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.

Taming the Tigers - Sicily July 1943

 This is the last of the Fireball Forward 'US Paras' scenarios, another Sicily one. This time General Gavin of the 82nd personally fights off the Herman Goering Division! I'm pretty sure this also started life as a Skirmish Campaigns scenario, as I've seen it on other blogs in various forms, but hey ho, this is the Fireball Forward version converted to Tigers at Minsk. 

Gavins RCT landed east of the US landing beaches at Gela in Sicily. He gathered a force together and set off westwards, capturing the Biazza ridge then pressing on towards the bridge over the river Acate further west. The action starts just after the US capture the ridge.

Battlefield from the south, Biazza Ridge is fairly obvious on the right and the ground is dotted with orchards (open woods). Lets call the hills 111 (north) and 112 (south). The River in the west is impassable except at the bridge and is lined with foliage so is an LOS block. The road is a road but the railway is just for looks. There are four BUAs, each worth 1VP and each of the hills is worth 1VP too. The US win immmediately if they take the building on the far side of the bridge, and the Germans win immediately if they take the building on the US baseline. Lets call the buildings from L to R 1,2,3 and 4.

The Germans set up after the US in the left 4 hexes, while the US set up first in an oddly constrained area to the northeast. I'm sure there is a typo as in the scenario as written apparently the US set up along of the river! I think someone got their east and west mixed up.

Gavins force, quite a crowd! Two platoons of Paras (seven squads) tbh I'd call that three platoons... An airborne engineer platoon (two squads) with grenade bundles, a .30 cal MG and a pair of towed 75mm pack howitzers. I'll treat the latter as 75mm infantry guns with one round of smoke each. The US have a bazooka availability number of 4. The historical description says the howitzers 'arrived in the nick of time' but in the scenario they are are there at start - another typo? 

There is also General Gavin himself, who apparently has a hotline to a 155mm artillery battery, with four fire missions plus a smoke mission. I'll treat him as an FOO but able to activate the hex he is in too, and I'll use the artillery rules (spotting rounds etc) I used in the previous game. The Germans get 1VP if they manage to eliminate him.

These guys are all high quality troops and have a breakpoint of seven.

And this is what Gavin is up against. Yes, those are four Tigers.

The Germans start with two rifle platoons (six sections) plus a company HQ with two SFMG42 and an an 81mm mortar section along with an artillery observer (six missions!). These guys area all dug in defending the bridge and the buildings on the left.

Riding to the rescue halfway through, are two more rifle platoons (another six rifle sections) and two platoons of two Tiger 1s each. These are two of my old Peter Pig metal Tigers and two of my new resin Tigers (Tigers 131 and 222). Size-wise they are very comparable but the metal gun barrels are much thicker than the resin ones. The Americans get 1VP for each Tiger they destroy, which might be a bit of a challenge given the weapons at their disposal.

Herman Goering Div wasn't that great at this time, so I'm treating all of these guys as average. The starting force has a breakpoint of four, and when the reinforcements rock up, that is another four for a total of eight. Slightly more than the US.

The basic scenario has six turns, which becomes 90 minutes in TaM. The Tigers and their mates turn up after 45 minutes.

The US set up first but aren't allowed in the bottom two hexes. I've put one platoon in the south with an engineer squad in reserve in the objective building Casa 4. Gavin is with them, and they are going to clear the woods below the ridge. 

The northern ridge is packed, I'm not massively happy about setting the guys up within LOS of the Germans when the US have the first turn, but I'll rationalise it as the Germans having retreated from the ridge and the US following up, or something.

There are four rifle squads up here, engineers in reserve, plus the pack howitzers and the .30 cal. They are set up to pound and assault the northern building on turn one. I feel that I'm honour bound to try and take the bridge, as the US has 45 minutes of force superiority. This is a longer route but has better cover, and if the US take even one building, they have a winning VP total and will force the Germans to attack. 

