Battle 2025 Pt 2. Action at Twin Farms

 Following on from the Battle 2025 "Armoured Clash" scenario, in Part 1, it is now time for the infantry to get a look in. In the original book, Grant devoted several chapters to the 'Queen of Battle', and as with armoured warfare, tried to model both weapons performance and organisations on real world examples. This was unfortunately also the section I struggled with the most to convert into a grid, as so much of the original was based on gadgets (blast templates, MG cones of fire etc) which don't translate well to a large scale grid, nor to groups of based figures as opposed to individual ones. Still, we all like a challenge! 

Movement Conundrum no. 1. In the original rules, the basic infantry move is 3"(!). Ludicrously short infantry moves are a feature of lots of 1970s rules, whereas in reality, infantry actually progress across the battlefield at rates not far removed from those of vehicles. I set this to one hex (equivalent to 5") and was even tempted to give them 2 hex movement as I do in my other rules - to maintain a 2:3 ratio with vehicles. In the end I kept it at one hex, but assumed that all infantry movement was tactical, so they can always move and fire (apart from support weapons), albeit in the 'moving' units phase.

Direct fire weapons. By which I mean rifles and pistols, which shoot at individual figures. These were easy, I just roll the same number of dice as active figures on the base. Five riflemen, roll five dice. Pistols are so utterly useless that I just ignored them and factored them into close combat. Ranges were harder, originally I wanted to maintain the ratio between rifles and MGs as well as the range bands (so 3 hex range for rifles and six hex range for MGs), but after playing the Armoured Action scenarios I realised these ranges would be far too long, so went with 2 hexes for rifles, 4 for MGs (300m and 600m respectively) and 1 hex for SMGs. I just eliminated the long range band in firing for effect, as it generally only hit on a 6 vs targets in the open anyway. SMGs were a special case, in the rules they have a 'fire cone' but in my experience, figures were usually so dispersed that they only ever targetted one figure at a time anyway, so I treat them as point-point weapons.

Area fire weapons. MGs, mortars and grenades on other words. In the original, these all had various forms of fire template, however, as with SMGs, figures were usually so spread out that it was rare to get more than a couple under the template and the rules for grenades were a rather tortuous add-on. I'll leave medium mortars and artillery for another post, so the mortars here are light mortars (50mm etc). I treated them as direct fire weapons so need a to hit roll, but to allow for target density, they roll one dice for effect per base in the target hex. I also dropped the effect number from 4 to 5+ as they aren't as powerful. I always liked the MG rules, as they had a lengthy beaten zone, prefiguring Squad Leader etc and rewarding enfilade fire. MGs therefore hit all the hexes along a particular line, rolling per base in each target hex. As in the original rules, LMGs were simply ignored (or 'factored in' to rifles).

Close combat. There aren't any close combat rules in the original, but this was a good place to put grenades and those otherwise useless pistols. If you are in the same hex, everything hits on a 4+ (SMGs on a 3+). I also allow infantry stands to attack vehicles in close combat, hits are resolved as offtable artillery hits. 

Morale. The morale rules as probably the worse written and most confusing section of Battle, and contain various errors and contradictions, as well as being unnecessarily confusing. If you tear the arithmetic apart, what you find is that absent any other modifiers, units fail morale on a D6 roll of '1'. So that is what I used as a basis. I simply used the various modifiers Grant provided, but added a -3 for 75% losses too. It raised the interesting question of what exactly the difference between 'in command' and 'in communication' is, but I simply ruled that if the unit could see the (functioning) HQ, it was in communication. Destruction of the HQ would render it out of command and out of comms too! 

I probably did some other stuff too, but enough blurb, lets roll, some dice. 

"Action at Twin Farms" , view from the south. Everyones favourite asymmetrical scenario, I've lost count how many times I played this at the time. This was originally  played on a half size table (from Grants 8x5, so 5x4) and eagle eyed readers will note I've added an extra row of hexes to make it 10 hexes x 8 hexes to maintain the aspect ratio. 

