Serafimovich-Game 4

Last week myself and Dan got together for turn 4 in our CoC Serafimovich campaign.  This was the second attack of the Italians on the Bobrosky. Historically it took several goes for the Axis to take this position, so history was mirroring itself on the wargaming table.

As described earlier this was the Attack and Defend scenario from the rulebook. as you can see the table was basically the same as the previous with some new building, but terrain rules.

Table Overview, the Italians are attacking from the right.

Some new industrial/farm buildings, these are actually from the Napoleonic 3D Print Terrain set and printed at 18mm scale, once printed it was clear that they had too big a footprint our Quatre Bras game. They will do well for WWII wargaming as I had a shortage of these type buildings.

A new Russian farm complex from 3D Print Terrain

The Italian approach.

PMs and subsequent JOPs position, I believe the Patrol Phase was a draw.

Forces

Italian (13 Supports)

Platoon 2 (missing troops)

L3/35 Laflamme

47/32 Semovente

Brixante 45mm Mortar Team

Soviets (6 Supports)

Platoon 3 (fresh)

M1927 IG

Wrath of the gods

The Game

To be honest, I did not think that Dan was not going to take any armour, so I picked a gun with the best HE component. Boy, was I wrong! I was horrified to see that he took 2 tanks, the only saving grace was that Italian armour of this period is quite weak and I was hoping that 4 AP would do it. Additionally he had a flamethrower and I knew that once it got close, my troops would be done.

Of course, I never too any action photos until the game was half over. I had placed 2 sections on the near edge of the table to protect my right flank but as you can see they were quite battered by long range fire from the 2 tanks and by the time the Laflamme was up the table, I had already taken a battering. I had placed my IG in the farm complex with another section. Dan however was able to move his AFV's up under cover I was able to get only one shot off which missed from the M1927 at the Laflamme. I felt I was in deep trouble. I had however been able to reduce the Italian FM because of some lucky shots at 2 Squadras that Dan had placed in the middle of the table behind the hedge. I believe I wiped out a couple of teams as well as a JL.

Above you can see my M1927 and a section behind the stone wall of the farm complex, the Italians made effective use of their 3 smoke rounds from their Brixante mortar.

I had placed my last section inside a ruined stone house.

As you can see, both my sections behind the hedge retreated back after heavy casualties from the Laramie. It was really touch and go for the Soviets now, they had a FM of 5. My next CD roll revealed a 5 so I now had a CoC dice. I withdrew my troops out of range of the Laflamme and said my prayers, but I also ended the turn, smoke gone. The next Italian CD roll did not change the situation. The Soviet CD roll was good, they got a 3. The JL commanded the M1927 team to take careful aim. This time they hit the Laflamme, 3 net hits.....the Laflamme blew up dropping the Italian FM to 2. Game over. This was a very well played game by Dan, but her will have to attack Brobosky again in turn 5.

Post Game

The previous method I was using just was not working so I have had to resort to a spread sheet. It is a little confusing. The game 4 column is the actual result from the post game process of turn 4. The greyed column is the effects for the next turn (5). I am hoping this makes it easier to keep track.

Serafimovich- Game 3 Bobrovsky

Ten days ago myself and Dan got together to play our next game in our Battle of the Sunflowers campaign set in July-August of 1942 during the German Fall Blau operation. We cannot use the same platoon in consecutive games. Dan decided to go with a fresh platoon, I used the platoon from my first game, this was a new table which replicates the Assault on Bobrovsky on July 30, 1942.

Italian Attackers- 3rd Bersaglieri (FM 10)

Bersaglieri Autoportati Platone #3 (Superior Regulars FR -1)

1 Senior Leader

3 Squadras of 13 men, lead by a JL (3 man Breda LMG w/ rifleman team, 8 man Rifle team)

Supports 13

2 x Semovente 47/32

Extra Squad

SMG's

Soviet Defenders-154th Rifle Division (FM 11)

Platoon #1 (Regulars FR 0)

1 Senior Leader

4 sections of 11 men, lead by a JL  (no teams, LMG with 3 crew and 7 rifles)-less 3 men

Supports 6

MMG Team

M1937 45mm ATG w/JL

The Game

Soviets on the left

Attack and Defend Scenario

Italian Approach

Patrol Markers, I believe I finally got the better of Dan for the first time in 3 games.

Italian JOP's

Soviet JOP's

I deduced to make this farm with stom=ne walls my main line of defence

Dan advanced into this house but my second line of defence as seen below gave him quite a lot of grief both getting in there and one he was in....

Hard to stand up to a section, a MMG team as well as a 47mm ATG

Dan also tried to advance through the forest into the fields but 2 sections in the farmhouse compound were able to thwart that attempt. Dan's 2 tanks advance barely but in the open. My 47mm ATG took quite awhile to zero in but were able to eventually cause both tank teams to bail out. As you can also quite a bit of shock was accumulated all round on the Italians and their FM fell to 3 at which point Dan wisely chose to withdraw.

Well, a much better game played by the Soviets but I have to say that this was a much easier table to defend on. We are hoping to play our next game at Dan's so same scenario but a different looking terrain. It should be interesting.

The Butcher's Bill

Italian Platoon #3 (FM 3)

21 figures lost + JL

10 dead, 6 missing

CO -1

MO -3

Outlook Thoughtful

Soviet Platoon #1  (FM 9)

2 figures lost

1 dead, 1 missing (2 dead in this platoon, 1 missing for next game)

CO +2

MO +4

Outlook Cheerful

Serafimovich Redux-Game 2

 

A week ago myself and Dan got together to play our next game in our Battle of the Sunflowers campaign set in August of 1942 during the German Fall Blau operation. We cannot use the same platoon in consecutive games, so we had a fresh platoon for this game. This time the Italians did not use their motocyclistes as they have only one mounted platoon.

