Vikings

 Another Decision Games mini game, this time "Vikings" which covers various adventures undertaken by the sea faring Nordic warrior/settlers. Tim was going to run this on one of our weekly game sessions but wanted a run through first, so Russell and I pitched up to play test it. It is designed as a solo game but works perfectly well with a GM and player team. 

The map is a stylised point-to-point map of dark ages Europe. Unusually for a Viking game, this is a strategic game and the map goes all the way from the Black Sea to North America! 

Even more unusually, it is structured as s series of "Sagas", which encompass a range of different objectives.  These are drawn randomly and generally involve settling/pillaging various areas and also include some Quests. You have to complete all the objectives within a set number of turns as determined by how many "voyage" cards are allocated to that Saga. Like other DG games in this series the number of actual voyage cards can vary during the mission depending on what happens. 

The Saga gives you starting levels of gold, Edda points (favour of the gods) and other resources. You have to draw a Jarl to lead the expedition, and the Saga ends when you achieve your objectives, run out of voyage cards or you don't have any Jarls left! 

For our first Saga we drew one which required us to establish two settlements, or which one had to be in Vinland (America). The Saga included one quest, which unfortunately was in Constantinople! Not much chance of doing both, so we set off towards America via Iceland. We'd drawn Harald as our Jarl, who was good at fighting, but an average sailor.. Really we needed Leif Erickson for our transatlantic voyage. 

We just had enough gold to buy some ships and men, but we needed to get more en route as settlements cost  money to establish. You can get money by sailing to a trade centre and trading, or by winning battles and pillaging. Given Haralds skills, you can guess which we went for... 

There are only six settlemen counters, we started with two and we needed to place two more. The reverse side is the "pillage" marker, and you can't settle a pillaged area in the course of the same Saga. 

We actually managed to sail to Iceland and settle it, which was a good start. For sea yoyages you move half a D6 spaces, and dont want to be stuck at sea. We  got lucky and made it in one go to Iceland, defeated the natives and built our settlement with the gold we'd looted from them. 

The trip to Greenland didn't go well, we lost a unit on the way, but we did manage to land and pillage the area as there weren't any enemies to fight. 

We made it to Vinland but met hostile natives and lost another unit, leaving just Harald and his bodyguard! We had enough gold to build the settlement, but there wasn't a hope of getting to Constantinople in the remaining time, so we called it there. We'd failed the Saga so lost an Edda point. 

You can string the Sagas together as a campaign , so your gold, settlements and Edda points carry over. 

The next Saga required us to undertake two quest AND the establish a new Kingdom! This in turn required us to conquer and settle a fortress, a warrior kingdom and a traditional centre. Nothing difficult then... at least we got a lot of gold to start. 

Fortunately some locations combine characteristics, so both Novgorod and Paris combine being trade centres and fortresses. East or West? In the end we decided to do a Ragnar Lothbrooke and attack Paris, followed by an assault on Wessex for the 'warrior kingdom'. 

We had enough gold to buy ships, a couple of infantry and a berserker. This time Harald sailed via Ireland and pillaged it, then landed in Normandy and pillaged that too. 

The it was onto Paris and a hug battle for Paris, and in which Harald was killed! Disaster! However had kept an earlier voyage card which let us draw a new one, Leif Ericsson! Leif appeared in Denmark and we used the loot from Paris to raise a new fleet and army, leaving Haralds survivors to hold Paris. Good job too as  French army tried to retake the city. We held it. 

Leif meanwhile sailed over the North Sea and landed in Scotland. 

Th Great Viking Army marched South and defeated Alfred! Wessex was occupied. Now we just had the matter of those two Quests. One was in southern Spain, the other in Vinland. We'd earlier drawn an event which revealed the Spanish one to be "runes", although it wasn't completed. If we could complete the other one, they would both count as successful and the runes get shuffled back into the deck. 

Leaving a garrison in Wessex, Leif sailed north again. Luckily for us, Leif is a good sailor and gets an extra move. Despite this, we still had to move seven sea spaces all the way across the Atlantic. 

Leif lost all his accompanying units en route, but thankfully we still had our earlier settlement established so we didn't have to fight our way ashore and he made it to Vinland with time to spare. This automatically satisfied the other quest, so the Saga succeeded.  Phew. 

What a clever game,there is a lot more to it than I've outlined with lots of period flavour, but hopefully that gives an idea of it.

