[Brian W]

Played some of the first non-playtest scenarios in awhile yesterday. One of them was OB3 Close Quarters from HoB's Onslaught to Orsha against Hugh Downing.

This scenario involves 10 sov squads with 5 Valentines and 2 shermans fighting their way across (lengthwise) two heavily wooded half boards, 47 and 32. Germans receive 10 squads, 4 crews, three wire counters, and a 50L AT gun to stop them. The gimmick is that both sides set up without seeing the other side's forces.

I decided to hold off bringing on the "useless except for exit VP" valentines until the second turn. The Shermans came in on the crease where the boards joined, while all my infantry entered on board 47. My plan was to split whatever forces he had on board 32 from those on 47 (which I assumed to be less) and then drive down the road on board 47. [Note needed errata: the German setup area should be west of row BB, not B. This allowed Hugh to set up a bit farther as we misunderstood the (not officially existing) errata. We also wondered why there are four crews for only one gun.]

Hugh had split his forces up along both roads pretty evenly, so I thought I might have a chance. Turn one saw me move aggressively onto the hills on board 47 with my infantry and establish a 50mm mortar team in both 32F9 and 47DD9. The shermans ended up in good firing positions against any units trying to reinforce board 47.

At this point I believed that I would not have enough time to move through the board 47 road. My infantry was too weak to quickly destroy the germans in trenches, and my armor was not powerful enough to tip the scale without taking on german infantry at one hex range. I decided that a dash down the center of the two boards (where they meet) with the valentines was the way to go. It would involve two bog checks for each tank, one for exiting a stream and one for moving through woods. However, there is an SSR that grants a -1 to bog DR, so I thought it would be best to chance it.

That being my decision I moved the shermans out first and went though the 47W10 and 47T9 bog checks with flying colors. The valentines, held off on the first turn took up positions following. Hugh struggled to reposition his units, and for awhile it looked like I might pull off a quick victory. However, on turn 3 one of the valentines got hit with a PF on a startup from two hexes, while another was bogged. Turn 4 saw a repeat of the same, along with the first bogger getting flamed by a PSK. My infantry had long since been reduced to the odd squad trying to catch up over open ground, so with only 12 EVP off and not much chance of getting any more of the needed 22 EVP off, I threw in the towel.

It is an interesting scenario; after it was over I felt that the sovs had little chance since they had almost nothing to fight german infantry with. However, the bog DR are not too bad, and the german has a lot of ground to cover. It may be that if I had stuck to my original plan I could have punched a hole though board 47. Also, with such limited MP, the valentines have to come on board immediately; that was a big mistake on my part. I would most likely have won the game with my modified strategy if only the valentines had been on board in motion on turn one. In my defense, the german gets two HIP MMC, and an HIP 50L. I was worried about getting wiped out before I even started. If there is a problem with the scenario it is that it very much depends on guessing the right approach at the start of the scenario. If the german guesses right up front, it has soviet disaster written all over it. The reverse may also be true, although I think that Hugh did not guess right in our game and I still got beat.