Date | Reporter | | Opponent | Bal. | Result | Comments |
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2024-02-09 | (D) Dan Best | vs | Kermit Mullins | | German win | |
2024-02-09 | (A) Kermit Mullins | vs | Dan Best | | German win | My Russians entered on Turn 1 and were savaged by an upfront German defense. The Tiger was right up in my grill as I moved right next to him. My first IS-2 was knocked along with a Sherman and a T-34/85, The Nashorn would do most of the killing. By Turn 6, I was down to an IS-2 and a Sherman. All the German AFV's were knocked except for the Half-track and it's AAMG was MALF'd. I managed to get 11 VP into the victory area, but the German 8-1 at Level 2 managed to break my 8-1 and a squad for the win at the end of Turn 6. |
2024-01-12 | (A) Mark Thompson | vs | Martin Vicca (Germans) | D | German win | The Russian 6-2-8 riders and 5-2-7s reached the woods on the German right flank relatively unscathed (minus one Sherman/6-2-8 falling victim to the Nashorn) and the 4-4-7s come up the middle. Both groups were quickly stymied and the Russians conceded by the end of German Turn 4. The Russians were too cautious with their tanks being ever mindful of those 1945 PFs and Panzerschrecks and against an experienced player, this approach will yield nothing. |
2023-08-29 | (D) Andy Bagley | vs | Gordon Jupp | | Russian win | Very exciting struggle and couldn't have been closer. The Russians began cautiously, keeping their AFVs out of the way of long-range German weaponry on the hilltops and the HIP Tiger. Despite taking casualties, they managed to get sufficient infantry into the village to make a last-turn rush into the victory area with 11 VPs. So I only needed to break or hold in melee one Russian squad on my last German turn to tip the balance and deny them victory. I had several chances but my dice just weren't good enough and I failed.
Smoke is key for the Russians in this scenario, and they got the DRs they needed at critical moments, particularly with the sM's on their M4/76's. I highly recommend this scenario. |
2023-07-09 | (D) Andy Goldin | vs | Bob Schaaf | | German win | The scenario setup looked like a long-range tank gunnery exercise for the defending Germans, and that's the way it turned out in our game. I got a couple of long range, ineffective shots on Bob's attacking Russians as they entered. Bob quickly started using blind hexes to get around my armor on hilltops. I got a lucky break when Bob malf'd and recalled one of his IS2s and my 75L knocked out the other.
Lines of sight are kind of difficult on this map. Both of us were surprised when my Tiger "found" one Sherman, hit, with rate, and promptly knocked out a second tank.
The Russian infantry pressed on but again got surprised by an unexpected LOS and ridiculously hot German dice. Although he was close to the town on Turn 4, he probably didn't have enough force to take it, so Bob conceded. |
2018-08-03 | (A) Doug McMullen | vs | Steve Steinmetz | | Russian win | A tense, interesting, difficult fight from start to finish. In our game as the Russian I wanted to infiltrate my armor thru blind hexes and well placed smoke to support my infantry into the the village without challenging the German armor -- make them come to me was my idea. Too much wishful thinking in that plan and when my early smoke placements didn't work out, I found my armor cut off from the infantry... the german armor dominating the board from hull down positions on the hills... and I was in deep trouble. The dice bailed me out with a sniper recall of the CE Tiger and the Nashorn missing shots it shouldn't have. But the Russian losses mounted and in the final turn I had barely enough victory points available for the win. I was down to my last AFV, and it was mobbed in the final CC but somehow survived. The Russians had eked out the win, with quite a bit of help from providence. A superb game and well-played by my opponent who probably (and even justly) feels he had one stolen from him this time.
