As I mentioned in the previous post on "Battle", the Reconnaisance in Force scenario was unusual in that it was only illustrated with maps and not photos. Apologies if I've overcompensated a bit here. I've only been planning to play this for 50 years, so I may have got a bit carried away...
The battlefield from the south. I've annotated the various landmarks but you may need to click on the image to read them. I added in some extra hexes from my desert box for this one, so its 10 x 16 hexes, the biggest Hexon layout I've ever used, apart from Market Garden.
This pretty much replicates the layout Grant used, although I could perhaps have shifted the river up another hex. The critical features are River Wood, River Farm, Round Wood, Long Farm and River Bend Farm, which are all mentioned in the original text, although hilariously the name of some of them changes from chapter to the next!
The Russians are conducting a reconnaisance in force, they need to find out where the Germans are and ideally penetrate their position. I ran through the OOB for both sides in a previous post.
And here are the Germans. In the original they were all deployed hidden, but playing it solo it was just easier to put them out on the table. In my head I can imagine an empty battlefield. They are laid out pretty much as in the original, although the defenders don't have quite as many Psk teams the original Germans did, but perhaps have more mortars.
Round Wood and River farm are heavily defended. Two platoons in each, plus the respective Company HQs, a pair of tripod MG sections, a Psk section and an 81mm mortar section. The two Stugs are also parked up on the main road next to the farm, and 120mm mortar observer is in Round Wood. The two HQs can see almost all their subordinate troops from here, so they can stay in communication.
As in the original, I'm assuming these are all concealed in the depths, so normal spotting distances don't apply. Grant never really explains this in the text, but I figured it out from the narrative.
Over in River Wood we've got three rifle sections and a Psk section supporting the Stugs. These guys can all be kept in command from River Farm.
River Bend Farm is more of an outpost. A rifle platoon, 81mm mortar section and the towed 50mm AT guns. I'm not going to let smaller calibre AT guns (like this one) fire HE rounds, so the mortar is there to give them some HE capability. It was that or put one of the tripod MG42s there. I'm going to let any element of a company call in company mortars like these, but they have to be able to trace a line of adjacent occupied hexes back to the mortars.
And just for the hell of it, the 120mm mortar battery is deployed on table in the woods, with their truck tows held offtable. Battery HQ is just behind the wood.
And with that, off to battle.
As in the original, 1 Coy sets off up the far east road behind the wooded hill. Grant tended to treat features like these as impassable, so I will too. Reverting to the slower movement rate means the halftracks only advance 3 hexes up the road, and it will take a few turns to get to the northern pass, as it did in the original.
In the centre 2 Coy leads the Regimental HQ assets on. The plan here is to use Long Farm as the Regt HQ and clear Round Wood to start with. The leading platoon moves two hexes and dismounts adjacent to the farm. The trucks are hideously vulnerable to any sort of fire.
And finally on the left, 3 Coy very cautiously sends a platoon to clear the small copse. Yes, I know it is empty, but our little plastic heroes don't know that. It will also be a useful jumping off point for an attack to clear River Wood. Visibility was average, so the Russians can now see the Stugs parked up across the road 1000 yards away. Debussing seems like a very good idea!
Predictably the Stugs plaster the hex with HE and the trucks blow up. To add insult to injury, the mortar in River Farm gets the range and starts dropping bombs. Very fortunately for the Russians, the Germans are unlucky and only a single casualty is inflicted on the infantry. Not a healthy spot! The Russian infantry are made of stern stuff and pass their morale.
.
Much the same thing happens in the centre. The German FOO calls up the 120s and plasters the leading platoon. The Germans were really quite fortunate with their radio calls and ranging rolls. The trucks are immobilised and a couple of infantrymen go down, but they pass their morale test.
Nothing much happening on the right. The APC convoy continues on its way. No activity observed in the trees and buildings in the pass.
In the centre it is a different story. The artillery fire causes the Russians to dive for cover and the rest of 2 Coy tries to find covered locations to debus, which all end up on the baseline. The Company CO sends a request for help and the Regimental Mortar and Artillery companies deploy (off table) , the FOOs for both wend their way along the (offtable) column but don't make it to the table this turn.
The leading Russian platoon ducks into the cover of the buildings, but the heavy mortar fire follows it. The Germans in the Round Wood reveal themselves too, and small arms fire breaks out. The buildings give quite good cover though, and amazingly the Germans all miss while the Russians hit one of the enemy, The Russian SMG gunners are out of range of course...
