Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Friday night, for the third time in a week, I returned to Tabletop Teaser #1: The Bridge Demolition, with my modified Morschauser rules. Due to the randomized arrival of Blue's forces, variety is insured, and the limited objective (hold for x turns, then blow the bridge) of Red, means the scenario is well-suited for solo play.

That said, Red can, of course, be more or less cautious and therefore they are not without options, but by and large they don't require as many decisions as the Blue force. I chose to play Red cautiously again this time but gave myself just 10 turns to achieve the capture of the bridge/stopping of the demolition. The reduced time frame and a rules tweak (I got rid of the saving throw , and went with a simple treat-all-cover the same, 6 to hit for all but MGs, MGs hit on 4 or 6 when target in cover -this decreases the life of units somewhat - but not as much as no cover adjustment - while speeding up combat) increased the sense of urgency I felt

The by now familiar setup.

Lead Soviet rifle unit in the woods with a tank unit in support.

The 1st German tank unit arrives on turn 2 and finds itself threatened by a Soviet tank unit hull-down on the hill.

Trying something different this time,  I decided to advance while firing, rather than stopping to engage in a back-and-forth.

A few turns later, and the German right flank has an embarrassment of riches. Again, they sought to bypass rather than engage the enemy unnecessarily.

The first Panzers reach the bridge and come under AT fire from the Soviet ATG.

And they are mopped up by Red Army infantry closing in and using their AT weapons at close range.

On the German right, Panzers drove back the Soviet tanks. So unexpected was it, the German PAK-40 never had a chance to fire after deploying.

On the German left/Soviet right, the unit of T-34s came under fire from the second PAK-40 and infantry armed with AT weapons. They were less successful than their Red Army counter-parts.

The Germans having lost their 2nd Panzer unit earlier, along with their recon unit, was primarily left with infantry, who faced a tough road. Literally - the bridge is blocked by a weakened but still dangerous company of T-34s.

Hand-to-hand fighting breaks out in the streets and buildings north of the river and German infantry close assault the Soviet tanks blocking the bridge.

The brutal melee north of the river left neither side in control of that portion of the village. The Soviet armor on the bridge overran the German infantry, buying enough time for the Soviet engineers to finish wiring the bridge. A massive explosion signaled the failing of  the German attack.

****
An exciting and fun game with an outcome that was up in the air until the end.

Despite being my third time playing it, I'm not done with this scenario (recently - I have played it in the past a few times). I would like to try some different approaches to the Soviet defense (perhaps something more aggressive). It would also be interesting to try to consolidate the German force before advancing (something far more cautious than this most recent game) - they'd lose turns that way, up to 6 depending on how the arrivals roll up, but perhaps could make up for it by advancing en masse.

I also have an itch to move this to a grid for giggles.