Bottom of the Barrel - Critical Hit 71
My usual playing partner Bryant Glando and I picked this one from one of the more recent CH mags for our weekly game. It's April 1945 and the Germans are defending the OKW HQ at Zossen, Germany, just outside Berlin. We considered putting 1/2" smoke counters over all the HQ buildings to simulate the file burning I'm sure was going on at the time. It uses boards 4 and 43 with four overlays, with 6 full turns.

The Germans field a scratch force of 7 squads (6 of which are 2nd line or conscripts) w/ an assortment of SW (a mortar, MMG, 2 LMG, 2 PSK) and two leaders, one of which is a deadly 9-2. They are backed by an 88 AA Gun, a Flk Pz IV, a 37L flak truck, a 20L Flack 38t, and a couple of armored cars. Finally, they field some wire, some trenches, and 18 mine factors. The Russians start with 8 squads, 2 leaders, 4 MG, and a mortar on board, and are reinforced by 4 squads, 2 T34/85, 2 lend-lease M4(76)a Shermans, and a couple half-tracks, one armed with a 57LL gun. Just for good measure, the russians get 2 '44 fighter-bombers with bombs for the first three turns.

The Russian must take the HQ buildings, and exit an AFV and one MMC off the middle of the north edge to win. The germans only win if they hold all of the HQ buildings. Any mix of these results is a draw. The Russian on-board force starts on board 4, and the Russian reinforcements can enter anywhere on the east edge or on a road on the south edge of board 4, so the Germans have a lot of avenues to cover.

Setup

One of the good things about this scenario is all the German setup options. The German can HIP one of the vehicles or a squad-equivilent, you have lots of options with the 18 mine factors, and there are 8 OB-given ? counters, which you can trade in for some 5/8" ? counters. The Germans also setup completley concealed, even in Russian LOS. Combine all of that with the HIP 88L and the Russians have reason to take it slow at first. I put the 88L in 4O1, with a LOS to 4 out of 6 avenues of approach. The Flk Pz IV went HIP in 43P3, hoping to catch a Sturmovik by surprise with that 20 IFE. I traded in some ? for larger ones to add to the deception. I put all the mines as 6 factor AP fields behind and beside the 88L to protect it from the Russian infantry. The armored cars and flak vehicles all went in the northwest corner / north edge to guard some of the victory buildings and cut off the angles the FBs could attack at. The German infantry was very spread-out, with one PSK on each flank, and the 9-2/MMG/548 stack in a trench in the center of the defense.

Early Turns

The Russian on-board forces moved up from the center of board 4 with caution, figuring they'd find the 88L or 9-2/MMG the hard way if they moved too quickly. The Russian reinforcements came on at 4I10, with all the infantry riding the tanks. Bryant skillfully used the rare Russian smoke capability of the Shermans to cover the open areas and then ran his tanks across and into position around 4E2. He stared down a total of 4 'faust shots by my 447, who couldn't hit a damn thing, and then blew him away with an 85mm HE round. On the other flank however, the 88L quickly became the star of the scenario. With no tanks to shoot at I fired it at Bryant's death-stack of three russkie squads, three MGs, and his 9-1 leader. I got rate twice, with the last shot being a snake-eyes which rubbled the wooden buidling they were in ! Bang ! One big stack o'little Barishnikovs GONE !!! Meanwhile, the first Sturmovik dived in at the 88 and right into the cross-hairs of the HIP Wirbelwind - but I barfed the attack with an 11. Still, I guess all the 20mm shells spooked the pilot because he didn't cause any damage with his 12fp MGs. Turn 2 saw the 88 trading shots with the remaining russian infantry stack in his area, enduring repeated strafing runs, and a one bomb attack which barely missed. On the other flank Bryant lost another squad to my 9-2/MMG when it wandered into my BS hex, but the Russians were now getting organized and were pushing their four tanks and infantry closer to the HQ buildings.

Middle Turns

The Sturmoviks continued to attack the 88, but to no avail, but they did take out 1 German squad along the way. Bryant pushed his half-tracks up in a recon-by-death mission to find the AT mines he feared. They didn't find the mines, but the 37L flak truck found them both with AP rounds from long range (and really lucky dice rolls) and dusted them. By this time the remaining Russkie infantry had reorganized and was pushing toward the HQ, which was pretty much un-manned at this point. The Russian tanks had finally moved into good positions and promptly blew away the Wiberlwind and the Flak truck, and suppressed the 9-2/MMG stack enough to cover the infantry attack toward the HQ. The armored cars had executed my scatter-plan and were running for their lives from the Russian tanks. The Fighter-Bombers finally left at the end of turn three, having only killed 1 German squad and broken the 9-2/MMG stack.

Late Turns

The end was kind of anti-climatic after the duel between the 88, Russian infantry, the Sturmoviks, and the three flak-wagons. The Russians finally surrounded the 88 and took it out in CC, and broke into the HQ compound with 2.5 squads. I had one conscript HS with an LMG, so things weren't looking too good. However, I still had a good chance for a draw since Bryant was nowhere near the exit area with any infantry. His last couple turns he made a valiant run for it, enduring a 10 -2 shot against his tank-riding infantry. He succeeded in getting one tank off, but his infantry all got gunned-down making a run for it. My only moral victory was immoblizing one of his T34s with an 20L-armed armored car at close range. Things ended in a draw with the Russians drinking vodka around the OKW HQ map table and doing some potato washing in the local toilets, and the Germans high-tailing it back to the West.

Analysis

This scenario had no record on the ROAR when we played it, so it was kind of an unknown. The German has to cover a lot of ground with his defense, and his ELR 2 troops are brittle to say the least. Still, as I mentioned before the various German options give them a good chance to set up a deception plan. Once the Russians figure out where everything is it is hard to stop them, but that 88 can be a scenario-winner if the Germans luck out and have it in the right spot. The aircraft are a real wild-card, but it sets up a fun duel with the three German flak guns. In the cool toy arena you have the Wiberlwind, the planes, and the rarely-seen Russian Shermans with both a s8 and sM8 capability, made even better by a mild-breeze at start. Overall I thought this one was a lot of fun, and fairly evenly balanced. Anyone else played this one???

Doug