| 2024-08-17 | (D) X von Marwitz | vs | Michael Koch | | Russian win | | AAR – J246 LOSER TAKES ALL
This late-war action designed by Richard Weiley is set in March 1945 in Hungary pitting elements of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division against a Russian force defending a village supported by Guns and Assault Guns. The German objective is that no Russian MMC is in Good Order within a certain radius at the end of any Player Turn. While the Russians are basically holed up in the village on the middle half-board, the Germans attack from both half-boards adjacent to it with a strong armored force with little infantry on one side and with a strong infantry force with little armor support from the other. Those who have been around before countless geoboards were available will remember the board 46 village as awful „tank country“. Unless the game ends by the sudden death option, it can last full six turns.
As of August 2024, ROAR has it at 9 German vs. 7 Russian wins with an Excitement Rating of 6.6.
The Terrain:
Set in March, Orchards are out of Season. Per SSR, Weather is Overcast while Falling Snow (rather than Rain) can occur. Roads are dirt, the Vehicular Road Rate does not apply, all buildings are Wooden, and Rowhouse black bars don't exist, with these buildings also being decreed of having a Ground Level only. Soft Ground is in effect, but this practically has only few relevant applications.
The western (top) half-board 5 features two Gullies along with some patches of Woods (one of which an overlay but is relatively open. The middle board 46 features the village within which the Russians must setup, with the exception of two 76L Guns. The eastern (bottom) half-board 44, on which one part of the German attackers set up, is quite open as well, however, a line of woods and a small hill shield some of the approach towards the village from view.
Russian Considerations:
Your force of 11.5 squads (4.5 of which Elite) with three leaders, 2x MMG, 2x LMG and an ATR is required to set up within 4 hexes of 46AA6. The same is true for your platoon of 3x SU-100 assault guns, which boast an awesome 27TK vs. armor but lack MG armament and only have HE7. Two „Ratsch-Bumm“ 76L ART Guns are the only Russian units which may set up anywhere on half-board 46 – but with their CA facing north (to the right). Up to 2 of your 3 Assault Guns may begin the game treated as if under the provisions of being TI. Finally, the Russians get 3 Factors of AT-Mines which the must set up on one or both halfboards next to the central one relatively close to the latter.
The VC specifying that the Russians need a Good Order MMC at game end already indicates that the Russian are in for some pummeling. The village is built up and has some Narrow Streets, but on the other hand, there is not much space for falling back. This is especially true, since the Germans will be attacking from both sides, which can become very dangerous with regard to Rout Paths.
As aforementioned, the board 46 village is awful „tank country“. This is most bad for turretless Russian assault guns without MG armament vs. late war German SS-Infantry with inherent PFs in abundance, inherent ATMMs, PSKs and a notable Infantry Smoke exponent of 2. If you let your assault guns be cornered within the village, they're likely toast. To effectively threaten the German AFVs, the SU-100s need a good field of fire. This is hard to find except outside the village, where the Assault Guns would be quite exposed.
The Russian jokers are the pair of 76L ART pieces with are not as limited in their setup area – but are limited to their CA facing north (right). They are dangerous to the German infantry and all German AFVs except vs. the Jagdpanther's and Jagdpanzer IV/70 frontal armor. These Guns can also fire SMOKE and are lavishly supplied with APCR. The SSR'ed CA of the Guns will make turning and thus revealing them more likely. The Russians should carefully consider where to put these Guns and when to use them.
Finally, the 3 AT-Mine factors are nice to have. They can „poison“ one approach for the Germans and maybe more importantly, put fear into the German tankers with regard of their whereabouts.
In any case, the Russian is very well advised to take note of the two distinct German assault groups: One has powerful AFV but is only supported by three squads. The other one has nine squads and a 9-2 among its leaders, but here the AFV support „only“ consists of one SPA and one SPW, which are very thin-skinned.
In this Alamo-type scenarios, the most important thing for the defenders is to buy time. If done successfully, you might just hang on long enough with that Good Order MMC.
German Considerations:
You have a powerful force. Even if the German AFV are not Elite and the Morale Factor of SS-MMC is not underlined by SSR, it will be able to meet out some serious pain. Five Leaders for 12 squads is very decent as well, not counting the Armor Leader. With regard to Support Weapons, the Germans only have LMG and PSKs, but this is not going to be a long range engagement and PSKs along with PFs can meet out some punch against enemy infantry in buildings and behind walls as well.
The Jagdpanther and JgdPz IV/70 are superior to the Russian SU-100s, the latter lacking ROF, MG armament, and having B11 along with HE7. All close topped German AFV have a Nahverteidigungswaffe which can also create some SMOKE. The SPA and the three Pz IV's have plenty of SMOKE ammo as well. The SPA even has HEAT which can take out the Russian AFVs. The Pz IV's are turreted and have plenty of MG armament, which is useful for self-protection and vs. enemy Infantry. Talking about firepower, the two Ostwind SPAA and the SPW are quite formidable: They pack 12 FP as IFE with ROF 2 at a range against which Russian infantry cannot seriously retaliate. This ROF goes up to 3 for TH rolls. Against a Russian side Armor Factor of 6, the 37L can be dangerous. Even the 20L might do something as it gets 3 TK rolls on a Hit. These SPAA assets might also be very useful in taking out the Russian ART pieces.
