Monday 21 October 2019

Disaster at Shirokoye Bulotev!

Well, it was always going to be a disaster for somebody, right?

The second game, here at the bunker, for Steve's Firestorm campaign.

So, here's the sitrep:
A German infantry battalion reinforced with Pioneers (with flammenwerfen), and some armour.
Facing them is a well ensconced Soviet battalion, dug in, well supplied.





The Soviets opted to dig in along the tree line (partially), with a second line of defence back toward the Kursk-Orel railway line. This would prove to be pivotal, as the Russians were deployed piecemeal, in light of the fact that the Germans were 'likely' to attack from the west, but scout units had noted movement of vehicles to the north.

 Soviets are deployed hidden along the tree line, with a well developed trench line to the east and along the railway line.
The issue is, that they are placed a little thin, and positioning of ATGs is critical.

German mortars drop smoke to the south to mask ...something, while Nebelwerfers hit the tree line along the axis running south to north.

German recce vehicles (which was what the Russians had heard moving to the north) emerge to carry out some recon by fire.

German infantry assault goes in. The precious pioneers are masked early by poor bloody Wehrmacht infantry.
 
 ...which are subsequently hit by heavy Soviet mortar fire.

 Heavy fighting along the tree line, as German troops close assault in order to prevent open order piecemeal destruction via mortar tube...

 Russians have perhaps sited ATGs ...unwisely.

As the German attack develops, Soviet troops begin to move north along the railway axis. It's too late for at least one of the ATGs.


 The German attack develops, pushing slowly at the centre, but it's a mere feint.


The real stuff is happening on the German right, at the northern part of the railway line, as German armour forces the Russian defensive position in a heavy attack, with the balance of the pioneers and infantry.

Too late Komrades...

More smoke to mask a German attack on guns in the centre, preventing Soviet initiative supporting the defence.

 Breakthrough.




 The wind whistles though abandoned gun positions...

Russian units withdraw to the south with 50% casualties.
German units (including pioneers) have suffered 50% casualties, and loss of a recce unit, but have captured the Kursk-Orel railway line along the north-south axis..





26 comments:

  1. I have been waiting to see this action. The wait was worth it! Looks like the Soviet commander was outwitted in this clash. Big victory for the Boche.

    Great stuff!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan - we both would have done things very differently if re-playing. The Soviets were caught on the hop by a drive through one sector of the defensive line - Sovs tried to cover far too much ground with what became limited resource - and had some visibility obscured by some canny laying of smoke, and the Anti-Tank guns were just badly placed in light of what the German player guessed.

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    2. Playing a guessing game is what makes it so fun!

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    3. Absolutely. But again, there were thoughts of keeping some part of the force intact for the next encounter, which certainly does a lot of the mental 'driving' in the second half of these battles, when the end result is about 75% certain.

      It's quite a weird thing to get used to , but nevertheless highly entertaining.

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  2. Brilliant stuff Darren! This is incredible and a really exciting return from your battle. Ill do a post this evening that chronicles the great action from shirokoye and also karpunevka. Additionally, FML Alex thanks you because his troops further south will remain supplied :)

    We will not be able to finish turn 3 until this coming weekend (the ponyri station urban fight) so consider yourself pulled off the line for some rest until turn 4 resumes!! More to follow and thank you for all the work you guys are putting into the campaign. :)

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    1. Thank you sir - for the ideas, inspiration and overwatch.
      It has been a pleasure.
      Now for some well earned R&R ...

      :)

      I will also write out the RF cards and hex code that we use. Makes things very slick for even more rapid, rapid fire...

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    2. More rapid, rapid fire is the way to go and i want to try them out! Was just talking to my group about trying rapid fire out, perhaps for the big Ponyri Station game.

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    3. I think that's a good idea. Despite complaints about the rules in the past, I always did like the rules for assaulting buildings. They seemed to 'work', in that companies could reform and try again.

      I was also looking at Peter's grid rules for a game based around campaign scenarios. It also emphasises keeping forces intact over winning a particular battle.

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    4. And of course...there are also Norm's TaM rules.

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    5. Herr FM is very grateful for your success.

      A vintage bottle of Port is being sent to your field camp with my compliments.

      FM A

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  3. Wonderful pictures, seems to be a fantastic and intense game, explosion markers add a lot to the atmosphere!

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    1. Thank you Phil.
      Yes - we love those explosions.

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  4. Great pics Duc. I'm also loving the explosions (hope they were backed up with appropriate sound effects)

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    1. As always Jack, we use strangely non-relevant whilst readily applicable music, explosion sound effects and artillery 'splashes'.

      By that of course, I mean that sometimes the veracity/intensity of the explosion is such that saliva is expunged from the mouth of the 'soundee'.

      It's never pretty...

      We find that humour is just as necessary as sensible spotting rues...

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  5. Fascinating game report and photos.

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    1. Thanks Peter.
      Throughout these games, I have an Eastern front campaign in mind with your 4x4 rules that you used for the solo Normandy campaign.
      I'm thinking that converting these for my hexes might be the way to go for subsequent battles.

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    2. I had no idea about Peter's solo Normandy campaign, just found it and I'm following!

      V/R,
      Jack

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  6. Rapid Fire eh ? I seem to recall you terming them ‘Vapid Fire’ what has changed ? Just suitable the campaign system ie fast play low complexity ?

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    1. Yeah exactly right - simplified even more to give us a rapid game. Stand rather than indiv figure loss. Works fine for what we need - actually very much like a basic hex boardgame.

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  7. Damn, Darren, the Soviets got a pretty good trouncing, didn't they? Looked to be a pretty slick deployment/advance to contact by the Germans. Like everyone, I'll dote on those tea-light explosions, really awesome, but let me add that I really dig that big German recce vehicle (a Skdfz 234, I guess?).

    V/R,
    Jack

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    1. Thanks Jack.
      Yeah - that's a 234 with a bad paint job, but the photos make it look good.
      Very impressed with your reports man! I'm just playing at small battles here - yours are epic!

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    2. And yeah - the Soviets are getting kicked all over the flank!
      Surely it can't go on like this ;)

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  8. I'm liking the sound of rapid, rapid fire on hexes. I'd like to try them out if you ever publish them.

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    1. Will do Martin.
      The finicky things in Rapid fire are (1) the chart vs d6 vs number of figures and (2) figure loss contributing to morale etc.

      By subsuming everything to a base of infantry and effectively treating it like armoured vehicle hits (i.e. miss/damaged or totaled) it speeds things up.
      The hexes just make all movement and ranging seamless.

      Now added to this is a card driven initiative system stolen from Field of Battle WWII - which is simplified. The Nations at Arms blog has done a similar thing - his cards are really nice - rules are called 'Road to Berlin'.

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    2. I might even use the title that Steiner has mentioned: 'Vapid Fire'.
      Vapid is not complimentary though (I had to look it up...).

      But offering a shallow set of rules that allows for gameplay is probably just right for what we're doing here.

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  9. Excellent report, can't wait to head East myself.

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