We ran these two Sagas again later in the week with more players, and with a bit more experience and more canny play, managed to win them both, although once again the casualties among the Huscarls were horrific.

Zvezda 1/100th scale SU-122

 Just like the Germans, the Russians produced a bewildering variety of self propelled guns, and I've always had a vague hankering for an SU-122, partly as it was the Russian SP gun type chosen for the basic Squad Leader game which only had generic tanks and SP guns. In fact it wasn't a hugely common vehicle, around 600 were built and mainly saw service from late 1942 through 1943 and into early 1944 steadily being replaced by heavier gunned vehicles in the heavy SU role or SU76s in the light assault gun role.

The SU122 wasn't a bad vehicle, and its 122mm howitzer could demolish even quite heavy German tanks with a direct hit, but obviously it was a howitzer and not a gun, and it was rapidly superceded by the 152mm armed SU152 on the KV chassis and later the long 122mm and 152mm guns on the  IS chassis. The T34 platform instead became a self propelled anti-tank and was equipped first with the 85mm gun and then the superb 100mm gun which saw active service late into the twentieth century and I even saw several dug in around the airport in Havana in 2004. Anyway, I digress. 

As I was perusing the 'Plastic Kit Man' stand at Partisan, I noticed he had a couple of Zvezda SU-122s, so I duly purchased them. I should probably only have got one, as I only have one KV85 and they were produced in similar numbers, but two is somehow more satisfying.

These were very simple kits to assemble, no pratting around sticking the tracks together like the older PSC T34s, and thankfully no horrible internal frame to install to support 'push fit'. The only slightly fiddly bit was getting the gun into the hull, it has to sort of swing and click into place. The mantlet is quite a thin piece of plastic and I was worried about damaging it, but it was OK. 

The main components are just two tracks, hull bottom, hull top and gun, although there is a slightly fiddly bit to put on the rear of the fighting compartment. It is the piece just in front of the engine deck in the photo above. The inevitable fuel tanks are also seperate. A lot of the detail is nicely moulded and comes out well with a wash and a drybrush, although in common with other Zvezda kits, some of the finer details are quite shallow and take a bit of work to pick out.

I just did them in plain Russian green, Vallejo 894 mixed with a big dollop of Vallejo Middlestone to lighten it. I didn't bother with an overall wash, but pinwashed around the details and then gave it a light drybrush of Iraqi Sand. I slathered the lower hull, wheels and tracks in mud, and gave them an overall inkwash and drybrush and highlighted the tracks with gunmetal. With overall green (or grey) vehicles, they look much better with mud coloured lower sections.

That was an unexpected bonus purchase, but they have come out well. I just have to find space for them in my bulging box of Russian AFVs!

Backdated German drivers

 Along with the Allies, I also needed to retrofit some German drivers. I'd actually been a bit more assiduous with the Germans, but it was an excuse to buy a load more German seated figure packs and, gunners and even some spare head packs from Peter Pig.

Most of the 'empty' vehicles are from my recent DAK project, although I have a couple of very old early war Kubelwagons also missing drivers. I didn't do the DAK vehicles at the time as it was such a huge project and I wanted to streamline the production as much as possible

And here they are after, again, they look so much better. I have to say, some of these vehicles are a bit more challenging to retrofit than the jeeps. Jeeps have cutaway sides, which makes getting figures with sticking out elbows in much easier.

These are Germans from the PP seated Germans pack, which like the US one, comes with a mixture of drivers, armed figures and a couple of lounging officers. I also got some spare heads in a variety if headgear, but for these figures I didn't need to do any swaps. They are nice figures but on 'eaten all the pies' end of bulk, compared to PSC, QRF, Skytrex or even the early PP figures.

I did most of the uniforms in tropical/cotton drill mid-green, with some Field Grey mixed in and the helmets a  mixture of grey or dark tan, the idea being they won't look too out of place in any theatre.

First up were these three very old (late 1990s) PP Kubelwagens. I have to say it was an absolute pig to get them in. These vehicles date from when PP stuff was smaller than it is now, and internal space is minute, not helped by the figure poses themselves which stuck out sideways. It took a lot of surgery to get them in, and even then, they've ended up sitting more in the middle than I'd like. Anyway, they did get in eventually, and they still look better than the empty vehicles. I just wish I had a few of the plastic PSC drivers left, but I don't.

As I was working on them, I added impressionistic number plates, tail lights etc. which also raised them a bit.