Over on the left, 3 Coy tries to deploy out of sight of the massed German armour. The lead platoon nips into the copse where they are out of sight, and some of the other transport moves on and hides up behind the copse and out of sight. The Russian Company CO sent an urgent contact report "Enemy SP guns!".
For their part, the Germans are content to lurk in River Farm and River Wood, but the Stugs advance tactically to unite in a single hex. The Germans had to move first, and wanted to hedge their bets in case any Russian tanks turned up, otherwise they could have moved more aggressively against the Russian infantry who didn't even have any anti-tank rifles.
The halftracks emerge from the pass, neatly within sight of the Pak 38, which takes a shot and duly misses. There isn't much point in the mortars opening fire, while the Russians are still mounted up in their APCs.
In the centre it is bedlam around Long Farm as the rest of 2 Coy dismounts, both the FOOs also roll up and dismount. To add to the traffic jam, the 45mm AT guns motor on and unlimber facing northwest to defend the farm! They can just get a bead on the Stugs from here, but obviously can't fire this turn having just unlimbered.
The Germans keep shelling the farm buildings, but without much effect, while you can see the other two platoons of 2 Coy moving up behind the hedges.
Much excitement on the left however, as the appearance of German armour encourages the Russians to bring on the T34s. In the ensuing exchange of fire, it turns out that T34/76s really aren't as good as T34/85s. One of the T34s goes up in smoke, as does one of the Stugs.
Over on the far left 3 Coy probed River Wood with one platoon while the rest of the company deployed. Sadly they found out the hard way that the wood was occupied and that advancing in the open was very unhealthy. At least the covering fire from the company MG platoon hit some of the German riflemen and pinned them. The Russian 50mm mortars failed to range in, unlike the German 81s.
Having seen what happens to mounted infantry when their transport is destroyed by anti-tank fire in a previous game, 1 Coy piled out of their halftracks, mostly out of sight. The Pak 38 fired again at the now empty vehicles, and missed again. It would be an awfully long walk over that open ground, but there wasn't much other choice.
At River Farm things took an interesting turn. The Stug decided that it couldn't realistically survive against the the two remaining T34s plus the AT guns, so bugged out across the river! The Russians couldn't move and fire to catch it, so instead brassed up the German infantry positions with MG fire. The Russians also managed to range their Regimental mortar company onto River Farm, which vanished under a barrage of 82mm bombs.
The infantry skirmish between the copse and River Wood puttered on inconclusively.
In the centre the Russian artillery ranged in on Round Wood, scattering death and destruction everywhere. After a seemingly charmed life however, the German FOO had his radio pack up this turn, terminating the German 120mm fire. This was followed by a barrage of 76mm shells which terminated him permanently.
2 Coy meanwhile lurked among the woods and buildings waited for the German defenders to be softened up.
1 Coy started to shake out into extended skirmish lines, with the mortars and MGs in support. The German mortars opened up and managed to inflict a hit on one platoon, but they passed their morale. The Russians need to spread out more to minimise the effects of the mortar fire.
In the face of the mortar barrage and tanks, the Germans fell back to the rear edge of River Farm. The Russian mortar FOO failed to range in, but the 76s continued to pound Round Wood, as did the Russian tanks. Maybe the Stug should have hung around. The Germans couldn't get their Psk into action as the T34s were too far away. In retrospect, perhaps a death or glory Tank Hunter charge would have been in order.
2 Coy lined up to start clearing the wood. mmmm, they do look a bit bunched up...
And over on the left, the Germans in River Wood finally fell back. 3 Coy massed up to hide behind the wood and avoid being shot up in the open, fortunately the retreat of the MG in River Farm had opened up this hex now.
1 Coy continued to advance, slowly, and the Germans continued to mortar them, picking the more packed hexes. I was using the 'direct hit' rule here (roll a natural 10+ and you roll an extra dice), but I'm not convinced it added anything.
In the centre the tanks and infantry of 2 Coy advanced behind the artillery barrage. the leading edge of Round Wood was completely cleared out. Sadly one of the platoons suffered appalling losses from flanking rifle fire from River Bend farm, despite the mortar FOO dropping a barrage on the farm. Ouch!
The Germans reoccupied the leading edge of River Farm. The T34s are being very careful to avoid the Stug, which is parked up across the river, but being stationary, fires first. The Russians really don't want to lose another tank.
