WW2, and a return to an old friend
My long time gaming friend wanted to revisit the venerable Bathtub Barbarossa campaign we played back in the nineties. We got the booklet out...it's out of print but you can usually find a copy on ebay. Or so I am told. We thought it would be neat to try the 'new' Command Decision Test of Battle out in the framework of the campaign.
We had tackled the project in the late 1990's and played WW2 in HO/20mm scale just about once a week for a couple years, actually getting through three of the strategic turns over the entire theater before we ran out of steam. We decided after some reminiscing that we'd try a scaled down version this time, working the attacks north from near the Baltic sea to the Pripyet marshes.
I am taking the part of the Soviet, Roger the Germans and their allied forces. We finished the fourth game generated from the map move. Here are some game photos.
Scene 1 I am looking at the German approach, with Soviet troops dug in left and right of the road near the road crater. The objective for the Germans, the town of Kaunus, is in the distance.
More of the German right flank. Roger ignored the possibly easier side of the board to bull his way down the road..thereby neutralizing one of my 'clever' traps.
Scene 2 Just north of the road in the previous photos, a Soviet recon SMG force and portions of a rifle battalion can be seen deployed in the heavy woods.
Scene 2, just south of the approach road. Another rifle battalion dug in to stop the invader!
Scene 3, the northern battalion retreating out of the woods, the delay they were assigned being completed. Okay, I pulled them out rather than get cutoff.
This last photo shows the antitank battalion in the rifle brigade tactically withdrawing across the bridge to pass through Kaunus.
Despite a spirited defense, the 10th Rifle Brigade will probably retreat as the road out of Kaunus to the North has been compromised by an earlier battle.
Don't worry about the Napoleonics, I'll have some new units up shortly.
We had tackled the project in the late 1990's and played WW2 in HO/20mm scale just about once a week for a couple years, actually getting through three of the strategic turns over the entire theater before we ran out of steam. We decided after some reminiscing that we'd try a scaled down version this time, working the attacks north from near the Baltic sea to the Pripyet marshes.
I am taking the part of the Soviet, Roger the Germans and their allied forces. We finished the fourth game generated from the map move. Here are some game photos.
This last photo shows the antitank battalion in the rifle brigade tactically withdrawing across the bridge to pass through Kaunus.
Despite a spirited defense, the 10th Rifle Brigade will probably retreat as the road out of Kaunus to the North has been compromised by an earlier battle.
Don't worry about the Napoleonics, I'll have some new units up shortly.
Comments
The only new item was the railway, a pretty good six feet of rail bed for $44 from BattleFront! Very rugged, already painted. One of the few things in the 15 to 20mm scale I've purchased in a long time.
I glumly watch the German artillery do so well, but if we ever get back to the Western front, I'll get my revenge, and more when I use a ToT mission.
https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/nqm-soviet-spring-offensive-1943-part-1/
Kind regards, Chris.