This is much more recent, a BPM Kubelwagen and considerably more roomy inside as the hull sides are much thinner. It still took a fair bit of surgery to get the figure in though.

And finally these two PBM Sdkfz 10s. The sideways space was fine in these larger vehicles, but there wasn't much room front-back, so I ended up having to file off quite a lot of the drivers very expansive bums and lower torsos. A tricky job here was cutting out the 3D printed steering wheels, which were very close to the windscreens, but I managed to avoid snapping them off by accident.

With all the filing and cutting, the drivers went in these quite well in the end, and the moulded on steering wheels looked fine. Anyway, glad to have done that and in future I'll try and do it as I go along instead. 

The 2024 US Election - the game

 John had already run a game on the selection of President Biden successors, so it seemed logical to do one on the election. By great skill and planning we managed to run it on election night itself and the following day. Part 1 covered the campaign and election, while Part 2 covered the aftermath of the election results. 

It was run as a matrix/committee game for half a dozen  players or more. Sadly on the day we were short on numbers, so Micheal played Donald Trump, Mark was JD Vance and Elon Musk, while I was Kampala Harris, Waltz and Joe Biden. It is quite hard work running multiple characters at once! 

The game was structured in the same way as our other political matrix games. I'm afraid these aren't very photogenic however. The key to the whole thing this time was rather daunting spreadsheet below.

This listed all the states, their projected shares of the vote and calculations showing the impact on the electoral college, Congress and Senate elections. 

Player actions could impact the vote shares in individual states as well as the overall national vote share, as well as the other impacts of their actions. While this sounds rather dull, in fact it was very exciting and we all spent much of the game peering at tiny percentage splits in the critical swing states. I felt like Toby in "The West Wing".  It also helped develop a much better understanding of how the US electoral system works, and safe to say, it has just as many oddities and idiosyncracies as ours. Many of these are to do with the various compromises agreed between the States and the Federal Government about who has power to do what. 

I won't bore you with a blow by blow account in the absence of photos, but just a quick summary. In the campaign phase (the first 10 turns or so) both sides deployed most of their resources to campaigning in the swing states with Musk and Biden focussing on national issues. Various mishaps happened along the way, including the inevitable (failed) assassination attempt on Trump, which was a catastrophe for the Democrats as it boosted his standing considerably. However come election day, Harris squeaked in with a majority of the popular vote and wafer thin majorities in the two of the key swing states, 274 plays 262. The thing which swung it was the overall national vote thanks to a good Biden campaign, whereas Musk was lacklustre at best. It was just enough to tip the swing states over the margin.

Some of the majorities were fractions of a percent, to both sides, and in the post election phase (turns 11 to 18 or so) we had various re-counts. The critical state turned out to be Nevada, 6 electoral college votes, Democrat by 0.10% The state house was blockaded by Proud Boys, the National Guard escorted the electors inside but one of them cast their vote for the Republicans and not the Democrats, a 'faithless elector'. In the end the result was allowed to stand rather than inflame the situation further, which still left the Democrats on 273 when it was time to count the votes in the Capitol. 

JD Vance pulled a blinder however, and moved that the entire Nevada vote should be discounted due to the faithless elector. This would take the Dems down to 269, and require the house to vote on who get to be President. A brilliant move on Vance's part, as although the Dems had the majority of Congress seats, the Presidential vote is by State. The Republicans had a big majority of states.

The motion fell however, and Kamala Harris was duly elected President.

What a great game, very clever indeed and utterly absorbing.  It also demonstrated how tiny swings in the vote could make a huge difference to the electoral college votes, and the uselessness of wargames as predictive tools. Obviously irl it turned out the polls were miles off and Trump swept the board. "Its the economy stupid" as Reagan famously quipped, and this time "the border" as well. Something Kier Starmer might want to keep in mind for 2029. 

Desert Shermans and some extra desert crews

 The last bit of desert armour on my painting list were some Shermans for El Alamein and onwards. Some years ago I picked up a very, very cheap PSC 'US Tank Company' boxed set at Triples, which really has been the gift which goes on giving. It is still stuffed with unbuilt Shermans, Stuarts and halftracks, the Shermans helpfully being all varieties except Fireflies.

I just wanted three desert Shermans. PSC supply separate sand shields for their cast hull Shermans, and a range of turrets and mantlets. As ever with PSC they are lovely crisp mouldings with hardly any flash and went together perfectly.