I think it's an excellent tournament scenario, a real tester on a number of tactical points, and well balanced. Like all smaller scenarios it can be a bit dice-y... especially for the outnumbered Germans, but that's just ASL. |
2018-02-18 | (A) Paolo Cariolato | vs | Victor Rosso | | Russian win | This is a very balanced scenario, very good for competitive play. It's also fun for both sides, which is not bad either. Try it you won't be disappointed. |
2017-11-22 | (A) Jeff B | vs | Magnus Rimvall | | Russian win | German Tiger set up in the forward orchard, taking out a T-34 loaded with the 8-1 and a squad, but was thereafter swarmed and dispatched (after malf'ing its MA and both MGs). This started some fires that would spread like crazy afterwards, but had minimal effect on play due to the wind direction and speed of the Russian advance. The next speedbump to overcome was the Rhino. He took down another T-34 but, like the Tiger, was swarmed and dispatched shortly after. The last major hurdle was the PaK40-mounted HT. Again, like its predecessors, it went down fighting. Since the T-34s were gone it took an M4 down with it. This 1:1 trade-off would definitely work to the Russians' advantage. By Turn 4 they were able to amass in force on the NE part of the village. Turn 5 was spent consolidating for the eventual VBM freeze-led assault, which went off as planned, and the village was populated en masse without a chance for recapture. Fun scenario. |
2017-11-18 | (D) Paul Legg | vs | Magnus Rimvall | | Russian win | |
2017-03-14 | (D) Lawrence Spangler | vs | Diane Spangler | | Russian win | |
2015-04-13 | (D) Richard Carter | vs | Jim Bishop | | Russian win | Jim took me apart in this one. I set up my tiger too far forward and he was not able to take out a single tank before being surrounded and dispatched. The rest of my armor was also eliminated without doing much damage to either infantry or armor. I was a bit overwhelmed as I looked at the Russian armor though. I'd try this one again w/ this experience though. |
2015-02-25 | (A) Lee Hyde | vs | grosbil | | German win | VASL League play, and with my lack of attacking practice I decided to grab the bull by the horns and take the Russians. You have to be aggressive as the Russians, and I lacked the push in the early turns. My opponent had an uncanny knack of picking the right bore sighted hexes, and as a relative newbie I walked straight into them ! That said, my western flank attack scored some notable results, and I should really remember interrogation of prisoners, which might of stripped a few more concealments. The Tiger appeared centrally to take out a T34, and was set to take out my IS2 in his PFPh. He hits and my heart sank a little more, but the TK roll was Boxcars, so a dud. Meanwhile he had run the Nashorn and sidekick to threaten the IS2 but.I held my nerve. Tiger went down, and my ISU152 took out the other HT, and just when I thought the tide had turned, I malf'd the MA of the IS2. The Nashorn backed out of trouble. Meanwhile the Western flank simply disintegrated of German squads and I wasn't even able to play my first overrun on the other HT crew and scrounged LMG, as they fell to my Sherman's MG's. My opponent rushed some concealed units to the western edge of the village, as he gathered his forces around the victory hex. My other IS2 roared into town to lay some HE into the wooden buildings and promptly malf'd his MA. Both IS2 largely toothless now. Another first for me, as I charged my Sherman into the wooden building to attempt an overrun of a full squad under concealment. He chose to remain concealed, passing his MC but I was in and broke him with a 1MC with a lowly 6FP overrun. If I could do the same in another WBld I'd possibly get the chance to run some troops through. Lady Luck was to desert me, as my other Sherman crashed through the front door to find the cellar somewhat the worse for wear. I conceded at this point, as my centre attack had faltered trying to cross Firelanes of 1FP. They seem so insignificant but crossing open ground through them catches me far more times than I've liked but when time is against you, c'est la vie. It was closer than I thought it might be, but perhaps the first two turns when I was too cautious cost me. My opponent declined opportunities many times and simply backed away gradually, and I was never able to force him out of a very adept defensive plan. Prisoners, driving AFV's into buildings and dud TK shots were all new to me, so fun in that respect. Well played Laurent, and thank you for your patience and advice. |
2015-01-20 | (A) X von Marwitz | vs | Steve Bond | | Russian win | I played this before, but while it was a fun scenario, I had somehow the impression that Fortuna did not like me in the previous playing. So I grabbed the chance when my opponent suggested to play this one. I would try again to lead Mother Russia to a win. The German setup was such that it basically allowed me to retry my previous plan. The bulk of my infantry came on pretty well via the western flank under the cover and in blind hexes of the woods. Some smaller infantry forces or single squads were entering from the middle and the eastern flank to scout and to bind some Germans on that half of the playing area. The tanks tried to move in a way to avoid exposure to the German Nashorn in 4H2, mainly via the western flank. The ISU entered on the extreme east and stopped there partly covered by the 17A7 woods to keep the hidden Tiger in check (again not situated on a hill) in case it would be lurking on that side. The first three turns were pretty peaceful and spent on closing in. The German was quite offensive with both of his MMGs, risking Sustained Fire for both and malfuncioning both while trying to stop my small force of Russians in the 17I1 area. In the west, the German ht was engaged and eventually taken out by the reinforcing Russian IS-2. My other IS-2 on that flank had malfed his MA before and was under recall. After the reinforcing IS-2 had shot for the ht-kill, the Tiger emerged from hiding in 4BB9 moving up the hill to 4CC3 with the intention to kill my IS-2 in 4BB2. Luckily he missed, so he was in dire straits for my upcoming Prep Fire. Well, I managed to miss the Tiger and to malf the second IS-2 which was, in turn promptly despatched. With both my hard-hitting IS-2 gone and the ISU-152 far far away, the situation became difficult because I had nothing in the area to really oppose the Tiger, which, in turn was now well situated to mess up