[A.A.R.] first days of July 1942: A demolition task

[mi1291]

This AAR will describe a game played against the AI, from the German point of view (i.e. the human player).
In the very first days of July 1942, the Red Army is in a very bad shape. The heavy casualties suffered because of the strong and apparently unstoppable German offensive, are very difficult to recover.
We are in charge as the commander of an elite group of soldiers, borrowed from the 24 Pz Div. The OKW(OberKommando der Wehrmacht) gives us also elements from the “Grossdeutschland” Mech. Div. Our target is a group of buildings hosting the Soviet Communication HQ: our pioneers have to blow up it.
During the German advance, the Russians left behind their heavy equipment, including tanks. Moreover, the chaos in the enemy lines doesn’t permit any well organized defense and so no entrenched infantry is expected. This is good news.
On our side, we are well equipped with few (but rather strong) support weapons (a HMG42, a 75mm infantry gun, a 81mm mortar and a PzIVd) and this is more good news for the morale of our troops. And now the bad news: the recon accounts indicate a lot of enemy foot soldiers (I mean really a lot!) and the Stalin order is to resist at all cost (as usual…)

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[mi1291]

The tactical situation is rather atypical. We have to advance house by house, with enemy units everywhere, but at the same time we have to avoid (too many) close combat fights. While the pioneers must move fast toward the objectives, the rest of our troops have the duty to keep alive their expert Kamerad. The German regular infantry is employed to draw the enemy fire, trying to leave the path as clear as possible for our demolition men. Furthermore, engaging Soviet troops also with our ranged heavy fire weapons should leave the Comm. HQ relatively undefended.

We decide to get our forces as close together as possible, seeking the most direct approach to the objectives. Recon was right: suddenly our men on the left flank are in the sight of four enemy units. In this area we are seriously outnumbered. On the other hand on the right flank…we undergo in the same situation! Our attempt to gain time with the surprise effect fails just after the Setup and well before the first bullet was shot!

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[mi1291]

Being outnumbered, every one of our men is precious. Let’s start from the right flank, where house by house combat is expected. At the same time, the Russians are trying to benefit from their numerical superiority on the left wing. The end of the story is that we both have lost a couple of units after cruel firefights. At the map center we have positioned our heavy assets; here the Soviets take several casualties without any loss in the German side. The panzer takes care of a Maxim HMG and the 81mm mortar has a direct LOS to a bunch of enemies.

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[mi1291]

The 75mm gun is loaded into the truck that moves fast along the road: at the end of the Round One, the gun landed in an advanced hex with a pretty good LOS to the battlefield. Now the chase will not be easy for the Russians, but unfortunately other enemies are already in position near the Comm. HQ.

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[mi1291]

Our troops on the right side have to report another enemy wave. Both German wings are under heavy fire. Although both CAP points and Cards are used in mass, things are going very badly (especially for our squads to the right).
In this game each commander has an amount of resource at his disposal (called Command Action Points or CAP and Cards) that permits to perform more (or special) actions, superseding the limit given by the AP (Action Points) pool of each unit. For example, CAP actions may be used to do more Rally attempts, to fire more accurately etc., while Cards are more dedicated to special actions (like Auto-Rally).
I must make some difficult decisions. I could exhaust all the CAP’s and Cards, trying to resist on both wings, but it seems too risky a choice because our main assault, along the central road, will end up without enough resources. Sadly, I must leave those brave men to their destiny: at the end of the Round Two, they are completely encircled by enemy troops...

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[mi1291]

Anyway, the central advance is going well. The PzIVd is a deadly machine for the Russian infantry and now the way is somehow clear for our pioneers. Meanwhile, the truck loads the 81mm mortar (it’s too close to the enemy troops) and brings it into a safer (and useful) hex: our MGs will give the fundamental cover fire to accomplish that task.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, my worst mistake! Stone buildings provide a very good cover and for this reason I stacked all three pioneer squads in one of those hexes, although is close to enemies. In this game there are no stacking limits, but an attack versus stacked units is resolved simultaneously with separate dice rolls, increasing the chances that an attacker will hit one of them. The furious firefight against this hex ended up not that bad (with only two pioneers wounded) because I spent a reasonable amount of AP & CAP in (successfully) Rally actions.
In this particular situation, each time my pioneers have been wounded, luckily enough I pull always a “stunned” or “unnerved” counter, which can be regarded as light damages that can be recovered with rally actions (as I do). Should be noted that from the (virtual) counters cup, you can pull also a “Killed In Action” counter! If that was the case for our pioneers (or if they were wounded twice in a row), no matter how many CAP or Cards you could spend, they were dead before they could blow up the Comm. HQ and the Russians would have been victorious.

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[mi1291]

The panzer moves adjacent to the Comm. HQ. It’s a slightly dangerous move because at this distance a non-AT infantry unit can have a chance to hurt an armored unit. Luckily enough my enemies fail all the dice rolls. The image shows also some information about the objective hex.

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[mi1291]

In my Turn the Russian infantry squads are wiped out by the PzIVd. For my pioneers now it’s time to advance into the just cleared Comm HQ. We must proceed quickly and before the arrival of fresh allied reinforcement in the area. Kaboom! The first TNT charge explodes in the enemy compound. Not far from the main firefight, the LMG 34 squad falls under the enemy fire... Although we reached the objective before the end of the third Round, the price paid to accomplish the job was extremely high. Now we are on our own until the end of the scenario, and other Russians squads are coming. They will soon assault our just conquered position, with all their remaining forces (and that’s more than a few!). I’m not sure we could survive against that human wave attack.

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[mi1291]

As announced, the Russian squads charge headlong and without taking much care about their heavy losses. Our defense is solid, but nevertheless we are facing an overwhelming enemy. The panzer, with a quick turret rotation, fires at a dangerous Soviet SMG unit just before it tries to shoot them from behind our men inside a building… and the enemy is destroyed: kudos to the gunner!

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[mi1291]

Round 5
In the final Round we have the Initiative. This is very good news, but the general situation is not that good. We must risk the immobilization of the panzer in a stone building in order to deny this objective hex to the enemy units. We are lucky in this regard and the panzer is not stuck, but our pioneers are hopeless against the Red horde. Another bunch of enemy units is are destroyed, but all the German foot soldiers eventually breathe their last breath. The PzIVd is the only surviving defender and as consequence the Russians take back two of three objective hexes. Our casualties are heavy, but the Soviets have suffered much more losses.

Conclusions
Our brave Pioneers have had enough time to place the charges: the Comm. HQ is destroyed. Mission accomplished! The game ends: 21 points for us, 15 for the AI, but resisting for just another round would have been impossible for the German forces.
Although enemy casualties give Victory Points (VP), most of my VP come from the objective hexes (16/21). It Should be noted that even if I achieve the Comm. HQ in Round 3, I could still have lost the game if my pioneers didn’t survive to the Soviet counterattack during round 4: the reason is the peculiar way in which VP are gained for the Comm. HQ (look at the image with the scoring details).

In the final image you can see the truck fleeing from the battlefield: after carrying the 75mm gun and mortar in position, it has nothing more to do, except staying alive: in doing so it denies another victory point to the enemy.

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