Duel on the Steppe

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This is the second time I've had this set up. I wasn't able to get play started the first set up. This time, the computer is next to the game table, the reinforcements are laid out, errata is loaded in iPad for convenience, and there is nothing else on my plate other than the standard suite of the usual boring weekend chores. I should be able to get through at least a couple of turns if not the whole 4 turn Scenario 1.

Short overview

Each turn is composed of five phases:

  1. Weather
  2. Reinforcement
  3. Air allotment
  4. Activation
  5. End of turn (bookkeeping)

Hexes represent about 10 kilometers of terrain.

Counters represent actual Order of Battle. This is really interesting to me coming from games such as Chadwicks's Battle for Moscow, PanzerBlitz and Ogre, where the counters represent anonymous units.

1 movement point to leave EZOC. This is different from Battle for Moscow where units can leave EZOC without penalty.

CRT is 2d6, and has both 3:2 and 2:3 odds columns. Column shifts induced by terrain, etc. do not accumulate, apply only the maximum.

Finally, Mannstein repulsed this offensive, which would be a German win, which looks pretty tough from the perspective of Turn 1.

Let's get started.

Turn 1

Weather: die roll: 1. From the weather table on the map, the conditions are Rain with Normal ground conditions. Each side is limited to one Fighter and one Close Air unit.

No reinforcements on Turn 1.

Air allotments reduced according to weather.

Activation phase: time to "play ball" so to speak.

SW Front: 1st Guards

First decision: move first or fight first?

Let's fight, try to take out 3rd Pz HQ, sitting in Lisichansk. Taking Lisichansk is a VP for the Soviets as well. Hrm. Odds look crappy. Let's have the 19th Security and 35th Guards apply themselves to the 19 Pz division. Attack 9 against defense 5 is 3:2, across a minor river, shift Left, 1:1, 2d6: 9, -/R2, that is, no effect on the attacker, and a 2 hex retreat by the 19th Panzer towards Karnyi Limon. The Russian choose to advance into the vacated territory.

Ok, choosing SW Front to fight first was dumb. There are only a couple of German unit adjacent, and the odds aren't all that good. Should have moved first, then fought. Could have been much uglier for the Germans Anyway, movement: pressure the Germans hard.

And draw another chit…

German Cr/Rs Korps

Pull all units back towards Belgorod, putting GD in Belgorod. Units not making the distance holed up in the woods to the northeast of Belgorod, and hope very much not to be surrounded by Voronezh Front.

Blunder here: should have used KampfGroup FB to restore the GrossDeutschland, but that would have left the GD further out though.

3rd Tank Army

Takes off after some nasty SS, surrounding the Fhr DR regiment. 4:1 Combat results in a step loss and 3 hex retreat. This was almost surely overkill, but whatever.

VF 69th Army

Very few units in range, I activated most of them with 3rd Tank. Move first, take on KfG A hiding in the woods east of Belgorod at 8 AF/ 3DF, 2:1, shift 1L, 3:2, roll 6: 6, which is 1 step loss for attacker and retreat 2 for defender towards Belgorod.

3rd Panzer

Can't do much, with not too many units. Consolidated forces where possible, but locked in by EZOCs everywhere.

OKH

I need to blow some bridges, got the easternmost Donets bridge. Otherwise moving all units as fast as possible to bridges to get them blown up.

Army Group Popov (APV)

I think I may have moved this unit on a different activation.

Oh well.

Move, then fight.

Took the bridge at Lisichansk. That's bad for 3rd Panzer.

69th Army

Putting some pressure on units in the middle of the map. Lots of small scale action, low odds, some attacker reduction, but also pushing defender back.

SS

This is just in time for the Germans, as they need to bring some units closer in to shore up the defense. No combat on this activation, all movement.

And that's it for Turn 1.

I haven't used any air or artillery yet. Those will get rolled in after I get a good grip on the rest of the combat system.