So while there is almost parity in the number of squads, the amount of Firepower the Germans can dish out vastly exceeds that of the Russians. They need it, though, because where ever they can, the Russians will try to find spots to avoid exposure.
The difficulty for the Germans is that the combination of AFVs and Infantry is „unbalanced“ in each of their assault groups. The Russian is likely to try to take advantage of this. As always, the attacker must not lose time without being too reckless. There are enough SMOKE assets to help out here and some covering terrain. But when the Germans come close to the village, things will get ugly.
In case the Russian AFV venture out to challenge the Germans, the latter will be at advantage for having more tubes to counter them. If the Russian AFV hide within the village, they have few opportunities to threaten the German AFVs, which will allow the latter to blast enemy infantry and to cover the approach of the friendly Infantry. Should the Russian Infantry covering their SU-100s within the town be broken and chased off, the Bolsheviks will likely soon lose them to PFs, PSKs, ATMMs, and CC.
It is a true PITA to get all Russian MMC not being Good Order. The elimination of black Rowhouse bars and SSR'ing these to Ground Level will help somewhat. But it will be tough. So if the German gets the opportunity to attack from multiple directions, he should exploit them. Denying the Russians Rout Paths and ways to retreat may go a long way to decide the game. Of course, units in Melee are not Good Order. The German should not forget, that the game can last 6 full turns, meaning that the Russian potentially can move last.
How the Game Played Out:
I played the defending Russians in this one. Due to the setup restrictions, there is not a lot of fancy stuff you can do: Only a single MMC per building, not being Scenario Defender (some Germans set up on board) and no Dummies mean hardly any pre-gamestart Concealment „mindgames“. I decided to „play safe“ the Russian SU-100s. They are needed throughout the game to keep the German AFV honest, so I did not set them up to immediately challenge the German approach – especially against the background of the SSR which might cause you to find them TI at start. This left the ART Guns, which are probably the most valuable pieces in the Russian OoB. Likely, they would not stay HIP for long (partly to the CA setup restrictions), but it would not harm attempting to put them in places where they could make their first shot count. With the AT-Mines I set a trap in one of the many approaches the Germans could choose in the hope of taking out one of their AFV.
In the East (i.e. bd44 / the bottom), the Germans set up their platoon of Pz IV's to cross the hill and attempt to go for the „backdoor“ to the village in direction of 46FF4. The SPAAs set up to fire through the Brush in 44E3 and 44G3. The German Infantry headed in direction of the 44I2 Woods area, as this presents the most covered route towards the village. The Jagdpanther headed towards the 44K1 gap, the JdgPz IV to the 44O1 gap. The SPAAs did some damage with their 12FP @ +3 shots (Brush & Wooden Building TEM). It was possible to make the area around 46Z0 uncomfortable for the Germans for a while before it was duly SMOKED by the Germans. The greatest boon for the Russians in the early game here was the Sniper wounding the German 8-1 Leader on this flank.
In the West (i.e. bd05 / the top), the entry area and the terrain does not really leave the Germans many choices. As expected, they avoided the largely open area around 5CC8 and rather headed forseeably towards the 5W2 Woods area. There is nothing much the Russians can do to prevent that. However, I was able to break one complete stack of German Infantry including its Leader with a well placed artillery shell when they scurried across a small batch of Open Ground. Together with the wounding of the German 8-1 on the other flank, I was quite content with the opening phase of the scenario, as these results would delay the Germans somewhat and reduce their punch for a while.
In the East, the German Jagdpanther „found“ a Russian AT-Minefield but alas it did not affect the tank destroyer. It did delay it, though, as the Germans decided to back out of the minfield on its Partial Trailbreak and to take a detour via 44O1. The awesome Firepower of the SPAAs made life for the Russian „frontline“ squads quite uncomfortable which had its hands full doding them and trying to keep away the German Infantry pressing to 46Z1. To my relief, one of them malfed its MA. Having moved one of my SU-100s to cover the „backdoor“ of 46FF4 worked well to scare off the platoon of Pz IV's. Instead of pressing through there, they supported the approach of the German Infantry on this flank. But since some of the Russians could skulk, or fell back, the effect was limited. These Panzers, for the time being, could not bring their full potential to bear: The „backdoor“ to the village was covered, the Russian Infantry getting out of sight, the congested village terrain with Narrow Streets was not inviting to tanks, and detouring around the village in the other direction would take time.
