Tigers at Minsk - training scenario 2

 Training scenario 2 for Tigers at Minsk introduces the basics of infantry combat: Infantry units, MGs, wire and smoke, but no indirect fire weapons (yet). 

For this one we are back to Kursk, and everyones favourite battle, Ponyri Station. The Elephants have rumbled off through the Russian lines, and the German infantry are struggling to follow. Naughty Russian infantry have infiltrated back behind the heavy tank destroyers and the Germans need to break through to support them.

On the German side there are three woods, while there are a couple of orchards (basically open woods), a couple of village hexes and a scrub hex on the Russian side. The Germans have 50 minutes to get one section off the Russian baseline. As before, these are 125m hexes, and each turn is 2D6 minutes long (I really like that game clock!). 

Here are the Germans, they have six rifle sections and an MG section. I've spread the infantry out to stack one per hex as there are fire bonuses against stacked infantry. Infantry get 2D6 fire, MGs get 3D6 but can malfunction if their total score is 15 or more. Hits result in pins, two pins will destroy a unit. Pins can be recovered like stun results on tanks.

I've set the Germans up to go left flanking with a base of fire in the woods (a rifle section and MG). They are close together to stay in command. They also have a Squad Leader style variable smoke capability and are guaranteed to to be able to lay one smokescreen, which I plan to use to get into the orchards on the left. 

Having seen the German deployment, the Russians set up. They have two rifle sections and two MGs. I put a rifle section in the left hand orchard and village, while the other MG goes in the right hand village. There is an awful lot of open ground for the Germans to cover! The Russians also have a section of wire which I put in the left hand orchard to cover their rifle section.

Wire isn't much of an obstacle, with a 1:3 chance of non tracked units getting hung up, but every little helps.

The Russians go first and lay down a withering barrage of fire which pins two German units and destroys a third. Ouch! The German return fire is ineffective but the Germans do manage to lay their smoke screen. To add insult to injury, the two reserve German units go out of command. Not a great start.

Next turn the Russian fire is less effective. One of the pinned Germans recovers and the reserves move forward (into nice big juicy stacks). The German firebase manages to pin the Russian infantry and MG in the left building.  Pinned units can retire to cover but not advance, and only fire with 1D6, so that is helpful. 

Although the Russian fire is weakened, it inflicts two hits on one German hex. The Germans destroy one of the units so they can advance with the other. Two Germans are now in the smoke hex, although one of them is pinned. The isolated Russian MG goes out of command and is pinned, which means it can't recover or remove its opportunity fire marker. The Germans manage to hit the left hand building and the Russians remove the rifle squad. The MG is left pinned and with an opp fire marker.

The Germans continue to advance inexorably up the left flank. The Russians manage to remove the pins on their MGs (it is easier in cover) and the various German units also rally.

In a decisive turn the leading German rifle section is pinned but the Germans manage to rout the Russian infantry in front of them. The Russian morale break level has been reached, but both MG teams pass their morale tests. One of the stacked Germans is pinned too but the spare Russian MG team is now moving left to cover the flank. The German smokescreen also dissipates now (it goes away on a 1 or 2).

The Germans finally unpin just as the firebase goes out of command! They manage to overrun the wire but time runs out before they can exit the board. A Russian win.

I enjoyed the overall feel of that, it reminded me of Squad Leader in lots of ways and felt a lot less plodding and clinical than WRG infantry combat. I need to try the scenario again to see if I can get the balance of fire and movement right - although the Germans did manage to suppress the Russian defences in the end, there wasn't enough time to get off the table as well.

There are probably some changes I'd consider making: I've spent lot of time thinking about obstacles in WW2 games and for wire I'd treat infantry as 'pinned' for firing purposes while they are in it. I'd also probably borrow the Crossfire concept of ground hugging for units in the open and let stationary units claim cover against direct fire.

 It also strikes me that this is the same size table and ground scale Phil Sabin uses for his Battalion level 'Fire and Movement' game so infantry ranges probably need a bit of thought. The effective range for infantry units in WW2 was about 200m, although LMGs and light mortars might stretch it out to 500m, which would be 2 hexes and 4 hexes in this ground scale. Tripod MGs would generally engage out to around 1000m (8 hexes).

I'll hold off for now until I've tried a few more games though, as it plays solidly and is both fun and fast. Hilariously I also failed to roll a single random event in this one, just like the last game.