Bridegrooms of Death - October 1941

 After our trip to Sicily with the 82nd Airborne and Tigers at Minsk, off to somewhere distinctly chillier, the Volkhov front near Leningrad in October 1941. This particular scenario features the 250 'Blue' Division, a formation which, like SS Handschar, apparently fascinates certain types of wargamers. In 1941, General Franco hit on a brilliant wheeze to both appease Hitler and deal with the fanatical Falangists demanding that Spain join in the 'Crusade against Bolshevism'. Franco packed them all off into the 250 Infantry Division, and sent them to the Eastern Front, conveniently removing an internal threat to his regime at the same time.

And here we are on the Volkhov River in October 1941, scene of numerous Soviet offensives during the Battle for Leningrad. The river is pretty obvious, running north-south there is a ridge on the left, a small building in the south, another in the centre and a wood to the north with a track through it.

The Russians have 98 minutes to take three of the four major features (the two buildings, the track junction and the ridge). The Spanish win if they still hold two of these objectives AND inflict enough losses for the Russians to reach their break point. The big complication being that there is a river in the way, and it is night....

To get over the river, the Russians have twelve rafts - here modelled as motley collection of my 6mm boats, rafts and 1/600th Higgins boats! I'm going to treat these as soft vehicles, with the travel across the river counting as one hex movement. So a loaded unit can move across the river and unload on the far bank in one turn. You really don't want to be caught by fire loaded up in one though.

Here are the defenders from the Blue Division (so called because of the colour of the fascist berets). Here they are wearing more practical steel helmets. This is a  weak company with three reduced strength platoons with two sections each, along with three SFMG sections and a light (50mm) mortar section. The rifle sections are all rated as 'heavy' (3D6 firepower) as although they may not have many men, they still have all their MG34s. They are all rated as veterans based on the original scenario, and their breakpoint is six.

Firefall Forward specifies that night visibility is 12", which becomes 2 hexes in TaM. The 50mm mortar also has one round of illumination in the original scenario, so for TaM I made that two rounds. These land at the vertex of three hexes and illuminate all three, lasting for two turns.

Eagle eyed readers will notice that I'm only using one base per section instead of the more usual two (so more like Crossfire). The reason being this....

An entire Rifle Battalion from 267 Rifle Division! In the original scenario these are organised into two companies each of three platoons of four squads, half regular, half green. I'd much rather fight with an actual battalion so I reorganised them into three companies.

The first had three small platoons of two sections each (regular).

The second and third were both the same, one platoon of three regular sections and two platoons each of three raw sections. There is also a battalion support company with two Maxim MMG sections.

The breakpoint for this lot is thirteen.

The Spanish have to set up on the ridge, but I've deployed them ready to occupy the forward objectives (historically it was a Spanish patrol which discovered the crossings). One section and an MG will head for the southern building. Two more sections, an MG and the mortar will head for the central building and at the top, two more sections and an MG will occupy the wood. I've kept one section in reserve.

For the Russians their main problem is managing the great mass of units on an eight hex front. I gave 1 Co (the regulars) a front of two hexes, four boats and a Maxim in support. Their initial objective was the southern building.

2 Co was allocated three hexes in the centre. They also have four boats and a maxim in support as they have the most exposed approach Their initial objective is the building in the centre.

3 Co was allocated the top three hexes of front, but their crossing was concentrated on a two hex front due the marsh, which provides no cover and is an impediment to movement. Their objective is the wood, and it is tantalisingly close.

Once they have taken their initial objectives, all three companies will push for the hill. Simple! It really is quite a horde lined up to cross the river, and will stretch the TaM C3 system to the limit, which for a night river crossing seems quite appropriate.

I put the Russian CO in the south to help the 'veteran' company across. Naturally everybody else rolled a ton of command failures (the green counters) so the crossing began to descend into chaos from turn one, particularly in the centre.

The Germans were more fortunate. I put the CO in the centre to ensure the critical central position was occupied, particularly the wood which got a squad, MG and the mortar. This position is ideal to drop illum rounds along the whole front.

The southern force occupied the building and the northern column made good progress in the wood.

