Grumble Jones January Scenario GJ041 - Carpathian Cats

The January Grumble Jones scenario is my take on the famous stand of Lt. Vitez Ervin Tarczay and his two Tiger I's at the Battle of Hill 514 near Saturnia in western Galicia. Armies of Oblivion covers the same action in ASL Scenario 117 - With Tigers on their Tail. This excellent scenario is a larger scenario and covers the action in great detail than mine. While my scenario covers Lt. Tarczay's actions, ASL 117 attributes the action to another Hungarian Tank Officer.  I try not to duplicate anything already done, but given that there are over 5000 scenarios, the likelihood of duplication is probably pretty high and such is the case here. 

 In researching the Axis Forum and Feldgrau, I came across references to the action on Hill 514 by Lt. Tarczay. Unfortunately, there was not a tremendous amount of detail about the action. In short, Tarczay and his Tigers were credited with destroying 14 T-34/76's in a sharp firefight lasting about 30 minutes (or 15 ASL Turns...).

Replicating these kinds of events in ASL is hard. Whether it's Wittman at Villers Bocage or Tarczay at Saturnia...it's very hard to replicate these kinds of heroic actions. Tarczay and Wittman never had to roll dice..which are fickle things and as likely to roll a hit as to break your main armament. So an ASL player knows it will be very hard to duplicate similar exploits.

But that of course doesn't mean we shouldn't try eh?  So here's my humble attempt to create a scenario where two Hungarian Tiger I's can shoot up a bunch of T-34/76's and still (maybe) give the Soviet Player a chance to win the scenario (though just barely). Achieving balance in a scenario like this is challenging and I won't pretend to have attempted it. So when choosing sides...make sure the other guy has the Soviets.

As always these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.

 

Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 

And as always, the PDF for this scenario can be downloaded from The ASL Scenario Archive 

(just search on Grumble Jones).