There seem to have been a mix of small and large mantlet Shermans supplied to 8th Army, so I did two wide wide mantlets like this one and one narrow. The sand shields have to be glued on as separate pieces, but mercifully they fit well and there are some tiny locating lugs to help position them.

Lots of stowage is provided so I mixed it up on the different vehicles so they all look similar, but not identical with variations on spare wheels, tracks, tarps, jerry cans etc. I omitted the AAMG on the commanders tank and also did it with a narrow mantlet.

I painted them all in desert pink with three variations on the 'official' disruptive black camo scheme taken from various photographs of vehicles. As with the stowage, they all look similar, but not identical. I finished them off with an ink wash and a light drybrush of pale sand to pick out the highlights.

As I was doing some desert stuff, I did another QRF Grant I had in stock. This one also got the jazzy sand/brown/white camo scheme as I think it looks rather smart. So now I have two plain Grants, and two camouflaged. 

While I was doing some modelling, I also added a few bits and pieces of crew. One of my Vickers Lights got a commander, in this case a PP tank commander in sidecap. I just filed off the top of the cupola and cut the figure down until it was flush. I painted the top of the hatch cover black and just stuck the figure on. I didn't bother to model the open hatches as they would be tiny and vulnerable to being knocked off.

Although the PP figures are on the beefier side, it makes you realise just how tiny the Vickers is. It really is just a Bren Carrier with a turret. Many years ago I converted an Airfix carrier into a Vickers, the chassis is almost identical. 

I also did some drivers for my QRF 15cwt CMP trucks. These are all PP figures, somewhat misleadingly labelled as 'Seated British' when in fact they all have moulded on steering wheels, I'd hoped for some seated figures with rifles. Anyway, the trucks didn't have cast on steering wheels, and after cutting off most of the figures legs and lower bodies I managed to get them into the cabs OK with the wheels positioned behind the dashboard. They look much better with drivers.

I do slightly regret getting these as they are horrible models, but I couldn't quite face building a bunch of PSC 15cwt trucks at the time. They look OK now I guess. 

That is pretty much it for the 15mm Desert stuff now, the 'desert armour' box is completely full. I need to add some drivers to a few more German vehicles, but I'll do that as and when needed and couple more Italian bits. I'm basically back to just doing bits and pieces now, which I much prefer to the big batch paints. I've realised I 'need' a Nashorn and a couple of Hetzers for a scenario and I also need more US transport, some more recovery vehicles and ambulances and maybe some M3 GMC Tank Destroyers, so plenty of other stuff to do yet.

Uniforms of the World

 There are a few semi-mythical wargamers reference books, the Funcken uniform guides, Jentzs 'Panzertruppen' Volumes 1 & 2, Chamberlain and Doyle etc. , but one I never thought I'd acquire was "Uniforms of the World" by Knotel, Knotel and Sieg.

Anyway, thanks to a pointer from John A, this thudded onto my doormat recently, all 483 pages of it. A comprehensive uniform guide for 50 countries and as many again of German and Italian states covering over 200 years. Apparently eBay is awash with these at very affordable prices, I really can't think why as it is such a great book.

It does show its age a bit, it was first published in 1896 and this is the 1956 edition, revised in 1967, which goes up to uniforms of 1937 so early/pre WW2. It reminds me very much of some other 1970s/80s uniform guides in that it has line illustrations and endless lists of regimental uniform distinctions. I suppose it isn't exactly packed with eye candy, but it is packed with very useful information, all in one place.

So, if you really want to know about Serbian Army uniforms of the 1890s (who doesn't!) , or the cuff lace colour for Anhalt Jagers in 1848, then this is the book for you.

I imagine it has some errors and omissions, but it is good enough for the sorts of things I am likely to need it for and it is pretty comprehensive (the German States alone cover 120 pages.). Coupled with the various colour plate guides I already have, it is plenty to cover the specific regimental variations.

The Borisovka Pocket

 This is the last battle in the current series covering the battles west of Belgorod between 5th Guards Army, 1st Tank Army and German LII Corps in early August 1943 using my One Hour WW2 rules. 

By 6th August 1943 the Germans had been forced out of Tamarovka and retreated down the Vorshla valley to Borisvoka. The German right flank had completely collapsed by now and contact was lost with Armee Abeitlung Kempf, so the Russians were able to outflank the Germans to the east. Threatened with encirclement and annihilation, 19th Panzer, 255th and 322nd Infantry Divisions tried to break out.

