Rückzug campaign: Eastern Front. Game two

Text and photos provided by Jasper, as I could not be at the game. I did provide some moral support through the interwebs, though.

 

The scene is set

The second game of the campaign, after the Germans got away very luckily last time, was a delaying action in a village.

The village from the viewpoint of the Soviet scouts

Arvid again took control of the Germans and rolled to find that a sniper team had also made it into the village the night before, and for a force morale of 11.

René joined the campaign for the first time and took command of the Soviets. He rolled for a force morale of 9 and 11 points of support, which they spent on a shiny new SU122, a pre game barrage (no-brainer!), and a satchel charge.

René managed to drive up the Soviet jump off points to the edge of the village.

With Arvid placing the German front line halfway the village, and his main jump off point (and Soviet objective!) behind it.

The game's afoot!

First turn. Red Army SU122 appears and nothing else.

A few phases pass without anything happening other than some chain of command points being collected. Then an SMG squad appears behind the pig farm on the Soviet right flank. 

The Soviets advance on the nearest house (and a German JOP) only to find a German squad deploying through the barrage. Their fire is not as effective as it could be, but the Soviet junior leader is wounded (Soviet force moral drops to 8). 

Next phase, the junior leader nevertheless makes an aggressive move and advances past the house the German squad is in.

On the Soviet left flank, a new squad deploys 

 and the SU122 races forward.

The Germans are seriously hampered by the Pre-Game barrage, allowing the Soviet squad on the right to advance even further, unmolested.

On the left flank, the Soviet infantry advances as well.

The barrage let up just enough to allow another German squad to deploy to defend their rearmost JOP. They shred the right flank Red Army squad. The leader is killed and the squad breaks. 

Red Army morale drops to 5 (one away from 50% which will allow a German voluntary withdrawal). On the left flank a Soviet squad blocks (but doesn’t capture) a German JOP. The German player manages to deploy his MMG, and uses a CoC die to end the turn and stop the barrage. 

The SU crushes some fences and open fires on the Germans around the rear JOP, killing three. 

That back German JOP is becoming a bit of a citadel. 

Another SU122 shot crashes down, killing much of the German squad. The leader is only wounded and force morale is not affected. 

The German sniper deploys and causes two shock on the Soviet squad on the left flank. The 50mm mortar causes another two.

 

The SU fires again and the German squad at the rear is routed. German force morale tumbles to 6. The left Soviet squad captures a German JOP when the turn is ended. German force morale drops to 4.

 

The Germans make a Hail Mary move and deploy a squad with the sniper. The LMG team fires at the Soviet squad, killing two, and the panzerfaust takes a shot at the SU but misses.

Next phase, the SU returns fire but isn’t very effective. The Germans then get a double phase. In the first phase, the MG42 team pins the Soviet squad. Next phase, the sniper shoots, but misses. A full CoC dice allows an ambush with the panzerfaust team. One hit. The SU explodes!
 

Continuing a horrible phase for the Soviets, the German LMG rout the Soviet team. They don’t go off the table, but the 50mm mortar strikes the final blow. An unlikely German victory, in another nail-biter of a game!

The dust settles

The Red Army incurred heavy casualties, considering its small squads. A junior leader out of action and 10 men. Because force morale dropped to 0, this results in: 5 never return, 3 miss next game, 2 return. That's one squad out of business for now.

On the German side: 8 out of action, no leaders
Final result (because force morale ended at 4, 4 losses are ignored): 2 never return, 1 misses next game, 1 returns. (Three wounded Landser from last game will also return).

As the Germans won the fight, all their units get away. Despite slightly better odds, one car breaks down and stays behind. Because of the win, this doesn't affect troops getting away, but transport after next game is getting sparse: two trucks and one car.

The win also earned the Germans another precious victory point, extending the lead to two. Still everything to play for with at least 3 games to go!