Death of 1st Panzer #2: Speed Bumps, May 15th, 1985

Solitaired this scenario twice more, trying to settle on a winning Soviet gambit. The Leopard II with HQ is an instant-kill every time it fires, and the rest of the german force can expect four disruption/reductions per activation (against BMP's).

SOVIET STRATEGY: The best I've come up with is to have the infantry enter the map on foot, and march towards Wittburg, accompanied by the HQ and one or more T-62's. That protects them from Milan fire from Talen (the HQ will draw fire, but hopefully it will survive or just be reduced). Second, have the full BMP force enter separately, moving out into the wedge-shaped piece of open country East of Talen. One or two will die, but the rest can sit patiently, threatening all moving german vehicles with a barrage of Saggers.

MID GAME: both Marder platoons will be destroyed, a handful of BMP's wrecked or disrupted, and a bunch of soviet infantry on the hilltop, ready to assault Wittburg. The BMP's will be out of command for most of the game, but they're mainly providing opportunity fire. Over time, a few of them will make their command rolls, so the soviets will have some direct fire.

END GAME: will feature the Leopard II sitting in Talen, plus a german infantry unit in the fields nearby, peppering helpless BMP's with Milans twice a turn. The Soviets will have most of their surviving units disrupted or reduced or both. The BMP force will be only partially in command, and odds are that that part will be unable to rally. Using those unreliable assets, the USSR has to march its infantry into the teeth of the German death-trap, more or less unsupported by what BMP fire there is (the forest to the East of Talen blocking their LOS). The game will end with the Germans holding Talen and the Soviets holding Wittburg.

VARIANT: I've played around with one variant so far: Give the Soviets one BDRM (another option for calling in artillery fire), and one Sagger (allowing soviet infantry to threaten the Leopard in the end-game). In my game, the BDRM drew immediate fire when it poked its head out, but assuming it survives, it can sit quietly, remaining in command, calling in artillery fire. In my game, this was a very minor advantage. The Leopard II shrugged off the infantry's Sagger fire (Sagger is 3 dice hitting on 4's vs. the Leopard in town at 5-6 dice saving on 5's).

RATING: Soviets will lose without some sort of force enhancement. Another idea is to add the 87th Motor Rifle, and get rid of the (admittedly cool) radio jamming SSR.