Advancing Companies - Dwindling Hope

 The last battle in the Red Guards at Kursk mini campaign series features 18th Panzer Div counterattacking 5th Tank Corps. So another test for Advancing Companies, this time with a German attack rather than the Russians. 

Battlefield from the south. There is a marshy stream running E-W, a hill with some woods and a farm to the south, and some crops running up the middle of the valley. The stream is impassable in the middle two squares (blue counter), but there is a ford on the west edge (green counter).

The Russians don't have much stuff. Two rifle and two SMG squads start on table, supported by a single 45mm AT gun and a Dshk 12.7mm HMG (a variable attachment). There are three T34s offtable who will come to the rescue. As this is a hasty German counterattack, the Russians aren't dug in.

The Germans have a mighty force! Four Panzer IVs, two Sdkfz 234/1 armoured cars, four entire squads of armoured assault pioneers in halftracks, armed with satchel charges and flamethrowers! To top it off is an armoured assault pioneer HQ squad riding an Sdkfz 251/10, although the model looks suspisciously like an Sdkfz 250/9. It will have to do.

Well this should be a walkover. The Germans need to exit two tanks or armoured cars off the west side.

The Russians set up a couple of squads in the northern woods to prevent a German end run through the woods. Their main strong point was around the farm, with the AT gun and HMG supported by one squad covering the valley, and another squad holding the woods to the east to prevent an approach from that direction. 

Having learned my lesson from the previous games, the Germans committed a portion of their force and kept the rest in reserve. In the north a pair of engineer squads supported by a Pz IV, and a group of three Pz IV in the centre. I kept the infantry mounted as they were largely immune to the Russian rifles and SMGs in their halftracks.

The armoured mass rolled up the valley, while the Russians watched.

The Russian AT position managed to miss completely! The HMG had some anti-armour capability, but also missed. A mass of 75mm HE from the panzers suppressed both weapons. The riflemen couldn't do a thing against the German armour at range.

Rumble, rumble. On go the panzers. Two pressed on up the valley, one stopped to provide fire support, and the armoured engineers overran the infantry in the woods to the north with their tank support.

The ensuing close combat in the woods was astonishingly bloody, both sides infantry were eliminated, but the panzers survived. Meanwhile the Soviet 45mm gun managed to rally.

The T34s arrived at this point. They had a specified entry area behind the ridge, so on they came and were promptly all suppressed by Pz IVs.

The reserve Pz IV moved up, but the unsuppressed 45mm destroyed one at point blank range. The Soviet riflemen now moved into the corn fields and assaulted the armour.

The soldiers died but another Pz IV was left burning. Umm, that is suddenly not going so well for the Germans.

The T34s were still the bigger threat so the Germans concentrated on them, and destroyed two of them with the remaining Pz IVs.

The 45mm however claimed its third kill. The valley was now full of burning Pz IVs. The Rifle squad which had been in the wood fell back to the farm. I can't recall how it got suppressed. The last T34 was also damaged but still in action.

Now the remaining engineers rolled forwards, hoping to clear the way for the armoured cars as the few remaining Russian infantry occupied the cornfields. I'd removed the wrecked Pz IVs by this point. The DshK finally rallied after several turns.

I put the Pz IV wrecks back on for what happened next. The Russian 45mm and HMG proceeded to destroy all the halftracks, leaving suppressed and dead German engineers all over the battlefield. The only bright spot for the Germans was that they had managed to work the one remaining Pz IV forwards, but unfortuately it was damaged and suppressed by the one remaining (damaged) T34. 

The Germans now had no tactical choices as there were only a couple of turns left. They made an end run up the valley with the armoured cars as it was their only hope of victory.

This went about as well as might be expected as the AT gun destroyed one, and infantry assault in the corn field destroyed another. The Germans did finally rally their suppressed Pz IV and managed to slip it off the end of the table however.

