Volokonovka is difficult

[Valar]

And he took to the forums in his frustration :-)

I always play as the Germans and I must say, Volokonovka is difficult. In fact it would dare say it is a scenario designed for a Soviet player to have fun. Once the Soviet heavy armor shows up, my poor Marders are toast, toast I tell you. Even as I hide them, the KV's will eventually hunt them down.

I can't seem to win this one. I'm on my third playthrough and those KV's mash me up everytime.

Sometimes my pionieren get a mobility kill, at great cost, but jeez.

That being said, Andrey, I know it is realistic and I am not complaining. No, not really :-)

[Flashburn]

Having played both sides of it and won both campaigns I have to say you simply need to be vary sneaky with the marders.  If you can get the Red Army tanks to engage infantry in a close in fight THEN spring a trap with the Marders it has worked for me.  But you simply have to disable them, or at worst do alot of manuver to capture/recapture land.  Also they are poor choice for anything other than hit and hide.  It a stand up fight they will not last long at all.  But choosing good land for a cat and mouse game with the tanks can also work well.  And do not forget your other supports.  Mobility kill and getting rid of supporting infantry is good enough to complete objective.   

Another thing to consider is to let the armor in on the operations map and then encircle the armor.  THey take a big moral drop that can help in an actual fight.

[Lemonade]

Yes, yes, listen to Flashburn. I had trouble with this campaign too when playing as Germans. I almost literally got steamrolled by those KVs and T-34s when they appeared. The key to success is to ambush them and engage the armoured and infantry forces with anything but your tank destroyers. Keep them in the hiding and roll them out only after you're sure some of enemy tanks are knocked out our routing and the rest of them is very busy with something else (shooting your troops).
Here's a short image-based AAR from this battle I once posted. It shows the location of my troops before the clash. My casualties were great, but enemy advance was stopped. (If you don't want spoilers, don't scroll beyond the scores screen!!!!!)
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1092/shortaar.jpg

[Flashburn]

Yes, yes, listen to Flashburn. I had trouble with this campaign too when playing as Germans. I almost literally got steamrolled by those KVs and T-34s when they appeared. The key to success is to ambush them and engage the armoured and infantry forces with anything but your tank destroyers. Keep them in the hiding and roll them out only after you're sure some of enemy tanks are knocked out our routing and the rest of them is very busy with something else (shooting your troops).
Here's a short image-based AAR from this battle I once posted. It shows the location of my troops before the clash. My casualties were great, but enemy advance was stopped. (If you don't want spoilers, don't scroll beyond the scores screen!!!!!)
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1092/shortaar.jpg

OOOH this thread makes me want to play this one again.  I think I will later.    I loved the m3 stuarts in this campaign.  SO cute. 

[Lemonade]

Oh, and it was raining.