| The Dead of Winter | Daniel Soukup | Russian | 2020-11-05 | Lost | The German defense was very well thought out with placement of the VIE and PaK 35/36 backing up a front line of squads. They covered the exit hexes well. Unfortunately for the Germans, the two infantry squads with the machine guns did not want to defend very long, at least after an initial killing of the first Soviet squad that entered. They were quickly broken, then eliminated from the woods on the Southeast side of the board in a matter of a few turns by quick Soviet infantry advance. Save for one more half squad (a key loss given later events) that was eliminated in CC, the Russians did not lose any more infantry. The T-34s moved north of the woods and eliminated the dug-in IVE in two shots (better lucky than good). With 3 T-41s and 4.5 squads facing one Pak 35/36 and a surviving vehicle crew with 2 turns to go, it as in the bag. The T-34 platoon was making good time to the exit hexes and only had to roll over the undefended trenches. That is until the Germans add two late recruits, General Winter (turncoat) and Mother Earth. Two of the three tanks bogged just one hex from exit. During the last turn, one was eliminated by the tireless anti-tank crew pumping round after round into the bogged and motionless AFV, finally eliminating one of the two stuck vehicles. While this was happening, the Soviet infantry was able to sneak off the board with two German leader prisoners. The remaining Soviet vehicle's crew tried everything to free the bogged T-34, but that made it only worse and immobilized it in the trench. The sweet siren call of victory was dashed upon the harsh rocks and dirt of the German trenches, only one hex from exiting the winning VPs. The final score was 19 VPs for the Siberians (one half squad short of the required VPs) and a ticket for their commander to the gulags on the Russian wastelands. | 6 |
This one seems to hinge entirely on how successful the Canadians are with smoke on the early turns.