I ran my Seelow Heights scenario at Hurricon 2026 today. Thankfully it went better than the playtests at home. Having more players and ones with different tactics, made for an exciting game.
The game started with the Germans dug-in and on blinds while the Soviets would cross the marshy ground near the Oder River and then the railroads tracks to make a push to capture the heights. The Soviet left was off to a terrible start when most of them became pinned by German artillery from atop the heights. And several of their AFVs fell victim to a single King Tiger.
An airstrike was called in to take care of the artillery and a lone IL-2 Sturmovic showed up. Unfortunately it dropped its PTAB cluster bombs on the barren slopes far from any enemy units. Eventually, Soviet assault engineers managed to attack a German position and wiped out an entire platoon with flame throwers and SMGs. A T-34/85 then managed to get a flank shot on one of the two King Tigers on the field, destroying it.
On the right, the Soviets seemed to be in a promising position with two IS-2 tanks and three T-34 85s, along with a full-strength infantry platoon advancing.
The infantry slowly began pushing the Germans out, but the appearance of a second King Tiger quickly turned things around. The IS-2 tanks opened fire on the Tiger but the shots went astray in the chaos of the battle. The Tiger however, did not miss, picking off several Soviet tanks one after one, but then leaving some for Panzershrek teams hidden in the bushes nearby.
In the end we determined that the Germans delayed the Soviet advance long enough to claim a close victory.
John Paul Hancock
