Second out, Paper Tigers by Don Lazov!
- - - - - - SPOILERS BELOW - - - - - -
Italian partizans attacking a smaller but dug in Waffen SS formation.
I tried nothing fancy, went in basically head on.
Tried to concentrate my forces so that when the punch hit I would be able to carry forward enough to finish off routed German units. Didn't want to see them recover between turns. I gambled that they would be weak, and chanced on them not having any indirect support.
I managed to make it into the town and capture the first few VHs, but spent a little too long on the approach march. The Germans are very well placed. Tank and MG42 fire swept the town main street clean of partizan effort. I managed to swarm and knock out one of the German tanks, lost one of the Italian light tanks though and running out of time began to advance in a reckless fashion. The Waffen SS Squads are mostly 12 men strong and can take a little punishment. Most of the Italian squads are weaker and began melting away.
After taking about half the town the advance had truly bogged down. By the last two turns a sharp German counterattack developed that could have turned ugly - but time ran out so I was spared.
I used the HQ unit in the front line because it was one of the few units with smoke. That doesn't happen too often.
Game ended at Turn 27 of 26. Italian losses were 129 troops and two AFVs. The Germans lost 144 men and one AFV. Score 566 vs 581, I held 9 VHs at the end, the AI the rest.
Excellent map! Challenging scenario!
I thought the Italian partizans would be low quality infantry that would rout for almost nothing but they are actually pretty sturdy even after taking losses. The German mortars did not disrupt the advance all that much...