Silly After Action Report Part 2 - Snow Job

So, where did we leave off?  Oh yes, the shattered remains of Ivan's force lay cringing on a frozen river bed or trying to find non explosive pieces of ground to hide in.  His kill stack had been obliterated and his most forward troops were in a minefield.  My defenses were essentially intact.  You must be wondering how I could manage to screw it up from here.  Read on.

I must confess I permitted myself a certain level of confidence.  Certainly the game was nowhere near over but a definite crimp had been put in Ivan's plans.  Over in the north two squads were all that was left of his diversionary force (apart from some shattered conscripts who steadfastly refused to rally).  In the south where his main push was located he had no more than half a dozen unbroken squads (although he did have a 9-1 officer who would rectify that situation).  Still, Ivan was not down hearted.  He pulled his 9-1 back to the river bank and started rallying malingerers.  Taking advantage of the small group of trees just past the river bank he slipped a couple of squads past and up to the hill.

Rallying magnificently he soon had a clutch more squads back in action.  The one downer was the squad in the minefield which steadfastly refused to leave.  On attempting to do so it pinned.  Still, I wasn't worried.  Any squads that wanted to follow their comrade up the edge of the board would face a 6-3 shot from my hmg team.  Over in the north his surviving pair of squads edged painfully forward.  Winter camouflage was coming in handy keeping concealment despite the fact that I'd pulled back a mortar team and lmg squad to deal with them.  The amount of harm being done by either side in the north was minimal for the next couple of turns.

To deal with his main effort I turned, as I had so often in this scenario, to my artillery.  Sadly after performing magnificently so far the artillery now failed me.  I don't mean I didn't get access.  I got access and dropped a concentration right on top of his 9-1.  Not only did the 9-1 pass his morale check but a broken conscript squad HOBed and went berserk.  Meanwhile, realising that desperate measures were needed Ivan fed a couple more squads up the south side of the board towards the southern hill.  With a grin I reached for my hmg, and rolled boxcars.  A subsequent repair attempt would destroy the hmg completely.  Suddenly the path to the hill was a lot clearer.  Then it began to snow.  A little later it began to snow even harder.  Now there was effectively no moving in the open.  With renewed hope Ivan pushed a pair of squads and an unattended half squad up onto the southern hill.

I was good,  I had two squads plus an lmg on that hill and another squad trotting up to assist.  Sadly it wasn't enough.  With a CXed half squad just begging to be killed I foolishly moved into CC.  Naturally I couldn't kill it and in the next turn Ivan moved in a squad and wiped my guys out instead.  I should have known better, I seem to suck at close combat.  Suddenly I had one squad on the hill and Ivan had two and a half.  A slightly foolhardy move by the halfsquad later and he had two squads on the hill but more were coming and my interdiction firepower had been removed.

Things don't look too bad at this point but I'm about to be killed in CC and Ivan is about to receive a berserk squad courtesy of my artillery

Meanwhile his berserk conscripts charged across the ice towards my artillery spotter, the only unit they could see.  Partway they noticed the no longer hmg team and changed direction.  Eager to kill they poured forward into another minefield (boom!) and out the other side (boom again!) into a 2-3 shot from the half squad and out the other side, into another 2-3 shot and out the other side.  Panting they climbed the hill but didn't have enough MF left to actually get into my trench whereupon FPF finally killed them.  Their charge was so heroic even I was hoping it would be successful.

Another squad dead, good but Ivan was building up troops on the southern hill.  In his final turn he made his last push.  Everything that could move headed for the hills (except for the squad in the minefield which broke).  Somewhere along the way he had generated another beserk squad which rolled through another minefield without concern and up onto the hill (although the 9-1 which had come along for laughs was wounded and had to stay behind).  Plunging into close combat with my surviving squad he locked them up in melee, shortly afterwards he fed in another half squad.

Things now looking somewhat worse but Ivan still doesn't have enough troops on the hill to win.

Over in the north I had managed to break one squad as it headed for the hill but the other had reached the summit.  My defending squad having finally dug itself some foxholes was waiting.  My final turn arrived and things looked grim.  He had six and a half squads on the southern hill and one on the northern.  Fifteen victory points worth and he only needed ten.  If I could remove six I would win.  First up was the north, prep fire broke his squad there and sent it yelping from the hill.  Unfortunately the sniper thus generated killed the officer commanding an lmg squad I had managed to get up onto the southern hill to challenge his dominance.
I could only hope that the guys wouldn't cower.

Things now looking considerably worse.  He has a three squad stack, another squad and a half in CC and yet another squad in one of the trenches.  In short, enough to win.

Next I fired at a squad of his standing in the open on the southern hill from the no longer hmg team.  Again I broke him and sent the squad in question yelping from the hill.  Unfortunately the sniper thus generated pinned the now leaderless lmg squad on the southern hill reducing their firepower and killing any chance of being able to reinforce the melee.  If you've been counting on your fingers you will know that Ivan now had only 11 VPs on hills (all on the southern one).  If I could break one more squad I would win.  I couldn't break one more squad.  My pinned guys reduced firepower could do nothing, even to troops standing in the open.  My rearmost mortar, blinking through the snow gained a couple of hits but to no effect.  Finally it came down to the squad in melee with a squad and a half of his.  Targetting the single squad for a 1 to 1 attack I rolled the dice.  Did I mention I suck at close combat?  I failed to kill it and at the end of the game Ivan had 11 VPs on the hill.  Sigh, bitter defeat once more.  Many thanks to Ivan for the game who maintained both his personal morale and good humour in very trying conditions early on (I would have been screaming and hiring hitmen) and pulled out a win at the last.  Maybe next time I'll give more consideration to a riverbank defence.