Technically, I think the VF and SWF get two and three more activations, respectively, but that just doesn't feel right at all to me. In fact, it feels really broken, so I'm not going to play it that way. Essentially, what it means is that the Russians get 2 moves for every 1 move the Germans get. It would have been easier if they had printed more counters, but the notion of mixing already drawn counters back into the pool just feels wrong. It makes it a lot harder to learn the game because these details have to be recorded somewhere.

I'm tempted to just give the Russians another full move after all the counters are drawn, that would make it a lot easier to keep track of everything.

Turn 2

(June 8, 2013)

Game play is going very slow, time to stopwatch turns.

Weather: C/N, clear and normal. Good. Makes for easier game play.

Reinforcement: Russian 40th Army attached to the Voronezh Front, will attempt to cut off Cr/Rs HQ units. German 3rd and 11th Pz divisions race to the Donets to help cut some bridges.

Air allotment: not dealing with Air on this turn.

Activation…and off we go…

Army Group Popov

AGP is Southwest Front. Just the worst possible pull for the Germans. Moved everything within range to set up 4 battles:

  1. German (defending):
    • (10) 320th Infantry
    • (3) KfG B

    Russian (attacking):

    • (3) 38th Guards (depleted)
    • (9) 4th Guards (armored)
    • (3) 11th Armor
    • (4) 297th Infantry

    We're looking at 19:10, 3:2 on the odds table, roll 8: -/R2, and defenders are happy to occupy Izyum. That actually worked out well for the Germans.

    16 minutes in.

  2. German (defending):
    • (8) 3rd Pz

    Russian (attacking):

    • (2) 195th division
    • (3) 178/10 armor brigade
    • (7) 3rd armor corps

    3:2 odds, roll 6, 1/R2, eliminate the Russian 195th, Germans retreat to Kramatorskaya.

    21 minutes.

  3. Russian (attacking):
    • (5) 35th Guards (X)
    • (2) 106 Infantry (X)
    • (3) 186/10 Armored (X)

    German (defending)

    • (7) 7th Pz (XX)

    9:7 is 1:1, roll 8: 1/R2, Russian 106th eliminated, Germans retreat to Kramatorskaya.

    26 minutes.

  4. Russian (attacking)
    • (4) 78th Infantry (XX)
    • (8) 18th Armored Corps (XXX)
    • (4) 52nd Infantry (XX)
    • (6) 57th Guards (XX)
    • (6) 41st Guards (XX)

    German (defending)

    • (2) 3rd Pz HQ
    • (4) 901 Lehr (     )

    28:6 is 4:1, roll 7: 2R3 which eliminates both units.

    32 minutes

    Crap. I've misplaced the AGP chit…was on the floor. Not good.

3rd Panzer

Eliminated from this turn by AGP. Bummer.

SS Panzer

Pull everything within range behind the Donets, blow bridges: 5 attempts, 4 blown bridges, not bad. But I'm out of Blown Bridge counters now, with several more bridges to go.

43 minutes.

40th Army (VF)

Reinforcements: move to the Borisovka area.

46 minutes.

69th Army (VF)

Attempt to interdict supply for German Cr/Rs units.

51 minutes.

Cr/Rs

Move mechanized units around the north end of the Donets, attempt to blow some bridges at Belgorod.

57 minutes.

OKH

Which needs to move itself. Also, moved a bunch of units formerly with 3rd Pz.

Elapsed time: 1:04.

3rd Tank Army (VF)

Will try to cut off Belgorod from Kharkov.

Moved the armor up to Belgorod, all infantry possible along the Donets because it takes a full move to cross a major river by infantrMoved the armor up to Belgorod, all infantry possible along the Donets because it takes a full move to cross a major river by infantry.

ET: 1:11

1st Guard Army (SWF)

Just moved some pieces, whole SWF is a mess, units everywhere, no clear sense of which units should be controlled by which HQ.