3 Coy moves into River Wood but takes heavy losses due to fire from River Farm, as well as the remining defenders. It really isn't much fun being an infantryman!
One of the German rifle teams breaks and heads for the bridge.
3 Coy is really quite battered now and needs to be careful to avoid the Stug a few hexes away (you can just see it tucked into the wood). In a very sneaky move, the Germans also sent the 120mm battery HQ forward to join the Stug, where it can spot for the 120s!
Over on the right, 1 Coy continues to trudge slowly forwards under mortar fire. Those lines are getting thinner and thinner!
Carnage in the centre. 2 Coy goes in behind an artillery and mortar barrage plus covering fire from the tanks, but is looking distinctly ragged now as the Germans just keep inflicting losses on them. One of the platoons falls back in disorder.
River Wood is also a bloodbath in the close quarter fighting. The last German defenders are ejected, but at great cost. The Russians really, really don't want to advance into view of the Stug and 120mm mortars.
But suddenly, things quieten down. The remaining defenders of River Farm pull out, the routed survivors from River Wood are over the bridge now, but 3 Coy is fought out and just (cautiously) occupies the rest of the wood. The sneaky anti-tank guns have moved up (bottom right) to try and threaten the Stug at maximum visibility range.
In the centre, the last defender of Round Wood surrenders but 2 Coy is pretty much fought out now too. In a shock development the T34s head off up the road to River Bend farm, and machinegun the German mortar team. The MG fire also immobilised the Pak 38 tow,
The bold deployment of the 45mm AT guns proved to be a bit unwise, as the German battery CO calls down a 120mm stonk on one of the guns and knocks it out!
The Germans from River Farm have a brisk firefight with one of the SMG sections from 3 Co. on the edge of the wood but are clearly going to make it away over the bridge. The sneaky Stug moves east one hex, covering the bridge at River Bend Farm, but covered from the remaining AT gun by terrain.
With their tow gone and about to be overrun by infantry, the Pak 38 crew bug out only to run into an 76mm artillery barrage. Luckily for them, it is fairly ineffective although it does finally demolish the gun tow.
One of the T34s tactical moves around the wood to engage the Stug. The Stug fires first and hits it, but rolls a miserable 4 for penetration. The T34 misses completely.
2 Coy has had it, and is content to just occupy Round Wood.
With the Germans now retreating, 1 Coy marches up to the edge of River Bend Farm and captures the abandoned AT guns. The halftracks now emerge from cover and begun to move up along with the support weapons.
And that is the general situation at the end of play. I've done rather worse than Grant did in the original with two companies out of action and the Germans very much still holding the north bank! We have at least ejected them from their positions along the south bank, but with just one rifle company left in action and the Germans still with active armour on the far bank, it is time for the Russians to stop.
That actually went very well, although as in the original, the armour battle is key - once the tanks are free to rampage, they can roll around shooting up the infantry positions largely with impunity. I'm still no sure retreating the Stug was the best move, but facing a 4:1 ratio of AT weapons it seemed the best thing to do.
The infantry/artillery battle went very well. At one point I thought I'd made it too easy to call in fire compared to the original, but the dice evened out in the end. With these rules and Lionel Tarrs, infantry are hideously vulnerable to fire in the open and you have to time their commitment very carefully. I was perhaps a bit gung ho with the Russians, but I did my best to shield them from fire as much as I could and soften up the enemy positions first. The stalking and use of terrain masking (made easier to manage by using a hex grid) had a certain 'Tigers at Minsk' feel and was quite good fun. I don't recall doing that with the original rules.
The morale rules still felt very like the bolt on they seemed to be in the original game, although a few units did break after suffering 75%(!) losses, and there was clearly a whole load of stuff going on with hidden units and spotting in the original game which are never mentioned in the text.
Anyway, I think that was a reasonable tribute to the genius of Charles Grant, and I consider that itch thoroughly scratched. That game rattled along considerably faster than the original due to using hexes and troop stands instead of rulers and individually based figures, but even so, modern rules are just so much faster to execute to get to sensible result. I'm very taken with Norms 'Tigers at Minsk' for a quick tactical game, with a few minor modifications naturally and the new WRG 1925-50 for a rather slower but perhaps more realistic one. I don't imagine I'll be back to Grant any time soon, but thanks for the memories Charles.
