The fortunes of war had turned full circle. The Reichstag was in flames; the war all but over. Surviving elements of Panzer Division Muencheberg, the final stalwart defenders of Berlin, decided to attempt breakout to the west rather than surrender to the Russians. Believing that the Havel crossings at Spandau in western Berlin were only lightly defended, the few remaining units moved out from Tiergarten after dark on May 2nd.. . . [Mark Nixon, Journal #1]: High quality Russians hold the canal bridges against rag-tag remnants of the Muencheberg Panzer Division, fleeing Berlin in the last days of the war. Scenario parameters force the Germans into a frenzied rush across those bridges and something of those fearful days seems captured here in cardboard.
Attacker: German (Muencheberg Panzer Division)
Defender: Russian (2nd Guards Tank Army)
9 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:18.0 D:15.0
AFVs: A:5
StuG IIIG PzKpfw IVJ SPW 251/1 x 2 Opel Blitz x 3 PSW 222(L)
In SSR 1 change "pre-designate" to "secretly record".
MMP
Q: Re SSRs 1 and 7, which one is resolved first? A: The German secretly records his entry hex, the Russian then places his Rubble counters, and the German reveals his entry hex.
MMP
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
My units east of the river were set up to quickly retreat across the bridges, and they did so. This provided the Germans an uncontested approach to the northern bridge, and they had their first units at the entry of it at the end of Turn 2. Another decent-sized force moved up behind cover of the hedgerow toward the center bridge (this, and the one just south of it the only bridges clear of rubble), and another token force moved on the south. The last batch of reinforcements made it obvious that the strongest infantry push would be in the north. Turn 3 saw a HT race over the center bridge and off, but the AC and the Panzer were both stopped at the German-side entry of the bridge (the latter burning), providing some infantry cover at least. A Russian squad was taken captive in its attempt to block the north bridge. Turn 4 saw the hot AT gun smoked in by the StuG, allowing the other HT and two trucks to drive off, aided also by the ridiculously poorly constructed SSR4. Another Russian squad was lost in the north, and the Germans now had their bridgehead. The much-needed Russian reinforcements of course chose to enter up there, as half the current Russian force situated there were dummies. Turn 5 saw the StuG fall in the same hex as the AC, the Russian HMG overheat while rebuffing the central German force, and the Germans exploit their northern bridgehead. Had you asked me at this point what I thought the German's chances would be I would've guessed practically zero, but I was proven wrong on Turns 6-9 in what would be one of the most exciting sessions of ASL I've ever played. Andy pushed his troops hard, and was rewarding by averaging about 5 on his MCs. If his IFT rolls would've matched these the game would've been over quickly, but here he was about as cold as I've ever seen dice (averaging almost 9 at one point), with a fair bit of 12s in the mix to break some MGs and reduce his ammo-short men. By the end of Turn 6 my northern troops were almost hugging the border, staying out of LOS of his 9-2 kill stack. Turn 7 was a disaster for him in the middle though, with everybody being broken and rounded up as POWs. He did manage to eliminate my crew in CC, but these men were busted up trying to dash across the road on Turn 8. In the north things fared much better, with him storming up and catching some of my men in open ground, rounding up a squad and leader as further potential exit VPs. I was lucky enough to survive a 8+0 in the far north though after whiffing on my 16+0, allowing me to advance and tie him up in CC in the woods adjacent to the board edge. My tank survived a PF shot to back into bypass to cover one of the four hexes he could exit from, I moved men into the upper levels to cover another, and men up to the wall and in the woos to hopefully the other two. Had he connected on his only prep shot in Turn 9 I think he would've had a safe haven, but his 6+1 only managed to pin my HMG squad, disallowing a FL at least. 12 VP of infantry were guaranteed as they AM'd off, joining the 12VP of vehicles previously exited, seeing him only need 9VPmore to win, of which he had 15VP possible (2 of which would need to infiltrate out of CC). One squad AM to the edge - pass. Another squad same - pass. 8-0 leader guaranteed exit - 1VP. But disaster struck when his 9-2/squad walked into snake eyes resid, and then final final saw another snakes eliminate one of the squads. Game over. I give Andy a lot of credit for sticking with what I considered an impossible situation, as it made for one hell of an exciting ending.
2024-02-24
(A) Tony Fermendzin
vs
Steve Boro
German win
2024-02-17
(D) Peyton Spreacker
vs
Brandon Dega
D
German win
DON'T ROLL BOXCARS.
Initial Russian set up with MGs was good. However, there were multiple instances of poor rolls that led to the MGs breaking. the HMG squad fixed their gun, but in the subsequent turn, their leader went berserk and rallied his men to go with him. Unfortunately, the entire German column was two hexes away and on their mad dash to their target they were mowed down with a snake eye on 36 FP (7KIA). From there the northern part of the board was open and there was little the Russian reinforcements could do to stop the German win.
2021-08-12
(A) David Garvin
vs
Loic Gourdon
Russian win
I didn't make full advantage of the LV in the first few turns. And Loic had a great set up!
2021-06-20
(A) Vilis Pavulans
vs
Kai Glanz
German win
We reversed sides and tried again. This time a lot faster german movement. Few casualties until they hit the canal. Then the first halftrack with passengers got hit without survivors. The germans focused on the right side which looked least defended and managed to get across with few broken. A smaller force went in the center but was bogged by the hedge and the infantry was cut to pieces there. So the main thrust went right and that´s where the russian reinforcements came in. They broke quite a lot of german infantry but enough swarmed by and managed to accumulate enough VCs without the last AFV getting off board.
