Just played this for the first time. Agreed it's dicey, with lots of winter breakdowns and a T-34 immobilizing can be really critical. Of course things can be done to minimize these effects like you stated. Won on the very last roll when a 5-2-7 failed a NMC and couldn't exit for VPs 19 and 20.

It's fun for a quick scenario.
 

62nd Army

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Nice AAR, one of my favorite scenarios!!
 

Stewart

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Nice AAR. I have played this one years ago as well and dimly remember having lost it - but I can't remember which side I have played.

One remark regarding the TB through Z0 and exit rout AA1 & BB0:
It seems that you used Bypass along AA1. Looking at it, this appeared to be a very close call for VBM. But I checked it - and it is indeed clear:

View attachment 17318
You have had an eagle's eye. Well done!

von Marwitz
For the overlay to work properly, you'll need to HOLD the OVERLAY active instead of placing it on the hex as you can see the center "+" isn't centered on the rendered 'Dot'
But yeah...it should still be close.
 
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