Storming the Citadel-Game 7

We played the 7th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign last Thursday at the Abyss. This was on table 6 and was the third attack by the Germans. The Soviets again carried over their supports from the previous game. We both got extra dice rolls as this was 3rd go on this table. I should note to gain a major victory, the Germans have to win this game.

Forces

Germans (FM 11)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 3) 

Supports  19

SL

MMG

StuH 42

IG18

Soviets (FM 9 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) minus 24 figures

Supports 7 (+ 17 previous)

Marsh

DSHK HMG Tm

ATR

PGB

Minefield

3 entrenchments

L46 ATG

Flamethrower team

MMG

Regular Squad

Game

This was an interesting game as it could be the last. The Soviets were already significantly depleted and although the Germans had a strong force, they had to win at all costs. The game initially started off somewhat tentatively with both side reluctant to deploy with a focus on going CoC pips. Soon after suddenly everything was on the table (except the Soviet Flamethrower Team). I knew that this was not going to be a tactical movement game but more so an attempt to crush the Soviets with HE as they were well entrenched in hard cover. This turned into a bloody battle, certainly the Germans had more double phases as well as better attack dice but their defence dice were not good and they lost both SLs as well as a full squad. The Soviets held up as best as they could but the heavy bombardment took it's toll. Both sides had plumetting morale, but the Soviets hit 3 while the German morale was 5. Game over.....German Major Victory.

Summing Up

I believe this campaign structure made it pretty difficult for the Soviets do win. Notwithstanding, we decided to go on to part 2: The Breakthrough, so more to come.

Storming the Citadel-Game 6

We played the 6th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign several days ago at the Abyss. This was on table 6 and was the second attack by the Germans. The Soviets again carried over their supports from the previous game. We both got extra dice rolls as this was second go on this table.

Forces

Germans (FM 8 )

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 2) minus 5 figures

Supports  13

SL

PGB

StuH 42

Soviets (FM 9 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) minus 3 figures

Supports 7 (+ previous)

Marsh
DSHK HMG Tm
ATR

PGB

Minefield

3 entrenchments

L46 ATG

Game

The Table

The Patrol Markers

The Jump Off Points

The Soviets deploy early

The Germans counter with a Stug......

.....as well as a PG squad with a SL

Time to check the campaign!

I need to use covering fire more frequently as the Soviets deploy multiple supports, including an MMG, an ATG as well as an ATR. They already have a HMG on the table.

Enough damage done, I decide to withdraw with minimal loss.

I planned a different approach in this game which I had given considerable thought. Including this game, I have 2 shots at achieving a Major Victory in the campaign. The Soviets have their last platoon on the table but the Germans have one in reserve. Rather than trying to take the table, I decided to try to inflict as much damage on Soviet Platoon Two as well as trying to affect their morale. I was successful in this as you can see from the table below, but in retrospect I think I could have done the game if I stayed on the table. German FM had held while the Soviets had dropped to 5, with significant manpower losses. But on to game 7 which will happen next week sometime.

Summing Up

Storming the Citadel-Game 5

We played the 5th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign several days ago at the Abyss. This was on table 6 as Graham (Soviets) had made a decision to withdraw from table 5 without defending it. This allowed him to get a new platoon and consolidate his forces. This gave him an extra section automatically as well as his supports. I decided to bring on my second platoon as well. The scenario was Attack on an Objective and was played as laid out in version 2 of the Chain of Command ruleset with the only limitation being the supports as laid out in the campaign.

Here are the JOPs with the PMs still on the table. This is looking from the German left flank with the German entry in the farground. My JOPs were all in the rough ground. You can not see it but the Soviets had a JOP behind a hill in near right on the table.

