New Hex version of One Hour WW2 rules. Leshnov 1941

 For online games it is much easier to regulate things using a hex grid and I've been looking at some scenarios which are a bit small for NBC, so I thought it was time to revisit One Hour Wargames again, as it is bit more flexible around unit scales.

I'd already done a hex version a couple of years ago, and I've been mulling a few changes to how the current ruler based version works anyway. Although I've made the ruler based version work for remote games, there can be a lot of faffing around with unit placement, facing and inter-unit gaps.

I set up the Leshnov scenario I'd run a year ago  https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2021/12/leshnov-1941.html . 

The big decision was number of hexes, although I use 5" bases for the ruler based game, I went with 4" (equivalent) hexes, or 9 x 9 hexes to model a 3' x 3' table. It makes the units a bit more mobile, perhaps too mobile, but I'll come to that later.

For ease of testing I set it up using one of my Memoir 44 boards and 6mm figures. The real thing will be played with my Hexon and 15mm stuff. The main features are a hill in the bottom left, a dense wood on the right and a road (made up using river hexes) running north-south.

It is August 1941 and 8th Mechanised Corps is trying to break out of encirclement while elements of 11th Panzer Div rush to stop them. 

The only German unit on table is a lonely battalion from IR 57 supported by a Flak battalion with 88s. They are supported by a battalion of 105mm guns off table. Units have to face a hex vertex, which means they have well defined flank/rear arcs, and when they move, can only pivot at the start and end of the turn unless on a road.

From the west comes the 11th Panzer recce battalion and motorcycle battalion, they will arrive on turn 2.

And from the east comes 11th Panzer Regiment! They will turn up on turn 4.

Finally another battalion of IR 57 will come on from the north on turn 6. Here it is next to the 105s. 11th Panzer also has a battalion of 105s and a squadron of Stukas on call.

The Russian armoured column is quite impressive. Three tank divisions at roughly 30% strength. The first two each have a motorised rifle regiment and a light tank regiment, the last one has a regiment of BT7s (fast) and a medium tank regiment (heavy armour).

The Russians need to exit four units off the north edge before the end of the game, and enter in road column up the main road. I rounded the unit movement allowances up when converting to hexes (so infantry can move 2, tanks 3, light recce and fast tanks 4) BUT units have a ZOC, which forces units to halt when they move adjacent. +1 hex if the whole move is on a road, which lets the Russians pile on impressively.

The only firing on turn 1 is the Russian preparatory bombardment on Leshnov, which hits the entrenched defenders and suppresses them.

The Russians cautiously stay out of visibility of the 88s (spotting distance is 2 hexes, or roughly a mile) and instead shake out into battle formation, intending to engage the defenders frontally while going left flanking. 

Unfortunately they reckoned without the recce battalion which piled on into the flank of one of the MR regiments. The armoured cars used their ability to move and fire to hit the Russian infantry, while the motorcyclists lined up for a flank assault.

In the revised rules, I'm using the OHW Napoleonic cavalry rule - only one unit can assault a hex, it has to start adjacent to the target, and if it fails to destroy the enemy, it has to retreat a hex. This effectively exposes them to two turns defensive fire and prevents them launching another assault straight away. So make sure the defenders are softened up first. 

This model envisages a rapid assault to rout a weakened enemy, rather than the current model which is more based around many rounds of brutal close combat with units pinned in combat. So, moving to Squad Leader and away from DBA. Flank attacks get double dice, which makes for some interesting choices for the defender, and cunning players can set up concentric attacks so whichever way they turn, they are flanked.

The Russians responded by sending another MRR west, which flanks the motorcyclists. The tanks move into engagement range of Leshnov, but the Regiment of BTs is held back in reserve to exploit.

The last MRR very bravely decides to set up a blocking position south of the woods. Its ZOC will seriously impede 11th Panzer Regt.

