The Setting

The setting for the contest is the Soviet Nov I 43 turn from TEM #32's "The Battle for Kiev, 1943."

The Puzzle

The Soviets can indeed overrun both a 5-point and 6-point stack in the Nov I movement phase, but assembling the 50-point and 60-point stacks to perform the two overruns takes a little doing. List the composition of the two Soviet stacks.

The Facts

Certain facts must be considered to arrive at a correct answer:

1. Only two hexes on the German front line can be overrun: hexes 0309 and 0907. All other hexes have at least 7 strength points of defense, more than the Soviets can overrun.

2. Per the German OB, hex 0309 contains a 6-8 Pz Cadre. Therefore, 0309 must be the hex containing the 6-point stack and 0907 must be the hex containing the 5-point stack.

3. Hexes 0309 and 0907 are situated such that the Soviet units performing the overruns must move through a German ZOC.

4. The Soviet player, per scenario rules, can stack only one c/m corps per hex unless a Tank Army HQ is present. At the start of play the Soviet player has only one such HQ.

5. An artillery division participating in an overrun has its combat strength halved per Rule 14B3.

The Entries

Three incorrect entries (shown for instructional purposes) and the winning response provided by Ed Dickenson appear on the next page. 

Incorrect Entry #1

Here's my entry for the $25 gift certificate. I'm sure you'll have plenty of correct answers. This is not the optimum stacking possible, but it satisfies the contest criteria.

60-Point Stack	50-Point Stack
2x 15-12-8 Tank XXX 30	1x 15-8 Mech XXX 15
1x 15-3-8 Rkt Art XX 7.5	1x 15-12-8 Tank XXX 15
3x 5-8 Tank Cadre 15	1x 14-6 Art XX 7
2x 4-1-8 Rkt Art X 8	1x 4-2-8 Art X 4
-	3x 3-2-8 Tank X 9
Total 60.5	Total 50

Well... actually there were more incorrect entries than correct ones! And, unfortunately, yours was one of the duds. Both of your stacks contain two c/m corps and no Tank Army HQ, which violates scenario stacking (see point 4 on prior page).

Incorrect Entry #2

The overrunning stacks are composed as follows:

60-Point Stack	50-Point Stack
1x Tank XXXX HQ 0	1x 15-8 Mech XXX 15
3x 15-12-8 Tank XXX 45	1x 5-6 Gd Rifle XX 5
3x 3-2-8 Tank X 9	1x 14-6 Art XX 7
2x 3-1-8 mot Rkt Art X 6	3x 5-8 Tank Cadre 15
-	2x 4-1-8 Rkt Art X 8
Total 60	Total 50

The 60-point stack can be made 2.5 points stronger, but this serves no purpose so I opted for the fully c/m version.

Your 60-point stack is fine, but your 50-point stack lacks the necessary mobility. Entering hex 0907 costs 1 MP, moving through German ZOC costs 3 MPs, and performing a 10:1 overrun costs 3 MPs. This totals 7 MPs, more than the 14-6 Art XX and 5-6 Gds Rifle XX possess.

Remember that the premise of the contest postulated a "5 point and 6 -point stack. " Therefore, you can not assume that only the 4-8 PzGr Cadre is in hex 0907 per the German OB, allowing for a 12:1 overrun. Other units have been added to increase the strength of the 0907 stack to 5.

Incorrect Entry #3

Assuming that maximum movement (overrun) potential is wanted, then the required stacks are as follows:

60-Point Stack	50-Point Stack
1x Tank XXXX HQ 0	1x 15-8 Mech XXX 15
3x 15-12-8 Tank XXX 45	1x 15-3-8 Rkt Art XX 7.5
3x 3-2-8 Tank X 9	1x 10-8 Art XX 5
2x 3-1-8 mot Rkt Art X 6	3x 5-8 Tank Cadre 15
-	2x 4-1-8 Rkt Art X 8
Total 60	Total 50.5

Maximum movement is mandatory, as explained above. However, your entry falls into another trap: Rule 14B. This rule states that "Artillery units do not attack with their full strength unless the number of non-artillery REs participating in the attack at least equals the number of artillery REs. All artillery units in excess of this number attack with a total strength of 1." Your 50 point stack has 8 REs of artillery units and 6 REs of non-artillery units. Applying Rule 14B, the 10-8 artillery division would have to attack with a strength of 1, not 5. This reduces the strength of the stack to 46.5, not enough to overrun a 5-point stack.

Winning Entry: Edward Dickenson

The following is my entry for the "Kiev" Overrun Contest:

60-Point Stack	50-Point Stack
1x Tank XXXX HQ 0	1x 15-8 Mech XXX 15
3x 15-12-8 Tank XXX 45	1x 15-3-8 Rkt Art XX 7.5
3x 3-2-8 Tank X 9	1x 5-4-8 Cav XX 5
2x 3-1-8 mot Rkt Art X 6	3x 5-8 Tank Cadre 15
-	2x 4-1-8 Rkt Art X 8
Total 60	Total 50.5

All units have an 8-MP rating: 3 MPs for overrun cost, 3 MPs for ZOC cost, and 2 MPs left over for whatever hex they are overrunning.

Ta da! Ed avoids all the pitfalls detailed above and sails through with the winning entry, drawn at random from the correct responses. The 5-4-8 Cav XX appears to be the key to the solution; none of the incorrect entries list that unit.