Situation #5, Game 1
Situation #5 is an odd thing. The description states the Germans wander onto a certain board, hang out for a few turns, then remove themselves from the board. After some serious digging around on the web, it turns out there isn't a lot of information about this scenario available. Close reading of what is available provided some clarity for playing the scenario.
What the Germans have to do is start on Board 3, cross Boards 1 & 2, exit off the east edge of Board 2 en masse, stay off the board for 3 turns, re-enter Board 2 (en masse) on the same hex as exited for each unit, recross Boards 2 & 1, and exit the west edge of Board 3 by Turn 12.
That could be a tall order.
However, the Germans don't have to attempt all units; only the units making the crossings count for victory conditions
This a good situation for introducing massive firepower to the combat mix. It also looks like an archetypal "panzerbush" scenario.
I've had this situation laid out on a table for a week wondering what to do with it. Having it staring me in the face for days has induced at least one minor epiphany: this scenario will require several phases, and tactics for each phase may differ.
Scenario: Reconnaissance in force against Lutezh bridgehead on Dnieper River
October 10, 1943
Setting up.
The Situation description is a bit vague about where the Germans are to set up Board 3 and when, exactly, they need to move on to Board 1. Acordingly, since it's a sprint across the boards, the Germans set up right along the east edge of Board 3, intending to sprint for cover on their first move.
The Russians, not knowing anything better to do, spread their guns around Board 2 in a somewhat haphazard fashion, albeit covering main road through the hills with short range ATG (7-A-3), with the long range, heavy H and M guns in flanking positions.
This first game will surely expose problems in the setup for both sides.
Turn 1
As noted above, the Germans spread out in a front right along the eastern edge of Board 3. Now that it's their turn to move, this feels a bit inconvenient. Might have been nice to start the Germans in some covered positions. After some examination, it looks like the easiest route for the Germans is to punch through the south end of the map, over the hill east of Adski.
Except for the small detail of not having positioned many units down there.
In the end, to get the game going, the Germans just moved into covered positions on Board 3.
The Russians don't have a lot to do yet, but were able to disperse some halftrack-mounted infantry.
Turn 2
Germans moved into position to take out some Russian artillery. This also left several of their units exposed to fire from big Russian howitzers. The idea is that the burly big guns take the heat as range factor reduces AF by one half.
Russians take a big shot a some German infantry spotting on an ATG in the woods on Hill 135. At 3:1, roll 5, dispersed. Bummer. Second big shot is 120 mm mortar firing downhill on halftrack, 24/2 to 4, 3:1, roll 5. Dang. However, that dispersed unit can be close assaulted as well, which turned out to be a whiff.
Turn 3
Germans can now bring some firepower, and remove two pesky guns.
So it's Turn 3 and I can see that the Germans really don't need to mess around, they really need to get a move on.
Russian artillery found an exposed infantry platoon, roll 1, no more infantry platoon. Try again with the other 120 mm: dispersed.
Send a tank to chase the half track carrying rifle platoon.
Move the wagons, mount up a rifle company on a truck, and close assault…dispersed halftrack which was used for spotting…that's a win! Next, take on two German halftracks…roll 6 at 1:2, nothing.
Turn 4
Time for the Germans to make tracks, they're wastning time. No fire this turn for Germans, all move. Now have several units on Board 3.
Russians doing well with close assault, dispersed a fair number of units.
This game is starting to get interesting.
Turn 5
More movement for Germans, now taking positions to block fire and movement.
Russians getting some good rolls, dispersing German armor. Looks like they risk losing north end of Hill 135.
Once again, forgot to fire the big 120 mm mortar.
Turn 6
Germans trapped northeast of Hill 135 can't fight worth crap. However, they will get 7 pieces off the board next turn.
That 120 mm mortar? Whiffed a 4:1 on a stack of tracks in the forest, rolleda 6. Infantry, as usual, puts the dispersal hurt on German armor.
Turn 7
7 German units off Board 2, can't come back on until Turn 10 or 11.
Russian 120 mm rolls another 6. At 4:1. Against a stack in a forest. Cripes. And the SU-76 whiffs one as well.
At this point, I want to just play it out.
Turn 8
German are trapped northeast of Hill 135.
Russian 120 mm finally took out halftrack stack with command posts. Dispersed one of the Wespes, and has it blocked in now, pretty much all over for that Wespe. Not looking good for the Huns overall.
Turn 9
No fire for the Germans this turn, just movement. They are in a lot of trouble on Hill 135. The Russians are going to light them up.
Russians took down the Wespe, dispersed the SG III-75. Almost surely a kill next turn.
Turn 10
German units back on the map, working their way to Board 3. Another Russian 120 mm is gone, at the expense of a tank. The engineer unit takes a crack at close assaulting a rifle company at 1:2…rolls 1, score! This is like the second rifle company eliminated, ever.
Russians finally eliminate that last tank at Hill 135, now mounting up to slow down the German retrograde.
Turn 11
Only the armored cars are going to make the exit by end of Turn 12, so the Germans concede at this point. It was probably a foregone conclusion taking 7 turns to get units off the east side of Board 2, all the units need to be off by the conclusion of Turn 5.
AAR
Two big takeaways from this situation. First, finding a route through difficult terrain is challenging, and it bears thinking about the route before positioning. Second, it's worth thinking about how to compose combined arms teams, that that each team can be tasked with a specific objective and operate independently.
There was a fair bit of combat in this game, which was good for the Russians and bad for the Germans. Once the Germans were trapped, it was slaughterhouse.
This first game was an eye-opener as to the effectiveness of the huge SPA guns the Germans fielded. Namely, they don't count for much unless they're employed appropriately.
Winning strategy
Among other contingencies, the Germans should probably plan for dealing with mine and blockade impediments in advance, as factors affecting movement across the board.
The Russians have some choices to make: should they allow the Germans to penetrate through going forward and mass their fire as the Germans move back? Or should they attempt to slow the Germans down on the German push east? The choice of strategy influences initial Russian positioning. A related question is "When should the Russians expend the SU-76s?"
Rebalancing
Short answer: Remove one or two rifle companies, one or two artillery batteries and a couple of wagons or trucks from the Russian OOB. Frankly, the Russians didn't need to do much more than position rifle companies to deny ground to the Germans, which would bog down into ineffective direct fire on the Russians, and go-for-broke close assaults on the Germans. Also, consider removing one or more blocks or mines from Russian OOB.
Conversely, to the German OOB, add 2-3 infantry platoons, or 1-2 engineer units to help with removing mines and getting close assault benefits.
The easiest way to rebalance is probably adjust the victory conditions:
- Require Germans to leave play for 1 or 2 turns instead of 3.
- Have the victory condition be finding cover on Board 3 instead of exiting.
- Extend the game a couple more turns, from 12 to say, 15 turns. This would not necessarily make it "easier" for the Germans to win, but it might make it possible.
Blunders
For some reason, I thought the Wespe's movement factor was 5, and was moving them accordingly. Dumb.
Any scenario with Wespes (or other H class units) and command posts needs to leverage indirect fire.
The Russians had their own problem, with a 120 mm battery evidently just kicking back and watching the action. Because that unit missed several turns of fire, then rolled sucessive sixes on 4:1 where the target was in the woods (+1 on die for forest defense, at 4:1, CRT 7 is no effect).
Remember that close assaulting a dispersed unit adds another -1 to the die roll.
When a unit is defending on a slope, attack factors of adjacent units are halved only when there is a solid brown line separating the hexes.