The Germans go for broke. The recce battalion shoots up the weakened MRR and the motorcyclists rout the survivors, occupying the hex. The armoured cars head north to intercept a Regiment of T26s and call in artillery fire on them which doesn't do any damage, but the barrage counts as 'bad going' so it slows them up.

The 88s concentrate on the T28 Regiment, and also call in artillery fire. The combined fire is very effective and half the Russian tanks are destroyed, making them disorganised, and they are also slowed by the artillery fire. 

Back in the southwest, the Russian MRR assaults and duffs up the motorcyclists. They take heavy losses and become disordered, but the Russians are forced to retreat. I'm wondering if there shouldn't be another penalty for failed close assaults, like a step loss or something. 

The other MRR bravely digs in to hold the gap from the woods.

While the Russian tank regiments flow up to and around Leshnov in a thoroughly frightening manner. There are far more targets than the infantry and recce battalion can sensibly engage, but now both artillery battalions are in action. The 105mm HE isn't very effective against armoured targets, but the beaten zones count as 'bad going ' for movement (the blue counters), which slows them up to one hex movement. 

The Panzers mount a concentric attack. Whichever way the Russians turn they can be assaulted in the flank. Mmm. Might need to think about that.

Rather than advancing off the table, one of the Russian tank regiments shoots up the unfortunate German motorcylists.

The Germans decide to focus on killing enough Russian units so they can't exit four units. The armoured cars give up their motorcycle pals as lost and rush over to support the town. Combined artillery and AT fire destroys the T28 Regiment and disorders the BT Regiment.

Meanwhile artillery harrasses the KV1s.

The MRR pulls back having delayed the Panzers. It is now hoping to join in the breakout to the north, but the Panzers are a fraction faster, so we will see how the race pans out. To achieve this move the MRR conducted a failed assault and then retreated north. I need to think about penalties for failed assaults it just becomes a free hack with a bonus move! 

The Russians on the left obliterate the German motorcyclists with combined fire and assault. Suddenly this flank is looking rather wide open.

The MRR continues its cat and mouse game with the Panzers and gets shot up from Leshnow. Sorry, blurry photo.

At this point another German infantry battalion rolls up and is instantly disordered by massed Russian fire. The German armoured cars roll over to the rescue.

The Panzers are getting very close to the Russian armour now.

One of the Panzers assaults the MRR, inflicting a hit but being forced to retreat. 

The German infantry retires and the Russians pile onto the German armoured cars.

The MRR comes under heavy fire from Leshnov and all the German artillery lands on it. It suffers heavy casualties and becomes disordered.

In the north the Germans managed to destroy the T26 Regiment. At this point the Russians only have three units left and can't win, so time to stop.

That all went pretty well, and the mapping of generous move distances onto the hexes didn't break  the scenario as I also had ZOCs which slowed things down. So units can charge about, but then slow down a lot in proximity to the enemy.

A couple of things which didn't feel quite right in the conversion was the effect of artillery on movement and the new assault rule.  Reducing all movement to one hex in/out/through an artillery barrage was too much and it strikes me I'd be better having something more proportional as in the ruler based version. Perhaps 1 hex for infantry and 2 for vehicles? It would mean that artillery could strip away infantry support in a historically appropriate manner.

wrt the assaults, I quite liked the new mechanism - units had to take defensive fire to close, but being forced to retreat just didn't seem a big enough penalty and the Russian MRR used it to conduct a fighting retreat - assaulting the panzers and then withdrawing having inflicted a hit or two. Not really in the spirit of the rest of the mechanisms, so next time I'll add a one step loss I think.

As far as the game went, I made the usual mistake in the breakout type games of charging ahead, although the Russians did attempt to mass in from of Leshnov, they ended up feeding their units in piecemeal. What I should have done was mass against each isolated group of German units in turn and smash them, then motor off the map. Isn't hindsight great?

Anyway, that is worth another outing with a few tweaks.