First time back at it...Eastfront 1941 ....Command Decision

Set up and played through a battalion in the attack, the Germans acting as the aggressors. The dry run was due to a Friday scheduling conflict.....It was to be a re-entry for Roger and I and a "learn the game  you may have played once" for Greg.  

 

Anyway,  this situation is early in the 1941 Barbarossa campaign,  with a battalion of German infantry in the attack against a Russian Rifle regiment. 

 

As you can see, not much in the way of terrain, I wanted to get stuck in quickly.  To allow an approach that allowed  a few turns of shooting and an assault near the end, I decided the attack at dawn was the best excuse for lack of ranged fire at a greater distance.  

 To explain further, the table is 36" by 72" which gives , at a ground scale of one inch =50 yards, just about 900 yards by 1800 yards. The 12"Geo-hex is a standard when we play 20mm games but really it is invasive of me to take over the entire dining table. 

You can see the German companies in line across from left to right, 3,2,1.  The right most group are the weapons and command of the battalion.  The 75mm Infantry Gun and the 82mm mortar battery are in a position to fire by direct observation as well as on order of company/Battalion commanders. The three line companies consist of 2 stands infantry, a MG platoon stand, and a command/infantry stand.    

 

I spread the Russians out, assigning two rifle and an MMG stands on a forward piquet. 

Ranges for small arms  runs from 3 to 15 inches, while cannon and howitzers would be able to cover table or range in from off table. 

  The battalion commander and his support weapons, farther back on a rise , mostly to protect the only two command stands in the battalion.

 

  The attack meant moving and being shot at. the Germans receive heavy fire by those Soviet stands by the railway embankment.  Some of the mechanics are fiddly but using counters for most  lends a systematic way of telling the state of a unit ...and if fiddly, at least they are fast.

 

 

 Attack of company 1 & 2 ; these units take casualties, as indicated with the cubes with S facing up. 

  Small arms fire is done by all the stands firing at a designated group of stands.  The designated targets must be within 4 inches of an aim point. Total hits are rolled, allocated randomly on the target units, hits are converted into stands falling back or eliminated. Here the quality of the German units help them ignore some hits, turning others into 'fall back' units.  One heroic stand rolled 4 'hits' off with no effect. 

Third company sends in a slightly better attack, gaining the embankment.  The Russian Rifle stand to the top right (near the white D10) checked the effect of the hit and due to the lower quality of the unit was eliminated.

Slightly different graphics with text in photo.  Does this help explain the situation any better?

End turn 3 German battalion position.  

The Soviet units would fall back. In a campaign the Germans would move up, consolidate to defend against any counter attacks, resupply.   Next time some direct and indirect artillery will be available; more terrain on the table as well! 

Well, I had a good time revisiting the rules.  Remembered 'stuff' with two small exceptions that did not hinder play. A great rule set for this level of gaming. Nice physical product, while not being full of slick color photos, does not suffer from 'edition creep.' The rules cover so much in detail for various environmental and tactical possibilities so supplements are mostly T.O.&E lists and maps.

The 1941 games are mostly Veteran German units against Russian troops of lesser trained  quality.  The Germans have a better artillery support doctrine than the Russian.  The real difference is the lack of Russian command resources meaning loss of HQ's lost early effectively mean the troops will be bypassed.

Hmm, the Glantz Barbarossa books as a resource, some more 1941 scenarios are likely. At least the 20mm units are already based and painted...from the 1990's.  Since the stuff to play is all in hand, I don't count this as a new period/project....but it certainly a time sink.