Storms of Steel: Wounded Tiger

Josh and I had a Conflict of Heroes game today, using the "Wounded Tiger" scenario. The Germans, with two Panzer III L's,  a Panzer IVh and a tank recovery vehicle, are trying to retrieve an immobilized Tiger; the Red Army has sent four T34c and four T70 tanks to stop them.  The Germans enter the board in the southwest, coming through a village which gives them cover; the Tiger is parked north of the village, outside a small wood; the Soviets enter from the east, between two gullies which hamper their maneuverability.

As the Soviets, I sent four tanks left to deal with the German reinforcements, and four right to tackle the Tiger; Josh sent one of his Pzkw IIIs to guard the Tiger while the other two tanks dealt with my left and the recovery vehicle hid in the village.
I discovered that while the Tiger's 88mm gun has an 18 hex range, the T34s only have a 10 hex range, and the T70s have 6 hexes. Further, the T70's little 45mm gun has almost no chance to damage the Tiger, and the T34's gun isn't much better unless it can get a flank shot. I tried charging in to point blank range, losing both T34s before they could get a shot off; the two T70s got in close behind the Tiger, but their shots resulted in "Light damage / no effect" and a "Panic" chit which had no effect on veteran crew. If only I'd had better luck on the damage draw....The Tiger and its attending Pzkw III finished the T70s. On my left, I did manage to knock out one German but the other one took a position with its flanks protected by buildings, and I couldn't get through its frontal armor. I sent a T70 behind it, crashing through a stone building to take pot shots at the Panzer's rear from point blank range; unfortunately that "point blank" thing works both ways, and the Germans knocked out that T70 and one of the T34s.

Final score, the Germans lost one tank of four, giving 2VP to the Russians; the Russians lost six of eight, for 1VP each, for a German 6:2 win.

Next go round I'll take the whole swarm of Russians against the Tiger and see if I can roll enough dice to get some good hits.