Scenario 42: 'Bodyguard of the Estonian People' found in the original Panzer Grenadier game is an ideal learning scenario for this system. It is the shortest scenario at just 5 turns and does not use vehicles or other special unit types. The battle is fought during the night and so visibility is reduced (from 12) to 1 hex, thus reducing the number of opportunity fires that might normally occuring a game. The following is a loose description of a replay of turn one, demonstrating the sequence of play and some of the main principles of the system. The scenario has elements of the soviet 180th Rifle Division defending a small hill. German forces, company G (reinforced) 464th Infantry Regiment, set up within 3 hexes of the hill and must capture it. SETUP: SOVIETS Soviets setup first, they get 2 lieutenants (ALL lieutenants from the game are put into a cup and 2 are drawn randomly), 1 is average, the other is poor. The forces setup in line in front of the hill. SETUP: GERMANS They get 2 lieutenants and 1 sergeant, again randomly drawn, they are a bit of a mixed bunch. They setup 3 hexes away from the front slopes of the hill, placing a 75mm gun battery out on the right flank and a couple of 81mm mortar sections to the left.

TURN ONE: 1. Initiative Determination Phase. The scenario sets German initiative at SIX and soviet initiative at ONE. Germans roll a D6 and add their initiative = (3+6=9). the Soviets do the same = (2+1=3). The Germans win with a difference of 6, so the Germans go first. ALSO, the winning player divides the score difference by 2 (6 divide by 2=3). This means that the Germans not only go first, but are allowed to conduct 3 actions before the Soviets can conduct any. 2. Action phase (don't forget - visibility is down to 1 hex) GERMAN ACTION 1: a (good ordered) lieutenant activates himself and activates the infantry unit he is stacked with. The decision is to move both counters forward. Infantry can move 3 hexes (-1 for the snow in this scenario). They advance forward 1 hex, moving adjacent to a Soviet infantry unit and a heavy machine gun. STOP - receive OPPORTUNITY FIRE. The Soviet HMG fires first (note - when more than 1 opportunity fires from the same hex at the same target unit, they can choose to combine their fire factors) with 7 fire factors, the following modifiers give COLUMN SHIFTS, -1 night, +1 opportunity fire, +2 target adjacent = attacker firepower moves 2 columns to the right to the 16 fire factors column. Rolling 2xD6 (score 8) gives a morale check result. The German Lieutenant does not help the platoons morale (as he has a zero modifier), the platoon rolls (7) and passes. Now the Russian infantry platoon gives opportunity fire, they score 12 which flips the German unit as they lose a step, they then fail their morale check and become disrupted (they would be demoralised if they had failed their roll by 3 or more). While disrupted, the platoon halves it's combat strength, can only move 1 hex and cannot enter an enemy occupied hex. The German platoon's movement ends in the hex because it has failed it's morale check, it is marked with a MOVED counter. GERMAN ACTION 2: a German stack of 2 x 81mm mortar sections activates to fire at the soviet hex that has just opportunity fired, although visibility is down to 1 hex, a german leader is now adjacent to those Soviet units and can therefore act as an observer to bring the fire in. The mortars combine their fire and attack using the bombardment table. The result effects everyone in the target hex (forcing morale checks). The HMG becomes disrupted and the infantry become demoralised (can't fire offensively, defends at quarter strength, morale level drops by 1 point and it must move towards cover if in it's own subsequent activation it fails it's recovery test and if at that time, it is within range of an enemy unit that can harm it). The mortars are marked with a FIRED marker. GERMAN ACTION 3: another German leader activates and takes the platoon stacked with it, forward into the same hex that the 1st German had vacated. Opportunity fire is likewise received (although units can only be activated once per turn to either move or fire, in opportunity fire, the firer gets 2 chances to fire before being marked with a FIRED counter). But this time, the Soviet fire is innefective due to the penalties they suffered following the mortar attack (for being disrupted / demoralised). The Germans halt because they want to assault into the enemy hex. Assault requires it's own activation in which the attacker must start adjacent to the target hex. The German is marked with a MOVED marker. SOVIET ACTION 1: the two units in the stack that opportunity fired have done so twice now and thus they have been marked with a FIRED marker, so they can't activate to attempt recovery until turn 2. Instead the Soviets activate a leader and a platoon to begin digging in (this will need another action to complete - next turn) and marks the unit as MOVED. GERMAN ACTION 4: a German sergeant with a morale modifier of zero and a fire modifier of +2, moves with his 2 platoons adjacent to both of the Soviet hexes that contain the soviet units that have already activated this turn (the opportunity fire stack and the digging in stack) so neither of those hexes can produce any opportunity fire. The German platoons and leader are marked as MOVED. SOVIET ACTION 2: a leaderless stack of Soviets want to move next to the Germans that just moved (in German action 4) but the rules do not allow a unit to move nearer to an enemy that can harm it unless activated by a leader to do so. So instead this unit also decides to start digging in and is marked MOVED. GERMAN ACTION 5: The Germans 'PASS' - the artillery unit has direct fire values and due to the restrictions on night visibility, cannot see any targets to fire at. Even though some Russian units have fired, they cannot be spotted at a range greater than 1 hex. Note: the graphic above is in error as it shows the artillery firing at Soviet positions. SOVIET ACTION 3: The last available stack that can activate is a SMG platoon and a leader, the leader activates the platoon to advance towards the german 75mm battery. But the special rules in this scenario require a Soviet unit to roll a 1 or 2 before it can actually move, the unit fails it's die roll so remains in place and is marked with a MOVED marker. 3. Marker removal phase. All FIRED and MOVED markers are removed from the board, attempts may also be made to remove smoke markers,  though none have been used during this example. Conclusions- The Germans have managed to bring most of their strength adjacent to the Russian right flank without suffering serious loss themselves. The Germans will obviously be looking to launch assaults against the Soviet stack that they are now next to during turn 2. The two Russian units defending this flank position are in a bad shape, they were heavily mauled by the German mortars. Demoralised units must attempt recovery as their next action (turn 2), retreating if they fail. TURN 2 now begins...

TRAINING GROUND