Smolensk: Barbarossa back on track

 Quite a nice day and as usual I was ensconced in the now defunct Post Office (Lancaster Council please note) to play the fifth game in our Smolensk Campaign. I decided to go out on a limb and instead of cleaning out the central tables still in the hands of the Soviets I went for their supply line at the village of Zaborye, if I can capture the village the forward Russians will be cut off and cannot use any Resource Points.

I have yet to steel myself into choosing an armoured platoon and as the terrain here is not conducive to the use of armour I only took one Panzer II for support along with an anti-tank rifle and a motorcycle recce squad. If the motorcycles enter dismounted you get a free patrol move, I planned to move forward quickly and grab as much ground as I could, in the end I managed one extra move so I got a measly two. Matt was defending and had chosen supports to pin me down, an infantry gun, heavy machine gun and two 50mm mortars giving him three altogether.

Russians on the left, Jerries on the right.

There Hans, there!

Russian defenders wait in the half light of dawn.

Matt deployed early and soon had all his forces in the woods, most on overwatch as I struggled with Plan A, things rattled along quite quickly as I tried to decide whether it was still possible for me to force his right flank. I gave up with this idea and as I had two Chain of Command dice I conjured up a cunning plan for which I needed a double move. Russian mortar fire up till now had been mainly ineffectual apart from sending my anti-tank rifle running for cover. I had now brought all my troops on to the table and had moved my attack to the Russian left, my boys waited with bated breath to unleash hell, my little tank had again decided to play cautiously and barely moved into first gear, but it was getting closer and the 20mm autocannon would have to hit at some point.

Soviet festung.

The little tank.

My left flank, hold, hold.

And then I got it, a double move, the whistles blew and the troops leapt forward to the edge of the wood as I cancelled all the Soviet overwatch tokens before opening up. A deadly duel now transpired between both groups in their respective woodland. I was now able to bring my own mortar into action and at last the tank was making headway. The Soviet fire was not as successful as it could have been although my motorcyle troops were taking a beating and their shock was climbing. As the fight continued several Russian NCO's fell and the heavy machine gun along with the infantry gun and a squad broke. Soviet morale plummeted, as the light fell 3rd Panzer took possession of Zaborye.

The left still waiting.

The battle in the woods.

The Panzer II moves at last.

This game lasted longer than our last one, I actually made an attempt to attack the Russian position albeit carefully, I had expected a Russian tank hence the AT rifle, but nothing turned up so I wasted three valuable Resource Points on it. I think we now both have one point left until Game Seven, so the cutting of the supply line is not going to hurt for the moment the Russians in the Yartsevo Pocket. Matt had some bad luck with losing several NCO's and his shooting could have been better, my own was not much better (40 dice and no kills) but the loss of the officers and the support teams took his morale down to 1 and the sheer volume of fire ate away at the Russian units. At the end of the day we both enjoyed the game and look forward to the next one.

Before this I played two skirmish games at the club, I cannot remember the name of the first which was a Dark Age combat with me as the Saxon's and Stuart as the Vikings, I had ten men and Stuart had seven. I won the first game and lost the second, so honours were even, as you know I prefer battles with hundreds of figures so a big change for me, even Dux Britanniarum had about 40. No matter it was good of Stuart to put up with me for a night. The second was Kill Team, and yes there were gasps as the troops turned up to see me sitting there again, there were no historical games at all last night. Simon was the host this time and ran two games. I as Space Marines was up against some kind of Imperial Guard, six men vs ten, it was fast and furious although I was never quite sure I was playing it right, I am sure there is a lot of nuance in the game but you won't cotton on after just one game. Jimi's poor guard were simply targets for my superior warriors and they were massacred to the last man. Again thanks to Simon for an entertaining evening.

Saxons.

Vikings.

Kill Team.

Jimi wondering where all his men went.

However, I have learned that these games are just not for me, rightly or wrongly I see them as more games than wargames, they can be complex, for that read beyond my ken, and need an investment in time to learn and I just do not have that. Yes I know that Chain of Command and Bolt Action are skirmish games, but they seem like more and I can identify with them.

And now back to the Italian Wars, I have at last finished the French commander, King Francis I, it is unusual for me to leave the leader so long before he joins the army. I have based my version on Massimo Predonzani's painting in Helion's Vol. 3 on the battle of Pavia, why Francis flew France Ancient and not France Modern in 1525 I know not, but it looks better anyway. Also around the same time I completed a second Imperial unit of men-at-arms and an artillery piece.

 The Assault Group came through with my next phase of the Imperial army, the Spanish additions. First up is a Spanish pike block, the front ranks are done and I have mixed in some sword and buckler men to make them stick out from all my other pike blocks. Another week should see these done and I will move on to some arquebusiers then Jinette light cavalry before getting back to pikes.

I was going to do a bit on why should I bother continuing to blog, there are few other things I am streamlining as I settle into retirement, possibly mapping or the amount I am doing as well, but it will have to wait until I give it some more thought. At the very least I may be cutting down on the number of posts. I also continue to look for a decent cave in which to hide from the modern world.