This last Saturday, May 3rd, I got together with 4 players at Imperial Outpost Games in Glendale, AZ to have another go at my "Stemming the Tide" scenario using the Mein Panzer rules.
This time, I had 1 returning player from my game in December, Richard B., 1 player that has played before but not this scenario, John C. and two new players, Rodriguez Rod and Max F. I had Richard and Max play as the Germans while John and Rod took the Russians.
The scenario takes place in August 1943 as the Russians are going over to the attack after Kursk. They have broken through the German lines with elements of a tank brigade leading the advance to continue the penetration of the German front lines. The Germans have 2 mixed tank companies of Panzer IIIs and IVs to attempt to stop the Russians from securing their objectives.
This game went 3 full turns in addition to the German pre-game move to allow them to get to the battlefield first. We called the game after 3 turns since a couple of the players had to leave and it appeared as if the Russians were getting the upper hand in this one. The Germans had lost most of their 9 Panzer IVs by this time and while the Russians had suffered some losses of their T-34s there were still plenty of them left. The Russians also occupied the road at the top of the hill which was one of the geographical objectives for their side.
This game was essentially a warm-up for the game I will be running at the local Sand Wars convention in Chandler, AZ the coming June 7th. Between now and then I will be looking to see what if any tweaks I need to make. I designed the scenario to run 6 to 8 turns or so to reach a good conclusion.
The guys that I had all seemed to have a great time and I know at least a couple of them have expressed a definite interest in doing more games including 1 of my newbies. That is reward enough for me.
Here are a few pictures of our game.