Here are the wicked German defenders. In the original, all Airfix Germans (1st set) with scratchbuilt MGs, here, all Peter Pig. Two MG teams, nine riflemen (on three bases) and a commander, plus the mighty Panzerschreck team. In the original, the team was based with the Panzerfaust figure as the loader! So naturally at school we all thought the PF figure was actually a HEAT round to go in Panzerschrek....

This lot have to defend the farms and possibly lay on an ambush.

And here we have the Russian attackers. In Grants original, all Airfix Russians riding Roco SWS halftracks and a Dodge Radio Truck carrying the radio op. He devoted a whole chapter to infantry organisation, and it was apparent even at the time that he'd scaled everything at 1:3. He insisted on calling the units 'sections' but then they were grouped into 'companies'. Each section had four riflemen, two SMG and leader with SMG or pistol and a weapons team. The latter either being a medium mortar or a home made Russian bazooka (!) team.

Well, I couldn't quite bring myself to give them German halftracks or US bazookas, so these are a bit more like a Russian APC recce company, equipped with Lend  Lease halftracks and scout cars. I also swapped out the medium mortar section and two bazooka sections and substituted an AT Rifle section, MG section and a 50mm mortar section - which is more in line with the mix of weaponry motorcycle companies had. The infantry element has the same mix of weapons as Grants original, so 6 x SMG (2 bases) and 12 x Rifles (4 bases). One 'section' of two bases plus a support weapon per halftrack. I also amalgamated all the leaders into a single company HQ element with a commander, 2iC and a radio operator 

The main German defence is laid out as per the book. One MG in the southern woods, one at the hedgerow junction supported by a rifle team with another rifle team in the copse to the northeast and one final team in reserve by the north farmhouse with the CO.

And the plucky Panzerschreck (Psk) team holed up behind the hedge. I rolled 11 for visibility, so infantry in cover can be spotted 3 hexes away (five in the open and seven if firing). Unlike with the tanks in the previous game, I'm ruling that hedges block LOS to infantry type targets, so although in theory the Russians can spot these guys at three hexes, in practice the LOS is blocked until they are within two by the angle of the hedge. Psk range is 2 hexes.

In the original game all these guys were deployed hidden (presumably based on a written deployment plan?) until within visibility range, apart from the AT team which remained hidden until it fired, something Grant skims over in the text.

And here come the Russians, just as in the book, motoring happily down the road. I assume this was a scenario specification although it wasn't explicitly stated. I'm sticking with the Spearhead turn sequence, so semi simultaneous, and the lead halftrack skids to a halt when it spots the lurking Psk team. Sadly, unlike Spearhead, it takes a whole turn to debus.... so the Russians are left high and dry. I might think about that in future iterations.

Woosh! Bang! Naturally the Psk scores a direct hit and blows the lead halftrack to pieces. At such close range it only needed a 5+ on 2D6 to hit. Five guys scramble out of the wreckage leaving three casualties inside, and I let the Russians allocate the hits so the ATR team is destroyed, and the rifle element loses a figure. 

Having taken losses, they need to test morale and roll a miserable 2. With 25% losses and having their ride blown up, their morale fails and they become pinned. Well that is just dandy, as the ambush spot is also within range of both German machineguns.... You'd think that someone had planned it that way. 

Unlike in the book, the rest of the Russians head off cross country, giving the Psk team a wide berth. The survivors from 1 section can deal with the Psk team on their own.

Easier said than done, as the SMGs are out of range and the riflemen need a 6 to hit targets behind soft cover and both miss! The Germans in turn spray the unfortunate Russians with MG fire and score no less than three hits (each rolls 2D6 as there are two bases in the target hex, needing 4+ against troops in the open). I eliminate the rifle team to reduce the target density. Naturally they fail their morale test again and get a big red marker. They will have to fall back next turn.

The remaining Russian halftracks park up prior to deploying. I'm trying to debus out of range so the guys can advance in a skirmish line covered by the support weapons. Maybe that is a mistake? I guess the only other alternative would be to charge in and debus at close range, but that strikes me as highly dangerous! Anyway, there is plenty of time for the Germans to redeploy their riflemen and an MG team to cover the threat, and they pack the copse with troops.

