GREAT SCENARIO, TRUE GEM.
Attractions : Fortifications (I just love them), Mines galore (oh boy...), Elephants, Movement, Good Troops, FT, DCs,....
Germans get 4 Ferdinands (aka elephants), 2 or 3 StuG42 (notice a Should Be Errata : the OB talks about the (L) model that wasn t around in 43 and whihc uses sN that did not exist either), 4 Goliaths and a bunch of good quality Infantry. One FT and a few DCs. And a Pillbox.
Russians get AT Ditchs, Trenches, 2 45LL , 3 57LL, 1 .50, 1 HMG and a bunch of guys. All set up on board 42 and cannot leave it so that they cannot shoot at the German crossing the grainfields of board 43. They also get a few 328 (yes, russian HS at last. Of course you rather have them combined in this case but they are HIP and without being able to stack...) HIP on board 43... and with a DC and a hero maning an ATR.
Two hexrows (2 and 3) have both AP and AT mines which must be crossed by the German who need to exit 75 CVPs (a lot).
I took the Russian for I love defending with fortifications. I blocked the path to the AFVs on my right using the pond the AT Ditches, connecting woods and one AT mine of 2 factors in the only remaining spot. I set up the Pillbox with the 57LL inside on the only hill which is the only good spot to be in (READ : a must target for smoke from the many smoke capable german afvs). I set up the .50 next to the pillbox, in a trench. I set up my HIP units next to the board 42 where I vol rout most of them to (by SSR is the only way to extricate them from board 43).
The germans came near the middle along both sides of a hedge figuring that my fire would only catch half of them on OG, the other half haveing the benefit of the hedge TEM. A nice move. The BiV (represented by Goliaths) are a little brittle and could be immobilize on mine, destroyed by ATR, not breach, etc. I would say that probably most of the time 3 out of 4 make it but sometimes that would be jsut 2 and it better connecting hexes... In my game the 4 made it. Dam! My hero was not up to the task anyways and after failing to harm the goliath it failed the MC to become wounded.
Arnaud kept having smoke all the game (only ONCE did he failed) which mae the board 43 crossing easy for him. Then came the close fight with me trying to kill tanks and getting (as usual) no effect against them but nasty effects on the infantry (this is usual too). The best being me keeping 6 times ROF on the 45LL and reduce a 3 squad + leader in a +3 TEM building to nothing... (don t stack!). Cool. But failing to even DI a single elephant (these guys are worth 8 CVPs!!!). And rolling Dud on a 57LL hit on a StuG 42... Uncool.
The game went all the way up to the last turn and Arnaud manage to exit just 4 or 5 CPVs more than required. Had he immobilize one of his Ferdinands on some 20 plus start up rolls...
When a 11 turn scenario is that close you gotta love it no matter the outcome. This was a 12 hours puppy that remains in our memory as one of the greatest asl time we had in some 70 or so scenarios we have played with each other. Try it out. It is great.
-Bruno