An obvious scenario to base this game on is Neil Thomas's 'raid' (iirc) where a small force has to march from one side of the map to the other while various enemy forces close in on all sides. 

Battlefield from the south. A fairly featureless plain east of the Vorshla with the main road/rail link running north-south. The major features are Hill 106 dimly visible in the northeast, a couple of streams bisecting the landscape, the woods in the southeast and a couple of small villages.

The initial situation, not much on the table at all!

There are columns of German transport fleeing down the road.

But north of the stream, 294 Guards Rifle Regiment from 32nd Guards Rifle Corps has occupied Hill 106 and is interdicting the road. The road is littered with burning and hiding transport but German LOC troops are holding off any further Russian advance west. Historically 294GRR couldn't get to the road but brought it under fire.

Simon commands the 294th.

Meanwhile to the northeast are what is left of 255th Infantry Division and 19th Panzer Division, each Regiment organised into battalion sized kampfgruppen.  19th Panzer has an armoured 'regiment' with the remaining tanks and halftracks, while the other 'regiment' is motorised infantry and engineers.

The 255th also has two 'regiments', each the equivalent of a battalion of leg infantry, although the lead regiment is supported by what is left of 52nd Panzer Abteilung. On 6th August it had an operational strength of 6 Panthers.

Bringing up the rear is a battalion of Wespes and a battalion of towed 105mm guns. The rest of the heavy equipment, including over 70 damaged Panthers, has been abandoned. As supplies are short, the artillery only has three fire missions and there is only one supply column. The Luftwaffe is able to mount a few Fw-190 fighter bomber sorties.

The Germans need to motor across the table and get at least two units off the southern road edge. Easy peasy. Mark commands 19th Panzer and Tim 255th Infantry.

However.... 13th Guards Rifle Division has formed a Forward Detachment under Captain Moschenko, which will arrive on the southern edge fairly soon to complete the encirclement. This is centered around 242nd Guards Tank Brigade and 39th Guards Rifle Regiment mounted in lorries. They are supported by a 120mm mortar regiment.

Pete commands the Forward Detachment.

And charging down the road from the north is the entire 31st Tank Corps! Supported by flights of IL-4 bombers.

This Corps is split between Terry and John. Terry has all the tank brigades while John has the motorised ATR battalion and is overall force commander so manages the logistics etc.

31st Tank Corps was the weakest unit in 1st Tank Army, with three tank brigades (100, 237 and 242) but only a motorised anti-tank rifle battalion instead of a motor rifle brigade. It was reinforced with units from a  Tank Destroyer Brigade assigned to 1st Army. The Corps had been largely destroyed at Kursk and rebuilt with Soviet vehicles. Bringing up the rear are two supply columns, but the Corps doesn't have any significant indirect fire assets.

They will arrive in a few turns so the Germans need to get a move on.

On come the Germans.  The 255th heads due south, while 19th Panzer heads for Hill 106! That is quite a bold move. 

Faced with the motorised onslaught, Simon (294 GRR) calls up the entire Russian airforce who duly pound the Panzers. The disruptive camo on the left hand IL4 works really well, you can hardly see it against the tabletop! 

The Germans respond in kind, while the Panzergrenadiers sidestep the hill and head for the river crossing. 

The 255th (Tim) swings southwest and contacts the stream. 

The pounding continues on Hill 106 and the Germans take enough losses to become disorganised. I'm not sure what Mark is hoping to achieve here. 

The Germans reorganise the Panzer, while the Panzergrenadiers capture the bridge intact. The infantry plod on behind parallel to the stream. 

And the Russians keep pounding the panzers. They might have been better off retiring before trying to reorganise. I'm sure bombing those ambulances constitutes some sort of war crime!

Petes Forward Detachment now arrives from the south. It boldly marches northwards to meet the Germans. Everyone is being very aggressive today, personally I'd have dug in around the exit hex, but pushing forwards allows for a delaying action.

Faced with this new threat, the panzergrenadiers at the bridge turn around and Tims guys have now closed up to the stream. They can all advance to engage Pete in lockstep next turn.

The panzer regiment is still stuck on Hill 106 however, once again being resupplied. Those ambulance crews need a medal. The Russians have now suffered enough losses to become disorganised.

Petes troops shake out into line rather than advancing into range of the Germans. Make the Germans come to them. The tank brigade has a ZOC over the road. The 120mm mortar observer is with the tank brigade and the FAC has relocated to the motorised rifle brigade while the Russian airforce bombs up again. These guys are all Guards, so can take six hits each.

