The Awakening Of Spring - Backblast 12
I had a chance to play this one at Intensive Fire '97. We slugged it out for 10+ hours of pure ASL Bliss. I had the defending Russians. This is from memory after a week, so there are no hex numbers and such.

Attraction: Late-war Eastern-Front bloodbath. Many Big Tanks on both sides. Advanced Math necessary to calculate Final TK numbers.

A company of Russian Infantry with a couple of ATG's are all the Russians have to hold off a horde of SS with great, huge, whopping tanks (Tigers, Panthers, JadgPanthers and King Tigers!!!). The Germans have to drive across three boards to either a) exit >= 36 CVP off the far board edge, or b) have >= 20 CVP more than the Russian at game end. The German player must select a VC before the Russian setup. On turn 3 the Russians are reinforced by 5(or 6?) 4-5-8's w/an LMG and 8-1(I think) leader, as well as 4 JS-2m's and 3 SU-100's. Serious hitting-power.

Russian Setup: The Russian setup was dispersed across the possible line of German advance, covering the wide-open fields of board 19(?) that the German infantry must cross. One ATG(the 85L) is on the Russian right, on the board edge, hidden in Brush, hoping for some side shots against advancing predatory animals. The other Russian ATG(the 100L) is on the Russian left, in a wood line covering (again) the wide open spaces of board 19.

German Setup: The German setup is heavy on the Russian right, where there is a little more cover for the advancing infantry.

Early Game: The German Panzers drive hard into the Russian right. Tigers and Panthers lead the way, with SS Riders. He tries to setup some overwatch positions on board 11 hills with JagdPanthers. The 100L reveals itself and scares them down off the heights. In the center, more Tigers and Panthers put the pressure on and force the Russians back off of board 19. On turn two, the Russian right is collapsing, with Panther and Tiger tanks getting behind the Russian Infantry on that flank. The center is buckling as his drives his heavy tanks up to point-blank range to blast the Russian HMG position. The 85L on that flank reveals itself, but all it does is force the German panzers toward the center. The Russians on the left have pulled out, heading to the rear to regroup. The survivors from the center (there aren't many) do their best to disengage and pull back. A platoon of Russians on the right have regrouped and are guarding the 85L from German infantry attacks. This 85L position turns out to be vital as it ties up several German squads for the remainder of the game.

Mid Game: The Russian reinforcements arrive and proceed to setup a hedgehog around the buildings near the center of board four using the infantry and three of the JS-2m's. The remaining JS-2m and the SU-100's are guarding the flanks. The German decides to crack the hedgehog using one of his King Tigers - it rolls up to challenge a JS-2m from about six-hex range(the JS-2m is hull-down) - Defensive Fire vs. the beast is ineffective. Russian Prep Fire results in a Critical Hit vs. the King Tiger from the JS-2m!! A glorious sight! A CH from a 122L ain't pretty. The Tiger II becomes a bon fire. After that, the German decides to go around the hedgehog and forces a path through some woods to the (Russian) right of the hedgehog. The German has rolled a King Tiger and a JagdPanther through the Russian left, which is guarded by a single SU-100. The JagdPanther is stopped in a hex that the German player believes is out of sight behind a building. To me the LOS appears Clearly Clear(tm). I have to restrain myself from shouting with glee when he parks it there. Final Fire reveals that the LOS is clear; another burning wreck. The SU-100 pays with it's life at the hands of the remaining King Tiger. The German is getting his tanks to either side of my hedgehog. Time to pull back.

End Game: The Russian hedgehog pulls back to the edge of board 4. It has become clear that the German is going for the exit VC. He nails another SU-100 from a LOS that I overlook and stuns a JS-2m foolishly left CE in the vicinity of German infantry. He rolls of a Panther, a Tiger and a King Tiger and some Infantry for 31 CVP. The German Infantry desperately try to make the board edge; all his AFV's are off. On the last turn, we realize he will not be able to exit 5 CVP worth of Infantry to get the required 36 and the German player concedes.

Aftermath: We started at 3pm and finished after 1am. We both agreed that this was one of the more enjoyable scenarios we have played. Personally, I would give this one a 10 out of 10, I had a blast. What more could you ask for?

Burnie Fox