Soviet Turn 4:  Again, my own impatience is my worst enemy.  Instead of shaking up the squads in L10, I move directly in to melee with it and lose my squad.  I know I’ve lost at this point but let’s see if luck can repair what brashness has broken.

Kev does not fall for my attempt at pulling all of his units into melee in Q13.  Instead, he throws the Germans into the hex and starts to move north to attack my base of fire/command.  So far, the tank has managed to fire but it’s gradually less effective as the turns have worn on.  Also, Kev has managed to pull several random events that include putting a “Fired” marker on any unit.  Naturally, he chooses the tank and I effectively lose half my main firepower for much of the game.

At this point, we had a couple of SMCs with support weapons and we both suddenly remembered that this reduces their movement by 2.  I don’t think it has seriously affected the game so far but luckily, this does mean his units are advancing towards me a bit slower.
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US Turn 4: Soviets take initiative and rush in on Boone! No..! Poor Boone. Thankfully neither the T-62 nor the PKM Tridpod are used before hand. I think Brad really wants to lock me up in the North. This could have been a disaster, but Boone hangs tough, protects his still shaken 1/2 squad and kills the Soviets attacking him! The man is a hero!

The Soviets in Q13 are the biggest threat to me. I quickly allocate the West Germans to fight them at 2:1. Nothing is resolved, but neither side is going anywhere down there. York now has choices, he grabs Yuri’s PKM from his still warm but dead hands and prepares his squad for action, while Felice races across the street to capture a building hex and get a bead with his LAW on that pesky T-62. Sarukin spots  York, and fires but misses. Now York leads his men across the square capturing another hex. We get the “fired” random event for the capture of R11! The T-62 is out of action again.  :)…..I think I have him if I can survive the tank in Turn 5.

Soviet Turn 5:  Sgt. York throws his stolen RPK out the window of R13 just like I threw any chance of winning out the window a couple of turns back.  The T-62 fires at L10 and shakes Cpt. Boone but does nothing to the squad.  What’s worse, the Americans also pull a hero.  Things just keep going from worse to worst.

More men are thrown into the meat grinder of melee in L10 after the PKM tripod with Capt. Sarukin is totally ineffective in trying to shake up the hex.  Sgt. York and his Krazy Kommandos storm into P10 hex with my leader and the tripod firing wildly.  In an epic fight that will not be forgotten, York and Sarukin kill each other and no one is left alive in the hex after melee.  Michael Bay, eat your heart out.

US Turn 5:

Wow, what a turn of events. The T-62 opens up on Boone again! with the squad next door we are spotted automatically. The 105mm, MGs and all sort of ordnance come our way. Boone is shaken, the rest survive and Hobbs appears as a Hero! Sweet.  It is always awesome when you get the Hero!

All I got to do is survive the end of turn now.  Brad is persistent and does not give up however! He  throws more men at Boone and  Hobbs. Dam, that building is becoming a slaughter house. Felice low crawls for one more VP hex. Sarukin spots and fires at Sgt York, missing, who then attacks via Q9 (York dropped his RPK so he could double time),  the capture of the hex creates a Spetnatz unit which Brad puts in M8. For the Love of Pete! Thank goodness its game end. When that Spetnatz moves he can pick up one more VP hex, for a total of two extra. Things just got tighter at the bell!

The Melee is resolved in an ugly fashion!  The Melee kills both teams. Brad concedes at this point, with 9 US building hexes,  2 contested and 3 controlled by him +2 VPs for Felice its game over.

Soviet Afterword:

Lessons learned

• Don’t get greedy:  What I should have done is let my Soviet squads simply sit in S10 and R11 to cover the Americans in the south while my PKM and T-62 whittled away the Americans in the northern buildings.  In a nutshell, concentrate fire on one area while preventing enemy reinforcement with opportunity fire.
• Patience:  Take the time to shake before melee’ing.  It’s the difference between rolling and hoping for a number versus walking into a hex a little later and taking everyone out effortlessly.

Tactical Successes

• Firepower focus:  The use of the tank and the PKM was absolutely devastating to the Americans in the first turn.

As always, a great game from Kev and a well-deserved victory for him too.

US Afterword:

Lessons learned

• A recent video I did talked about the need for concentrated fire. That is key here.  Brad did a superb job of fixing my units then finishing them, with the one two punch of the PKM tripod and T-62.
• Leave as few units alone as possible, I really needed that Medic up North.
• Heroes can be a game changer in a good way. Both of us benefited from that.
• Waiting to get your licks in is a balancing act between exposure and concealment and success or failure.

Tactical Successes

• Letting the play develop or the turn develop before committing my resources helped. Brad elected to leave secure hexes open, by waiting for him to ‘commit’ I allowed my self the tactical advantage of having more choices at the right time.
• Melee can be your friend if you bring the right weapons and teams to the party.

Brad played another great game.  My luck held out only because he got enthusiastic and forgot to use the MG’s on the Tank and rushed a couple of Melees. Up until that point, I was thinking he was going to wipe the board with me again!

Conclusion:

It was a see saw tough battle that brought all the best of modern tactical combat out using different force strengths and weaknesses to their advantage, with some nice drama in the form of Heroes added to the mix! Another nail biter LNL classic.