Coughing from the acrid smoke that envelopes his men, the Commander realizes that they are going to lose this battle unless they can kill the Panther and Stug that have captured the high ground in front of him. And they need to do it soon as German reinforcements have been spotted moving towards the hills. They command the battlefield from there and are laying waste to his men. Fortunately the two German Panzers appear to have lost targets as they just sit there, exposed. 

The SU-100 behind him opens up, nearly knocking him into the side of the gulley. He sees the round impact the Panther in the Hull and bounce off! The angle from the hill was just enough to deflect the round! That Panther…

Behind him the T-34/85 moves up and moves into a building when a round bounces off the hull! The PZ IV has him in his sights, but fortunately that round failed to penetrate.

The T-34/76 appears to have spotted the Stug and is preparing to shoot.   Hurry up! Hurry up!

“The Panther and PZ IV are zeroing in on the T-34/85!” he hears his Loader shout out. Looking at the hills, he sees both tanks lining up shots on the T-34-85!

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My thoughts on this turn:

Once again Robata plays aggressively and messes up my plans. Fortunately Robata has limited options this turn due to having destroyed two of my tanks in the last round. My lack of good fortune continues as the SU-100 bounces a round off the Panther and fails to penetrate. Turns out that the slight change to penetration from being on the Hill was just what was needed to deflect the shot and not have it penetrate – a subtle change but significant in this instance. Failure to destroy the Panther probably means that the Russians will lose this game, as I am burning through this deck quickly.

Initiative /Peril: I want to get a shot in early with the SU-100, then the two new T-34’s come in late since they aren’t spotted. At least, that is my plan. Robata has a knack for screwing up my plans though.

Peril/Initiative: Stug:  Passes, for initiative gets a 3! PZ IV: passes, 89; Panther: Spots the T-34/76 thanks to a drawn Command card; then passes peril and chooses a 6! Yet again, Robata gets some good cards for Initiative, and has the first 2 moves. And has spotted one of the replacement tanks already. Not a great start to this round.

The Stug goes first: +1 VP for the hill. Has a leadership card exposed, and per its priorities, will attempt leadership. I have to discard one card at random, then the Stug spots the SU-100. For the secondary action it tries to spot the T-34/85 and Succeeds!

The Panther is next. +1 VP for hill. No one spotted, going per the priorities Robata chooses Leadership. I discard a card, and the Panther spots the T-34/85 at random. Tries to spot SU-100 as a secondary action – Success.

NOTE: I made a mistake here: Leadership should only be chosen if a Leadership card is drawn during the Robata Tank Action phase, and it can be used (there is a player aid to determine this). I made it harder on myself by not remembering the rule correctly! 

The SU-100 is next. I play a Fire 2 at the Panther, Range 1400m, which gives a 59% chance to hit. Not great, but I need to try and kill that Panther! The Panther fails its tactics draw. I pull a card and it is a HIT! The next card draw shows that the shot hit the Hull. For penetration I pull a negative 2! Fails to penetrate, the hill being the difference (-1 on penetration since I am not on a hill as well). That is probably the game. I choose to acquire the Panther in the event the deck goes long. 

The T-34/76 is next. Discard to try and spot the Stug. Spotted. 

The T-34/85 goes next. I want to move and then duck into a small building. I play a move card and the building card. Pulling a card, the T-34/85 fails to conceal. Robata tanks all spot the T-34/85

The PZ IV goes last. Has a LQ shot on the T-34/85, and a Fire 1 card (+10 to Hit). Range 1200m, 56% chance. Two successes, targets the hull. Pulling a card – it Hits! For Penetration I pull a 0. Penetration 8-9+0. Fails to penetrate! That was close. Acquires The T-34/85 and loads APCR as a secondary action per priority card. Whew. 

End of the turn. Robata 64, Russians 33. Time is running out in this deck (deck 4) and I am pretty far behind. I need to kill some tanks and capture a hill next round or this game is over!

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