As usual, let's see the Victory Conditions first.
I need 8 points for a draw, 10 for a Minor Victory, 12 for a Major.
8 VP hexes (1 VP each) are in two factories I named the horizontal (west) and the vertical (east) one.
The last VP hex is on the northern edge on the map, but there is plenty of time (21 turns) to take it.
The German forces (and the visible Russians) already on the map include the following.
From the west edge of the map to the horizontal factory:
A medium-to-low quality German force (1st and 2nd line squads), poorly led (2xC leaders) and armed (2xHMG) facing a slightly better armed (more MGs, ATRs) Russian force.
Horizontal factory:
A strong German force of Engineers and Fallschirmjagers, well-led (an A*** leader and many others), lavishly equipped with LMGs, FTs and DC, facing a mixed infantry and engineer Russian force.
Vertical factory:
German forces here are to be set up by the German player. See below. The Russian defenders appear to be another mix of engineers and infantry, but unlike the horizontal factory the building is larger and the VP hexes are in the interior. This would mean taking lots of Defensive Fire at 1 hex, but there are no alternatives.
From the vertical factory to the east edge of the map:
Some German Elite squads facing Russian 1st Line infantry/SMG squads.
German player set-up:
The German player can freely set up a force consists of Fallschirmjagers, well-led (2 ** leaders and a lot of lesser ones), heavily armed with MMGs, LMGs, FTs and DCs south of the factories.
Armor support is present, with two StuG IIIB and two sIG 33 (a 150mm infantry howitzer mounted on a PzIII chassis, in a closed structure). The StuG's wouldn't be very effective against the factories, but they can be useful against wooden buildings. I do not intend to risk my AFVs moving in the field of fire of AT guns (I see none, but I am sure there are plenty) but in any case the StuG's will always be the first to enter new areas.
Artillery support includes an 80mm and a 100mm OBA: I do not trust artillery as reliable support anyway, and in such close quarters a barrage scattering the wrong way could be deadly for my troops. Besides that, such light calibers should have very little effect against the factories. I will assign the 80mm OBA to the west wing and the 100mm OBA to the attack force.
Basically, this is my plan:
Two killer stacks with a ** leader and three MMGs each, are meant to suppress enemy MGs; the AFVs will also provide covering fire and this could - hopefully - allow the assault elements to close with the enemy.
The rest of my troops will break through at the weak points between the two factories and on their sides and will surround the buildings to prevent the escape of anyone inside (large green arrows). During this process, they will neutralise any AT Gun or weapon they meet to allow AFVs to advance and support them (this is called the combined arms approach [:D]).
Once the factories are surrounded, the assault elements will enter them: the impossibility to retire should turn many routs into casualties and speed up the bloody affair. I expect to take heavy losses anyway in this kind of combat, but I have neither time nor the means to reduce the factories to rubble and burying the defenders.
The two wing forces will attempt something similar - on a smaller scale - to fix the Russian wings in place, preventing them from relieving the factories and to escape.
Turns 1-4:
Despite some setbacks (a StuG III killed by a Russian ATR! When I fire ATR at tin cans like BT-5 I always get "failed to penetrate") everything went according to the plan: the infiltration went very well, and the Assault Engineers took most of the Horizontal factory with amazing speed.
The infantry neutralised several 45mm and 76mm AT Guns, and in turn the sIG 33s destroyed many Russian MGs and mortars, providing valuable support for the infantry.
The west wing engaged the Russians, but was hampered by its poor leadership, with up to 50% (and sometimes more) of the troops OOC.
The east wing performed much better, and quickly displaced the Russian units facing it.
Turns 5-8
The horizontal factory is taken, the vertical one is surrounded. After the infantry had cleared the east side of the vertical factory, the AFVs advance and take position on the east (sIG33) and north (StuG) sides of the factory and start pounding it.
The German infantry enters the factory from three sides and some turns of vicious close combat follow. Much to my pleasure, many Russian squads fail to rout, while the German ones simply retreat a few hexes to locations where they find some low-level (or wounded) leaders wait for them. At the end of turn 8, the vertical factory is cleared. Only a couple broken squads managed to escape the encirclement, and both of them suffer CR as they route in open terrain under a hail of fire.
