Playstesting Begins !

Battle of the Day

First few rounds of playtesting begin, using scraps of paper for the units, and unpainted scenery to get an idea of scales involved.

I wont go into too many details about the actual battle, because it looks extremely boring without decent terrain and troops ... but I will try and caption some of the photos with interesting discoveries that come up during the playtest game.

Initial Deployment from the Russian side - There are 2 infantry Divisions in position in the BUAs on the left and centre, and a Tank Division held back in reserve on the right flank.

Divisional level initiative scores see the Russians get to preempt the coming attack, and spend resources digging in.

The smaller toothpick pieces represent defences - each sector can have up to 4 such defences (one on each edge), which all add to the defender's strength in that sector.

Break of dawn - germans get rolling. First objective is the small isolated city sector on the right flank. The infantry should take care of that.

German rifle battalions assault into the BUA sector. Units normally move from one sector  to another, occupying the entire sector. Assault movement is denoted by placing combat units on the border between 2 sectors.

Up to 3 combat units may commit to an assault move into an enemy sector - in this case we have a rifle battalion, with 2 rifle battalions in support. The Russian deployment in the BUA sector is in all round defence.

With supporting artillery fire, the German infantry manage to clear this first small isolated city sector by Noon, and setup the main wing of the Division to push forward against the main line of the Russians.

By late afternoon, the Germans have driven forward, penetrating about 6km into the Russian lines, and taken 2 small isolated city sectors with no noticable losses. Russians move up their Tank Division on the right, and continue to consolidate defences in the main city.

Next morning, the Germans open with Stuka attacks on the main city, signalling their intention to assault the city perhaps ?

Early on the 2nd day, the Germans make contact with the Russian tanks on the flank (who are in all round defence), and move up their infantry to begin the assault on the city in the center.

Divisional orders are locked in - its going to be a messy day for all involved.

In the tank battle, ranged fire between the Germans and Russians .. no major casualties at the start.

Note in the center that 3 battalions of German infantry have moved into assault on the city. The city fighting rages till well into the night, as the first wave of German troops gradually wear down the defences.

During the Night phases, Russian partizans start to infiltrate the German rear sectors. German Anti partizan units get involved in keeping the supply lines open.

Need to keep working on this aspect of the rules, as it adds an additional layer of strategic tension to the main game.

By early next morning, 2 developments are apparent.

The ranged tank fighting on the flank, the main Russian force has broken and reeled backwards, leaving a gap for the German tanks to exploit. They move forward into this gap.

In the city fighting, the defences are getting smashed, and the Russian defenders are gradually falling back ... but the attacking Germans have broken after a full day of city fighting without progress.

The Russians use the break to start rebuilding the city defences. It is apparent that making any headway through the city sectors will take days of hard bloody fighting. (possibly weeks), without any guarantee of success.

In the rules, where defenders in a  city sector are dispersed ... they can automatically recover  on the next phase into an adjacent city sector. So unless they are destroyed outright, getting defenders out of BUAs is extremely hard work.

As it turns out, with the tank fighting later the next  day, the Germans find themselves caught in a crossfire between the 2 Russian forces on either flank ... and after some bad dice rolls, the heavy Tiger Abt. is catastrophically lost ... not able to be recovered.

So after 2 hours of game time, we have covered 4 days of fighting with a conclusion that the German advance is halted in the city fighting, and the tank exploit has been severely blunted.

The Germans order a withdrawal with a very bloody nose in this case, despite their high level of resiliency.