| 2024-05-10 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Michael Koch | | German (SS) win | | AAR – AP169 THE BEASTS HAVE ARRIVED
Set in April 1944 in the Ukraine, this scenario tasks a German SS-force supported by Panthers and Tigers to charge a Russian village situated on a hill and to secure a certain number of victory Locations in it. On the Russian side, a Guards formation tries to prevent just that, with two „new“ IS-2 tanks as their „ace up the sleeve“.
The playing area consists of a full two Fort-style boads, one of which prominently featuring the village on a Level 1 hill. Being an „Andrew Rodgers“ design and having a duration of merely 5.5 Turns, I was surprised at first: This designer is known for his scenarios culminating in a close-in fight. Should this one be different with a greater role of maneuver?
Like with dreamlike intuition a bellicose Australian digger would find the single tavern in a vast outback to start a brawl, so do the forces here in short order on the playing area in the known „Andrew Rodgers“ style. Instead of pummeling the adversaries with tankards, broken bottles or the leg of a stool, here they hit the other in the face with Iosef Stalin-, Panther-, and Tiger-tanks. Ah, and the Attacker or Ambusher can choose to change CC into HtH.
This scenario has seen quite a number of playings (as of May 2024) with 32 to 42 wins in favor of the defending Russians per ROAR. So there seems to be some tilt in benefit of the Russians.
The Terrain:
Orchards are out of Season, while Grain is in Season per SSR. The Russians may set up atop the hill and within a 2 hex radius around it (on board 15a). The at-start Germans either set up along a line in the middle of board 9a or can enter from the northern edge onto board 9a having to cross some Open Ground hexes. However, the Russians do not have unhindered LOS to hardly any of these hexes, as it is crossed by the out of Season Orchard hindrances. Reinforcing Panther tanks will have to cross the entire width of board 9a to join the fray, but having 15MP, they are fast enough to need hardly more than a single turn to do so.
The village on and around the hill consists of one hex wooden buildings with the exception of the victory locations which are stone. Part of the Russian northern flank is protected by a Stream turned into a Water Obstacle by SSR. The Russians receive no less than 8 Foxholes to improve their position.
As part of their setup, both Germans and Russians place a number of scrounged – someone has apparently playtested – Wrecks of T-34/M43 and Panthers tanks. The Russians may also place one Rubble counter on a Building hex. It is worth contemplating the intricacies this offers during setup.
German Considerations:
You have 5.5 Turns. You need to cover around 13 to 17 hexes or so to reach the victory Locations. You have to attack up the hill. You will have to fight through a village of (mostly) wooden buildings. This translates to: „Digger, if you wanna have your brawl and be back to the barracks by reveille, you've got to hussle!“
The two SPWs in your OoB can create Smoke to cover your approach, their good chances being improved by being an SS-formation (Not sure if we played the increased Depletion Numbers for the halftracks correctly, as they are not designated by SSR but only by the unit name „Elements of...“. Q&A exist on this matter.) Even more valuable might be the Orchard hindrances initially.
A further asset of the Germans is the broken Morale of 9, an ELR of 5, Assault Fire in 1944, and the specialties of „SS vs. Russians“ of the Nationality Distinctions. Having tons of PFs and ATMMs does not harm either. Naturally, three Panthers (one with a 9-1 AL) and two Tigers pack a very hard punch, plus tote a ton of MG FP. If that weren't enough, you can also create Smoke with SNs. You can deploy, the Russians cannot.
Russian Considerations:
You know the Germans don't have time, so they will be charging towards you for the first turn or two. Do you want to stop them up-front? Do you want to delay their approach? Do you want to hunker down in more protective terrain? The approach you choose will determine the course of the game.
You have some serious Infantry FP, however 10 out of your 12 squads only have a normal range of 2 hexes. Your IS-2 tanks are deadly opponents for Panthers and Tigers, but they don't have ROF nor can they use Intensive Fire. Your T-34/M43s are basically good tanks, but – of course – they are no match for Panthers and Tigers. Your 57LL AT-Gun will have no easy time dealing with the German tanks even with special ammo in most situations.
How the Game Played Out:
I had the defending Russians in this one. My plan was to concentrate on the village because I figured that German Smoke and Orchard hindrances would be too much of an impediment to slow the initial German charge. The price for this would be the enemy closing in very quickly.
The German attack came solely from the Northern flank. Part of his Infantry entered from offboard, hugging the Woods close to the Water Obstacle. The other forces came from the 9aJ3 area. The MTR-halftrack turned out not to have any Smoke with it to the chagrin of my opponent. The other halftrack placed SMOKE in 9aQ5. Basically, the Germans could move as they pleased in Turn 1 while the Russians shifted forces atop the hill to adjust to the German Schwerpunkt on the northern flank.
