While most Soviet formations were either out of supplies, victory drunk or both, the German landsers were becoming weary of constant defensive action. With new equipment in place and supply lines back to the Reich shortened by the territorial losses of summer, Army High Command could once again be seen with gleams in their eyes. Any offensive, no matter how small, was seen as an opportunity to restore morale to the tired Panzerwaffe. The elite “Grossdeutschland” Division, along with Panzer-Division 24, would get the honors for Army Group North. Rolling over the hills near Olszak, the Kampfgruppe led by Major Wietersheim attacked with an élan reminiscent of the blitzkrieg years.
Attacker: German (Panzer-Regiment "Grossdeutschland")
The Germans firmly secured the North hill and successfully staved off counterattacks there, but the South hill became a brutal pitched battle, with majority control see-sawing back and forth. Things looked dire for the Germans when both Panthers (and 9-2 armor leader!) were lost to SU-122s after taking aggressive interdiction positions on the Western crest-line, but two StuGs improbably won exciting gun duels against a T-34 and SU-122 before succumbing and the other gained Level 3 unscathed in a position to interdict further Russian gains. Ultimately, all German tanks were knocked out, but the balance tipped in the German's favor with the demise of a SU-122 to a HS Panzerfaust shot. 17 to 16 points - German victory. A fantastic combined arms meeting engagement scenario that is well-balanced and heck of a lot of fun to play! A mini-Hill 621. One learns reverse slope defense the hard way here......
2022-12-08
(D) Jim Bishop
vs
Russian win
Interesting scenario. This is a classic meeting engagement to see which side can gain control of a contested hill. Both sides get to the hill at about the same time, with the Germans getting there ahead of the Russians based on going first. The tank battle is also a very interesting mix of armor. In my playing, I took a small part of the hill with my Infantry and held a small corner of the hilltop. I then hunted down his AFVs, eliminating all of his armor by game end. It should be noted that Finn is still learning so we spent a lot of time trying to pass along rules and explanations.
2021-09-04
(D) Ross Mulcare
vs
Seb Mankowski
German win
After months of playing with early war armor, wanting to push around some heavy tech, we turned to this short, straightforward take-the-hill scenario. As the Russians I planned on ceding the hill on my left, but set my Gun up to cover the pass between the two. We raced to the other hill--a natural target for both of us since it contains the bulk of the victory point hexes--and had a gruesome infantry battle in the woods there. The Germans successfully repulsed my infantry-led attack there, and set up with ideal overwatch to prevent an attempt re-take. I pivoted to the other hill, the one I planned on ceding, hoping to snag at least those VP hexes and pop a few German tanks along the way. Alas, I just couldn't mount enough of an offensive to dislodge him from either hill. I conceded on 5 after my final MPh.
Lots of fun to be had with the big tanks firing at each other, but I do wish the terrain allowed for the armor combat to happen at a distance. As it stands, there's no terrain high enough outside of the two central hills to fire from afar at anything other than crestlines. The mist LV SSR is cool and gives an interesting sense of time passing.
2020-12-29
(A) S. Slunt
vs
Brad Hunter
German win
The Russians need the balance. Tends to be very dicey.