More Panzerblitz Lite 3 - Vyazma 1941

 As these posts seem to be popular, I'll change my usual cycle and post this today rather than next week. I'm away this weekend in any case, so posts/updates will be a bit less frequent. 

Another day, more Panzerblitz Lite. After the Kiev game, I went through all the terrain boards and came up with a standard layout for each board mapped onto my Hexon boards. It is then possible to cut up the template and arrange them just like the original game. Much easier and faster than trying to do it from scratch each time.

I fancied something a bit more low density this time, so I picked Vyazma 1941 as the scenario.

View from the west. It is amazing how the terrain layout changes with each different configuration of the geomorphic map boards. Like Buchach, the Germans are trying to open a corridor from west to east, this time uncovered by Russian units or fire. Well, given the weapon ranges and terrain configuration, that will be interesting...

Here is the scenario card, and my patented mini-geomorphic terrain layout cards. The cards made it much easier to set the terrain up, it only took 25 minutes, which is OK for something so complicated.

Unlike Buchach, this is a very low density scenario! The Russians have a Rifle Regiment (three battalions of two stands each), plus a company each of 76mm Field Guns, 120mm mortars and an AT company. The guns are horse drawn, the only motorised unit being the AT guns, so the Russian defence is going to be quite static.

The German force is miniscule though, two companies of Pz III, one of Mech Infantry, one towed AT company and a company of 'mortars' (which I modelled as 75mm infantry guns). Not much stuff at all.

As in the original scenario, the Russians have to string their troops out to cover the entire width of the board. The obvious spot for the artillery is the wood on the central hill as it can cover five hexes across from there, and observation post in the village at the bottom of the hill is vital. I've put some Russian infantry in gullies - they can only spot and be spotted at one hex range, but it will force the Germans to move adjacent. The 120mm mortars are also in a gully to the rear of the open board. 

The Russians do have some reserves, there is a rifle company with the 76mm guns and the motorised AT is on the road junction in the top right. Once the Germans are committed, they can shuffle to form another line of units/fire across the board. The rough ground on the right is a nightmare, but the bigger hexes make it easier to lock down with continuous fire, there are two units in the foreground, linking with the artillery arc of fire.

As most of the Russian force is slow, you need to put a lot of thought into the setup. I enjoy stuff like that.

Conversely, the Germans don't have much stuff, but it is (mostly) armoured and mobile, so they need to pick a route and concentrate all their fire power to break through and keep it open. I can't actually recall the optimum strategy for this one, and it felt like cheating to read the scenario guide, so the Germans went for the open board on the left. It just seems easier to lock down one board edge, rather than going up the middle, although killing those guns looks very attractive.

The Germans advance up to the edge of the gully, with the mech infantry and guns in the town, tanks in the open. No Russians can see them here (mmm, I really need to think about spotting!)

The Russians respond by moving the AT guns west, a bit. The Germans pile into the gully and set up their guns in the village. Again, they are hidden from view here, even from the spotters on the hill. The Russian AT has made it to the central road by the end of turn 2.

Panzers advance! The Germans rush the village, 75mm guns in the gully in support. Now, in the original game, we could have bypassed as there are no ZOC, however my guys are now stuck adjacent to the Russians.

The Russian infantry in the village can call in the 120mm mortars, and the infantry in the gully can call can the 76mm guns. I had thought quite a lot about this defensive setup beforehand... In fact my wife commented how absorbed and thoughtful I looked. The chess with tanks thing was always something I loved about PB, unlike Squad Leader, which was far more random. 

Blam! Blam! Russian artillery, mortar and small arms fire rings out - resulting in a disrupted mech inf and a disrupted tank. The Russian 76s also rolled a '6', so have disrupted themselves. I prefer units to run out of ammo on a high roll, it seems more logical.

The 75s fire at the village but miss, and the disrupted Germans fall back into the gully to reorganise. The Russian return fire disrupts the AT company but nothing else. The Russian AT company is now on the far road next to the top left village and a rifle company has moved to support the mortars. The mortars are 'in' the gully and the infantry are outside so they can spot. Mmmm, I need to think about that too.

The Germans finally get there act together - the 75s disrupt the village and direct fire from two units finishes off the defenders, and the mech infantry and guns occupy the town. That is more like it!

The Russians have filtered a couple of units into the gully at the bottom, and the rifle company with the mortars has moved east to create a blocking line with the AT guns. The Russian artillery (finally) manages to reorganise, but now the 120mm mortars run out of ammo.

The Russians put an infantry unit on the hill at the top, and another one comes 'out' of the gully to spot for the guns.

That is a mistake. It is disrupted by the 75s and finished off by direct fire while the other Germans reorganise or push forwards. The Russian AT guns are in the village at the top now, but the German 75s rolled a 6 and are disrupted. That is a bit of a problem as hundreds of angry Russian infantrymen are next to them! 

The 75s 'retreat' east to reorganise and the Russians occupy the village at the bottom, re-establishing the line. The AT guns get lucky and disrupt them though.

Somehow (I must have forgotten to take some photos), the rest of the panzers have destroyed the Rifle Company on the hill and are threatening the 120mm mortars, who have retreated back onto another gully. The Germans are now surrounded! But the Russians have lost three units, so are stretched to keep a line.

A big turn for the Germans, the guns manage to knock out the disrupted Russian infantry in the village, which reopens the corridor west, and the rest of the them occupy the hill under a storm of artillery, mortar and AT gun fire. Two German units are disrupted but the 120s run out of ammo, again!

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The disrupted German units fire on the 120mm mortars rather than rallying, and destroy them opening a route east. The last good order German panzers advance to pin the AT guns in place in ZOC and stop them moving to re-establish a line.

In the south the 75mm guns move into the gully to block the Russian infantry from moving and re-establishing the line. I later realised I didn't need to do that as the Russians were stuck in a ZOC anyway.

Astonishingly the Germans have pulled it off, with the slenderist of corridors from west to east. Even more astonishing, they haven't lost a single unit, although lots were disrupted en route and in fact the game ended with 80% of the Germans disrupted. In contrast the Russians lost four rifle companies and the 120mm mortars. I guess that is the difference between a large dispersed force vs a small, concentrated one.

If anyone fancies trying this at home, this is my 'geomorphic' map template which converts the PB boards into 1km hexes. Print it out, cut it along the lines and you have three geomorphic maps which replicate the PB layouts. I ignore the half hexes on the outside as I was a bit generous with the width. I've also realised that for the scenarios with the maps end-end they are a bit too long. I guess ignore the top and bottom hex rows and they will be OK?

Another useful game with things to think about. I'm really not sure about ZOC - in the original game units could just zip past each other, whereas the ZOC make it a bit too easy to block units, otoh it compensates for the less granular terrain model. What to do? 

I'm also not sure what to do about spotting or artillery calling. I don't see why armour can't call IF, at least not German armour which was well equipped with radios. Some of the scenarios just won't work with the current rules (eg Positional Defence), so I think I'll free it up a bit on a scenario basis to start with. I also really need to think about how gullies work, in my head they are still the PB ones.

So, a few things to think about before the next game. I'm going to have a crack at one of my absolute favourite scenarios, Stalino, which is as asymmetrical as it gets, and also features fixed defences. I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple of weeks for that one.