May 18, 1985, the Soviet juggernaut is on a roll, but it need a steady supply line. The key to that is the Eisenbach bridge, so the 87th motorized rifles are stationed in town to defend it.
The 33rd motorized rifles and further south, defending the town of Hugelsdorf, as a likely point of any American counterattack.
The 1st tank btn is held in reserve to the north.
The Americans decide not to use the preplaned artillery strike on Hugelsdorf, instead saving te strike missions for later on.
The dice on the eastern board edge are the entry points for the US forces.
The Alpha troop surprises the defending Soviets and swings north, behind the hill, with just the M106 mortar section and the HQ setting up on the hill.
The Delta company enters through the southern point, and sets up in good firing positions across the river from the defenders. They manage to take out all of the 33rd's AFV's, and next turn even pin most of the infantry, especially the ones with the Sagger ATGM, with a little help from the mortar section.
The Soviet infantry on the other hand has had enough, and the 2 unpinned platoons assault the closest tank platoon, utterly devastating it.
While the remaining Delta tanks being confused by what just happened, the infantry seize the initiative, and assault again, this time at the platoon in town, just across the bridge, making short work of it. The remaining Delta platoon and hq decide not to counter-assault the Soviets, after witnessing how brutal close quarters combat can be, especially in town, so instead they pepper the infantry with HE fire. With a few lucky hits they manage to clear the infantry threat, and decide to head out after Alpha troop, leaving the remaining pinned enemy infantry in town for the mortar section.
On the other side of the map, Alpha troop's Abrams plt and 2 Bradley plt's set up on the edge of a forest on a hill overlooking the objective, thus triggering an alarm within the 87th troops, who, until this point were unaware of the enemy, and were unable to activate.
The alarm was noted by the approaching 1st tank btn reserves, who surround the Americans in the forest. The T-72's are unable to disrupt the Americans, due to them only just arriving, so the older T-55's are sent from the garrisoned town to assist.
The Soviet tankers manage to take out the Abrams plt, and reduce both Bradly's to half strength. In turn, over half of the 1st tanks AFV's are destroyed.
Zoey discovers the benefits of a well timed tactical retreat, so escapes with the remaining Bradly's, buying just enough time for the remaining Delta companies tanks to reach them, so they can strike together.
Alpha troops command uses its last available smoke mission to cover the advance of the joint strike force, allowing them time to set up a decent firing position at the defenders, as none of the Soviets are able to see through the smoke, unless adjacent to it.
With only a few turns remaining, the Soviet command decides not to risk anything, instead hunkering down in town. This enrages the remaining US forces, as they are unable to do much, but take out the closest infantry armed with Sagger ATGM's with mortar fire before they get a clear line of sight to any of them. The Abrams and manage to reduce a few tanks, while the Bradly's kept running out of TOW's to fire. One of the Soviet T-72's manages to knock out one of the Bradlys before the game ends.
In the end, the Americans failed at their objective to seize the town of Eisenbach along with its bridge. The Soviet defenders were just too numerous for them to handle.
The Soviets lost the entire 33rd motorized formation, more than half of 1st tank btn, and all the infantry elements of 87th, with the T-55's all being reduced to half strength.
The US forces lost 2/3 of the Delta companies Abrams tanks, and half of Alpha troop.
This was a great game. I was pleasantly surprised with Zoey's tactics, not losing sight of her objective and the scenario rules.The 87th couldn't activate until the turn after they first get line of sight of the enemy, so she kept to cover. I fully expected both Alpha and Delta teams to strike at the southern defenders first. This was such a surprise to me, as I, with a decade of gaming experience more than her, am still struggling in most games to focus on the objective, instead going for a firefight, to cause as much damage as possible, thus losing track of what needs to be done.
The assault rules are brutal. I was afraid of the Delta company with its 3 Abrams platoons, and with good reason. Lucky for me, that 2 infantry companies with their Rpg-7's are super deadly in an assault.
I've come to realize that we keep messing up some of the rules. Like, the concealed units, would get an additional defense die if they haven't activated yet, or are in overwatch, unless either an enemy unit reveals their position while adjacent or an enemy recon unit has line of sight to them. This would have had an impact on our games, but since both of us missed it, we will implement it in further games. Then, infantry has a save value of 5+ instead of 6+ while in terrain. This would have also made an impact, as infantry are able to have more defensive bonus dice than tanks, due to being concealed, in terrain, with wrecks. I must keep an eye out for this. We are still having trouble with some tanks, like the T-55's this time, who I forgot could fire at extended range, instead I kept driving them around. I must remember that underlined range means its an ATGM weapon, with no extended or short range bonus, and the underlined Firepower means the unit can move and fire. Every unit without an underlined range can fire at extended range. Also, something we missed last time, HE fire is affected by moving the same as AP fire, so most units are unable to move and fire their HE weapons. This also means that most infantry are also unable to move and fire, making assaults even more important.
Next scenario introduces helicopters and anti aircraft weapons.
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