Rückzug campaign: Eastern Front. Game five

After a quick change of scenery and some campaign admin we get to game 5 of the Rückzug East Front campaign. With the Germans at 6 VP, the Soviets had to push regardless of cost to gain victory.

Because of the victory in the last game, the Germans had 3 D20 rolls on the support list, which could have gotten them tanks, but resulted in: a regular squad (#4), 3 extra riflemen (used to fill some gaps) and a sniper.

 

The Germans were in a village for an attack & defend scenario. Jasper and René would have to work some magic here to turn the campaign around. Their support roll didn't let them down at 15 points, which bought them a T34-76, flame thrower and the ever-returning elite scout squad and pre-game barrage.

 

The Patrol phase was rather timid, with no exciting choices. 

 

You can see the Soviets outflanking the Germans on their left, but a bit back. The action was to be funneled into the centre. 

 

In a campaign tradition Jasper diced 3 x 6s on his first roll thus ending the turn and negating his pre- game barrage immediately. Muffled smiles and curses all round.

And look who's here! A T34-76, soon joined by a fresh scout team. 

 

Little did they know...

 

The Soviets were not messing around this time. A scout team pushed into the pigstie, covered by lots of tank driver LMGs.

 

And up popped a German squad from ambush behind the hedge. Within 4” of the scouts, so close combat broke out! 

 

It turned bloody. The scout team including junior leader was wiped out, but the Obergefreiter also bit the dust and four of his men. German morale dropped 1, Soviet 2. 

The T34-76 also took an overwatch shot at the remainder of the Germans, who then looked very vulnerable. 

 

The Soviets kept pushing though, and the SMG tank drivers pushed forward while the German squad was targeted again by the T34. 

 

This allowed the Soviets to push closer to a German jump off point. Tension rising! 

 

As the Germans tried to strike back, a Soviet flame thrower ambushed them! Ach nein! Their end was terrible and final! German moral dropped 2 

 

But now it was tit for tat. An MMG opened up and wounded the Soviet junior leader. Soviet morale dropped 1. 

 

A German squad also appeared and delivered more punishment, killing the junior leader. Morale dropped another 1

 

In a double turn the Germans repositioned to give the LMG and MMG another chance at the tank drivers. The Tank driver SMGs were pinned 

And the Soviets went all in to relieve pressure on their comrades in the pigstie!

 

The Germans kept pounding. The pinned Soviet squad was now very close to breaking. And if they did, the Soviets would be at half their force morale and the Germans could pull back

And see how they run! Soviet morale dropped to 4, triggering the German escape clause. 

 

In probably their last turn the Russians deployed their flame thrower and did some damage as a parting shot. 

 

The tank rider LMGs made a mad dash for the German jump off point but fell just short. 

 

At which point the Germans took to the rear while the going was good (although some felt so cocky, they wanted to slug it out and give the Soviets a final beating. Wiser council prevailed)

 

Which effectively concluded the campaign. The Germans now had 7 VP, with one more game possible (we rolled for that). A Soviet campaign victory or draw was now out of reach.

Although the Russians took a lot of hits in the pigstie, actual losses on the Tank drivers were light. And while the Germans lost a squad, those casualties would not be disastrous.

A medal goes to Arvid for getting his platoon safe out of Belarus without defeat. Ignominy remains for Jasper and René. Soviet hierarchy doesn't have much sympathy for failure. Despite their best efforts and some close calls, the German force stayed intact

Many thanks for the Rückzug campaign rules to David Hiscocks and to Adam David Warne for the suggestion to use it for the Eastern Front. And then of course also to the Lardies. You've given the four of us a lot of fun and inspiration. Not just during the games, but also in between. It provided a target for Jasper's painting and resulted in a T-shirt for Arvid (see game 4).

Of course many thanks to Arvid, René and Jasper for playing and to Jasper and Christie for hosting! It has been a delight.

Rückzug campaign: Eastern Front. Game four

And there we are for game 4 of the East Front Rückzug campaign. The last three games the Germans have gotten away in relative safety, keeping the most of their core units and support together and notching up 3 victory points. A healthy lead, although nowhere near safe if the Soviets manage to hit them hard for once. All to play for, as they say.

 

 

We had diced for terrain, which resulted in a river crossing! Fate was not helping the Russians. And it got worse as force morale was rolled resulting in 10 for the Germans and again a paltry 8 for the Soviets. As before, the Germans only need to take off half of Soviet force morale to be allowed to voluntary withdraw with most of their troops intact. Arvid and me in charge of the Germans and René and Jasper of the Soviets.

Arvid even had brought along a handy memory tool for Jasper (which worked well!)

 

Because of the voluntary withdrawal in game 3, the Germans had a decent roll on the support table, offering a new MMG team. Not bad when you consider the only other support were two 50mm mortars. Otherwise this was a full strength regular platoon after two wounded returned and some men were reshuffled.

Jasper had obliged Arvid by painting the extra 50mm mortar team!

 

The Russian tank driver platoon was recovering well from losses in game 2 and now operated in two squads: one of SMG armed men and one with LMGs.

 

 

Support was pretty good with 16 support points. Jasper and René chose a brand new painted SU-122, an elite scout squad and the enhanced pre-game barrage. 

 

 

It started out with a very linear patrol phase

 

Resulting in a concentrated Soviet deployment at the table edge and a German triangle of jump off points 

 

The Russians commenced to deploy scouts, followed by an SU 122! 

 

Germans brought up a 50mm mortar through the barrage to harrass Soviet deployment 

 

The Soviet scouts moved up

 

and a jump off point followed in their wake 

 

As the Russian scout team got to the bridge, a German squad deployed and opened up, supported by a 50mm mortar. This wiped out the scouts, and Soviet morale drops by 2. 

