What a way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Ran through SP6, Udarnik Bridgehead, twice, Jim Torkelson against Eric Myerson with once per side! If we had run some armor scenarios, I guess we could call it "Tanksgiving"!
First: I am Spanish attacker. Eric sets up pretty much standard, two squads plus LMG and leader in the building on the hill, one squad in the woods on my right, two squads in back in foxholes on the hill, and one squad next to the building in the hill patch of woods. I enter two HS and the 7-0 plus lots of dummies on the right, and everybody else (hero, 9-2, three squads plus dm SW) on the left. Secure in the knowledge that the 8-0 cannot be traded in for a commissar... I left the MMG dismantled for the whole game.
S T1: Run forward, show no units to his DFF, don't lose any concealment.
R T1: No shots, no moves
S T2: No prep fire. NAM through and besides the tongue of woods pointing at the hill from the left. Two squads have LOS, try to make them shoot at the least important units. Take one 4FP-2 shot, breaks one of my squads. My advancing fire from the 9-2/squad/LMG breaks and disrupts one of his squads, adjacent to the 9-2. Tries to surrender and gets shot in the process. No quarter in effect. Advance forwards towards and up onto the hill/woods. I am getting worried about the lack of progress in removing good order Russian squads...
R T2: He preps from the wad in the building, rolls an eleven and breaks his LMG... No movement. My defensive fire from the hero/squad/LMG break and disrupt another squad. It does low crawl away, but because it cannot self-rally, not a big problem.
S T3: My broken squad self-rallies. Assault move onto the hill, adjacent to the building. In one hex I have a 468 and the hero, and in the other I have the 9-2/dmMMG/468. Also move the two right flank HS adjacent to the conscript in the woods. First fire from the conscript does nothing. NAM the rallied squad over to the neck of the hill, moves up onto the foxhole. Take a FF shot from the far conscript that pins him. The PB FF shot from the 8-0 & two conscripts is a 2MC, breaking the squad and wounding the hero. As a distraction, run my 7-0 leader from the right side across the front of the hill to get to the broken squad on the left. Runs into a 6FP minefield adjacent to the building, at ground level! Broken. Advancing fire from the 9-2 & squad/LMG pins both of the squads! Try to rout my broken 7-0 out of the minefield, trip another one for a MC, fail, fail wound check. Cannot advance the pinned squad into the foxhole, even if I wanted to! Advance into CC with all available forces. Against the building, I have an ambush modifier of -3 (-2 leader, -1 hero), and he has a modifier of +2 (+1 lax, +1 pinned). No surprise, Ambush! I have 6:9 in firepower, and I go for the kill. A -4 DRM and a roll of seven kill the bunch. At the other CC, I fail to ambush him, so I try to take him prisoner (the extra -1 vs inexperienced infantry). Fail. He manages to kill one of my HS.
R T3: Prep fire the last available squad at my 468 sitting on top of the foxhole on the hill mass neck. 1MC, fail, elr! Defensive fire 9-2/LMG/squad (7FP even, out of range of hero) at this conscript in the foxhole. Snakes! 1KIA! That threat taken care of! In the Melee, I lose my other HS to the conscript in the woods. Now I have to worry about him shooting at me.
S T4: Deploy the 468 with the 9-2. Fail to self-rally the broken squad. I have two squads, now three MMC that have to take out the last 426. No Prep fire. NAMove the full squad into a hex adjacent to the conscript. PB FF CRs and pins me! Then move the hero into the same hex, pass the residual FP. Then NAM one of my HS into another open ground hex adjacent to this conscript. SFF breaks him! Now the 9-2/LMG/HS NAMs into that hex, survive the residual. Eric decides not to take the FPF, as a seven or more and he automatically loses. My advancing fire has no effect. I advance the hero, 9-2, and HS into the hex. I have a -3 vs +1 ambush modifier. AMBUSH! I attempt to capture him, and succeed. Victory! Down to CC on the last player turn. That is nice...
Turns out that both minefield were in the open ground in front of the hill, not a particularly important spot...
AGAIN:
Try switching sides and trying it again. I set up in a similar manner, except I put the two 6FP minefields in the wood on the Russian right, as well as the open ground next to it for when he tries to go around. I have the two squads, leader and LMG in the building. Two squads go in the woods on the russian left. One conscript goes far back as possible in a foxhole. The last squad and foxhole are adjacent to the wood/minefield hexes.
Eric enters in a balanced two prong attack.
S T1: Everybody moves forwards. He does not go around the woods/road hex on board 7 that the group in the building can see, so I take the 6FP even shot. It strips the concealment off of two halfsquads. When the 9-2/squad moves through, the 9-2 gets pinned! Some leader assisted movement on my right side too. Advance forwards.
R T1: No shots, hide concealed in the building, skulk out of LOS where possible on my left.
S T2: Try to prep fire vs guys in the building, no effect. Squad runs into the mines in the woods. No effect on the IFT, but paralyzing. Squad and 7-0 try to NAM up the hill, adjacent to the building. Promptly hosed down with a K/2 result. Leader and HS break on the 2MC.
R T2: Cannot skulk in the building, so decide to shoot. Break my LMG with an eleven. Squads in the woods on my left skulk.
S T3: 9-2/LMG/Squad prep fire at the group in the building. No effect. On the other side, his fire does break and disrupt my right flank conscript. Squad and HS assault move into the open. Both pin or break due to concentrated fire. German resigns.
The best laid plans of mice and men are meaningless when the dice hate you. Most of my fire attacks rolled sixes or less, and most of his rolled nines. His MCs were nines also. No chance to move like that.
This is a fun, quick, and bloody scenario. The eight morale Spaniards are nice. The Russian player takes some mental NMCs at how quickly his conscripts can disrupt or die when the Spanish get up close. Three positions are important for the Russkis. The building is a biggy, as it has a nice field of fire. The hill position farthest from the Spanish entry area makes the Spanish go a long way under fire. The woods on the left are possibly the most important, as they offer true skulking positions for the conscripts. A force of two or three squads there is very difficult to winkle out.