In Turn 2, the German Infantry moved as far as 15aJ15 going for the rear-flank of the hill. Other Infantry were in the 15aO13 area. The German AFV were reluctant to move up the hill.
In German Turn 3, the first two German Panthers arrived on the northern flank. The Tigers threatened the 15aM10 and 15aL9 buildings from ADJACENT ground level locations. German Infantry tried to establish a foothold in 15aN12 (Rubble) but were broken. A „volunteer“ HS moved the path into 15aK12 and managed to survive messing with Russian Rout paths to the victory location in 15aJ11, nevertheless, two broken squads there could safely extricate themselves. Large forces of German Infantry had arrived in the 15aG15, 15aH14, and 15aH13 area (the latter under the cover of a Panther tank. They received some punishment for the attempt, and the Russian defence had solid positions in depth.
Russian Turn 3, was catastrophic, alas. Now was my time to take high FP pointblank pot shots at what remained of the attacking Germans. Alas, the defenders failed miserably all the way, rolling a 10 on a 22FP@+1 on a key German stack in 15aH13 and so on. Furthermore, the Germans could not be dislodged from the Woods around 15K11. To add insult to the injury, a 658 which had previously been shot up into two broken 348s would haunt me until the end of the game. At first, one of these HS came back in 15aE17, one half turn later the second one. Especially one of them caused trouble beyond all proportion from behind the eastern slope of the hill, threating a Stalin tank with PFs, effectively neutralizing them by forcing evasive maeuevers, further by causing re-DM and even FTR on Russian brokies during later turns. The effect of the general Russian failure to inflict damage on the Germans during this half turn of „golden opportunity“ has been the turning point of the game.
In his German Turn 4, the attackers took advantage of the Russian screw-up. In turn, they broke every Russian unit forming the main line of resistance in 15aH12, 15aG12, 15aG14, and 15aF14, which had seemed impenetrable to overcome just a half-turn before. Furthermore, the Germans were threatening to charge across the 15aI10-15aI13 street.
My Russian Turn 4 saw some desperate patching up of shot up defenders south of the 15aE14-15aJ9 street and throwing some of these into the teeth of the German attackers north of the street. Luckily, one of the Stalin tanks could stop a German Infantry push from 15aM10 towards 15aI9 with MG fire buying some precious time for the latter Victory Location. In the end, the 15aI9-area seemed still „firmly held“ by the Russian – more than half by dummies. A lone Concealed 527 in 15aH11 was the only one left to „hold the tide“ vs. the Germans making ready to cross over from the 15aJ11 area. One Russian squad managed to enter the Victory Location of 15aG12 and surviving the initial round of CC against the odds, thus blocking part of the German path of attack.
German Turn 5 saw the bringing up of more & rallied German troops taking up positions for the final push in their final turn. Meanwhile the Russians were desparately attempting to plug too many holes with too few units, managing to harass the Germans in some points.
In Russian Turn 5, one of my Stalin tanks in 15aG12 contrieved to take out the German Panther in 15aH13. Besides that, the other Stalin tank had killed a Tiger in 15aJ10 to be in turn blown up by a Panther sneaking up from behind. It became evident, that I would not be able to hold the Victory Location of 15aT9, with 15aJ11 already firmly in German hands and 15aG12 with an ongoing Melee. Only 15aF11 was more or less still „secure“. I reinforced the Melee with everything I could move in there to hope for the best. In fact, the Melee would continue.
In the final German Turn 6, the attackers captured 15aT9. Now it was the Germans to try to reinforce the Melee in 15aG12 with everything they could bring up. In the course of these actions, it came to an iconic duel of one of his Panthers with the Armor Leader vs. my surviving Stalin with my Armor Leader at Point Blank range: I hit him, but the TK roll was bad, so he needed to check for Possible Shock, which he just passed due to the presence of the Armor Leader. His return fire hit my Stalin-tank – his turn for a bad TK roll and a Possible Shock for me, which I just passed as well. To my great satisfaction, I finally killed the obnoxious HS of his which had been the cause of so much trouble behind my lines. It came down to the last CC in 15aG12. The odds were Russian 7 vs. German 18@-1. All Russians died. But if I managed to kill all Germans in the return-attack, I would still win.
It was not to be. German win on the last possible DR.
Review:
Typical „Andrew Rodgers“ style face-punch brawl scenario. The turning point was the catastrophic Russian screw-up of their Turn 3, in which they had had the odds to break the back of the German attack. With a proper defence set up, I can see why ROAR has this scenario somewhat pro-Russian.
Yet, in our playing, it came down to the very last DR of the game. I reckon, this is all you can ask for.
von Marwitz |
