Bridegrooms of Death - October 1941

 After our trip to Sicily with the 82nd Airborne and Tigers at Minsk, off to somewhere distinctly chillier, the Volkhov front near Leningrad in October 1941. This particular scenario features the 250 'Blue' Division, a formation which, like SS Handschar, apparently fascinates certain types of wargamers. In 1941, General Franco hit on a brilliant wheeze to both appease Hitler and deal with the fanatical Falangists demanding that Spain join in the 'Crusade against Bolshevism'. Franco packed them all off into the 250 Infantry Division, and sent them to the Eastern Front, conveniently removing an internal threat to his regime at the same time.

And here we are on the Volkhov River in October 1941, scene of numerous Soviet offensives during the Battle for Leningrad. The river is pretty obvious, running north-south there is a ridge on the left, a small building in the south, another in the centre and a wood to the north with a track through it.

The Russians have 98 minutes to take three of the four major features (the two buildings, the track junction and the ridge). The Spanish win if they still hold two of these objectives AND inflict enough losses for the Russians to reach their break point. The big complication being that there is a river in the way, and it is night....

To get over the river, the Russians have twelve rafts - here modelled as motley collection of my 6mm boats, rafts and 1/600th Higgins boats! I'm going to treat these as soft vehicles, with the travel across the river counting as one hex movement. So a loaded unit can move across the river and unload on the far bank in one turn. You really don't want to be caught by fire loaded up in one though.

Here are the defenders from the Blue Division (so called because of the colour of the fascist berets). Here they are wearing more practical steel helmets. This is a  weak company with three reduced strength platoons with two sections each, along with three SFMG sections and a light (50mm) mortar section. The rifle sections are all rated as 'heavy' (3D6 firepower) as although they may not have many men, they still have all their MG34s. They are all rated as veterans based on the original scenario, and their breakpoint is six.

Firefall Forward specifies that night visibility is 12", which becomes 2 hexes in TaM. The 50mm mortar also has one round of illumination in the original scenario, so for TaM I made that two rounds. These land at the vertex of three hexes and illuminate all three, lasting for two turns.

Eagle eyed readers will notice that I'm only using one base per section instead of the more usual two (so more like Crossfire). The reason being this....

An entire Rifle Battalion from 267 Rifle Division! In the original scenario these are organised into two companies each of three platoons of four squads, half regular, half green. I'd much rather fight with an actual battalion so I reorganised them into three companies.

The first had three small platoons of two sections each (regular).

The second and third were both the same, one platoon of three regular sections and two platoons each of three raw sections. There is also a battalion support company with two Maxim MMG sections.

The breakpoint for this lot is thirteen.

The Spanish have to set up on the ridge, but I've deployed them ready to occupy the forward objectives (historically it was a Spanish patrol which discovered the crossings). One section and an MG will head for the southern building. Two more sections, an MG and the mortar will head for the central building and at the top, two more sections and an MG will occupy the wood. I've kept one section in reserve.

For the Russians their main problem is managing the great mass of units on an eight hex front. I gave 1 Co (the regulars) a front of two hexes, four boats and a Maxim in support. Their initial objective was the southern building.

2 Co was allocated three hexes in the centre. They also have four boats and a maxim in support as they have the most exposed approach Their initial objective is the building in the centre.

3 Co was allocated the top three hexes of front, but their crossing was concentrated on a two hex front due the marsh, which provides no cover and is an impediment to movement. Their objective is the wood, and it is tantalisingly close.

Once they have taken their initial objectives, all three companies will push for the hill. Simple! It really is quite a horde lined up to cross the river, and will stretch the TaM C3 system to the limit, which for a night river crossing seems quite appropriate.

I put the Russian CO in the south to help the 'veteran' company across. Naturally everybody else rolled a ton of command failures (the green counters) so the crossing began to descend into chaos from turn one, particularly in the centre.

The Germans were more fortunate. I put the CO in the centre to ensure the critical central position was occupied, particularly the wood which got a squad, MG and the mortar. This position is ideal to drop illum rounds along the whole front.