In the West, the bulk of the German Infantry were massing in the 5W2 Woods area, with the stack that had been hit before lagging behind. The German halftrack and SPA cut around behind the 5W2 Woods area emerging along 5S1. In fact, the SPA parked itself two hexes in front of my still HIP 76L ART Gun and was duly killed before having fired a shot. This, needless to say, enraged the Germans in the area: Both the SPAA halftrack and 9-2 led Infantry would retaliate at the first opportunity. Thus I Intensive Fired the Gun to turn its CA to get beads on the halftrack. The Russian Crew did contrive to survive the AFPh so I was hoping to kill the halftrack in my upcoming Prep Fire. With the 5W2 Woods area squirming with German Infantry staggering under their load of PFs, PSKs and ATMMs, I pulled back one of my SU-100s all the way to 5CC5. From there, it could both cover the „backdoor“ of the village in 46GG3 and GG4 and put some threat at rather long ranges towards the other flank of the village while remaining out of range of German LATW.
In the East, due to massive armored fire support, the Germans could gain a foothold in the village in the 46Z2 area despite having only three squads on this flank. I had about three squads in the area, two of which were broken by the enemy armor and the most important Elite 458+LMG went down to German Infantry Assault Fire. With this, the Eastern side of the village had been „cracked open“. The only good thing was, that the congested terrain prevented the German armor to exploit it and the Germans had precious few squads to pressure on.
In the West, the „difficult part“ for the German Infantry began: They would have to tackle the 46AA8 area, which would likely become the Russian „Alamo“. At first, though, they were keen ot take out my 76 ART Gun, which had gacked it shot vs. the German halftrack and then malfed during Intensive Fire. I was lucky, that its Crew merely broke in the vicious German return fire. It did not die until game end, but could not get off a shot with the Gun either. Remaining somewhat of a nuisance to the Germans, the Crew eventually rallied and even reclaimed the Gun and its Emplacement TEM. The bulk of the German Infantry crabbed sideway through the 46V9 building in order to assault the 46X6 building, which I had garrisoned with no less than three squads. These broke under the heavy German Infantry fire, but somehow I managed to evacuate everybody across towards the Graveyard in 46Z7 and beyond – this is to say „alive“. The Russian MMG enfiladed the Y-road in the village and Russian squads striving to maintain Concealment were denying the Walls to the Germans in the Z row. With the 46X6 building up for the grabs for the German, he tried to wiggle in there via U8, U7, and V6. This was the moment for my far-off SU-100 to search for HE7. The loader cheeringly slammed in a round and the expert gunner once more hit and blasted a German stack which had no choice but to fall back to U7. Urrräh! This would further delay and complicate the German Infantry assault on this flank.
In the East, my Infantry tried to rally or had to stay out of sight. Thus, there was nothing that could prevent the Germans to get to 46AA4 to have a go at my SU-100 which had shelterd in 46AA5 to discourage armored advances from that flank of the village. Sure enough, it was blazed by a German Panzerfaust bereft of its Infantry flanking escort. The Germans also broke the Infantry manning the MMG in 46Y5, so basically the village was lost except for the 46AA8 area, the 46DD6 and 46EE5 buildings.
In the West, meanwhile, the German Armor Leader in the JgdPz IV had seen enough of my pesky SU-100 in 5CC5 and charged forward to engage it. Both crews were CE but still, both crews missed in the initial exchange of fire. Now, the scenario design did tell: The German Infantry in the West was lacking armor support to cover its approach. So they had no choice to try to break at least some of the Russians by PrepFire to allow for an opening of Infantry moves against the Russian Wall of the Z hexrow. This only had partial success. The Good Order Russian Gun was pushed into the walled compound for the endgame.
In the East, my Russians fell back to the 46DD6 building, forfeiting the 46EE5 building. Despite only having 2.5 squads left here, the German Infantry were more successful here than the larger numbers on the other flank. On the other hand, there is only so much that you can do with 2.5 squads, which was now facing the second defensive line from 46DD6 to 46Z7. Meanwhile the German tanks were agonizing their way through Village Terrain, still avoiding the „poisoned“ backdoor to the village. In my Prepfire, my SU-100 hit and killed the JgdPz IV. My gun surely proved its worth and as such, the Germans sent out a halfsquad especially for it to get close and personal. For that reason, it had to pull out and retreated across the Gully to a new position which still allowed it to guard the southern and western approaches to the village.
At this point, the Germans had two Movement Phases left (and a Russian halfturn after that) to meet the objective. As the walled part of the village, the 46DD6 and 46EE8 buildings were still solidly in Russian hands, it became apparent that the Germans would higly likely run out of time to get all these dispersed units to become non Good Order. Even if broken, some could and would act as a „wall of bodies“. Thus, my opponent conceded.
Russian win.
Review:
I believe the following factors were the cause for the Russian victory:
The Russians managed to break two Germans stacks including their Leader which caused them delays and momentum. The wounding of the German 8-1 by Sniper fire on the eastern flank surely did not help him either.
I averted to be encircled and could avoid Rout Paths being cut off. The „backdoor“ to the village around 46FF4 remained closed throughout the game.
The Germans could not bring the full power of their formidable armor support to bear. Where they could, the Russians were unable to stand their ground. But when they fell back or out of sight, the Village Terrain acted as a „wall in itself“.
One of the 76L ART Guns and the Mines could only take out a single German AFV, but they did cause delays and detours, that bought precious time for the Russians which paid off in the end game.
von Marwitz
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