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M.J.E. Hendriks
Netherlands
Velp
Gelderland
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Memoir '44: Sword of Stalingrad
Game Weight: 2.4
Playing Time: 240 min
Players: Jaap, Sietse, Michiel, Bas, Auke, Bjorn
Location: Michiel (Velp)
Date: 24-5-2011
How Stalin Defeated His Most Capable Commander
The Russians had withdrawn to Stalingrad and were preparing a final stand against the Nazi onslaught. This time the Germans needed to be stopped, put down, destroyed, but the insane number of panzers, the blitz krieg strategy, all proved this would be a daunting task.
The main generals leading the Russian troops for the motherland were Auke on the left flank of the city, Bas on the right flank of town, and leading the defense of this final bastion, for the sake of Rodina, was the general in charge himself, Sietse.
Those despicably evil Nazis came with generals too - unsurprisingly. On the right flank lay Jaap's domain, countering the defensive genius of Auke, and on the Germans left flank the tactical brilliance of Bjorn was meant to carry the day for the Nazis. The central command was given to a fairly unknown commander, one Michiel.
With the troops set up outside the city gates and the Russians maintaining radio silence, Michiel led his generals out onto a balcony in HQ, and there, out of sight/earshot of Russian spies, discussed the tactics to be employed on this sunny evening before the battle would ensue.
Bjorn being fairly new to warfare on Russian soil was a little bemused by the rules he needed to follow, including the order cards he would be receiving (or not receiving), but all went fairly well. The decision was made to try to create some room for retreat for the most vulnerable of units on the front line. However, this proved to be a dire mistake, as the Russian troops were much closer than initially assumed, and the movement to create room for maneuvering simply painted a big target on the back of the soldiers.
Sietse, that wily ol' Russian general, on the other hand, had played his cards a lot better by getting a good long look at the battlefield while the Germans discussed tactics on the balcony. It was rather clear for Sietse what the Russian tactics would be. Hold out, stick to their defensive positions, and ride the bullet train to victory as the Germans ran up to them.
Of course German commander Michiel saw through this plan fairly quickly, and the beginning of the game was pretty even, with the German center taking a lot of damage, casualties increasing by the minute. Thus by turn 10 or so, the score was 7-6 for the Germans, with the German center pretty much decimated - one section had only a lone artillery figure in it and that's it.
Luck didn't seem to be on the German side and a number of auspicious card draws and dice rolls for the Russians seemed to prove this. There were, however, a number of lucky turns for the Germans as well, such as the counter attack drawn right between the two Their Finest Hour cards played by the Russians. Furthermore, the first Their Finest Hour card was a disaster for the Russians, with little to no effect due to horrific luck - few troops were ultimately ordered.
Still, the nice cards, especially the recons, all fell to the Russians (1 Recon in total for the Germans), and that when the recons were actually possible air powers for the Germans, as well as draw three cards and a command card if played as an ordinary recon. Though the Russians vehemently disagreed, the German general couldn't but claim that luck truly wasn't on his side.
The battle itself, however, was incredibly close with the Russians then pulling away a little, taking a factory hex to move to a 12-9 lead. The tension increased when generals got involved with other generals during deployment - the heat of battle and the closeness of the fight was getting to the German general, and the Russian general was ready to go all the way for his men.
Then the seemingly final turn came round, with a brilliant play by the German general. He played a behind enemy lines to kill the one Russian unit on the factory hex (the only one occupied of the 2-VP factory hexes) and took ground, taking the two points - a few more kills and all Bjorn, the left-side general had to do was roll a tank or a grenade with 3 dice. Bjorn missed and the Russians got another turn.... 
In their round the Russians tried to fix things up, but the German push had taken them by surprise and they were not ready for the end game. Furthermore, they were increasingly struggling with the tardiness of Stalin's answers as to their orders. If Stalin had trusted his generals, they would have taken the win.
The Russian artillery managed to scare the German unit out of the factory, but the factory hex remained empty. It wasn't enough for the Russians to take the win, taking them to 14 VPs.
The Germans got another chance! A barrage on the lone tank unit and a walk into the factory and the game was ours! 
Overlord-general Sietse was shot on the spot by his Russian compatriots on orders of Stalin as the Germans marched in.
FINAL SCORE
Germans (17):
Michiel CiC, Jaap Right Flank, Bjorn Left Flank
Russians (14):
Sietse CiC (RIP), Bas Right Flank, Auke Left Flank
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