The game itself was a modified version of the "City Assault" scenario found in the BG:FOTR book, with some small differences, mainly the only objectives for the Soviets were the Factory, and the Government Administration Building. I allowed a one BR penalty for that, as well as allowed the Soviets to have a "color party" of three men who had to get to the building and raise the Red Banner over one of the two buildings for an additional BR penalty to the Germans.
We also played with some modified orders rules, by which each unit had 1 automatic order, and then each side commander rolled 1D6 for a pool of orders by which they could activate a unit for a second order. If a BG HQ was present, another D6 was rolled for them, by which that result could be pooled amongst the side commanders. It was a good system, but in my opinions, it needed tweaks.
Anyhow, here was the load of stuff I brought with me for this urban maelstrom:
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| Good lord, was it a lot of stuff to bring! But the effort was SO worth it. |
The sides consisted as follows:
German:
1 Inexperienced Volksgrenadier Platoon (with a Pak 97/38)
1 Inexperienced Volkssturm Platoon
1 Veteran SS PanzerGrenadier Platoon (with a Pak 40 and a Quad 20mm Flak)
1 HJ Tank Hunter Squad
1 Feldgemanderie Team
1 FO with a battery of off table 120mm Mortars
1 Panther
1 Hetzer
1 Puma Armored Car
1 Sniper Team
1 Minefield
4 Barbed Wire (About 40", I wound up a few inches short, but it did not matter)
1 Road Block
3 Barricades
1 Sniper Hideout
Soviets:
1 Inexperienced Rifle Platoon (with ATR and Maxim Machine Gun)
1 Regular Motor Rifle Platoon
1 Company of 10 T-34/85s (+ 1 more as the Battlegroup HQ)
3 SU-76
1 Scout Sniper team
1 M3 Scout Car with a Mechanized Recon patrol
1 FO with a battery of off table 82mm Mortars
As you can see, the Soviets had a lot of armor, and some very good and nasty infantry at their disposal. They also had a plentiful number of T-34s. It was hammer against what looked to be a very shaky German anvil, but we would see how this would play out, eh?
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| Soviet recon forces lead the advance, Urrah! |
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| A shot of the table early in the battle, there's the factory on the left and the government administration building on the right.
The game began with the Germans losing the recon battle, and ending up drawing two chits for that and the confusion of the urban game, to the Soviet one. it was interesting, considering the events that occurred later. The Soviets led off with their Rifle platoon, though minus it's heavy weapons, which I found to be really an interesting play, and the Germans began the defense with their Volksgrenadier Platoon.
As German resistance stiffened, and a few Soviet squads began to get wiped out (2 in the space of a few turns), the Soviets brought in their tanks, and AFV, who began to reduce the German positions one by one (none of the German squads were wiped out, per se, but two out of the three German squads had 1-2 men left, and had shot off their only Panzerfausts in an attempt to slow down the Russian advance, but early on, the Germans were throwing a ton of "1s".
But, soon, German fire began to tell, first, it was the hapless M3 Scout Car (who has only survived one game, and that was because it hid all game, but that's another story). It hosed down a German position with MG fire, but exposed itself to the Hetzer...and was promptly blown apart.
It wasn't long before a Panzerfaust found a T-34 and fireballed it as well, but this was going to be the extent of German anti-tank futures for quite some time:
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After some fire between the withdrawing Volksgrenadier, and the advancing Soviets, and some exchange of mortar fire (most of which wound up being called off due to the fact that both sides spotting rounds were redefining the definition of "danger close"). The Soviets continued the advance with the armor in the lead, and using their T-34 mobility to great effect, running down barbed wire and speeding through a minefield (which failed to do much more than give the Soviet players some minor anxiety, as the Germans flubbed that die roll too).
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| T-34 about to breach the barbed wire |
The Soviets continued their advance, and after knocking out the hapless Pak 97/38 (which did little more than pin a T-34), looked as if things were looking bad for the Germans, whose reinforcements couldn't have arrived at a better time. The Puma went and reinforced the German left, which after knocking out the M3 Scout Car, looked as if it was doing alright, the Volkssturm also took up positions in the Government Admin building, which made any Soviet prospect of victory in that direction look iffy at best. So, all eyes turned to the factory, and on came the German Panther..it rolled on with an attitude of "Here Come the Judge! Here Come the Judge!" I thought German fortunes might change at this point.
Um nope. The Soviets did what smart Soviets did, they massed their fire on the Panther. The first hit pinned it..and the second, forced it to be abandoned. Abysmal morale rolls were just killing the Germans that day.
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| The Panther, taunting the German players with its ineffectiveness. |
At this point, the Germans were losing faith, and I think Mike had failed his Wargamer Morale Check. He and Norm were drawing up lists of whom to shoot after the game (I pointed out that at the rate they were going, they were liable to shoot just about all the survivors on their side.) But, to their credit, they hung in there and shifted some reserves and brought in the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers.
And that's when German fortunes began to swing...a little. The Hetzer shifted position from the German left, to the center, and quickly picked off another T-34, and the German mortars began to be a little more accurate (but the booby traps proved not to be much of a thing, killing a grand total of two Soviets).
By the end, we had run out of time, but the Germans won on points, having lost only 15BR to the Soviet 38BR. There were some complaints as to the randomness of the BR system being random, but morale and the staying power of a force is pretty random in general, if you ask me.
All in all, I think it was a good game, and the terrain really was some of the best I had ever put out. One person did mention that I should reduce the size of the game, and make the entry of forces a bit more "structured", and they're right, so if I run this at a con, expect to see forces half of what I put on the table.
But good god, it was fun! And, I just noticed, this is post # 10! I want to thank my players, Fred, Brian, Lou, Mike, and Norm. You guys made a great game. Brian, thank you for hosting us! I more than appreciate it!
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| A SU-76 cautiously noses its way forward. |
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| The Soviets roll forward towards the Factory |
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| A German Pak-40 sets up in the open in a desperate attempt to slow down the Soviet advance |
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| Soviet troops occupy the remains of a church |
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| Another panorama of the battlefield. |
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| Another Soviet position |