The southern force occupied the building and the northern column made good progress in the wood.

Having got the first wave of 1 Co over the river, to CO moved north to help 3 Co across. The centre was left to itself and naturally rolled up loads of out of command units. So far they only have one section over the river! Good job it is a 98 minute game...

Things go quite well in the north and two Russian sections make it to the edge of the wood. The 50mm mortar drops an illum round on the crowded river crossing however (little stack of yellow counters). This lets units fire at the adjacent hexes as it was daylight.

The German fire is a bit subdued however, one Russian section attempting to cross the river is destroyed. The northern Spanish platoon moves up to occupy the woods, despite the lurking Russians outside.

Most of 1 Co are across the river in the south now, but 2 Co only have a platoon or so across. One section manages to occupy the isolated wood. In the north, a couple of sections move into the marsh, but the rest are still mucking about in boats. 

To keep the Spanish occupied, one section charges the MG position. I would have attacked with two sections but naturally one was out of command.

Although the Russians were destroyed, they managed to pin both the MG and Spanish section.

The 50mm mortar dropped illum on the southern front now, but the Spanish in the building went out of command so couldn't exploit it. The central building fired on the 2 Co units in the wood as well as shooting up the (still illuminated) crossings.

In the south, 1 Co is pretty much all across the river but was hit with two out of command markers. 2 Co is still largely stuck on the wrong bank.

In the north, things remained bloody. The other Russian section in the open was shot down, but the Russians in the marsh managed to destroy the northern Spanish section. The MG rallied but the supporting section didn't (anything but a 1!).

The Spanish committed their reserve section to the north as things were looking quite dodgy there. In the south and centre 1 Co and 2 Co were still forming up (largely) out of range of the defenders. A whole platoon of 2 Co and the Maxim are still stuck on the wrong side of the river.

In the north, 3Co tried to get as much strength as possible over the river to rush the woods. The last of the illum rounds burned out.

36 minutes on the clock and the Russians still aren't all over the river.

In the north, the Russians rush the woods, trying to break in before the reserves arrive. The Spanish MG is on fire and guns down two sections while pinning a third and managed to make its ROF roll for all three, so isn't even marked with an opportunity fire marker!

1 Co in the south has more luck, pushing up to within range of the southern building and just losing one section.

2 Co in the centre has a disastrous turn though, as both sections in the woods are gunned down, and it still has troops on the wrong side of the river. That was a big turn and a bad one for the Russians.

In the north the massacre continues as another Russians section is gunned down and another is pinned. The German reserves are now in position.

But in the south, most of 1 Co is now in range of the building, covered by the Maxim, with one section pinned and another shot down as they move up. In an exciting development, the Spanish MG ran out of ammunition shooting up the Russians!

2 Co has finally got everyone over the river and is forming up before moving forward into range.

Sadly, in the north the massacre continues as the Russians in the marsh are shot down. That is no less than twelve Russian units destroyed now.

Taking advantage of the loss of the MG, and covered by the Maxim, the Russians rush the southern building. The dice are the last Spanish sections opp fire roll, 1,6,6.... down goes another Russian section and that is their breakpoint reached.

1 Co holds firm in the south.

2 Co falls back to the river bank in the centre.

And in the north 3 Co lies dead, scattered in front of the Spanish positions.

So, as the Spanish have achieved their victory conditions (and the Russians have clearly failed) the game ends at 60 minutes. The Russians have lost 13 units and the Spanish just one, which is pretty much in line with the historical outcome.

That was very entertaining, and I thought the rules worked OK with the much larger unit count. The amount of dithering on the Russian side was epic, and seemed entirely appropriate for an attempted river crossing at night by a 1941 Russian force. The chaos was such that I wonder if the Russians would have failed to achieve their objectives against no opposition at all! For a better led force, I might double up the number of command stands, but tbh I prefer smaller games to this one. The battalion level games in Crossfire are also a bit silly I think, and end up being like the monster scenarios in Squad Leader.