The west wing continues to fix the Russians, who do not appear too willing to counterattack.
The east wing discovers and neutralises a 76mm AT gun and starts probing north, looking for any sign of Russians but finding none.
Turns 9-12:
During the night, the German infantry moves northeast towards the last objective: I expected to find a defense in depth, but there is nobody stopping the attackers and the last VP hex is held by a single squad, supported by a 76mm gun and an 82mm mortar, which are quickly overran by the Assault Engineers and by the west wing forces.
Since this is a Rico's scenario, I cannot believe it can be such a milk run: if the Russians are not on the map, they would be arriving soon. The arrival of no less than six Panzers on turn 11 (magenta Pz IV icon) certainly means I'm going to need them to stop a Russian steamroller.
The last night turn is spent bracing for the Russian counterattack: I believe it will come from the north, so I set up a triple defensive line, anchored on stone buildings and trenches, with the sIG 33's in support.
A small but heavily armed garrison takes position in the vertical factory, in case the Russians come from the west.
Even though I have covered the most likely attack axis, I could be wrong, so I deployed several HS along the west edge of the map and along the Volga bank. These are only meant to give warning in case of a Russian attack.
The Panzers will remain near the vertical factory in reserve, ready to move to any threatened sector: the Pz IV F2's will have no trouble dealing with T-34's and even the Pz III J have a decent chance at such close ranges.
The lone remaining StuG III B moves west to help eliminating two Russian squads who are barricaded in a fortified building, keeping a large part of the German west wing pinned there.
Turns 13+
As the sun rises, the Red Army makes its appearance (red T-34 symbol): much to my surprise, the Russian counterattack consists of a single T-34 and two T-70s: one of the sIG 33s (!!) destroys the T-34 and one of the T-70s with HEAT rounds and a DC attack eliminates the other T-70. The Russian artillery made an impressive show on an empty stretch of real estate between the vertical factory and the Panzers, adding some extra shellholes to the map. I have neither seen, nor heard any infantry moving: where are the Russians?
The German leaders in the west finally manage to have all of their units in C&C range: with most of the units taking part in the combat, the heroic Russian defenders start feeling the German numerical superiority (9 squads, 2 HS with 2 HMGs and a StuG vs. 2 squads, a C* leader and a HMG).
A couple HS (remnants that rallied at the start of the day) attempt to help the besieged comrades, but they are quickly broken, surrounded and eliminated.
On turn 15, the fight for this house is over, at last.
Nothing happened in the last six turns [>:]; the game ended on turn 21 with a German Major Victory, obtained at a relatively low cost in casualties (see the kill ratios below).
Final considerations
Squads 21.5 / 78 (1:3.62)
Leaders 1 / 14 (1:14) (the loss of all the leaders meant Russian broken units were effectively lost. If the Russian had one or more leaders in their rear, they could have rallied some of the few stragglers).
Crews 0 / 12 (Germans had no crews, Russians lost all of theirs and 3 MOL, 3 76mm AT, 4 45mm AT and 2 82mm MTR)
AFVs 1 / 3 (1 StuG III B killled by ATR / 1 T-34 and 1 T-70 killed by sIG 33, 1 T-70 killed by DC).
Infantry/AFV co-operation worked perfectly: with the exception of the ATR shot that unexpectedly killed one of the StuGs, all other AT weapons were neutralised by infantry and never once fired on my AFVs [:D]. The latter, in turn, provided very effective fire support, blasting away Russian heavy weapons with remarkable effectiveness and making life much easier for the infantry. Even though the sIG 33's reduced a pair of factory hexes to rubble, I didn't dare to have them enter the rubble hexed to blast the factory interior hexes, as I was afraid to see them immobilised (I forgot their immobilisation would be repaired at the start of the second day).
The Russian deployment left me a bit puzzled: it has no depth, and after the outer crust was pierced, the Germans easily surrounded the factories ands ran across the map at will. The Russian counterattack was much too feeble to achieve anything: even without the killer sIG, the German elite infantry armed with FTs and DC (and with excellent leaders providing negative DRMs) would have easily destroyed the three Russian tanks anyway.