So at game end the Russians were left with a fraction of their force, but their morale held, as did the all important AT strongpoint on the hill. The Germans failed to exit enough armour and lost brutally, game VP Germans 12, Russians 26. That left the final VP total Germans 28, Russians 48 for a decisive campaign win for the Russians.

That was a very unexpected result considering how badly things went for the Russians at first, I still can't quite believe the Germans managed to lose that one. It just shows the power of AT guns against armour. You'd think I would worked that out from the previous games. 

Having played five games now, I'm feeling more on top of these as a rule set, and I think they have a lot going for them. One thing I haven't had much chance to try out is indirect fire to see how that may affect things. Some more playtesting required, in particular that last scenario. I think the Germans should have used their infantry to clear both flanking positions, but it is so tempting to commit the Pz IVs as they generate so much firepower. I'd be tempted to put some Russian infantry in the fields at start as well, as they provided decent cover and the infantry AT assaults were very effective.

I'm also more comfortable with the idea that the units represent Charles Grant type 'sections' - so 2-3 of their real life counterparts. It just works better with the ranges, move distances, unit density etc in my head, even if they look like individual vehicles and rifle sections.

I've really enjoyed playing those games, good to push some stuff around, try something a bit unusual and focus on more tactical situations than my usual grand tactical and operational stuff. 

Advancing Companies - Crisis at Ulianovo

 This is the second scenario in the 'Panzer Relief' campaign in July 1943 and covers 5th Tank Corps assaulting  positions held by 18th Panzer Div after moving through 11th Guards Army. Another test for Advancing Companies, and this time featuring a much more complex mix of unit types than the last game.

Battlefield from the south, Germans in the east, Russians in the west. Yes, the Russians are attacking the flank of 18th Panzer Div. The Skirmish Campaigns terrain is often quite sparse, so I've been quite generous converting it to terrain squares. The main features here are the long N-S ridge and the marshy stream which is impassable to wheeled vehicles. There are various patches of light woods. 

As I learned in the last game, being in the open is bad, and there is an awful lot of open terrain here (the hills just block LOS).

18th Panzer Div defenders. One 'rifle section' which I scaled up to two panzergrenadier squads, a PAK 40 and a pair of Pz IVs. For their variable attachment the Germans rolled up a pair of Marders, which will arrive in a few turns.

After mulling the game over a fair bit, I decided the 1:1 representation just wasn't working for me, it felt too much like those Squad Leader scenarios where a random selection of equipment and infantry brawl over some nameless bit of terrain, and the ranges are really, really short.

So, I have decreed that the units represent 'sections' in the Charles Grant sense ie 2-3 tanks or support weapons or 2-3 real infantry sections. Which means the infantry are actually platoons, and a pair of Pz IVs actually represents a platoon of five. That is much better! Now I can pretend I am playing 'Battle'!

So what the Germans have here is a company sized combat team with two infantry platoons, a tank platoon, an SP gun platoon and an anti-tank battery.

The Germans also get some defences, a length of barbed wire, a gun emplacement and some foxholes for the infantry.

The Russians have tons of kit. Six sections of T34s, Three T70s and a couple of motorised rifle 'sections' in the first wave. One Rifle, one SMG. The variable attachments were another pair of Motor Rifle sections and a command T34. This lot rolls on from the west, and has to destroy or force offtable all the German armour in 12 turns.

I spent quite a while considering the German defence. The options really are reverse slope or up front. In the end I went with up front. The AT gun and one PG section are dug in to the wood on the right, protected with wire, while the second section is dug in on wooded hill on the left. The Panzer IVs are covering the ridge from a wooded hill on the far side of the boggy stream and the Marders will enter later.

I used the optional preparatory bombardment rules, so a barrage rolled across the German lines. Amazingly 76.2mm field guns turn out to fairly useless against dug in infantry and medium tanks. The infantry squad supporting the gun was supressed and that was all. 

The Germans got lucky with their reinforcements and the Marders rolled on in the woods next to the Pz IVs.

