Short replays (also posted on consimworld). Oldest postings at the bottom. 8.4.04. Played another couple of games last night, this time the Counterattack to the Flank scenario, which has in its notes the cryptic sentence "a well deployed WP player may not always win, but a poorly deployed one will always lose." I guess it's fair to say we haven't found the right deployment yet. When we played this one in Austria, NATO won twice. Yesterday, on the first run, NATO had very weak forces on the flanks but almost annihilated the tank regiment in the center. With the path to the northern map edge all but clear the WP resigned on turn 3. On the second run, the WP kept falling back for a somewhat more balanced loss ratio but that only meant that again, most of the NATO force exited on turn 4 for a decisive victory. (It didn't help that I misread the exit locations, but I'm not sure it would have made such a difference, as holding the line would have invited much greater losses. I guess an important part for the WP is to try and shatter the German brigade, which starts out within reach of Soviet positions and has to take ten hits to reach that status. (The US brigade also takes about ten hits.) That said, they were short several hits when the Germans exited so that is not so easy either. Looking forward to the Battle for Wuerzburg scenario in a couple of weeks, but this one, despite its small size (one division, two brigades) has still not been "cracked" either. 27.3.04 After seeing Chris' unorthodox defense I was somewhat worried that he might actually have "broken" the Bear Trap scenario (once the NATO player has 3 brigades in the city the Soviet player might as well give up), so I gave it a solo try. Due to its free turn it is virtually impossible to keep the German Pz brigade (the 36) out unless you win initiative as the Soviet on turns 1 and 2. It is also hard to keep the second US brigade from reinforcing the city on turn 2. However, it seems that can be done if one is willing to accept some losses. The Soviets have to cross the Main immediately to block the flanks and these forces are then vulnerable. But even with the 36Pz in Wuerzburg on turn 1, I managed to clear a Wuerzburg hex of NATO troops by the end of turn 2 (Soviets had gained the initiative on turn 2). Overall that defense will provide a fascinating puzzle for the Soviet player. Its risk for NATO is that it is probably an all-or-nothing proposition since if the Soviets do get in, there is only the single German mech brigade blocking the LOS, and the Guard armor reinforcements coming in from the north will have little trouble sweeping it aside. 24.3.04 Played the Bear Trap scenario again last night and this time, for the first time ever, I saw NATO win that one. In complete circumvention of what the scenario notes suggest NATO can and should do, Chris raced the 36Pz and the 2nd US brigade to Wuerzburg to shore up the defenses. I did not react quickly enough to block at least part of this, and the Soviets while still achieving reasonably even attrition, just could not wear down the defenders quickly enough to enter the city. Some desperate river crossings later in the game, trying to find access from the east and west, racked up the Soviet death toll significantly, but it didn't matter. The 35PzG brigade briefly blocked but basically did not contest the drive of the Soviet Guards tank division from the north which reopened the LOC without problems. The 35PzG didn't sustain any losses either though so the VP imbalance was not redressed. That was moot anyway though since the Soviets didn't manage to gain entry into Wuerzburg and so NATO won decisively. As usual, very tense game. We're getting better control of the rules and there were some very bloody fights (a Soviet tank regiment crossing the Main river in open terrain in the face of 3 Panzer battalions suffered virtual annihilation, losing 7 steps out of 8, while the Germans retreated unharmed). 26.2.04 Chris and I played another round of "Race for the Bridges" yesterday, with switched roles. Totally different course of the game, more combat, more bloody, (Russians actually left the board at the northernmost permitted point), outcome a narrow draw. I had a slight gap in the lines which permitted an early breakthrough, reestablished a line at the Main, managed to pin the crossing Russian artillery with a counterattack that cost me half the German tanks, and meanwhile one regiment slipped past my weak defenses before the Canadians were in position. 18.2.2004 Chris Harding: Markus and I played this last night, we did the first scenario. Only five turns and not that many units. Game played very smoothly, I was a newbie to it and Markus had not played it ftf for a number of years, but generally no problems. The game resulted in a draw, but the NATO player was fortunate to gain the intiative late in the game which allowed him to extract a poorly postioned unit prior to it being stomped by the Pact boys. I certainly look forward to our next game. 10.9. 2000 Two playthroughs of Counterattack to the Flank In the first one, the Soviets put the Divisional Tank Battalion out on the defense, it was attacked by the Germans and squashed, which opened the flank and they poured through. In the second one, there was more infantry on that flank, the Germans managed to open a hole in several attacks with equal losses on both sides (5:5), but the Americans left a hole that enabled the Soviets to slip through and threaten the all-important US artillery in the rear. However they failed to win initiative on the next turn and the Soviet player conceded (too early, I wrote).