Although I enjoyed that, I didn't feel any great inclination to play it again. There was a lot of stuff to push around and a lot of decisions to make, and I generally prefer smaller games to that one for solo play.

Unconditional Surrender Western Campaigns

 Following a recommendation from Norm at the Battlefields and Warriors site, I recently picked up a copy of Unconditional Surrender, Western Campaigns by GMT.

I haven't bought a new boardgame for many years (QMG WW1 was the last I think) , but I was rather taken with the concept behind this one - essentially it extracts individual campaigns from the much larger 'Unconditional Surrender' game and packages them up separately. This one includes the Invasion of Poland, the Invasion of Norway and Denmark, France 1940, The Tunisian Campaign, the Invasion of the Balkans, France 1944 and the Italian Campaign - all in a very playable format with Army sized playing pieces.

There is a lovely dice cut counter sheet, full colour double sided counters, very crisply printed and easy to read. The various nations are colour coded and also have little flags. There are quite a few game control markers as well, the sort of thing we were expected to remember or note down in the days of SPI.

It also has a vast pile of play aids and no less than three rule books. I was rather taken aback by this volume of verbiage, give me an AHGC Classic and two sides of rules any day. Anyway, it transpired that one book is mainly scenarios and the other is essentially an extended set of designers notes with a lengthy play example of the France 1940 scenario. You can just dive in and play, but the first few scenarios are in a Programmed Instruction format and more rules are introduced as you go along.

There are five maps, including one double size one (for Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia), and two of them are double sided aa well. I must confess to being a bit disappointed that the North African one was Tunisia and not the Western Desert, but you cant have everything I guess.

This is the map for the Italian Campaign. Rather fewer hexes than my elderly copy of AHGCs 'Italian Campaign'. Most of the Balkans have been greyed out for this one so they are not playable.

And this is for the invasion of the Balkans, the same map as for Italy but shifted over a few hexes and with Italy greyed out.

The first three scenarios (Poland, Scandinavia and France 1940) ae billed as training scenarios, so I set Poland up. The Poland one introduces you to the basics of movement, combat, air power and country capture.

The initial setup, the Poles in a perimeter defence, and the Germans mainly massed southwest of Lvov, although there is an infantry army and a panzer group up near Danzig and another army in East Prussia. The Germans have air fleets in the south west and near Koenigsburg. Tactical air support range is five hexes. The units are Army sized, and although the Polish line looks full of holes, the Zones of Control do the heavy lifting. They are very sticky and even extend through enemy units. I had to read the ZOC rule sections a few times.

This is only a half turn scenario (the Axis turn), so thankfully I don't have to worry about production, supply lines or strategic movement. The Germans win if they force Poland to surrender in one move, otherwise the Poles win. The scenario has various optional and play balance suggestions.

The game control chart, which keeps track of obvious stuff like which turn it is, but also less obvious things like a movement point (MP) track for the current active unit, current combat DRM track etc. These proved surprisingly useful, particularly for solo play.

The Poles have a couple of 'ground support' events in the Allied event box, these give a temporary combat bonus and in a longer game may return after time has elapsed. They represent a temporary local superiority, but generally the Poles are outclassed (the Germans get an automatic +2 in combat, the Poles dont).

The other important track is Polish National Will, which starts at 12. Poland surrenders if it is reduced to zero and at least one city is occupied by the Germans. Each destroyed field army is worth one will point (WP) , Warsaw is worth four and each other city is worth two. I erroneously thought cities were worth one until much later,but  that is the point of a training scenario, and it also made the game very hard indeed for the Germans!

Having read the large rulebook a couple of times, I was  now faced with conquering Poland in one turn. This is not like an SPI game, each unit activates, moves and fights individually, possibly multiple times and air units can also be activated multiple times. The rules about ZOCs, isolation and allowable retreats also took some reading - friendly cities are essentially treated like extra friendly units for many purposes, so defending outside them is often a good idea. The Poles have actually got units in Posen and Krakow (I've moved the units slightly to show the cities). To win I reckon I need to occupy Warsaw, Krakow, Lvov, Danzig and Posen for eight points, and kill four field armies for four more. Of course I was wrong as cities are worth two, but I didn't know that at the time. 