On came the Russian tide. You can move everything out of the offtable box on one activation, so I did. T34s up the middle, T70s on the flanks, with the infantry riding the tanks. My 'plan' was to use the T70s against the flanks as they are as good against infantry as the T34s, and use the tanks to dump the tank riders in the midst of the enemy positions after suppressing them. The mass of Tt34s would park up in the middle and blast stuff as required.

First blood to the Pak 40 which took out a T70. The tank riders dismounted suppressed.

The Germans rolled two activations so the Pak 40 took out another T70 and now the Pz IVs opened up and damaged one T34 and destroyed another. Things could be going better for the Russians!

The problem with the Russian plan now became apparent - I'd just handed the Germans a very target rich environment, whereas I'd moved up a load of Russian stuff of which I could only active a portion each turn.

The Germans continued to blaze away with their tanks and finished off the T34s on the ridge. Russian return fire from the T34s behind the ridge suppressed the Pak 40 though.

Time for some death or glory! The T70s on the Soviet right assaulted the German trenches, dropping off an SMG squad as it did so.

This actually succeeded in destroying the German infantry, although the T70 was damaged and the SMG gunners went down in close combat as well. Over on the other flank, some T34s tried to overrun the suppressed Pak 40. They could really have done with some infantry support, and the attack went wrong with the German defenders staying suppressed, but managing to knock out one of the T34s.

At this point the Russians had passed their break point and their morale failed. The entire force fell back suppressed and with only a couple of turns left, I called it a day at that point. I think I did morale wrong and should have tested each square individually, anyway, it didn't make much difference.

OK, that was a useful learning experience, time to try again. This time, I'll try and bit more subtlety and pick the German defences apart bit by bit. I think I need to play this game more like Phil Sabins 'Fire & Movement' and a bit less like 'Spearhead'!

The Germans kept the same defence as before, after all it worked so well last time. Once again the 76.2mm barrage rolled ineffectively over the German lines.

This time, I just brought SOME of the Russians on. A group of T34s in the centre for fire support, and once again, a couple of T70s with some tank riders to assault the German right. The Russians all carefully hid from view from the Pz IVs behind the ridge.

As before, the Pak 40 scored a kill, but concentrated return fire suppressed the AT gun.

Then one T70 providing suppressing fire, while the other rolled over the German trenches, dropping off its SMG squad. A proper 'Panzerblitz' attack!

The Germans had meanwhile brought on their Marders, but the Pz IVs were unlucky and only managed to suppress the T70 on the ridge. The combined arms Russian assault had destroyed the defenders on the ridge. 

We tried that again on the left flank, this time T34s with tank riders rolled over the Pak 40 position, the tanks forcing routes through the wire. I forgot to roll for damage to the tanks for doing that.

Once again a T34 went up in flames in the assault (I must remember that suppressed units are still dangerous in close combat) but the defenders were eliminated as I had one unsuppressed Russian infantry in the square, and the suppressed defenders had to retreat over open ground. Very Squad Leader, I like that. 

While this was going on, the German armour finished off the T70 on the ridge and the Russian reserves came on. I'd cleared the German first line for the loss of three tanks and some disorganised infantry.

The Russians now rolled up over the ridge en masse, German return fire damaged one tank but another Russian activation put a T34 platoon right in front of the Germans.

Next turn the Russians got the drop on the Germans, knocked out a Marder and a Pz IV and the rest fell back as their morale failed. There was an unusual run of activations in the sequence so I ran  the last couple of turns again.

In this iteration the Germans got more return fire and knocked out some of the T34s in the valley. Soviet return fire did great execution however.

It became an armoured slugging match.

Until the last Pz IV had enough and ran away. Interesting, so the unusual sequence of activations in the previous iteration didn't actually affect the final outcome once the Russians had taken the ridge position, apart from inflicting higher losses on the Russians. 

