Design and set up by Brian Topp.
Map by Benny Wahlberg
Original TOEs by Tom Porto.
German OOB based on notes by Chet Pool.
Panzer regiment TOEs based on notes by Brad Hunter.

The Germans win an automatic victory by conquering Moscow (you'll find a unit representing Stalin there, just for fun).

In the alternate, the Axis win by improving on the gains historically achieved. Objectives and their values:

When this scenario begins, the Axis enjoys an absolutely overwhelming advantage: complete operational surprise; complete air superiority; superior units and training.

These advantages will slowly run down over the course of the first third of the game (about ten turns). The Axis player must conduct an extremely vigorous offensive, aimed at using his total superiority to destroy the Soviet frontier armies; smash the red air force; and lunge as deeply into Soviet territory as possible. The Soviets are conducting a desperate defense, trading hundreds of thousands of casualties for space and time.

Around turn ten, the paralyzing effect of the initial German attack has largely dissipated, and the Red Army is increasingly capable of offering coherent resistance at the level of its higher formations.

If Germany is going to win the campaign, it must do so here - either by winning a battle of annihilation in front of Moscow, and taking the Capital (earning an automatic victory), or by securing sufficient objectives on the "flanks" (including key objectives like Leningrad, Tula, Kharkov, Rostov and Sevastopol) to win on points.

The Soviets - if they have managed the first ten turns effectively - now have some opportunities to do more than firefight. They can hope to stabilize the line in many places, and perhaps even conduct some carefully-considered counterattacks.

Beginning around turn twenty, the German army's logistics will begin an increasingly catastrophic breakdown in the face of Russian "rasputitsa" (heavy rains that shut down the occupied road network) and then Russian winter.

The scenario models what happened historically: the mud season shuts down German logistics altogether; supplies begin to flow again at freeze-up, at a reduced level. The German replacement system in its turn stutters to a halt in the face of unexpectedly high casualties and winter.

In the result the German army becomes increasingly combat ineffective in the final third of the game. The speed of the disintegration depends on the shape the German army is in at around turn 20, and how large its reserve of replacement troops and equipment is at that time.

The Axis face some tough decisions in the last third of the game. If they believe the Red Army is on the ropes, and that "one last heave" will win the game, they can continue to conduct offensives. If they have everything they need to win, they probably should go over to defense and see what happens. If the game is not won, another roll of the dice is required, even if its prospects might seem dim.

If the Soviets have survived this long in reasonable shape, the last third of the game is revenge time. Substantial and strong reinforcements are in the offing. German logistics have collapsed, and Axis units are increasingly hollow and exhausted. If the Germans have not been careful to husband rested reserves, their army may be vulnerable the whole length of the front. A carefully-planned and timed Soviet counter-offensive can then push the Axis back hundreds of kilometers - and win the game.

Check out the appended design notes for some other interesting detail on this scenario.