ASl Scenario FB2. The Devil is Free to Have a Try (From Festung Budapest)

 Got in a game of Festung Budapest finally.  I've had this one for years and Tycho and I were both looking for a meaty campaign but I have the attention span of a...   (so I needed one with five or fewer campaign dates).  FB's first campaign is close to that (6 or 7?) so we went with that.  A big city fight with lots of late war heavy metal.  Just the thing.  First we needed a lesson in the terrain and even after playing I'm not sure about it.  EMRR is inherent but the LOS examples do not seem to match it being inherent...  Well it didn't matter too much in the end anyway.

The map setup.  The Russians have 7 turns to get 4 of 6 things done. Take some buildings, Takes a couple other hexes, Destroy the 75L, cause a certain number of casualties, or take 10 or 14 other buildings.  So quite a bit to watch out for.  The Axis are under severe Ammo Limits too - units will ELR if they make a bad IFT roll and SW have a lowered breakdown number.

Obligatory First Blood! shot.  Axis MTR gets a crit on a SU76.

End of turn 1.  Another SU76 is Immobilized by the MTR and another SU76 is Pinned by a little sniper (it would soon be recalled too).

End of turn 2.  The Russians probably need to go faster.  The Axis have a couple of squads ELR due to ammo shortage and an MMG goes Poof - along with the MTR which rolls boxcars and is removed due to Ammo Shortage.  The Russian smoke doesn't help much but it keeps me from firing with the 75L (but he is not aware of that).

End of turn 3.  The Russians make good progress to the North (left side) but do poorly in the south.  Getting across the EMRR is not going to happen.

In the Russian turn 4 prep I darn near failed a PMC.  The SU76 got a ROF tear including 2 critical hits on a stone building.  Other shots do not go as well and I manage to retreat most of my guys.  Then in the Axis turn 4 the 75L fires and kills the SU76 and then hits the stack nearby, a 3MC I think (I now remember the 8-1 leader rolled boxcars for the MC) and the Russian player conceded the game.  With 3 movement phases left he still had none of the VC locations and the two he was heading for were fortified and well defended).

The scenario is an interesting one, there are so many options it is not possible to setup a perfect defense.  The Ammo Shortage rules had the Axis forces withering away just from shooting (these are unique for this campaign).  In a few weeks we will be starting up Campaign 1 which has slightly different entering locations (A35 is an entry hex while still being in the Axis setup area) and the first campaign date VC are much simpler.