I played in a game over at Deaf Ear records in LaCrosse on Oct 18th. Here’s a few pictures of the event. It was a 2200 pt a side game with Chuck pulling out his Russians and then Bill and I each fielding 1100 pts. In my case I choose a German Inf company with a couple of platoons of Heer infantry, a couple of 8cm mortars, an HMG platoon with 4 105s in support and a couple of StuG F assault guns. Bill had a formation of pioneers, more 105s, a platoon of 38t tanks and a platoon of Pz IIIn. He thought about using his Romanians but decided against it due to the variable nature of what the troop quality might have been.
Our task was a to attack and break through Chuck’s lines just on the other side of a river. Here’s a recon shot of the pretty table:
Couple of places to cross on either side either in the shallows or over the bridges. Certainly a fun table and a challenge.
So Bill and I came up with a strategy we would have a holding force on the right and then have the bulk of the attack on the left. We’d go for the object on the left as well but there was a possibility I felt we could shift and reach the objective on the right using the terrain to our advantage and if we could hold the Russians with the artillery or at least keep them busy.
The initial attack. Bill taking the crossing at the table edge and I over the bridge. Bill bogged quite a bit and afterwards we’re both realizing that was a little less than smart, it should have been infantry over the water, tanks over the bridge. Live and learn. Note on the right flank there I had moved up my MG platoon thinking I would take a hull down position and harass the Russians. Also note all those big Russian guns in the background. Ouch.
When shooting came around we dropped smoke as we should and likewise Chuck did as he should to selecting the choke point to use the uber uber template of ultimate destruction with all those 152 guns. Certainly not iron rain, more like iron hail. No iron comets. Bill took his lumps but pressed forward.
Bill on the assault here with his tanks. The dug in Russians were quite quite difficult to deal with. While they might have been in foxholes they were very effective at defending them. We didn’t get a collective big push mounted tho, that was certainly our fault and should have perhaps approached that better, but I’m not sure it would have changed the result. It did help with the artillery we were able to range in and pin the Russians. Still their rate of fire was enough to keep us back.
So based on the lumps we were taking I pulled my holding platoon on the right, in hopes we could muster more oomph and break through.
Seeing that Chuck ordered his Russians on the right flank forward. We had to use our artillery to deal with it and I turned my platoon right around. See that over there on the bridge on the right? No look closer. There’s a number of dead Russians there. The 105s, the StuG, the 38t and mortars left quite a mark. But by taking the attention away from the left, there just wasn’t anything to be gained. So we shifted a bit more and began to focus on the center, attacking for a single turn and then calling it a game as I had to get rolling. Still an obvious result.
The Russian defense was well played and definitely held.
A last ending picture from the Russian lines. Look at all those guns.
Neat looking game. Fearless/Conscript are tough, but easier if you are dug in. Our group hasn’t used any of the minor powers yet, unless you count the Italians. The Soviets have not fared well at all in our games, but we never see such a concentration of artillery. Perhaps that is the key. The main thing is it looks like it was a lot of fun. Congrats.