Italian Attackers- 3rd Bersaglieri (FM 8)

Bersaglieri Autoportati Platone #2 (Superior Regulars FR -1)

1 Senior Leader

3 Squadras of 13 men, lead by a JL (3 man Breda LMG w/ rifleman team, 8 man Rifle team)

Supports 7

2 x L3/35 tanketes

Car

Soviet Defenders-154th Rifle Division (FM 11)

Platoon #2 (Regulars FR 0)

1 Senior Leader

4 sections of 11 men, lead by a JL  (no teams, LMG with 3 crew and 7 rifles)

Supports 3

M1937 45mm ATG

The Game

I put down the correct terrain in this game using roads rather than walls.

Patrol Markers

JOP's, Dan certainly emerged better out of the Patrol Phase

The position of my PM's did not allow me to get deployment in cover for both flanks which was a real challenge as Dan took 3 vehicles and I really had only the ATG to stop them.

Dan deployed all his forces quite quickly which worked well for him. This included 2 and 1/2 squads on the field as well as the 2 tankettes and a rifle team in the car. He decided to attack my left flank as my ATG was covering my right. Above you can see the infantry squads with one of the tanketes. I was able to take out of the tanketes with the ATG but then had to move it to my left flank to get cover there. Dan then deployed the car with the rifle team on his left causing me to have to deploy one of my sections on my far right flank.

I deployed one of my sections in the wood to counter the attacking Italians and as you can see from the above photo, I had quite a distance to swing over the ATG to protect my left.

Dan then made a choice and it worked, he launched an attack with all his whole infantry force, it was quite costly for both sides but the Soviets did not have overwhelming forces, so it ended up in a second combat and the defenders broke. By then I had also brought my ATG team across but they got caught in the crossfire and got pinned.

My FM had dropped to zero, a forced withdrawal and an Italian Victory!

Well, a very well played game by Dan from picking his supports to calling those last 2 charges that sent my FM to zero. 

The Butcher's Bill

Italian Platoon #2 (FM5)

7 figures lost

3 dead, 2 missing

CO +1

MO -

Outlook Droll

Soviet Platoon #2  (FM0)

11 figures lost

5 dead, 3 missing

CO -1

MO -2

Outlook Secure

Serafimovich- A New Chain of Command Campaign

A week ago, I got together with Dan at the Abyss for the start of a new Eastern Europe campaign. Dan has been a gamer for years, but I only started to game with him a few months ago. After a game of CoC, he put together what I believe is his first 20mm WWII platoon...and he picked a somewhat unusual force from the Armata Italiana in Russia. He decided to have both a standard infantry platoon as well as a motorcycle platoon. He has subsequently added lots of supports and is now adding a German supporting force. After a bit of searching around with the help of my friend Eero in Finland we found a suitable campaign: Battle of the Sunflowers, Serafimovich 1942.  The battle is part of Fall Blau, the German summer offensive in Russia in 1942 and focuses specifically on the attempt to take the Serafimovich bridgehead by the Italian Celeri division with their supporting German regiments. This campaign was put out by the Dunfermline Wargames Club, I have played 2 of their pacific campaigns and they do a very nice job.

Battle of the Sunflowers July 30, 1942

Italian Attackers- 3rd Bersaglieri (FM 8)

Bersaglieri Motociclisti Platone #1 (Superior Regulars FR -1)

1 Senior Leader

4 Squadras of 8 men, lead by a JL with 3 MC and 2 teams (3 man Breda LMG, 4 man Rifle)

Supports 7

Brixia 45mm Mortar Team

Car

Cannone da 47/32 Team with JL

Soviet Defenders-154th Rifle Division (FM 10)

Platoon #1 (Regulars FR 0)

1 Senior Leader

4 sections of 11 men, lead by a JL  (no teams, LMG with 3 crew and 7 rifles)

Supports 3

M1937 45mm ATG

The Game

The game was scenario 2 from the main rulebook, The Probe with victory conditions as written.

Patrol Phase

Russian JOPs

Italian JOPs if you look carefully

This was my second game of the day so maybe a little tired so only one photo taken during the game. Dan came on pretty quickly mostly on his left flank with a car towed IG on his right flank with a Mortar team. I set up in defence my ATG with a section in the top right of above photo in the forest. You cannot see another Soviet section but they were deployed in the my centre on the far right of the photo behind a stone fence looking to the northwest. I initially put the section in the centre of the photo on the other side of the fence but had to jump over as Dan was moving an Italian squad to the south along the wall. I placed my final squad in the farm compound but they were only in soft cover as this fence was wooden. I actually took a lot of attrition and I remember Dan having quite a few double phases. But eventually hard cover favoured the day and I was able to drop the Italian FM down to a point where they withdrew. This was Dan's first campaign game and maybe only his 3-4th CoC game, he was quite a challenging opponent so the campaign should be quite interesting.

Dan however added a few phots which illustrate some of the positions.

The Butcher's Bill

Italian Platoon #1 (FM4-2 dead, 1 missing next game)

4 figures lost

CO -1

MO -2

Outlook Happy

Soviet Platoon #1  (FM6-1 dead, 2 missing next game)

3 figures lost

CO +1

MO +1

Outlook Relaxed

Well that is the last report I will have to post after this round of games. I will not be in Montreal for at least a couple of weeks but we will have a lot of games planned.