It was WWII Tuesday, so I decided to stick with play testing my micro armor rules. The earlier games have been focussed more on armor clashes, so it was time to focus more on infantry. Therefore, I decided to go with a heavy infantry force on each side with supporting assets.
I set up the terrain to reflect terrain to the south of Minsk in the summer of 1944. I laid out the full ground cloth that would give a seven kilometer front. This would severely stretch out the German defense. I made the board rolling terrain with lots of forests and streams and a smattering of towns. This would give the infantry some cover and provide choices to both players on where and how to fight the battle.
The German force had the option of setting up anywhere behind the main stream with their initial forces. Their mission was to stop a Soviet breakthrough. The Germans started with a two battalion infantry regiment on table. All units started dug in and with registered artillery support of one battalion of 105mm guns off board. The Germans had a reserve of an understrength Panzer Grenadier battalion and an understrength Sturmgeschutz battalion. The would be freed up three turns after the Soviets assaulted the first German formation. The German player had the choice on entry order, with one force entering in the following turn after the first. The German and Soviet players were not told of the timing of the reserves, as to add to the fog of war.
The Soviet player started with two infantry regiments six inches on the table edge. The also had two artillery battalions off board in support. Each regiment was given a company of ISU-152s. They also had an SP Regiment of SU-76s and SU-122s. Finally, they also had air support of a squadron of P-39s. This was randomized to reflect cloud cover. The Soviets would have access to four aircraft (eight actual planes) each turn, but would have to roll a 4+ for each to receive them. Any shot down planes would be taken out of the pool.
The Soviets would win if they could get one or more battalions off the table. The battalions would have to be in supply to exit. The Germans would win if they stopped this from happing and had less worn formations than the Soviets at the end of the game. I would hoping for twelve turns (this was a bit over optimistic).
The Germans set up first with each battalion covering the roads leading off the table. They opted to set up back, hoping long range fire would slow down the Soviets. The Regimental HQ and assets set up defending the left. The position of the formations along the rear road would allow shifting as necessary and immediate action of the reserves.
The Soviets decided to attack on a wide front, with the attacking battalions stretched across the full frontage. The SP regiment was assigned to the right flank. The plan was to hit the entire German line and wear it down and not allow the Germans to reinforce with their on board forces.
The Soviets started their attack and went into action. The attack started with some confusion, with some of the formations having supply line problems, which slowed them down. The Germans started their long range fire abasing the Soviet left and managed to hammer one of the Soviet battalions as it crossed the first stream. The amount of suppression caused the Soviet left wing to hold back and reorganize its attack. The right flank attack moved forward piecemeal, as they sorted out their supply situation. The Soviet AirPower decided is was too cloudy and only made some sporadic attacks their were easily driven off by the German integral anti aircraft.
The Soviet right flank moved forward in fits and starts and engaged the German left flank, with both forces taking moderate suppressions. As the suppressions pilled up, causing the Soviet attack to slow down (that and the Soviets bad luck with command rolls). The suppressions piling up was not in vain, as the German left battalion also took a pounding and becoming worn. The Germans sent in their Regimental engineers to counterattack the lead Soviets and drive them back. The Germans began to buckle, but the arrival of the Stugs in the nick of time quickly stabilized the front. This allowed the German infantry battalion to pull back to try to reorganize for the final stand.
The Soviet left flank took a while to get back going after the earlier halt, but now engaged the Germans to their front. Their attacks started to drive back the defending Germans, but the Germans remained in good order. At this point, we had played eight turns and ran out of time at the game room. It was clear that the Germans had held the line long enough for the reserves to hold off the final Soviet attacks. We did a count and both sides had two units that were worn (the Soviets has three more that were close). As there was no advantage, the game ended up as a draw!
I was hoping for a few more turns, but eight was not bad considering most of the players did not know the rules. We also got a bit of a late start, so overall, I cannot complain too much. Nothing stood out as problematic with the flow of the game and rules, so we should be able to sit pat with the rules in the next game. Stay tuned!
- Manteuffel