Those two Polish armies in the east with a white stripe on are garrison units, weaker in combat with only one step but I don't get any WP for killing those. Field armies have two steps and are more powerful.

OK, time to attack Krakow. Leg infantry armies have 8MP if in supply, hexes cost 1-2 to enter, attacks cost another +1MP, so in theory units can make multiple moves an attacks. They can opt to make an 'assault' instead, but can only do one of those and it is the sort of thing you do against fortifications. All the battles I fought in Poland were mobile ones, and the weather was good, so they were quite effective.

1st Army used 2MP to get into position, then another 3MP to attack Krakow (as it was a city in rough terrain) so 3MP left. Each air unit can conduct six 'sorties', they use one if they change base during the turn, they also lose them in air-air combat but the Poles have no airforce. I allocated Luftflotte 2 to support 1st Army.

Combat is resolved using a logarithmic combat differential table. Essentially you add up pluses and minuses for the attacker and defender, roll a D6 for each and then compare both sides scores. To succeed the attacker needs quite a few pluses, and at the lower end, the results become subject to DBA style 'low odds skew' due to it being an opposed D6 system.

Adding in the air support and German tactical bonus and subtracting the city defence gave the Germans +3. The Poles were on 0. This is effectively a low odds attack, and 1st Army only managed to push the Poles out of the city. They used their last 3MP to attack again but across the river this attack failed at no effect. 1st Army is now used up.

To kill stuff you need more combat bonuses, so use tanks and/or attack isolated (surrounded) enemy units. They die much faster if they cant retreat.

Action switched to the north, as Panzer Group 1 marched into Danzig and then smashed in quick succession one and then another Polish army, ending up adjacent to Warsaw! Air support was provided by Luftflotte 1. Panzer armies get 10MP (so make more attacks) and also have an inherent +4 combat modifier, coupled with air support that makes +6. 

Afterwards I realised I'd misread the CRT as well, I was scoring DD results - which mean the defender loses a step and retreats, not that they are eliminated. Oh well, that is the point of a training scenario... It sort of made up for misreading the WP cost of cities.

1st Panzer didn't have enough MP left to take Warsaw, but there was still the army in East Prussia to activate.

2nd Army duly marched into Warsaw, 4 WP to me! I've remembered to start putting out control markers for the cities. City control is important as enemy cities cost more MP to enter, they also count as a friendly unit if adjacent ot one of your own when determining isolation, and units can retreat into a friendly city, even through an enemy ZOC. See what I mean about having to remember a lot of rules.

Next up 2nd Panzer Group stormed forward to take Lodz, wiping out another Polish army on the way (I was still misreading that CRT). It passed through the city and attacked the Polish army behind, who decided to play one of the Polish ground support markers - this gave it a temporary +1 in combat.

Sadly against a 6:2 dice roll that wasn't enough (I was still misreading the CRT), another Polish army gone and 2nd Panzer used its last MP to park up southwest of Warsaw. This also isolated the Polish army to the southwest - it was completely surrounded by ZOC so had no retreat route, and wasn't adjacent to another unit or city.

Isolated units are much easier to kill (another +2) and 10th Army easily overran the surrounded Poles with what was almost the last of my air support. With seven city WPs and five destroyed field armies that was 12 and Poland surrendered.

By the end of that, I felt I had a much better grasp of how things were supposed to work, but I went back and re-read the bits I hadn't been sure about - mainly ZOCs, Isolation and Retreat. It was then that I realised I'd been reading the CRT wrong (but I still hadn't noticed I'd got the city WP wrong). 

The players guide reckoned it takes about half an hour per turn to play, but with my constant indecision and re-reading bits of the rule book, it took a lot longer than that. Still, it is good for my ageing brain cells to learn new stuff, so time to go again.

