A70 Wintergewitter AAR

My regular Saturday night opponent and I have been playing a lot of PTO and as such wanted something a little bit different and so went for a scenario that had snow! The great thing about ASL is that it has so much chrome that you can put together scenarios for almost any situation you like. 

In this case it's in Russia at a village called Verkhne-Kumsky on December 13th 1942 and depicts an attack by the German Panzer Regiment 11 as part of the relief effort for Stalingrad. The Russian 5th Shock Army was directly in the way. In this scenario it's just seven squads worth of infantry with just one MMG, two LMG's and an ATR, so much for the shock element. I would receive three T34 M43 tanks as reinforcements on the second turn (of 6 turns)

The German force is no better off with just three and a half squads with the same number of MG's. However they have mobility being carried into battle in three Hanomag's with a 4th smaller halftrack and five tanks a mix of PzIII and IV's. Infantry and tanks on both sides are in winter camouflage and all the buildings in the village are wooden so best cover will be +2.

To win the German's have to clear the centre of the village of Russian infantry and tanks whilst the Russians just need that one tank or squad alive and in good order to win the game.

Duncan moved up close daring me to take a shot, I did and that was my first mistake. Failing to do any damage and losing concealment I was to suffer in the return fire.

I found myself in a in for a penny kind of situation and in short order had fired all squads that had a target, all with the same lack of success. I only had to suffer the German armour for my first turn against my infantry but the two 4FP (Fire Power) mg's each tank had was enough to put me in trouble as more squads broke.

The German turn two saw Duncan scoot his tanks into firing positions to await my tank support. Meanwhile the infantry with the aid of the halftracks started to reduce the last of my infantry within the perimeter, The halftracks are especially useful for cutting rout paths and it became clear early on that I would have to win the game with at least one tank surviving to the end of the game and to do that I needed to take out some of the German tanks if not all of them as they get the last half turn.

By this time I was well behind the curve and it was still very early in the game. However I definitely failed to bring my A game and lost a tank to some fairly dumb play. I then positioned my two remaining T34's in to defensive positions hoping to out shoot his poorer armoured tanks but another really bad moment of paying attention saw me put a T34 so it was between two Panzers so had it's rear exposed.

The bonfires on the map tell the sorry story as by my turn three I was tank less and my infantry was out of position.

I have two unbroken squads and a leader, the only support weapon is a malfunctioned LMG, the two squads on the right are broken and will either be killed or captured in the upcoming German tun. It was post Rally of my turn I conceded knowing further resistance was futile a flip to the actual events.

My play was a mix of risky and sloppy, something that rewards you with a quick exit in a game. The decision to fire early could have worked for me, I was hoping for slightly better than average luck and forgetting the German's had a morale of 8 meaning I would need Duncan to be slightly unlucky if I got just a bit of luck. ASL does not reward such needs that often and this game reminded me of the vast difference between morale of 7 and 8, it's not just a pip.

This scenario would convert very easily to miniatures, if 20-28mm I would recommend cutting down the tanks to 2 Russian and 3 German and a pair of halftracks. Infantry wise keep to the same number of squads and make the German's Elite and slightly heavy on SMG's or LMG's.