That was a very useful set of run throughs, I'm getting a much better feel for how this works now. The extra firepower from the tanks meant the infantry didn't get bogged down in hopeless firefights, and the tank battle was suitable vicious and decisive. The main thing I've learned is you have to (attack) in a systematic fashion, if you just throw everything in and hope for the best, it is likely to fail. Superior numbers of troops are therefore useful to generate reserves to replace losses in the front line, not just a means to throw more bodies into the line.

That action was a Russian victory in the end, the Russians got a lot of VPs for killing all that German stuff. Game VPs German 9, Russian 20. Running totals now German 16, Russian 22. Both sides have 2 attachment credits for the nest battle. 

3x4 WW2 Advancing Companies - Onslaught

 I've been following Shaun Travers wargaming blog for some years, and a series of small WW2 games he ran intrigued me. They use a 3x4 grid and feature squad sized elements and forces up to company size. 

I'd downloaded the rules ages ago, but didn't play them at the time. For some reason, I have a bit of a tactical WW2 itch to scratch at the moment, so I thought I'd give them a go. 

Battlefield from the south. The Germans are holding the tree line to the right, and in front of them is a large field of low crops with a gully running through it. This is using one of my Cigar Box mats, 18“x24", the 3x4 grid is marked by corner dots, so the terrain items fill the whole square, but I've arranged them to be more visually pleasing. 

This scenario is 'Onslaught' from the Red Guards at Kursk skirmish campaigns book, which covers the Soviet counteroffensive on the northern flank of the Kursk Bulge. There are three mini campaigns in the book, and as I've already played the 'Red Surge' campaign, I'll use the three scenarios of 'Panzer Relief' as a test bed. This covers the actions of 11th Guards Army and 5th Tank Corps against 2nd German Army on the northern flank of the Kursk Bulge.

The first scenario is 'Onslaught' the attack by 11th Guards Army on 293rd ID.

The game scenario has a German rifle section from 293rd ID defending, so I scaled that up to a platoon of three sections (each with two bases). The scenario variable attachment was a German company HQ, so they got another section and a leader. These are just regular German landser, so I rated them as average. 

The base scenario gives the Russians a rifle platoon from 6th Guards Rifle Corps, so I scaled it up to a full company. Three platoons of three sections each. They also rolled up a leader as their variable attachment. Neither side had any attachment credits to modify their attachment rolls.

These are Guards infantry, so also average, like the Germans. Line Russians I would have classed as raw. This scenario is a pure infantry action, so a good way to get started.

The victory conditions require the Russians to completely destroy or drive off the Germans. Both sides also get VP for enemy units destroyed. The Germans have some trenches which they deployed to cover the centre, occupied with two sections and the leader. 

The other two sections occupied the woods on the right. The plan was to move forward and occupy the gully (which functions as a trench) both to cover the flank of the centre and deny it to the Russians. 

The game uses activations, generally each side gets one activation a turn, sometimes two. An activation can activate ONE square only, but that includes all off table elements (as offtable counts as one square). The Russians brought on all three platoons, and as the stacking limit is 3, they just packed the first column of squares. 

Each square is 150m, so small arms ranges are short. Just one square (including one diagonal) for rifles, two for MGs. 

The penalties for being in the open are also severe, so the Russians pushed their lead platoon down the gully, while the Germans also took a section of gully. 

All units start the game unspotted, and if they are in cover, are really hard to see, unless they start firing. The Germans failed to spot the Russians, but if a target moved or fired, you can conduct speculative fire anyway. The Germans opened up and suppressed a Russian squad. 

The Russians responded in kind and suppressed both German squads in the gully. 

And followed it up with a close assault! The German leader had moved into the square already and managed to rally one of his squads. 

In the melee, one Russian squad was suppressed, but both German squads were suppressed too, and without any good order infantry in the square, they retreated back to the treeline. The Russians had captured the gully. 