I still haven't got my head around this 'one unit at a time' thing, although I should be used to from playing Metagamings 'Hitlers War' many years ago. I really want to just shuffle units around to put ZOCs around the enemy and THEN attack them, like a good old classic AHGC game. Anyway, I can't, so a certain amount of estimating where armies will end up, and plan of manouvre and isolation took place. 

So, having pondered various options and the mysteries of the DD combat result, this time I opened with 1st Panzer Group who once again took Danzig then attacked the Polish army behind it across the Vistula. This proved to be a tougher nut now I was playing it right - a no effect! Then a DD (one step loss and a retreat) and then another DD following up which destroyed it. 1st Panzer ground to a halt on the Vistula miles short of Warsaw and having burned 3 sorties (out of 12 in total). Umm, so much for plans. 

It had at least put a useful ZOC behind Posen, which was now isolated, so a tasty +2 combat bonus, so I could attack it without using air support.

8th Army duly attacked it and the Poles helpfully committed some Ground Support. The 8th just scraped a Retreat result, and the Posen garrison lost a step as it couldn't retreat.

8th Army burned another 3MP to attack it, and with an extra bonus for the reduced enemy strength still only just managed to pull off a Retreat, and unable to retreat, the Posen garrison surrendered. 8th Army just had enough MP left to crawl over the river adjacent to 2nd Panzer.

Fighitng using the correct CRT results was proving to be quite tough, particularly against fresh troops with open retreat routes. The key was air support (and good weather) but crucially, isolating the enemy units where possible before attacking them, which requires careful thought in the timing and axis of attacks.

Having opened up a hole in the West, 4 th Army took advantage of the captured rail network to move rapidly southeast, detrained, captured Lvov and then attacked the army northeast of Lvov with its last few MP. Perhaps I'm starting to get the hang of this. 

I put in some air support, but it is still a relatively low odds attack (+4) so the Poles put in their last Ground Support uni to reduce the differential to +3.

4th Army get lucky and push the Poles back with a step loss. They follow up, leaving the now German controlled Lvov to keep the Poles in the southwest isolated. Still quite a few WP to go. 

10th Army now activates and eliminates the surrounded Poles in the southwest. Again it is a multi phase engagement to inflict two step losses, but being surrounded, DR results become a step loss. It's remaining MP carry 10the Army to the outskirts of Krakow. I've still got three uncommitted German armies. 

Time to drive on Warsaw. 2nd Panzer Group uses the rail network to cross the rivers and then assaults the reduced unit SW of Warsaw. With air support, the Panzer bonus and reduced unit bonus this is a +8 attack, and the Poles are overrun. 2nd Panzer enters Warsaw, another 4 WP, just 2 to go. The Poles northwest of Warsaw are now isolated, and PG2 makes a final exploitation attack on them. This is 'only' a +5 attack due to the river, so I burn more air support to get it to +7. The Germans get a DD, so a step loss, but then unable to retreat, another step loss. The Poles surrender. I've only got one air mission left and 1WP left to go. 

Now, I could try and take Krakow, but it is a city in mountains, isn't isolated and I've only got infantry and one air mission left. That would be a bit of a gamble. 

Instead, 2nd Army just has enough MP to march from. East Prussia into Warsaw now I've captured it then rail eastward and capture Rest Litovsk! This is notionally in the Soviet area, but much reading of rules (the border is a red dotted line, which indicates 'disputed') doesn't apparently forbid this and it is still in the playable area. That generates one last WP and avoids a costly and uncertain assault on Krakow. Their National Will reduced to zero, Poland is conquered once again. 

With the correct rules rules, that was a much harder proposition, but I felt like I knew what I was doing much more and actually playing the game. It was then that I discovered I'd got the WP for city capture wrong, 2WP per city would have made it rather easier! 

Anyway, I feel ready to move on to Scenario 2, The Invasion of Scandinavia, which mainly introduces seaborne invasions and para drops. This is really good fun, and it is nice to be doing something different for a change.