Forces

Germans (FM 10)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 2)

Supports 12

PGB
SdKfz 251
SL
PZII
Kublewagon

Soviets (FM 8)

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) with extra infantry section

Supports 9

Marsh
DSHK HMG Tm
Flame Thrower Tm
ATR

Game

I believe I might have been a little aggressive in this game when I deployed. I had 3 mobile units with the plan to advance them rapidly and capture the JOP behind the hill. I was able to do this with a team in the Kubelwagon (this should have just been a scout team). The PzII and the 251 both also deployed early to lay down fire. I placed all my squads also down into the 2 areas of rough ground. Graham was cautious in deploying his sections, I should have waited and I am not sure in retrospect if my approach should have been on my left flank. Notwithstanding the Soviets deployed a section which quickly destroyed the LMG team in the Kubelwagon. At this point my FM was better then the Soviets and I had lost about the same amount of men but my initial plan had failed. I felt it best to withdraw ceding victory to the Soviets. I had reach table 6 in 5 turns and I felt I had time to reassess my plan of attack.

Summing Up

Belaya Smert

I finally have finished the layout and editing on my Chain of Command campaign for the Winter War between the Soviets and the Finns in late 1939 to early 1940. 

I have placed it on Wargames Vault for free, this allows me to update it easily. I am already finding some minor typographical errors and I would like to add more period photos gong forward. Here is the link to download the campaign. 

Comments and game reports are always appreciated.

 

Storming the Citadel-Game 2

A couple of days ago, myself and Graham got in a second game in our Storming the Citadel campaign. I had already played this scenario with William as documented in the previous blog post. I had won but it was a close run thing.

This time we played on Graham's table as you can see below.

Forces

Germans (FM 9, Supports 3)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (less 7 men)

Adjutant

Pregame Barrage

2 Engineer Teams

Soviets (FM 9, Supports 2) (less 6 men)

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon

8 minefields

2 entrenchments

Game

Patrol Markers and JOPs

The only photo I took of the game, as you see Graham placed the 8 minefields Straight across the table, but more importantly they were at least a foot from my closest JOPs. I placed a PG squad in cover next to the forward JOPs. I was hoping my PGB would allow me to get forward quickly to the minefields. It did not work out that way. Graham entrenched one section on his right flank. Although this was a long range he was able to weaken both my squads. I placed a 3rd squad on the left with the SL and advanced my squad on the right.. In response, he placed his entrenched 2nd section in the clump of foliage close to the minefields. A battle of attrition ensued. This went back and forth and I was able to drop his FM to 6 but by now I was suffering attrition as well. I still had not placed my engineer teams. I checked the loses on both sides and I could see I had lost fewer men than the Soviets, so decided to withdraw. Like Scenario 1 in this campaign, this table is only played once. Best to reserve my troops for the next 2 battles, where I have to actually win the table to advance. 

Summing Up

Well that will be it for a while as Graham is going away at the end of March for a couple of weeks and this sojourn in Montreal has come to an end. 

Eastern Front: Storming the Citadel

This past Monday myself and Graham got together to start a new Chain of Command campaign, this one centred on the Eastern Front during the Kursk offensive. Graham has recently painted a platoon of AB Soviets and we wanted to get them on the table.

The campaign is pretty simple, and to win a major victory the Germans have to blast through 6 tables in 7 turns. Three of the tables are one off battles, but it is still a challenge as table 3, 4 and 6 can be fought over several times. We play the games using CoCv2 scenarios but tables 2 and 5 are quite novel in their objectives so we will go with those scenarios as written in the campaign. Of course, the orders of battles and supports as listed in the campaign booklets will be used. I should note that the campaign uses all 6 basic scenario types as listed in the rulebooks and it is notable that they are played in order!

Scenario One: Eyes Down!

This is played as the Probe. Minimal terrain on the table with the Germans having to drive the Soviets off the table by dropping their Force Morale to a point where they lose a Command Dice.

Forces

Soviets FM 9-Supports 6

1942 Rifle Platoon

Replen Point

5cm Mortar

Medic

Sniper

Germans FM 11-Supports 5

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon

Sniper

Senior Leader

Game

Of course, I only took few photos.......

.....the game was about 90 minutes, it started as a bit of a slugfest and really could have gone either way but I think my dice were a little better and having the higher starting FM helped the Germans being the victors in this first game.

Summing Up

Graham has done a very nice SS to track progress.

Hopefully we will get to game 2 this coming week.

