By mid-September, Army Group North had been stopped short of its goal of the capture of Leningrad. What they had been unable to achieve by force, they now hoped to accomplish by starving the city out. Leningrad was entirely cut off except for the Lake Lagoda route. The only real relief possible would have to be some breach of the land blockade. During the month of September, Russian troops fought furiously to crack the blockade. To the south, in the area of Starays-Russa/Demyansk, the Red Army planned to break through the German defenders and swing north to hit the flanks of the German armies assaulting Leningrad. In the villages of Kirilovschina, Grutiki, Chilkovo, and Lushno, the soldiers of the Totenkopf were about to face this Red onslaught.
Attacker: Russian (34th Soviet Army)
Defender: German (SS) (SS-Bataillon 2, SS-Division 3 "Totenkopf")
5.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:18.0 D:8.0
AFVs: A:2
T-26S M37 x 2
D:0
Guns: A:0
50mm RM obr. 40
D:1
7.5cm leIG 18 7.92 PzB 39 ATR
Misc Rules:
Treat Orchards as Shellholes
Map Board(s):
32
42
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
Despite a double balance for the Russian, increasing ELR to 3 and removing German MMG, this was an easy win for the German. German set up a couple of units and best leader rather forward on the hill, and the bait (overpowering with HW) proved irresistible. Two HW were unleashed which did better than they ought to given high German DR, and the German HMG in support achieved little. After this initial success, things just unravelled and went mostly downhill, despite further bad luck for the German, e.g. the INF Gun and ATR achieving nothing. Essentially the 468 squads were the bedrock of the German defence, were mostly unbreakable, and stopped any progress over the lateral road across the village. At the beginning of the last turn the Russians had taken four of the eight buildings, still had the two mobile AFV and 6-7 GO squads, but in no position to rush the board edge or the last four buildings, and that's how it ended. It needs a very carefully coordinated and aggressive Russian player to succeed.
2021-01-25
(A) Shane Pask
vs
German (SS) win
Felt that I totally botched the attack and by T3 did not think I could get exit VP. 2 melees dragged on for ever and the conscripts kept disrupting. Then on T6 broke the HMG squad and leader and had enough troops remaining to reach the last 5 buildings but 1 was still occupied by a GO German squad.
Advanced in with 3 squads (1 conscript) and 9-1 leader. German got ambush, captured conscripts leaving me to roll 6 or less for victory. Rolled an 8.
2021-01-25
(D) Andy Bagley
vs
Øyvind Jacobsen Bjørkås
German (SS) win
Two Human Waves on the first turn, which I had set up prepared for, resulted in many Russian squads breaking to machine gin fire. When the Russian tanks appeared, one went down to a lucky shot from the 75mm Inf Gun, the second was lost to an even luckier ATR shot. By then end of Russian turn 3 they had only five good order squads left, and the SS outnumbered them, so Øyvind conceded. Average DRs for both of us turned out to be just under 7, but I was fortunate to get the good ones that really mattered.
2020-06-28
(A) Jason White
vs
Owen White
German (SS) win
We had a great time with this one. I was the Germans. Set up my gun too close to the front, but was able to take out one of the tanks early.
From there, it was back and forth all game. Lots of good rolls, some interesting snipers, a squad with a light machine gun was able to hold hte left flank. After some great rallies, a berzerk half squad charge and a merciless mortar that kept rolling crits, it came down to two melees in buildings for the game (it was tough to exit enough points, especially with the conscripts). Russians came in, desperately needing to win a 1-1 close combat. They rolled a 2. Then we shifted over to the second melee, where a full Russian squad was taking on a half squad. The Russians rolled poorly, and the last building needed for victory remained in German hands, contested. The clock had run out. I really enjoyed it. Reminiscent of Scenarios A and B, which, for us, have a lot of close combat, snipers, and craziness.