And here come the Germans. The panzergrenadiers nip into the woods at the top of the screen.

They are followed by the battered panzers and the 19th Panzer Div HQ. I was rummaging around in the desert armour box anyway and pulled out my Mammut to use as the HQ.

The Russians concentrate their fire on the infantry regiment with the Panthers, which causes enough damage to disorganise them.

The Germans reorganise the Panthers and shoot up the Russian infantry with air and artillery support. Meanwhile the panzergrenadiers grab the exit hex and the panzer regiment rolls across the stream. It looks like it is the Russians who are surrounded now! 

The Russians pile everything back onto the Panthers, including all their bombers.

And 31st Tank Corps comes barrelling down the road, scattering the fleeing German logistic units. There is nothing to stop them as the Germans have left the bridge undefended and didn't attempt to demolish it. 

Faced with this new threat the Germans accelerate their breakout attempt. They are still trying to save the Panthers but two units close in on the Russian motorised infantry. Fire from the panzergrenadiers and artillery is enough to disorganise them.

The Panthers finally succumb to the Russian fire as 31st Tank Corps continues its headlong advance southwards. The leading brigade is now aware of the panzergrenadiers ahead. Most of the the Russians still don't even know what a 'Panther' is in 1943, they were persistently misidentified as Tigers. So "The Tigers are burning!".

Shot in by the 255th, the panzer regiment overruns the Guards motorised infantry, although they take heavy losses in the process. 

The leading brigade of 31st TC opens fire and the other brigades fan out into the open country behind it.

Most critically, Petes 242nd Guards Tank Brigade manages to assault and destroy the already weakened 19th panzer regiment and it occupies the hex.

The situation at the end of turn 8. Things are looking a bit grim for the Germans as I think they will struggle to get two units off now, but stranger things have happened so we shall see.

Reduced to two manouvre units, the Germans don't have many options. The Germans dump all their artillery and fire from the Panzergrenadiers onto Pete's tank brigade, and the 255th slips into the cornfields. The Russian ZOC precludes any further movement. 

For their part, the Russians stand and shoot with everything in range, while the unengaged units manouvre closer. Mark and Tims units are both reduced to half strength and disorganised. 

The Russians missed the chance to move and simply block Tim's infantry in, so the Germans still have an escape route. 

Mark reorganises while the artillery lands on Terry's tank brigade now. No option really as the Germans have to keep the exit hex open. Tims infantry move along the narrow corridor to freedom. 

This is actually a pretty good move as one Russian tank brigade has been suppressed by artillery fire, and now a lot of the Russians are masked by cornfields. 

The Russians fire at what they can see, and having finally sorted out their airforce again, whistle up the bombers. Even with air support, the fire is relatively ineffective. The Panzergrenadiers are hammered, but Tim gets away with just one extra hit. The Russian mortars are out of ammo and need resupply this turn. 

The Germans have a glimmer of hope. 

Once again the ambulance crews reorganise the battered Panzergrenadiers and the German artillery fires, this time to little effect. However the 255th manages to push one more hex and links up with 19th panzer. 

Perhaps final victory is in sight? 

Well, perhaps not. Eagle eyed readers will note another tank brigade has pushed into cornfields  Even though the Red Airforce is absent, the revived Russian mortars and extra tank fire are enough to break the 255th, and the survivors flee across the fields. 

View from 19th Panzer. Now they only have one unit left, the Germans have lost and the remainder withdraw. A well earned victory to the Russians, who responded very effectively to the various German manouvres and focussed on what they needed to do to win. The Germans changed plans halfway through, which with only four units, isn't a luxury they can afford. Mark reflected that he should blocked the road north, as it allowed the Russians to get their tank Corps into action in two turns. 

That is an interesting scenario and I've actually run it a couple of times before in the guise of a German attack in 1941. For the smaller force they have to decide very early on if they are going to try and destroy the unit on the hill or just go for broke and dash for the exit. If they go for the hill they need to mass everything against it, but in any case they need to leave something to block the enemy reinforcements piling on down the road. Whatever happens they are going to have to fight for the exit when the flanking force arrives, and they need enough strength and time to do that.

That was a good game, great fun to umpire and I hope the players enjoyed it. A fitting end to this linked scenario mini campaign, and although I'll come back to the Eastern Front in 1943 at some point, next we are off to new pastures.