 

The SU 122 replied, but not too effectively, from overwatch

A lull descended over the battlefield as the Soviets reconsidered their options. More elite scouts moved up, the deployment point moved up again, and the SU 122 repositioned to the right flank. Meanwhile the Soviet artillery thought they'd done enough and halted their barrage. 

 

 

The Germans took a few pot shots at the Soviet scouts, but it was hardly effective.

 

And it didn't stop the scouts from advancing towards the bridge 

 

 

The SU 122 had now moved to the other flank and took aim at a 50mm mortar, pinning and then destroying it. Other German troops quickly scampered out of view 

Soviets then rolled a double turn and took the chance to storm the bridge, but got caught in the open by 3 ambushes in turn. That added up to 2 LMGs and an MMG. 

 

 

The scouts disappeared into thin air. The leader was killed (but bad things were ignored by spending a command die). Routed support nevertheless cost 1 Soviet morale 

 

The SU 122 rapidly moved over to the bridge to take revenge. Killed a machine gunner and the rest made off into the woods. Out of sight 

 

But now the SU was in range of yet another ambush, in the form of a Panzerfaust team. 

 

Three mailed fists hit the SU. One of these knocked the self propelled gun out, although without explosion. The Panzerfaust team lost one man. The bad things happen roll was again averted by spending a command die 

 

But at this point the Soviets felt their bolt has been shot and drew off, preferring to conserve their core units, who had again not taken any losses. 

 

The Germans gained 3 VP from this victory and took all their men back safely, while ignoring 3 casualties for force morale advantage. Their only disappointment was a truck breaking down, making a retreat under worse conditions increasingly hazardous. 

But for the Soviets, now 6 VPs behind, the next game would be make and break to stay in the campaign. Dice rolls declared it would not be the last.

Rückzug campaign: Eastern Front. Game three

 

Game 3 of the East Front Rückzug campaign. After pulling back in relative safety in the first game, and giving the Soviet pursuers a bloody nose in the second, the Germans are prepared for another Soviet assault.

This means an attack and defend scenario which aims at whitling down the enemy force morale. Pathetic rolling on both sides resulted on frce morales of 8, but this mainly benefitted the Germans, because of the voluntary withdrawal option in the campaign rules. Arvid again led the Germans and Jasper the Soviets, with me handling rules queries, social media and occassional tactical advice to Arvid.

Having won the last game the Germans roll 3 D20s to determine their added support. This results in: a roadblock, 4 riflemen and another 50mm mortar (unknown to the Soviets at the start of the game). The extra riflemen are added to the existing squads. Replacement squad leader of first squad still hasn't earned full respect from his team after last game.

The Russian tank driver platoon had been mangled in last game with two weakened squads remaining and a replacement squad leader who needed to show his mettle. On the other hand support was pretty good with 3D6+6 resulting in 17 support points. Jasper decided on a T34/85, a SU-76 and a Dshk, which the Germans were to find out.

 

Both sides tried to flank each other during the patrol phase, with both pushing on their right flanks. 

 

This exposed a German jump off point on their left flank, and this was to be the spot around which most of the battle revolved.

 

First roll of the day by Jasper resulted in 3x6 which meant end of turn. (if only he'd spent support points on pre game barrage!). Then next turn an SU-76 appeared, followed by a Dshk. Just waiting for a German to stick his head out.

More Soviets entered the table and tighten the noose.

They get targeted by two 50mm mortars. So far it's only a nuisance

Well then... Jasper showed his hand as a T 34/85 arrived, plus another squad of tank riders. All encircling the exposed German jump off point on overwatch.

A German MMG appeared (although safely out of view of the Soviet armour) and started a duel with the Dshk. The Dshk got moral support from their Leytenant 

 

Dshk won the duel, killing 3 from the MMG team, which routed. German force morale dropped from 8 to 6

Pushing a scout team onto a German jump off point, they discovered a German squad in hiding. This meant close combat but the Germans were so scary (ie 4 times as many close combat dice as the Soviets) that the scouts routed immediately. Soviet force morale dropped from 8 to 6.

But this exposed the German squad to overwatch fire from almost every Soviet unit on the table. They lost 2 men and suffered 4 shock. Pfew, muttered Arvid under his breath

The German team decided to live another day and pulled back in a hurry.

The Soviets reorganised to stop the fleeing scouts 

 

 

The Soviets pushed up, chasing the withdrawing German squad. 

 

 

Then, the German AT team popped up from the wheat field and discharged 3 Panzerfäuste into the side of the SU-76. One hit and blew up the SU. Soviet force morale dropped from 6 to 4 (for support KO and junior leader killed)

This is why it was vital that the Germans also pushed up their right flank during the patrol phase!

The German LMG team was wiped out, dropping force morale to 5.

And a tank rider squad moved up again towards the jump off point. At this point the Germans withdrew voluntarily (with the Soviet force morale at halfway), cherishing their remaining strength 

 

 

The table as the Germans filtered back into the rear. 

 

 

Arvid couldn't help remind Jasper after the game, that he could have used one of his two precious CoC dice to avert a "bad things happen" test. That would have made a considerable difference, forcing the Germans to hang around longer. I understand Jasper wasn't in the best of moods the rest of the day.

Although they managed to get put most of the force intact, one squad has been badly shot up, and the remaining MMG gunner and the sniper were lost in the retreat. The rookie junior leader has now been accepted by his squad.

Apart from the SU there were no Soviet losses, so they will start next game with a few extra returnees, while here also the replacement squad leader (although not even getting on table) has earned his stripes (or is it bars or stars in the Red Army?).

 

 

The Germans have 3 VPs now, so the pressure is on the Soviets to turn the campaign around. Next game will be a Delaying Action scenario with terrain including a river crossing. A set up for an epic struggle in three weeks time!