ET: 1:16

6th Army (SWF)

Russians advance to outskirts of Izyum, attempt to take control from German occupiers:

Russians (attacking):

  • (3) 38th Guards (XX)
  • (9) 4th Guards Armored (XXX)
  • (4) 6th Infantry (XX)
  • (2) 172d Infantry (XX)
  • (4) 350th Infantry (XX)
  • (3) 11th Armored (XX)
  • (4) 267th Infantry (XX)

Germans: (defending)

  • (3) KfG B
  • (10) 320th Infantry (XX)

Odds are 29:13, which is 2:1, Izyum shifts 1L for 3:2, roll: 7, 1/R2. Bummer, Izyum lost, but at least no step loss for Germans. Russian 172d eliminated.

ET: 1:23.

End of turn bookkeeping

Supply

All units are in supply.

Current victory conditions

Germans:

  • 4 Russian units eliminated
  • 11 cities held
  • 15 total points

Russians:

  • 2 German units eliminated
  • 1 city held
  • 3 total points

I'm starting to see where the double move for the Russians might be necessary.

Turn 2 went pretty fast as there was a lot more positioning and movement than combat, and I'm not writing up the movements. Writing up movements would take a much longer time.

Given the above, I should be able to play out a turn between 90 minutes and two hours.

Turn 3

This is where the Germans and the Russian SWF get loads of reinforcements.

This is several hours after finishing Turn 2, had stuff to do.

Setting the timer…and we're off again.

Weather: S/F, snow and frozen. No air, and rivers and marches freeze over. This means the bridge blowing might have been a waste of time. We'll see.

Reinforcement:

  • German: Reinforcement rail roll: 1. Thule/Tkf SS coming at Poltova. 3rd Pz HQ rail to Barvenkovo. 40th Pz enter at 3279, 3479.

  • Russian: Reinforcement rail roll: 1. VF and SWF entering from their respective areas, nothing special to report.

Air allotment: no air, snowing.

Activation, time to start playing!

Elapsed time: 32 minutes due to a lot of rules reading.

OKH

First up, send some units back to Zaporozhe, just in case the Russians get a fast move to the west.

ET: 48 minutes

3rd Pz

Big fight around Izyum. Not going into detail, just the results:

  1. 3:2, artillery +2, Russian retreat
  2. 2:1, Russian retreat 2
  3. 4:1, roll 5, Russian retreat 2.

SS Pz

Move Pzs to Donets, attack Russian infantry at 4:1 with +2 artillery: eliminate Russian 184th Infantry.

ET: 1:05

Running a bit behind Turn 2.

Cr/Rs Korps

What is with pulling all the Germans all at once?

Unlikely, but what can you do?

Anyway, moved some units around to set up ZOCs and hopefully slow down the onslaught.

ET: 1:10

1st Guard (SWF)

Some battles:

  1. 2:1 on 11 Pz, -/R2
  2. 2:3 on 333rd Infantry, +2 artillery: 1/-, eliminate 38 Guards.

ET: 1:17

APG

3:2 on 11 Pz, again, +2 artillery: -/1R3.

APG now splits off to go recapture Stalino.

ET: 1:21

40th Army

Move to encircle the Germans around Belgorod.

246/88 (     ) eliminated on 4:1 roll 3: -/R2, eliminated.

ET: 1:27

69th Army

Blows a hole in the line at the Donets, will be able to cross.

3TA

Exploits hole drilled by the 69th.

  • 62d Guards attacks Fhr/DR at 3:1, shift for defender woods, 2:1 with some arty +2, roll 9: -/1R2.
  • 111th occupies Chuguev, this is a VP for Russians.
  • 3:1 on KfG A, roll 12, -/2D2, eliminated.
  • 4:1 on KfG FB (mechanized), +2 artillery, roll 7+2: -/2R3 eliminated.

ET: 1:43

40th Pz

All units within activation range already moved by OKH.

6th Army

All units in activation range already moved.

