Friendly game at Zmaj club by Dule

Eastern Front 1485 pts.
Soviet Motostrelkovy Guards (Dule) vs.
Romanian Vanatori Motorizata Elite (Pedja)
Mission: Cauldron (Mobile battle)
Mission Special rules: Immediate Ambush, Prepared positions, Reserves, Delayed Reserves and Random Deployment
Friendly game at Zmaj club.

Pedja is a very experienced player and he had 10 platoons and an airplane! I had only 6 platoons and I was the attacker. I did not play often with motostrelkovy but somehow I thought that my list had potential. I had a large platoon of infantry and a very good platoon with four KV tanks. The remaining four platoons were mediocre, but in the game you never know. I have decided, for the first time, to take a platoon of 6 medium mortars with an observer for 110 pts. That was something new for me but I wanted to have something against enemy PaKs that are so often deadly for my armour. I did not take any AA and I felt sorry for that the same moment I saw that Romanians had limited Stuka support. Romanians had five platoons on the table and five in delayed reserves and I deployed two motostrelkovy platoons and a mortar platoon and left three mobile platoons in reserves. Pedja rolled the dice for his platoon ratings and, as far I can remember, rolling was mediocre, so the platoons were typically reluctant/veterans. They knew how to fight but did not have will to do so.

Romanians had the first move and they have decided to move, and then shoot and assault my small motostrelkovy platoon that was hiding in the woods! That was a surprise for me since I was expecting them to wait in their trenches for me to attack. Previously, PzIII tanks easily pinned down my motostrelkovy and then Romanian infantry assaulted. In the war nothing goes as expected, so motostrelkovy managed to survive, counterattack and destroy many Romanian teams so that they had to test platoon moral and fled. I have unexpectedly killed one platoon. But there were 9 left and I still did not earn the point.

I moved as far as possible to remain in the woods but to be close to objective.

On the other side of the table I had a very large platoon of motostrelkovy. I have decided not to wait and to come as close as possible and to try to take an objective.

But Romanians started to shoot at me with artillery, PaKs and infantry and I started to lose more and more teams. In a few turns I had to test morale and failed. Since PzIII tanks already destroyed the previously mentioned small motostrelkovy platoon I already lost 2 platoons, CC and 2iC, and things started to look very bad for motostrelkovy.

Meanwhile, I received some reserves. They came automatically since I could not roll five ups. So, I had three platoons on the table. The road to the objective was pretty clear and my tanks were going straight for it.

Romanian reserves started to arrive too, light tanks and cavalry. I got BA-64 platoon from reserves and decided to use it to destroy cavalry. My mortars killed PaKs! And that was crucial to give my tanks a chance to take the objective.

I have learned something in this game. Artillery has to turn guns towards the platoon at which shoots. In our home games we have never done that. Unfortunately for me, they had one KV tank in line so they have started to bombard my tanks. I killed the Romanian cavalry. At that moment, everything seemed to be on my side - I was on the objective, already killed 3 platoons... But Pedja managed to somehow deny the objective all the time, with either PzIII or infantry. And he started to bring his reserves fast.

Romanians did not have luck with their air support. They either did not appear or my tanks managed to save.  On the far right there was an interesting battle between BA-64s and Romanian infantry. Ba-64s assaulted and managed to destroy another infantry platoon. I have decided to consolidate 4" more to meet other platoons. That was a mistake that almost cost me the game...

I have decided to shoot at PzIIIs with everything and destroyed them and another infantry platoon. There was no-one left to deny the objective!

The Romanians had one last assault. They destroyed BA-64s and if they managed to destroy another platoon, like medium mortars, they would have won, since I would have automatically failed company moral (3 of 6 platoons already destroyed, no CC, no 2iC). Romanians assaulted with everything they had, but mortars managed to survive. They were badly wounded, many of them killed, so they had to test platoon morale, which they did successfully and remained on the table. The game was over, and motostrelkovy won 4:3.

This was a very interesting game with many turnovers. I think that Romanians risked too much when they took the chance with the first-turn assault. On the other side, had they succeeded, I would have lost one motostrelkovy and very soon the mortar platoon and since my reserves were not arriving the game could have ended very quickly. I made a mistake with BA-64s chasing the infantry. I should have brought them back to stay close to mortars and provide defensive fire. It was a very bloody game with 5 Romanian and 3 Soviet platoons destroyed. Two motostrelkovy platoons died heroically taking all enemy fire to their chests so that their comrades in tanks could reach the goal.