ASL scenario 2

The scenario requires the German player to capture three specified large buildings, which are spread amongst several buildings in the Russian line.
The Russian plan was to have a collapsable defence, with Russian squads slowly falling back towards building E9. This building was to be held at all cost and was the objective for the Russian reinforcements.
The Russian player chose the following setup:-

Firebase ... MMG + 4-4-7 + conscript + 8-1 leader in E8
Firebase ... LMG + 4-4-7 + 8-0 leader in M5
Firebase ... LMG + 4-4-7 + 7-0 leader in O6
Other ........ 4-4-7's - H8 + M6
Other ........ conscripts - G7 + H6 + K5 + O5

The German plan relied upon the hitting power of their elite assault platoon. They sat on the German left flank and would be responsible for clearing and capturing building L5 AND building O6. Their high morale, demolition charges and flamethrower were well suited the task. In the centre, the bulk of the company were to attack and hold the building line G7 to K5 and from there, to push on and assault the E9 building. They would be supported by a MMG and a manoeuvre team on their right flank.

The German player set up as follows:-
The assault platoon and the 9-2 leader occupied P2 + P3 and N3 (the flamethrower was N3).
Firebase ............... MMG + 9-1 leader in D6
Manoeuvre team ...4-6-7 + LMG = 8-1 leader in B7
Platoons A & B ......5 x 4-6-7, 2 x LMG, 8-0 leader in the building line F5 to J3

Wow - what a start, the German flamethrower in N3 Prep fired at M5 and rolled double 1's. Next the German MMG in D6 fired on the Russian MMG stack in E8 and rolled '3'. This broke both of the Russian squads, allowing the German manoeuvre team to assault their position - the main defensive position in front of Objective E9 had spectacularly collapsed.

It didn't all go the German way though, on their left, Major Pigot's assault platoon threw down smoke and advanced but the defending Russians put out enough fire to break a squad (carrying a demo charge) and pin Major Pigot. The surviving squad advanced into O5 for close combat.

By game turn 3, the Germans had units in all of their objective buildings. Here you can see the assault platoon making good use of their smoke capacity to get adjacent to their enemy. Things looked increasingly gloomy for the Russians and it was only the timely arrival of their reinforcements this turn that gave them any hope of just staying in the game.
They had to abandon their plan to defend Objective E9 and instead, the reinforcements entered the board at M10 to make for Objective L5 - this at least allowed the Russians to move without being shot at.

The substantial available German firepower meant that it was unlikely that the Russian squads would survive more than a turn or two if they just sat it out - instead, they decided to enter into close combat in each of the objective buildings, intending to lock down the German support weapons and stop incomming fire. This coincided with Captain Gorelov's reinforcements arriving at Objective L5 and assisting in that Close Combat.

The tables had turned to favour the Russians. In Objective E9, the melee just continued but in both Objectives O6 and L5, the Russians won their Close Combats and reclaimed control of the buildings (the Russians got double 1's in their O6 Close Combat - plenty of low rolling in this game).

By the end of turn four, the Germans had finally managed to capture Objective E9 but the other two objectives remained under Russian control. Units from both sides were joining the new Close Combats in buildings L5 and O6, which then rumbled on for a couple of more turns. The Russian reinforcemets were good quality troops and they had really given a hard edge to the Russian defence. As the last attacks of turn 6 ended, the Russians had managed to retain control of objectives L5 and O6 and therefore claimed the victory.

This was my second playing at this scenario and although the German order of battle looks well equipped to do the job, I have seen them lose both games. The tension in the scenario comes from the random arrival of Russian reinforcements. In each of my games, they have arrived early, but if they had been delayed by a turn or two, then things would have got really tight. Overall, this is a well designed and balance scenario with lots of replay value.