Having seen the US setup, the Germans weight their defence accordingly. An MG and rifle section go in the building Casa 3, another section dug into the depth of the orchard in reserve and a third on the southeast corner along with the mortar spotter. The mortars themselves are dug  in beside the river out of sight. The Germans are quite dispersed in the face of the US artillery threat. 

This is effectively two games in one so the starting force Germans just need to survive and then they can think about picking up enough VPs to win once the cavalry arrive.

The left flank is more sparsely garrisoned as the terrain is more open here. MG/rifle group in the building Casa 2, another rifle section dug in to the woods - I don't allow woods to give cover against indirect fire, but being dug in does. The US really want to clear that central woods line as they need LOS on the bridge hex to stop the Tigers just rolling right up the table.

The last section is in deep reserve in the objective building Casa 1 across the river, better safe than sorry. Finally the artillery observer is on the bend in the railway. It isn't as daft as it looks as FOOs in TaM are always treated as in cover and cant be destroyed by ranged fire although they can be pinned. I could have stacked him with a rifle section but I'm cautious about over packing hexes.

I think that is good enough, great being the enemy of good etc. Right, to battle!

Unsurprisingly the US start by blazing away at everything in sight, scattering a few pins around. On Hill 112 the Paras push forwards into the trees. Gavin gets a spotting round on building 2.

In the south the Germans either rally or fire rather ineffectively.

In the north the 81mm mortar goes out of command and the FOO puts a spotting round right on the Hill 111 ridge. The garrison of Casa 3 excels itself and guns down the US squad in the open on the ridge, but uses up all its MG ammo in the process. US morale drops to six but losing the MG on turn one is a blow! It can still occupy the building though.

Incomiiiing! The 155s plaster Casa 3 pinning the rifle section, the other units fire at targets of opportunity. Direct fire HE from the howitzers is quite effective and the rifle section in Casa 3 is eliminated. The US move a para squad and engineer squad NE of Hill 111 to ready rush the building.

Two US squads move into the woods line from Hill 112.

Every squad in range opens up on the US paras in the woods line, including the other German MG. Yes it scores two hits and yes it runs out of ammo as well!

Coupled with fire from other units, that is enough to eliminate both US para squads in the woods line. Ouch! US Morale drops to four. German artillery hammers Hill 111, scattering pins. Perhaps this is going to be a short game. To compensate the German mortars go out of command, they haven't fired a single shot yet.

The US give up on attacking from Hill 112, they just dont have the strength any more. The US on Hill 111 do rather better and drop a spotting round onto the orchard opposite, while infantry and howitzer fire manage to pin the other Germans in sight and eliminate the MG team in Casa 3. German morale drops to two.

In a cunning move, one of the howitzers fires smoke to screen the US squad rushing the now unoccupied Casa 3.

There isn't a great deal the Germans can do, fire what they can and rally everyone else. They fire a stonk at Hill 111 which causes a couple of pins.

In turn the US stonk the orchard and both the para and engineer squads take Casa 3. The smoke persists this turn. The US otherwise fire at what they can. 

The stalemate continues, neither side can get fire superiority. The German mortars at last get into action (turn after turn with either the mortars or the spotters out of command). The game clock has been rattling along, so far I havent rolled less than seven, and on a mighty double six we had some random events. The German HQ was temporarily our of action and the US got a minefield, which they put on Hill 112 (those green counters). 

Despite the loss of their HQ, the Germans managed to fire the mortars again. Everyone else in the orchard was busy rallying.

The German artillery fire continued unabated.

Conscious of the sound of approaching tank engines, the US dropped another smoke round to screen the engineers withdrawing from Casa 3.

General Gavin also realised he couldn't see the bridge approach from his location so moved across to Hill 111. However he reckoned without one very lucky German section which managed to pin him with opportunity fire! That is bad, the General is out of position and it curtails the US artillery fire.

