Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Advance of the Reich: A narrow win

The scenario? Heavy Tanks at Rossienie. A 9 turn battle
24 Jun 41.  The appearance of heavy Russian tanks during the initial invasion of Russia caused some panic when they were first encountered by the advancing German forces.  The German Panzer divisions, which had previously been unstoppable across Europe, found that none of their available guns, short of the rare 88mm, was capable of penetrating these monsters.  Only with great courage and tenacity where they able to halt the advancing Russian tank forces and resume their advance.

This scenario came down to turn 8. I was desperate. The Russian KV-1 had blown up all my weaker early war tanks in succession and he sat right next to the 30 point objective that I needed to retake. In turn 1 the Russians had stormed down and taken the objective and I had worked all game at getting around in cover and trying to take that spot back.

All my AT guns, all my Mortars, all my tanks could not crack that KV-1. It was time for a desperate move. I moved Lt. Thiel into position and on turn 8, armed with a satchel charge, I pushed him and his men into the road into near coverless ground to make a last ditch assault on that tank with the satchel charge.

One charge blew....still the tank was there.

Second charge blows...TANK DESTROYED.

And on top of that Lt. Thiel had taken back the objective. He came under merciless fire. Meanwhile my AT guns could now focus on the exposed Russian infantry as they were pinned down. Out of the woods on Theil's right another squad of Germans erupted, assaulting pinned Soviet troops there and forcing them back. Nebelwerfers supported me as I pounded the wheatfields with fire.

In then end Thiel's squad lost 4 men and were badly shaken but as turn 9 rolled around and ended I had scored a major Russian defeat. Added to the minor win I had gained in my Red Victory Squad Battles title and I was on a roll in my return to the series.



2 comments:

  1. Not sure why I do not own this SB title yet...I love RV and East Front games in general. Also, there are a lot of good mods for AotR...IronX mods come to mind off the top of my head.

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  2. This is still one of my faves because I love the early part of the eastern front. Lots of good scenarios and mods on the net also

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