Liebertwolkwitz-The Final Battle in our 1813 Campaign

Last Sunday five of us got together to play the final battle in our Battles for Germany campaign. We decided to go with the large version of the battle as laid out in the GdA source book. Iannick had put together an Austrian Divisions and we wanted to see them on the table.

Like the last battle in our campaign, the French were the defenders with a combined force of Austrians, Russians and Prussians attacking a centrally placed village. The final OB was as follows with Helge and myself playing the defending French with Graham, Iannick and David playing the attacking Allies. The pregame was played on Discord and Graham and myself set out the troops the day before the battle.

The game was 20 turns but we are getting pretty adept at this ruleset and although we planned 3 sessions through out the day, I suspected that we would be done by late afternoon. I hate writing reports but here are a few photos.

The initial disposition of the troops, with the French in the foreground. The Allies focused on their left flank with their initial Russian brigade quite forward as a reward for Good Scouting. They failed to protect their large artillery battery and this was taken out within a few turns by the French light cavalry.

The Austrians

The destruction of the Russian artillery

Turn 5 with the arrival of all the reserves on both sides, the French skirmishers had advanced to meet the Allied reserve advance. You can see in the farground the bloody encounters between the Austrians and the French Infantries. By now the centre Russians had suffered significant attrition but their infantry did advance and attack the BUA.

The French right flank

I think this was the final position in the game before the Allies had called it a day. The heavy cavalry on both sides had a face off just to the right of the BUA, but by now several Allied battalions had dispersed and they decided to call it a day. I believe the French only had one dispersed unit.

We did finish the game in 2 sessions over about 6 hours, I think 12-13 turns when it came clear that the Allies would fail to take Liebertwolfwitz, so a French victory.

I enjoyed playing the campaign but at times it was a little one sided. We did make a few errors in this last game, I forgot that Légére deploying in skirmish order could only do so if in rough terrain. I am not sure why I forgot this but our last game was 4-5 months before. I believe this had very little effect on the game outcome. The other problem we keep having is keeping cavalry brigades in their designated zone. We subsequently discussed dividing the table into 2 flanks for cavalry brigades rather than interposing them with the infantry brigades. We will probably give this a try in our next game.

Overall though, I continue to enjoy playing Napoleonics with this ruleset. I am not sure what we will do next but I suspect it will be again in Central Europe.

Von Luck-Turn 1-Patrol on the Ring Contour

Two weeks ago, PY and myself started a new Chain of Command campaign. I had already played this once many years ago but I do not think that we finished it. PY is playing the campaign currently with Graham.

The campaign was written some years ago for CoCv1 but we are using as many v2 rules as possible and since this is a late war game we are using the updated platoon lists. Supports, however, are limited to what were listed in the original campaign, aside from those which are neutral in respect to what was available at that stage of the war. An example would be replen points. 

The first game is scenario one from the main rulebook, we are using the v2 scenarios: The Patrol. In this campaign the Germans with a Panzergrenadier platoon are attacking a defending platoon of British Paratroopers. The campaign uses an interesting mechanism where in the first scenario the Paratroopers are dispersed in the parachute drop so there full platoon is not available for the first game. 

125th Panzergrenadier

SL

3 Squads

Supports 5

Sniper

Red Dice

12 Para (Elite)

SL

Sniper

3 Sections minus Bren Team

Supports 0

The Game 

The usual great terrain by PY with the German approach to the right. I ended up pretty far back with my JOPs. while the Brits were well lodged in cover.

This was a very short game, as I made a ridiculous mistake early on. The photo is from the final phase before I withdrew. For some reason that escapes me, I brought on my SL when I only had one squad on as well as the sniper. This squad did some significant damage to one of the Para sections, but PY was able to bring on all 3 squads and the PZ squad got massacred. At this point, FM had dropped and it was time to get out of there. Victory to the Paratroopers Turn 1.