So Gavin is pinned down on the road as this lot roars into view. Each pair of Tigers is accompanied by a a rifle section with the rest marching in behind. Now, an interesting side effect of Gavins discomfiture is that he can actually see the bridge hex from his location, so the Germans have to stop. They would have got an extra hex movement otherwise.

With the arrival of the tanks the German target Hill 112. The mortars hit the paras in the NW corner and the section from Casa 2 sneakily moves up in dead ground to the base of the hill.

The US cant really see anything apart from the front line German infantry. Gavin rallies himself and the US managed to pin all the units they can see. They even manage to eliminate one of the German squads in the orchard with concentrated 75mm HE fire.

In a big move the Germans stonk hill 111 to cover the deployment of the Tigers. Both tank platoons and their accompanying infantry sections move forwards, still hampered by being in LOS of Gavin - that actually turned out well for the Americans. The southern tank platoon (the resin Tigers, lets call them 1 platoon) very cleverly exposes its side armour to the 75s, who both manage to get two opportunity fire shots off with three hits. 

The US are unlucky and the hits don't cause any damage (4+ to stun and 6 to kill with 75mm HEAT vs the Tiger side armour) and both guns end up marked as opportunity fired.  I like the way TaM handles vehicle movement as you often end up being exposed. Irl flank shots comprised a surprising percentage but are often hard to achieve in games. 

The Americans also manage to pin one of the supporting rifle sections.

The Germans finally remember that they have a round of 81mm smoke available and smoke the road. If only they done that two turns ago.... That allows for a much more rapid deployment as many of the units are now out of LOS.

Tiger platoon 1 moves south, along with a rifle platoon, while Tiger platoon 2 takes up position in the smoke screen. The panzergrenadiers have got in a bit of a traffic jam on the road crossing the bridge as one hex goes out of command. The FOO stonks Hill 111 again before his vision is obscured.

More 75mm anti tank fire. This time the howitzers manage to stun one of the Tigers, despite its thick frontal armour (I rule a six on a hit  is always a stun). Sadly for the US the crew manage to rally later that turn.

The Tigers set about blasting Casa 3, to little effect. The German infantry have got unstuck and are now moving troops into the orchard. Time is running out fast now. When will I ever roll less than seven for minutes elapsed?

In the south the Germans rush Hill 112 covered by the mortars. The Tigers decide to brave the minefield and one of them is stunned and fails to rally. The infantry following is in dead ground but a section in the woods line is shot down by the US.

The Germans are still two turns away from Casa 3 in the north.

And in the south, although the paras go out of command, the engineers step up and hit the other Tiger with a bazooka! It is also stunned!! Bloody hell, those Tigers would have blown the US to bits in those light woods, but now can't as they need to rally.

Tiger Platton 2 show how it is done and demolish Casa 3 along with its occupants (I'm still using the rule that direct hits from HE ignore cover) . The German FOO shifts his spotting round ready to drop a smoke screen to cover the assault.

German infantry move onto Hill 112 as the Tigers rally.

But another mighty turn roll takes us to 92 minutes and time runs out! Another turn and the Germans would have taken Casa 3 for a draw and two more turns would (probably?) have taken Hill 112. Ah well, General Gavin saves the day, as he did historically.

That was very enjoyable, even if it was on the larger end of TaM than I am comfortable with. Having so much stuff evened out some of the luck and also generated a lot of friction for the less well commanded Germans. It also meant a lot more decisions and I think I mis-splayed the Germans a bit towards the end as I was rushing, although I made a howling error moving Gavin when I did.

Generally the system worked very well, and I'm comfortable with the mods I made. That is the last of the US para scenarios, and they have provided an excellent test bed for both some modified mechanisms and also exploring my changes for varying troop quality. They were all fun games and I think a lot of those scenarios have some re-play value too. I didn't fancy playing that one again at the time, but I think it is one I will comeback to as it has interesting problems for both sides.