Parrying the Thrust - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Intense battle. The Russians must act quickly before German reinforcements arrive

Sucks to be me.

The lack of any German Infantry AT assets allows the Russian armor to simply disrupt, surround and capture the German units that start on the board before the German armor reinforcements arrive. Then, in the second half of the battle, the Russian armor (supported by infantry) is superior to the German armor. In the end, it is no contest to speak of.

Tough one. Having never played this one before I had my fanny handed to me. Not sure what the strategy is for the Germans. One thing that doesn't work against an experienced player is holding fast without the benefit of the extreme assault rule. Without EA an experienced Soviet player will disperse your German infantry, surround and then overrun them. This will chalk up many points for the Soviet player long before your German reinforcements come into position. Another issue I noticed is the long barrel 75mm German Mark IV's had not come on board as of turn 8. I do not recommend playing this scenario as I think it is faulty regardless of what the blitz record indicates!

the reinforcements appear much later than scheduled giving allies the advantage

The Germans have to hang on for dear life and hope their armor is not overly delayed in arriving.

Very exiting Scenario...very good "gamestory"

I liked the premise of the scenario - a fast-paced russian attack on dug-in axis troops whose armor comes to the rescue at the last minute.

However, in my situation, everything went wrong. The dug-in soldiers were very tough to damage / disrupt and *keep* disrupted; they just kept coming back for more, and hit *very* hard; the Russian soldiers simply never had a chance.

By turn 6, numerous axis tanks and resurgent axis troops seemed to be everywhere, so I resigned in turn 8. I seemed to be outnumbered 3 to 1, despite roughly even numbers of casualties. Everyone else says it's balanced, and the record reflects this, but it seemed to me the axis have a clear advantage here.

My main problem is...simply not enough Russian firepower to get the job done. Axis units not staying disrupted and my artillery causing next to no enemy casualties (because axis troops are entrenched and/or in bunkers). Russian infantry must advance under (mostly) open ground and take heavy losses. And only 12 turns to climb from minor defeat to victory! Perhaps my strategy was bad...?

violent little scenario.

Germans, hang in there. It gets better!

This was a ton of fun really enjoyed it.

For me it is necessary that the reinforcements arrive somewhat earlier.
The initial Russian mass attack is very complicated to stop and when reinforcements may arrive, it takes time to organize and attack in conditions

Apparently, the timing of the German reinforcements can be critical. I had a bunch delayed, but only for a turn or two. Still had time to reach the battlefield with decisive results. Nice mix of units, KV's are always fun. If the German defender of the two towns is tough and experienced, they'll give the Russians hell. The Reds need to use their mobility and move aggressively in order to take at least one town before the German reinforcements arrive.

Between two players of different experience levels, the more experienced player should play the Axis. The Allies have enough armor to completely overwhelm the Axis troops defending the two villages before the Axis "cavalry" can arrive to save the day. If this happens, the Axis player will have to fight their way into and re-take at least some of the village hexes to have even a shot at a draw.