With the Russian infantry retreating, the Psk team march back to the other MG position. If would be good to have some more troops with the MG in case the Russians start to mortar it.

Rather than postpone the inevitable, the Russians debus. The MG and 50mm mortar sections stay back, while the infantry groups push forward one hex, hoping to conduct advancing fire. In the exchange of fire one of the Russian rifle teams is wiped out, and the rather pathetic response is just to hit one German rifleman. The Germans got penetrating fire from their MG onto the mortar section behind, but didn't hit them.

Everyone passes their morale tests, and in fact it is impossible for the Germans to fail as they are in cover. The German CO has moved up to maintain visual contact with the guys in the copse and maintain comms.

Just to keep track of things, I'm using tile spacers to mark casualties as it can be hard to remember who has lost what in a solo game. The heap of white crosses at the ambush site speaks volumes! I guess what I should have done was dismount the lead section and clear the hedgerows first. The shattered Russians here fail their morale again and retire off the table. That morale result felt OK, but it relied on the Russians being in the open and constantly rolling 1s and 2s. 

Back at the farm, the Germans push their last rifle team into the woods and the Russians advance to within 1 hex of the Germans. Close range for everyone, and a bloodbath duly ensues. The German rifles are hitting on 4+ and the MG on 3+ against targets in the open, while the Russian SMG teams are hitting on 4+ and the rifles on 5+. The Russian mortars range in on the German MG but fail to hit anything, and in perhaps a slightly dubious move, the Russian MG fires through their pals in support.

You can see the result in the piles of white crosses. Infantry combat in Grant was always extremely bloody if someone was out in the open. I should probably have prepped the Germans for a couple of turns with the mortars and MGs.

I realised I'd made a mistake and allowed the advancing German rifle team to fire as if they were stationary, so I rerolled the whole thing. The effect was similar however. The German MG/rifle team were knocked out and the other section suffered heavy losses. One of the Russian sections was finished off (the infantry component anyway) and the other reduced to two rifles and two SMGs. The Russians passed their morale however, whereas the Germans didn't and became pinned.

The two Russian teams charged the last Germans in the woods, and in the absence of any valid targets (no firing into close combat), the MG and mortar sections moved up to bring the second German MG in range.

The other German MG and Psk team had pulled back to the hedgerow now, and having shifted position and not fired for some turns, they were only visible at three hexes now unless they fired again.

The Russian close assault succeeded, although the German riflemen inflicted two more hits on the Russians. Amazingly their morale still held up - a problem with Grants morale system which I recall well. I'd be inclined to ignore the cover modifier as if a unit is taking hits, cover clearly isn't working - what Neil Thomas refers to as 'double counting'.

At the conclusion of that bloodbath, the Russians only had two infantrymen left on their feet, which probably wasn't enough to take the other German position as they'd need to move into range to direct the fire of the support weapons. I called it a day there as a bloody draw.

Hopefully a Grant-esque style photo. HQ and support weapons with transport.

And another. Infantry advance through woods.

That went pretty well in the main. It was a bit clunky in places but generally hung together OK, and the very big departure from the original area fire rules actually seem to work. The last scenario in the series has both artillery and medium mortars, so I'll see how they work out.

I could have replayed it again, but didn't feel any great inclination, so perhaps the itch is starting to be scratched. I was pleased with the way the ranges and moves interacted, although I'm not convinced by the load/unload rules. I think instead, there should be an option to spend a hex (vehicle) move to load/unload into a hex, or a stationary debus allows units to move a hex away to avoid bunching. it just feels a bit too laborious, rather like the original comms rules and mine laying rules.

I might fiddle with morale a bit, it is always one of those rather vague things, so perhaps fail on a 2 or less instead of 1 would be enough? I will definitely allow pinned units to fall back to cover though, as otherwise they just lie there being shot to bits as there is no cover benefit to lying down in the open.