Saturday, October 4, 2014

Viva la Muerte! -- The Conclusion!

After an absence of two weeks while on business travel, it was nice to pick up this scenario again last night. Now, I'll be honest. I really suffered from no illusions that I would squeeze out a victory. My infantry attacks had failed to bust through the outer ring of defenses and the Russians had moved to check my main attacks on the right flank. The Russian 81mm Mortar had also checked my infantry assaults on the left flank. My one remaining bright spot was my armor, which was largely intact and in good position to carry the attack forward. But would they succeed...




 Starting positions.
 
 

The last Spanish assault.



My Spaniards gave it their all, but well placed Russian MG's and a few boxcars on my part stopped them in their tracks.


 The Hetzer and T-34/85 duel continued. My Hetzer managed to shock the T-34/85, which allowed a Stug to rush it from the rear and take it out.



 Destroying the T-34/85 was the high water mark of the Spanish attack.



 My Spanish continued to try and push forward on the left, but just couldn't get things going.


The attacks on the right made a bit more progress, but the Melee with a Russian 5-2-7 dragged on too long. They simply wouldn't give up.



 My close combat record continued to suffer as the 5-2-7 kept me locked in melee.



 The disaster struck on the left flank as a Russian 4-4-7 with an ATR crept through the snow covered brush and took out my Stug in CC. That resulted in my third AFV loss, which by SSR triggered an automatic recall of all remaining armor.  So my Spanish Infantry could only watch on in disbelief as their armor support turned and headed for home.


With the armor support gone, my Spanish lost all heart. They continued to attack the fortified building location in the center and were shocked when they managed to force the Russians to rout out of the building. A moment of success in a sea of disappointment.

The Russian SU-85 with the malf'd MA made a run to get inside a building to avoid the impending arrival of the Stukas. A bad bog roll resulted in the SU-85 crashing into the cellar causing its destruction. A bit of a weird moment in the game.



The Stukas arrived on turn 5...far too late to impact the battle. Their first target was the Russian 50 Cal...but I missed the sight roll and flew right over them. So much for that terror of the skies.


 The Russian mortar and 45L AT gun crews were busy manhandling their guns towards the village center when the other Stuka pounced. Machine guns failed to hit and the 200 lb. bomb only managed to break the mortar crew....oh how I wanted to eliminate them...but it was not to be...but like KHAN...I will grapple with thee to the last oh hated mortar!!!




 

The Russian 50 CAL decided to end the melee next door by breaking all the Spanish and Russians in the building. For a moment the Spanish and Russians were allied in common cause to escape the blistering fire.


At the start of Turn 6, the Spanish conceded victory to the Russians, whose defense remained intact throughout the game.

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