Having got the first wave of 1 Co over the river, to CO moved north to help 3 Co across. The centre was left to itself and naturally rolled up loads of out of command units. So far they only have one section over the river! Good job it is a 98 minute game...

Things go quite well in the north and two Russian sections make it to the edge of the wood. The 50mm mortar drops an illum round on the crowded river crossing however (little stack of yellow counters). This lets units fire at the adjacent hexes as it was daylight.

The German fire is a bit subdued however, one Russian section attempting to cross the river is destroyed. The northern Spanish platoon moves up to occupy the woods, despite the lurking Russians outside.

Most of 1 Co are across the river in the south now, but 2 Co only have a platoon or so across. One section manages to occupy the isolated wood. In the north, a couple of sections move into the marsh, but the rest are still mucking about in boats. 

To keep the Spanish occupied, one section charges the MG position. I would have attacked with two sections but naturally one was out of command.

Although the Russians were destroyed, they managed to pin both the MG and Spanish section.

The 50mm mortar dropped illum on the southern front now, but the Spanish in the building went out of command so couldn't exploit it. The central building fired on the 2 Co units in the wood as well as shooting up the (still illuminated) crossings.

In the south, 1 Co is pretty much all across the river but was hit with two out of command markers. 2 Co is still largely stuck on the wrong bank.

In the north, things remained bloody. The other Russian section in the open was shot down, but the Russians in the marsh managed to destroy the northern Spanish section. The MG rallied but the supporting section didn't (anything but a 1!).

The Spanish committed their reserve section to the north as things were looking quite dodgy there. In the south and centre 1 Co and 2 Co were still forming up (largely) out of range of the defenders. A whole platoon of 2 Co and the Maxim are still stuck on the wrong side of the river.

In the north, 3Co tried to get as much strength as possible over the river to rush the woods. The last of the illum rounds burned out.

36 minutes on the clock and the Russians still aren't all over the river.

In the north, the Russians rush the woods, trying to break in before the reserves arrive. The Spanish MG is on fire and guns down two sections while pinning a third and managed to make its ROF roll for all three, so isn't even marked with an opportunity fire marker!

1 Co in the south has more luck, pushing up to within range of the southern building and just losing one section.

2 Co in the centre has a disastrous turn though, as both sections in the woods are gunned down, and it still has troops on the wrong side of the river. That was a big turn and a bad one for the Russians.

In the north the massacre continues as another Russians section is gunned down and another is pinned. The German reserves are now in position.

But in the south, most of 1 Co is now in range of the building, covered by the Maxim, with one section pinned and another shot down as they move up. In an exciting development, the Spanish MG ran out of ammunition shooting up the Russians!

2 Co has finally got everyone over the river and is forming up before moving forward into range.

Sadly, in the north the massacre continues as the Russians in the marsh are shot down. That is no less than twelve Russian units destroyed now.

Taking advantage of the loss of the MG, and covered by the Maxim, the Russians rush the southern building. The dice are the last Spanish sections opp fire roll, 1,6,6.... down goes another Russian section and that is their breakpoint reached.

1 Co holds firm in the south.

2 Co falls back to the river bank in the centre.

And in the north 3 Co lies dead, scattered in front of the Spanish positions.

So, as the Spanish have achieved their victory conditions (and the Russians have clearly failed) the game ends at 60 minutes. The Russians have lost 13 units and the Spanish just one, which is pretty much in line with the historical outcome.

That was very entertaining, and I thought the rules worked OK with the much larger unit count. The amount of dithering on the Russian side was epic, and seemed entirely appropriate for an attempted river crossing at night by a 1941 Russian force. The chaos was such that I wonder if the Russians would have failed to achieve their objectives against no opposition at all! For a better led force, I might double up the number of command stands, but tbh I prefer smaller games to this one. The battalion level games in Crossfire are also a bit silly I think, and end up being like the monster scenarios in Squad Leader.

Although I enjoyed that, I didn't feel any great inclination to play it again. There was a lot of stuff to push around and a lot of decisions to make, and I generally prefer smaller games to that one for solo play.