Time to play some scenarios!

[wulfir]

Got some time over Christmas to play a few scenarios.

First on the list Romanians at Scobalteni by SaS TrooP!






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Did not read the full scen briefing. Got entangled in the Soviet steel wave and although dealing significant damage to the enemy took a bit of a beating myself while being pushed back. Understood there was no way I would be able to secure the the far Russian VHs.

Read the full briefing.

2nd try: Decided I was not going to attempt to attack but instead play defensive. In my youth I got chewed out by a sergeant for being too stubborn in skirmish drills. "Don't let them fix you in place. Shoot and move. You will be hit by the full weight of the enemy force if you stubbornly hold."etc. I maneuvered the Romanian tanks trying to engage only the spearhead of the Russians, knock out a few leading tanks and move back, repeat. I tried to get flank shots although the Romanian Pz IVs and TDs were effective against the front armour of T-34s even at some range.

The AI attacked in a somewhat different fashion in my two tries of this scenario. The first try the AI converged in the center, with the SU-122s and the IS-2 wings joining up in hitting my main effort. Being somewhat fixed in place I also took damage from Russian artillery, had several tanks become immobile.

The second try these two concentrations of AI controlled Russian tanks fought a more separated battle.

Knowing what one is up against makes it possible for an experienced player to put some serious hurt on the Russian tanks. Though at a price - I had to abandon the effort against the VHs in the built up areas held by Russian troops at the start of the scenario. Took me too long to deal with the tanks.

I made a weak probing effort against the far Russian Victory Hexes with the Recce assets that turn up as reinforcements. Was never able to identify the Russian AT-guns. The Reece effort failed. Game ended on turn 34/33 - slightly on overtime as the Russians still held a good number of Victory Hexes.

End score 7631 vs 1211, points were enough to secure a Marginal Win. Lost three Pz IV, one SdKfz 222 and one half-track. Had several other tanks damaged, lost some scouts two. The HQ and FOO were strafed by Russian air while riding a half-track that got immobilized, but not knocked out. Phew...
The Russians lost the bulk of its attacking tank force, but at the end of the game they were still firmly in control of SCOBALTENI and COSITENI. Forces holding these locations were intact and did not try to counterattack.

Great fun! A well made scenario with a good map.

[wulfir]

Second out, Paper Tigers by Don Lazov!






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Italian partizans attacking a smaller but dug in Waffen SS formation.

I tried nothing fancy, went in basically head on.

Tried to concentrate my forces so that when the punch hit I would be able to carry forward enough to finish off routed German units. Didn't want to see them recover between turns. I gambled that they would be weak, and chanced on them not having any indirect support.

I managed to make it into the town and capture the first few VHs, but spent a little too long on the approach march. The Germans are very well placed. Tank and MG42 fire swept the town main street clean of partizan effort. I managed to swarm and knock out one of the German tanks, lost one of the Italian light tanks though and running out of time began to advance in a reckless fashion. The Waffen SS Squads are mostly 12 men strong and can take a little punishment. Most of the Italian squads are weaker and began melting away.

After taking about half the town the advance had truly bogged down. By the last two turns a sharp German counterattack developed that could have turned ugly - but time ran out so I was spared.

I used the HQ unit in the front line because it was one of the few units with smoke. That doesn't happen too often.

Game ended at Turn 27 of 26. Italian losses were 129 troops and two AFVs. The Germans lost 144 men and one AFV. Score 566 vs 581, I held 9 VHs at the end, the AI the rest.

Excellent map! Challenging scenario!

I thought the Italian partizans would be low quality infantry that would rout for almost nothing but they are actually pretty sturdy even after taking losses. The German mortars did not disrupt the advance all that much...