B&T's Battle for the Reichstag

[Falcon988]

Anyone play this? I'm astounded by the lack of publicity for it. I'm currently on turn 33 playing blind TCP/IP on the side of the Axis. Thus far it's easily one of my favorite scenarios of all time and rivals Our Backs to the Volga with its epicness. There's no doubt that I'm losing right now, but I'm making the Russians pay dearly for every inch of ground they take on the way to the Reichstag. Whether or not he'll capture it is yet to be seen... but I'm of the opinion that the defense I've orchestrated there is strong enough to repell all but the most overwhelming of Soviet forces. So we'll see.

Give this one a try folks. Seriously, it's fantastic.

[Richie]

Hehehe.

Thanks, it's good to know someone appreciates all my hard work. Feel free to review it at the Scenario Depot when you've finished too.

There will be a prequel out shortly, Across the Moltke Bridge, also to be available at B&T.

Richie

[Splinty]

I played this one the other night as the Germans against the A.I. I loved it, what a fun scenario!

My buddy and I are going to TC/ICP it soon.

[Falcon988]

I posted my review on the Scenario Depot this evening. Here is, basically, my copy & paste of it. I would also like to note here, since I forgot to mention it in my review, that I really love the briefing the author wrote for this battle. The only thing wrong with it (why I gave it an 8) is that it seems a little bit jumbled up paragraph was. But it really gives an awesome feel to everything. "Thousands of men are going to die today..." and whatnot.

Minor spoilers ahead.

I finished this battle playing TCP/IP yesterday and find it one of the best I've played. Certainly the best scenario about the Battle of Berlin. I myself have never been to Germany and certainly not Berlin, but from the books I've read on the subject everything seems pretty darn accurate from the Reichstag to the Opera House being "across the street".

Excellent atmosphere. I played Axis and really felt the sheer desperation as Volkstrum, SS, and Wermacht fought side by side to hold back the overwhelming Soviet hordes. My opponent fought tenaciously and captured all my strongholds one by one. Though my men fought very valiantly at the Kroll Opera House, causing him many losses. He was only able to capture it at the very end of the battle when he mounted a second attack and my men were all low on ammo. He had some funny things to say about that though. Mentioned how the Soviet commanding the assault must have told his men "Okay guys, go into the Opera House and draw fire. Most of you will get killed, but hopefully the Germans will run out of ammo so that in 40 turns the survivors from the first attack will be able to capture it from them."

The battle for the Reichstag itself was absolutely incredible. All my forward defensive lines slowly caved away and my 200 or so soldiers found themselves surrounded by the enemy's T-34 armies. The Russians bombarded the Reichstag into rubble and I was absolutely shocked to see one of my platoons be annhilated after the section of the Reichstag they were in collapsed.

The outcome, surprisingly, was very much in doubt up until the last few turns. Though greatly outnumbered my men held excellent positions and caused the Soviets horrendus casualties. But we did eventually succumb and my opponent won a minor victory. The dramatic climax of the battle came in those last moments inside the Reichstag, amidst the ruins, smoke, fire, as my men died in droves in the face of Soviet SMG squads. In the end only TWO Germans were still alive in there to surrender to the Russians. And to my surprise there were very few Russians left also, and most of them were out of ammo. We practically killed each other off.

All in all a terrific battle. Some constructive criticism though, I feel, is warranted. Firstly, the given amount of turns is a bit too low. I figured that when I first looked at the map, and had my opponent boost the number of turns to 60+. That gave us all the time we needed. The game finally ended on its own around turn 55 or so. Had we used the default timer it would've ended as the Russians were preparing to enter the Reichstag and that would've been very disappointing.

Also, my opponent is curious to know about the purpose of those Soviet AT guns. As far as he and I can tell they serve no purpose, and have no line of sight on anything important. The only thing they ever did was fire upon (and miss) one of my tank hunter squads after he ambushed a Soviet Su-100.

In summary this is an excellent scenario that models the final days of Nazi Germany. Anyone who is a serious student of the Ostfront, which I assume all CMBB fans are, should download & play this TCP/IP or PBEM now. Heck, it would probably be fun to play against the AI so long as the player takes Allies. We all know how the AI functions on the attack.

[russellmz]

can someone please email me the scenario? the b&t website keeps dropping my download.

russellmz@yahoo.com

thanks!

[Falcon988]

Sent. Have fun with it.

[Richie]

Thanks for your kind reviews guys!

A couple of issues have been raised here and I'll address my reasons behind them for clarity's sake. I do appreciate the feedback though. It's all helpfull!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Re the number of turns;

As stated in the briefing, Stalin demanded the Reichstag have the Soviet flag flying over it in time for Mayday in Moscow. In reality, resistance in the building itself continued for two more days from the cellars, finally ending on May 2 with 200 Germans killed, 500 injured and 300 surrendering. Clearly the AI will not put up as stout a defence as a human opponent will, but it was my desire to place pressure on the Soviet player here to capture the building, by t45 (the Mayday deadline) or face Stalin's wrath and Beria's horrors for the failure...

Having read a little about the final days of the Russian assault it becomes clear the importance Stalin placed on having the building and how eager Zhukov and others were to appease him. It's always a personal thing and everyone will have there own opinion but I feel giving the Soviet player more time to complete the task throws things in his favour. I mean, he's unlikely to run out of men.

Re the guns on Washingtonplatz;

Over Washingtonplatz the Soviets had positioned many artillery pieces, up to 100 on the day of the assault. The guns there are more symbolic than a realistic attempt to recreate the equipment at the Soviet players disposal. They were never included in any balance assessment. If I hadn't included any I may be answering, 'Why are there no guns on Washintonplatz?' from some Grog somewhere, 'coz there were hundreds on the day!!!' Hence the abundant Soviet artillery provided via spotters.

Re the briefing;

Yeah, you got me there. Not the standard format. Things got a little rushed and I could have set them out a little better.

Thanks again guys! I hope this shines a light in some dark places.

Cheers, Richie