ET: 1:45

End of turn bookkeeping

Supply

German: 167 and GD are Low Supply.

Russian units are in supply.

Victory points

Germans:

  • 6 Russian units eliminated.
  • 10 cities held
  • 16 total points

Russian:

  • 5 German units eliminated
  • 2 cities held
  • 7 total points

ET: 1:55

Turn 4

The last turn of Scenario 1.

It's getting on in the evening, how fast can I crank this out? I'd like to have it off my table tonight.

Let's get started.

Weather: Clear/Frozen. So, air comes back but rivers are still frozen.

Reinforcements: Rail roll: brought 2 units into Kharkov for Germans, roll 1 for Russians, will bring unit into Kazachia Lopam.

Air allotment: the air rules still seem confusing, so not using them.

Activation…turn on the stopwatch.

OKH

Again, the Germans kick off with OKH.

All movement, no combat, mainly getting units north and east as fast as possible.

ET: 0:4

AGP

52 Infantry now holding Stalino, +1 VP. Other units in AGP now moving west.

ET: 0:6

40th Army

Germans are in trouble. Belgorod is surrounded. GD is taken, no way to retreat. The 167 is taken, no way to retreat. Hungarians and Cr/RS HQ is taken. KfG F is taken.

This was a huge turn for the Russians.

ET: 0:21

3rd Pz

Moved HQ to the northwest, leaving remaining units under activation of 40 Pz.

Chuguev retaken, that's a VP back to the Germans.

ET: 0:26

1st Guards

Retreat elimination of one German unit, low odds attacks on other to no effect.

ET: 0:34

69th Army

Going after some SS on the Donets. Picked off one of them, forgot to use artillery, could have had both because they were boxed in.

ET: 0:39

SS Pz

SS is almost eviscerated. What it can do is help maintain supply for remaining units. Forced a retreat of the 160th Infantry. Every little bit helps.

ET: 0:43

3rd Tank Army

Only unit within range which can be activated is the 62 Guards, which is going after 11th Pz at 2:3, attacker step loss. Try again next time.

ET: 0:45

40th Pz

Some attacks defending Izuym:

  1. 333 attack 350 at 2:1, attacker step loss.
  2. R2 on 1G.

Izyums stands for the Germans.

Cr/Rs Korps

Already eliminated.

ET: 0:49

End of turn bookkeeping

Supply

Irrelevant, last turn.

Victory points

Germans:

  • 9 cities held
  • 9 Russian units eliminated
  • 18 total points

Russians

  • 3 cities held
  • 7 German units eliminated
  • 4 Sashed German units eliminated (x2)
  • 18 total points

This was a German win.

After action report

The Germans have a hard time in this game, which is to be expected of anyone insisting on invading Russia.

The mechanics seemed to be pretty straightforward, perhaps because for any rules such as air and chit pulling which I didn't understand, I just ignored and played what seemed to make sense.

It's surprising the Germans managed to hold on as long as they did. One more turn and would be pretty ugly for the Germans though.

The Russians can do better by moving faster and attcking more at lower odds to kick the Germans out of the cities for victory points.

I could probably say more, but it's time to wrap it up and get ready to kick off the work week.

Blunders

  • When SW Front has the first chit draw, it should move, then fight. In this game, I chose it to fight then move, and there wasn't much available at good odds to fight.

  • I've been activating whatever is in range with impunity. But the rules say that no combat unit can be actived more than once per game turn. So I have to remember from activation to activation which units have been previously activated.

  • I've activating SS and regular units incorrectly.

  • Did not use the double chit pull. Just doesn't make any sense to me as I'm activating everything possible on the initial chit pull. That is, there would not be any units to be activated even if I used the second chit pull.

Questions

  • Can one HQ unit activate movement for another HQ unit? The situation is where 1st Guards forgot to move along with its units, and is now "stranded" way behind the front. However, it could be "activated" by AGP to move to a more advantageous position.
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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.