Summing Up

German Platoon 1

CO -1

MO 0

Platoon Leaders Outlook Content

Platoon 1- 3 dead, 2 missing

British Platoon 1

CO +2

MO +4

Platoon Leaders Outlook Affable

Platoon 2- 2 dead, 1 missing

+2 on FM roll

 

Many Rivers-Turn 5-The Open Road

To carry on with our Many Rivers campaign, myself and Graham got together at his place a week ago for the 5th turn on a new table. The Germans are finally able to bring on some vehicles, which would be useful in the Blitzkrieg scenario as victory is determined the attacker getting 2 units off the table before the defenders accumulate 2 Chain of Command dice.

Forces

Guards Platoon #2 (missing 3 men)

FR 0, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (7)

1 Minefield

2 Entrenchments

Extra Section

Schützen Platoon #3 (missing 3 men)

FR +1, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (12)

Shabby Nazi Trick

Engineer Team

Red Dice

251/1

PGB

PzII

Game

Looks easy enough

I not sure what I was thinking but I played a horrible Patrol Phase which saw me well back without any cover aside from on the right.

I got my troops on, but the destruction was so massive I completely blanked on taking photos

Summing Up

Again this was a fairly quick game and I withdrew because my loses were massive. I probably should have packed it in after the placement of the JOPs. In a game where I needed a 3 on my CD, I kept on getting 4s. I should also note that Graham had I 5 double phases in a row just before the end of the game. I did get my 251/1 with an infantry squad half way up the table but by then I had lost almost half my platoon and the Brits had 11 CoC pips. Really going to have to rethink how I play the next attempt on this table. What a disaster!

German Platoon #3

Platoon Leader Outlook: Secure

Men’s opinion: -2

CO’s opinion: -1

German Platoon #3: 10 dead and 4 missing next game

German 1st Platoon has lost 5 dead , 5 missing for next game

German 2nd Platoon has lost 8 dead, 4 missing for the next game

British Platoon #2 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Happy 

Men’s opinion: 0

CO’s opinion:  -1

British Platoon #2: 2 dead, 0 missing next game

British Platoon #1: 5 dead, 2 missing next game

Many Rivers Turn 4a-Farm and Road

Getting a bit behind in my blog postings. This is a game from about 10 days ago at my place featuring a Blitzkrieg from Table 3 to Table 4 in our Many Rivers campaign. I had won our last game and decided to Blitzkrieg the next table with the surviving forces from the previous battle.

Forces

Guards Platoon #2 (missing 4 men)

FR 0, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (12)

AAMG 1

2 Minefields

2 Barbed Wire

2" Mortar

Extra Section

Demo Team

Demo Team (free)

Schützen Platoon #3 (missing 3 men)

FR +1, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (19)

Shabby Nazi Trick 1

Red Dice 2

Smoke Barrage 2

le.18 IG 4

Stuka Attack 4

Pioneer Squad 6 (10 men)

Game

The table, the 3 area of bushes represents clumps of trees, not forests. They block LOS and provide Light Cover. They do not slow movement.

Patrol Markers and JOPs from the German attack area.

View from the Britisg=h defensive line with the Stuka attack, not a whole lot of success destroying buildings, just one which was inconsequential.

Side view of the table, this was the Going with a Bang scenario from the 1940 handbook. Graham had to take out 2 culverts to win the game. I added in the railroad track for the fun of it but we treated it as a road for game purposes as laid out in the scenario.

Lots of smoke in this game

Summing Up

Well this was a fairly quick game with the British withdrawing before they could destroy either culvert so the road is now open to the German advance and in Turn 5 they are now able to bring in AFVs. Graham was a bit unlucky with the placement of his JOPs as neither was close to a culvert so he had great difficulty deploying his demolition teams. He decided to withdraw to preserve his platoon.

German Platoon #3

Platoon Leader Outlook: Secure

Men’s opinion: 2

CO’s opinion: 0

German Platoon #3: 3 dead next game

German 1st Platoon has lost 5 dead , 5 missing for next game

German 2nd Platoon has lost 8 dead, 4 missing for the next game

British Platoon #2 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Happy 

Men’s opinion: 0

CO’s opinion:  -2

British Platoon #2: 2 dead, 1 missing next game

British Platoon #1: 5 dead, 2 missing next game

It was a busy week and I have 2 more CoC reports to post!