Historical Background:
The fighting for control of downtown Stalingrad raged on for days. Battle lines vanished. The armor-supported mobility that the German soldiers had been accustomed to during their rapid progression across the Russian steppe soon degenerated into the utter chaos and madness of urban combat as Soviet troops “hugged” their enemy to death. Each street leading to Red Square became a battlefield… and each building surrounding the square a fortress.
The ‘9th of January Square’, just north of city center, was one of these lethal, vicious hot spots. Soviet troops, under the command of Junior Sgt. Yakov Pavlov, barricaded themselves in a four-story apartment building - surrounding themselves with minefields and barbed wire. Each time German infantry or tanks tried to cross the square, Pavlov’s anti-tank gunners laid down a withering fire, beating back one assault wave after another. After each German attack, his men had to run out and kick down piles of German corpses to keep clear firing lines across the square. Sgt. Pavlov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions and, months after the battle, Chuikov would still joke that “more Germans died trying to capture Pavlov’s House than died capturing Paris”.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.
Briefing:
Axis Player
[Germany]
Take 5 Command cards.
You move first.
Allied Player
[Soviet Union]
Take 5 Command cards.
Conditions of Victory:
9 Medals.
The Road hex on the Soviet Base Line and the 8 named city landmarks with a German medal are Permanent Medal Objectives for the Axis forces. The Axis player gains the Medal when he occupies the hex at the start of his turn.
Taken together, these 9 German objective hexes also form a Temporary Majority Medal Objective worth 2 Medals for the Soviet forces. The Soviet player is in control of them at the start of the battle.
The Railroad Station and the 2 Road hexes on the German base line are Permanent Medal Objectives for the Soviet forces. The Soviet player gains the Medal when he occupies the hex at the start of his turn.
Special Rules:
Combat rules are in effect.
Blitz Rules are in effect (Actions 15 - Blitz Rules). In addition, the Allies, like the Axis, roll only 1d per hex when playing an Air Power Command card.
Russian Command rules are in effect for the Allied player (Nations 2 - Red Army).
Place a Battle Star with the infantry unit in Pavlov’s House, to represent Heroic Leader Junior Sgt. Yakov Pavlov (Actions 8 - Heroic Leader).
Place a badge on the 2 German engineer units (Troops 4 - Combat Engineers) and on the 2 Soviet single figure units (Troops 10 - Sniper).
The Soviet player lays out the Minefields (Terrain 29 - Minefields).
A unit that starts its move on a Road (Terrain 42 - Roads) and stays on it may NOT move 1 additional hex, because of craters and rubble.
Air Rules are not in effect. The Air Sortie cards are set aside and are not used in this mission.
Scenario link
Setup Photo (a lot of terrain):
For the first game I took axis side and my opponent took allies. Axis started to attack in the left and center sections and took 3 of the 9 permanent medal objectives. Allies tried to response but they had cards only in their right flank. After axis cleared the center and right flanks, they attacked Pavlov’s house with tanks, destroy Pavlov’s unit and kill Pavlov for a 10-6 victory.
End Photo (even if axis won the game I threw two dice to see if Pavlov survive):
For the second game we changed sides and began the battle. Axis started with an assault in their right and with cards in center but every time they tried to reach the medals on the baseline they were destroyed by soviet artillery. Axis killed Pavlov with their artillery but lose the game at the score of 9-7.
End Photo:
Conclusion: a very good urban scenario.
If you played this scenario please share your experience.