my infantry approach and time schedule. As the wind did not change to Heavy Winds this time (which was quite disasterous for my previous game), I could put some SMOKE and Drifting SMOKE along the 4S7 road to allow my numerous infantry to make for the center of the village and across that street. As the Germans had originally deployed quite a lot of infantry further east, he was still in part occupied with redeploying towards the center as well. During Russian turn 5, I had three squads and a 8-1 across in a pretty safe place and lots of others poised to follow. In Russian turn 6, this rose to 18VP of infantry and 4 tanks somewhere in the victory areas. But the Germans were to move last. As my infantry was pretty much concentrated in a few hexes and my tanks shrouded behind billowing SMOKE of at least +4 strength, the danger was that the Germans would try to VBM freeze stacks and then try to go into CC with everything he could muster to reach me to make my Russians NO-GO and thus deny my the 10+ GO of infantry in the victory area. One T34-85 that I kept outside the victory area to cover the approach of the Tiger just managed to Shock him with a Possible Shock result after hitting its turret with an APCR round. The Nashorn went BU trying to VBM freeze another stack but immobilized on an ESB attempt for one MP trying to achieve that. With this, the Russians had enough tanks and enough infantry and Mother Russia triumphed. Again, a nice scenario also in this playing. |
2014-11-28 | (A) X von Marwitz | vs | Martin Mayers | | German win | Played this one as the attacking Russian. It is a good scenario and fun to play, despite for my Russians it was a never ending chain of disasters. First of all: Mild Breeze changed to Heavy Winds with the consequence that no SMOKE worked. No S, no sM, no sD. Catastrophe right from the start! Then I was pretty sure, his HIP Tiger would be perched somewhere on a hill and had planned for that. He was not. Instead, he killed my ISU on the first shot and it turned out that he had just LOS to another tank that he could go after in the German Prep Fire Phase in which it went down. To make matters worse, the Tiger had kept ROF after killing the ISU, so one further tank and infantry still offboard had to avoid the flank and move mostly offboard to be able to enter at a safe place. So eastern flank dead, stopped cold, 1.5 to 2 turns lost for the surviving units. Western flank went better. I despatched the SPW 251/1 there quickly and managed to get much of my infantry forward quickly and unharmed. However, on that flank, the 75L ht turned out to be a pain. When I had finally enticed him to waste its fire and drove up after he lost his HD to kill him in the AFPh, I did not have Special Ammo, and I did gack the normal shot with both good chances for a kill. In turn, in his next Fire Phase, he turned, hit and immobed my attacking T34-85. The infantry in the west made good progress while that in the middle was stopped in the village. It remained GO but could not dare to pass the OG. Meanwhile, I had managed to Shock the Tiger, it went to UK, was bogged in woods. Unfortunately, it recovered. I came in with my turn 3 IS-2 after delaying offboard, entering for one MF and stopping for the last just ADJ to the bogged Tiger in Woods, turret facing completely the other way. I needed 10+4 bounding fire -2 Point Blank -1 Large Target = Final TH9. Of course I missed and got in turn killed by the Tiger during his next Prep. After that, he managed to immediately unbog and threaten my rear... When the German infantry drew back closer to town, I saw the opportunity to rush the Russians stuck in the village forward and thus had infantry coming at the village from both flanks, one supported by an IS2, the other by a Sherman. One of his designated PF-toting concealed leaders came up in range of the IS but elected not to fire during his AFPh to better his chances as I could not do much against him after his move. In turn I tried an infantry OVR after first stripping his concealment by running a leader into him but gacked the TC of my squad detailed for the task. During his DFPh, he needed a 4 or less to his my IS with his PF and rolled a 3! Gone. When I advanced into CC for a 4:1, he managed to ambush my guys and withdrew only to re-DM a stack of my brokies. It was just hair-raising. Meanwhile, I had plenty of infantry in the U6 building and S8/S9 area. One important concealed 628 broke when it was attacked by a DR of 3. I wanted to kill a pinned 447+LMG in CC with another 628 and 527. Got no ambush, got no CC result - Melee instead. When his menacing Tiger came up to threaten my last remaining Sherman, I tried for the deadly US APCR for 76L with a TK of 22. No APCR. No effect with regular AP. Boxcars on the IF that I had to take. I managed to turn my VCA to be in the position to move out of LOS if I survived my Start MP. But that was not to happen. German win. What a game! I think I played quite well but anytime I recovered from some setback, another one of the really important rolls worked against me, which was beginning to embarras my opponent. I took consolation in the fact that I made the best out of the situation that could be done. Maybe I need to play this one again. |
2014-10-28 | (A) Andy Beaton | vs | Jean-Francois Fortin | | Russian win | German force was too small to stand up after lucky shots and malfs finished off his armour. |
2014-08-16 | (A) David Ramsey | vs | Daniel | | German win | Great scenario. Came within 1 squad of getting the 10 points and afv into the zone. |
2013-01-26 | (A) Paul Messina | vs | Scott Bell | | German win | |
2012-02-07 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Mark Pingley | | Russian win | |
2010-10-29 | (D) Paul Jones | vs | Richard Dagnall | | German win | Russians delayed coming through centre and couldn't press forward in time |
2009-07-27 | (A) Eric Partizan Eric | vs | Michel Bongiovanni | | Russian win | |
2008-10-24 | (A) David Ramsey | vs | Ray Porter | | Russian win | The big German tanks ruled the battle until a bog check fail for changing VCM in the woods turned the tide for the Russians |
2008-04-25 | (D) Davide Bendazzi | vs | Gabriele Davide Mazza | | Russian win | |
2003-04-25 | (D) Fred Ingram | vs | Randy Rossi | | Russian win | |
2002-02-07 | (D) Fred Ingram | vs | Dave McLee | | German win | |
2002-02-06 | (A) Fred Ingram | vs | Dave McLee | | Russian win | |
2001-11-03 | (A) Rich Weiley | vs | Les Kramer | | Russian win | Paddington Bearz - November 2001. |