Garden Leave

Game four and Table 3 of the breakout. The Russians are still a tad shocked that the Germans have launched an attack and are still trying to marshal their forces, they are still somewhat outnumbered locally while German strength is continuing to build.

In this game Matt had two squads from his original platoon and supplemented them with a pre-game barrage, two infantry squads and a Panther, I had an idea a big cat was about to turn up. The Russians are also down to two squads but with nothing like the support points of the attackers so they ended up with two MMG's, panzerfausts for each squad and a 'free' T34/85. Once past this table the Russians can play a wild card and counter-attack, so they can look forward to upsetting the blitzkrieg.

Matt's plan was very specific this time, the Panther with the two infantry squads each side would advance up the road and through the town, the other two squads would make their way up the flanks through the woods, the panzerschreck team would be used to hopefully ambush the T34. My plan was to hold the flanks with the MMG's and support them with the two squads and the T34. The Germans got off to a good start and had no trouble getting their infantry out, the Panther however had a very cautious crew and even on the road it made slow progress. The Russians however struggled to get their plan in to action as the barrage played hell with their deployment, only one MMG arrived early and it headed for the large building on the right flank to take up a defensive position. This was where I had to step in, the Germans had an advanced Jump Off Point near the house and I thought as the MMG team were in the open and only the T34 was in the area it was time to be aggressive with the Jerries, I brought a squad on and sure enough it opened up on the MMG and wiped out the crew, with this success I thought I could also bring on the panzerschreck sheltered by the squad in front and the house, wrong.

The Russians at last got a squad on and they took up a position in the large mayor's house and targeted the panzerschreck team, this team was also wiped out, the T34 moved up to try and stop the Germans taking the house on the right while keeping out of sight of the slow Panther. Shock began to build on the Germans as they sat in the open, this did not prevent them from taking two shots with their panzerfausts at the T34, both missed.

The Russian defence was just holding and the barrage was making it difficult to get more men into town as time after time they failed to turn up. Although they had lost a team and a squad had routed the Germans continued to push forward, the infantry were getting close to their objectives and the Panther at last moved far enough to get a quick shot off at the T34, it was a difficult shot as the gunner could not see very much of the T34 as most of it was behind a house but there was a slim chance, bang, the Russian tank was unharmed. The crises approached.

The Soviets now had two Chain of Command dice, they decided to end the turn and get rid of the debilitating barrage, in a double phase the Russian reserves all turned up and on the left flank the advancing Germans were caught in the open, the end of the turn had also removed their tactical stance, so no cover. The T34 backed off enough to get a shot and the Panther received a deadly shot and ground to a halt flames licking from the hatches. The Russian infantry were now getting the upper hand just as it seemed they would have to withdraw, perhaps a lucky panzerfaust shot would take out the T34 but it had no need to close the range and its machine guns swept the town square. The Panzergrenadiers called off their attack, but they will be back.

Even though the Germans had lost their Panzerschreck team and a squad had routed they still had plenty of men to rush the town centre as the Soviets were having a hard time to get any reserves into the battle, even with the loss of the Panther the infantry might just have pulled a victory out of the bag. But the arrival of the Russian reserves put a halt to any hope, I think one more advance might have done it, the game was that close. You know I have been toying with rules tweaks, and one which doesn't allow a unit to shoot again in a double or triple phase I like, it stops some poor sods being mown down, I have also been dropping a die each time a double or triple phase comes up, and of course I am allowing people to run without a penalty if pinned, these all work well. So, the Garden town will see more death and destruction next week, Jerry still has some leeway to win the campaign but the Russian resistance is strengthening.


After my big adventure at the beginning of the week I mentioned that Duncan had loaned me a book when we got talking about panzergrenadier tactics, I was surprised when it turned out to be a photographic album about an attack on a Polish town in 1944 by an armoured Kampgruppe from the SS-Wiking division, concentrating on one of the armoured companies. In my wargames I have always wanted to make an attack by panzergrenadiers in halftracks, the problem is that whatever the points system you can't afford to put your squads in halftracks because they are expensive and tend to be useless on a wargames table, so you do not generally see them. This is despite official manuals from mid war onwards which recommend fighting from the halftrack, not out of it, reiterated again late war. I did mention this on one forum and got a fairly daft reply in that how do you rule this in the game, halted shoot normally, moving shoot as moving, with hard cover, no? Anyway, here we have a record of an attack in which no one leaves their vehicles except to confer with commanders of other squads/tanks. What also comes across is that the unit is an all arms machine, the grenadiers are backed up by mortar carriers and Stummel's (half track with a howitzer) and tanks of course, but also in the area was a nice little PzIII forward observers tank to call in the big guns, it has a false gun and many more radio masts. I also thought one of the halftracks had been hit or broken down as the engine covers were open, but this was to let air into the engine compartment during the heat of the summer, one for the modellers if you can find a 1/56 engine to put in. I was looking to buy the book but it starts at around £600, even the Legendary Map Fortune could not take that hit. Oh and the lack of uniformity is striking, blouses, shirts, smocks, and a range of camouflage patterns, this is going to bug me as I look at my panzergrenadiers.

I also received my belated Christmas present from my son, "Bloody Streets: The Battle for Berlin", the publication had been delayed but it was worth the wait, it also proved to be a weighty tome with a separate map book. I really enjoyed drawing these maps which were in colour and annotating actual aerial maps of the city showing troop movements during the last days, the author was also easy to work with.

I have finished my generals and they will be based over the weekend, I have now started on my Soviet SMG gunners and semi-automatic riflemen, I am also starting to get my industrial buildings ready to be worked on, I am cheating here and using spray paint, I don't have infinite patience. I suspect this work will all be done by the end of next week so what next, well I fancy giving Legio XII another cohort or the Seleucids a Galatian warband, however until Warbases opens up again I might have to wait for the latter, I might jump for a couple of SYW battalions instead, decisions, decisions.