There are some subtleties to the way close combat works and the sequence of activation which I'd slightly missed this time around. CC is resolved at the end of the entire turn, so charging in before the enemy activates can be a really bad idea. I'd find that out the hard way later. 

In this case the Russians had moved second and caught the Germans trying to rally. Moving second also stops the enemy running away.

The Russians activated their centre platoon and moved up through the field. One of the squads was left behind to rally, but of course now needs a seperate activation to do anything. Interesting. 

The Russians in the gully followed up the retreating Germans with another assault (the Russians had two activations this turn), again they had to leave a suppressed squad behind, which rallied. When you activate a square, the units in it can do different things. 

Oh dear! The Germans proceeded to gun down both Russian squads, while only suffering a suppression in return. 

Dead Russians litter the battlefield. Clearly assaults need a bit more planning than I'd thought. The modifiers in assault mean suppressing the enemy helps a lot, but doesn't make it a sure fire thing. The Germans also rolled really hot dice, which always helps.

Time was now running short, the 14 turns had sped by as to add insult to injury, a random event produced a reinforcement squad for the Germans. I probably shouldn't have counted the 'events' as game turns. 

The Russians made one last push on their left, but the German reinforcements tipped the balance and the assault failed. 

Decisive German victory. The Russians hadn't destroyed a single German unit, but I have given them a couple of VP for end game suppression. 

OK, having got an idea how it works, time to try it again. 

Following the success of the 'forward defence', the Germans set up two squads in the centre and two on their left with the leader, ready to advance. 

The Germans advanced, and the Russians did much the same as before, using the cover of the gully to push their centre forward and supporting on their left via the fields. 

The Germans moved another section into the gully, leaving the centre weak. The Russians used a fortunate double activation to rush across the open fields on the right. The remaining Germans gunned one of the squads down. Moving in the open is dangerous. Who knew? Fire against targets in the open get a +1, whereas those in light cover like fields are unmodified and heavy cover like trenches gives a - 1. With a modified 6 needed for a kill, those +1 and -1 make a huge difference. All very Squad Leader. 

The Germans took the initiative and gunned another squad down. Dear me! In fairness, the Germans rolled quite hot dice. 5 needed for a kill, 3 to suppress vs targets in the open. 

That was such a catastrophically stupid move I ran it again. 

This time with their double activation the Russians rushed the German trenches with their centre platoon, using the fields as (light) cover.

In the ensuing melee the (unsuppressed) defenders killed one of the Russians squads, but were suppressed in turn and forced to retreat. I think they are allowed to retreat north (there are some retreat priority rules, and I think I got this right). If forced to retreat off table, they can't come back.

Hooray, we've captured the trenches! Shame that wasn't the Russian objective. The Russians managed to kill the isolated squad in the trees with fire, but couldn't do anything much to the German platoon stack in the gully. 

At best a platoons worth of rifle fire might get one or two suppression, which the German leader rallied off. The lack of any supporting heavy weapons to suppress the Germans, was a real problem for the Russians, and they couldn't really assault before time ran out. I should probably have done a death or glory charge, but didn't. 

A slightly better result for the Russians this time, but still a German victory. Historically 2nd German Army blunted the intial attacks by 11th Guards, so that is historical.

German VPs 7, Russian just 2! The Germans also get two attachment credits, these are used to modify the random reinforcements dice roll.

At this stage of the proceedings, I'm not entirely convinced by the 'one square only' activation sequence. It plays very similarly to Memoir 44 as force superiority in multiple squares doesn't count for anything, and rewards bunching, which doesn't seem very WW2. I shall reserve judgement for a while, but there are plenty of other activation mechanisms which produce a similar effect. 

I need to have think about how I convert the scenario units from 1:1 representation too. Having one stand for every three or four figures might be too many, when I did this before I converted each skirmish section into two teams, which worked OK. A full Russian rifle company should probably have had an MG section as well. 

The next scenario includes tanks and obstacles, so that should be a good tryout of combined arms.