WWII: BtB, Turn 3, Fall 41

 

Orders: Both players should take a look out of Russia as they got orders for mandatory offensives (OKW MO and Allied MO).

Initial German moves in the Fall have seen Army Group South, leaded by 1st Pz Army maneuvered to outflank Soviet Units and to reach Rostov. Romanian troops gave Germans infantry support. In the Center, 2Pz and 4Pz Armies attacked Soviet units defending Smolensk. But Russian units performed a stiff resistance and held the city. Losses however have been significant (5 steps) and Soviet commander decided to reinforce this key location by bringing fresh units from Moscow. Also reacting to the new menace at the South, Kiev has been abandoned to the Germans and a new front line is beginning to form from Gomel to Kharkov.

In the second Action round, German takes a pause in his offensive to let the delayed infantry armies to reach the front lines by occupying Kiev. Russian used this calm to reinforce with new Front units at Moscow, Kharkov and Stalingrad.

Germans launched an all-out offensive by Army Group Center in his third round. With the support of Stukas (+1 DRM in all combats) attacked at Smolensk (15-10), Gomel (14-8) and Chernigov (8-3) trying to break the front. At Smolensk Panzer push achieved to take the city and Soviet units retreated to the forests at Vyazma (LCUs) and Roslav Yenya to avoid further advance of Germans. At Gomel, Germans got another victory but Russian sacrificed one step to hold the position. At Chernigov, soviets also retreated facing superior German units.

Total losses of offensive: 15 Russian- 9 German

Seeing that Gomel was impossible to be defended, Soviet decide to gave up some terrain and established at forests in Bryansk and in the plains of Kursk.

In Africa Tobruk garrison attacked Italian troops at Gazala causing a step loss and fulfilling MO.

In the fourth round, German drove his attention to the Army Group South taking positions at Rostov and Stalino and menacing Kharkov. In a questionable decision, Soviet have not tried to defend Kharkov and moved his Front units back again.  Probably this has been a overcautious move in view of the weak Romanian units but Russian was afraid of the mobile mechanized German units.

Of course German did not miss the gift and he took Kharkov without any fight.  Following the momentum 1st and 2nd Pz Armies attacked at Kursk from Konotop. Another German victory (6-5) that forced Russian to retreat towards Orel and Elets and, in the following round, to Tula and Ryazan.

This ended the hostilities during Fall as both players expended the last card to get replacements.

This is the situation (after placing replacements) after Fall 41.

In this turn, Russian has tried to get a front line at three different locations but German was successfully pushing forward. Nevertheless, at least this time I am still alive when winter comes.

Losses this turn: Soviet: 28 steps, German: 15 steps, Italian: 1 step.

N44, 6th June, German Phase

 

After the Allied invasion phase, play resumes with the German phase. There is no reinforcements in this first turn and a few special rules are applied.

The most important are that German units have some restrictions to movement to reflect the delay in reaction. So, 21st Pz Div movement factor is reduced to 3 and all Ost battalions and units with black-boxed movement factors are blocked and can not move.

With this restrictions, German plan was to establish a defensive perimeter.

In Utah, German wanted to take advantage of the bad landings of 82nd division and hit the paratroopers before they can reorganize.

I have used 91 Inf Div to create ZOCs that keep US close to the beaches. My main objective was to push paratroopers behind Merderet river and to defend Carentan. I have relocated Contentin Artillery in Valognes for future support.  Probably, I was overconfident that my attack on the cadre unit of the 82nd Div west of Merderet was strong enough without artillery support (2-1 shifted to 3-1 by armor). Result was DR and paratroopers retreated to St Mere Eglise. Not that bad but i would prefer a loss step and destroy that cadre unit.

At Omaha I was trying to hold the position behind the River. The good landing at Pointe du Hoc forced me to do not defend Grandcamp-les-Bains and I have decided to stay at Isigny-sur-mer. I hope that those Antitank battalions can give me enough support to resist the line next turn, holding Bayeux and waiting for reinforcements.

 

In the Commonwealth sector I have a lot of doubts about the best way to defend and probably i have made some mistakes. The first thing to realize is that i can not defend Douvres Radar St as Canadians and British ZOCs blocked me the access. Then, I was afraid that units defending Creully (hex 2326) could not stand the attack of the 50th Inf Div creating a hole in my line menacing a flanking maneuver towards Caen from the West. So, I have taken the decision to place the 21st Pz Div not to close of the beaches and do not try to defend Strongpoint Hillman (that probably is an error). My last decision was to attack the scattered battalion of the 6th AB Div at Ranville (hex 2131). This is a hardest objective than the other paratroopers but it defends Pegasus Bridge. If i can force them to retreat, then 6th AB is isolated from 3rd Div and Brits will have some problems here. My attack was 1-1 (10-6), shifted to 2-1 by armor so i had 66% of probability to force a retreat (or a Determined Defense). But i got an EX result and each side lost a step but paratroopers held the bridge.

In summary a not so good phase for Germans. Only at Utah Americans are in real trouble.

Normandy 44, Invasion Phase

 

Game starts with a special Allied phase to deal with the invasion. No many strategic decisions to be made and just a serie of die rolls.

First the Allied must roll for each Airborne unit in the map and referencing the result in a special Airborne Scatter Table. Then at each landing hex he must roll in the Invasion CRT to decide the invasion result. Losses are taken from infantry units as DD tanks must roll an independent result in its own table. Omaha and Rangers at Pointe du Hoc had special rules.

These are the results:

Utah Beach.

All the Paratroopers are scattered and had suffered heavy losses. Two of the Regiments are reduced to cadre, other three have lost one step and the only Regiment at full strength was the 501/101.  At the beaches the situation was much better without any step loss for the infantry but 70 DD Tank Battalion suffered one step loss. American paratroopers will have a few difficult turns to survive German reaction as they can not take replacements until Turn 2 and only one per Division/turn.

Omaha Beach.

Excellent invasion for the Rangers that have taken Pointe du Hoc without losses. At Charlie/Dog Omaha, the American 29th Inf Division performed a good landing with only one step lost. Things were not so good for the 1st in Division at Easy/Fox. They rolled a ‘1’ leading to Bloody Omaha results. This meant taking a step loss and rolling again. They succeeded to land in this second roll but taking more losses. At the end the result is one infantry regiment reduced to cadre and one step loss for the 743 Tank Battalion.

British Beaches.

Airborne units performed quite well with the only exception being at Pegasus Bridge were 5/6 Regiment was scattered and suffered one step loss.

At Sword British achieve to stablish a nice beachhead, aiming to connect with 6 AB Division.

At Juno, Canadiens remove the resistance at Courselles and begin to move inland. Losses are not heavy (only one inf step) in this sector but both DD tanks are reduced.

At Gold, British 50th Infantry Division found more resistance than expected and took severe damage as three of its regiments are reduced. Tanks battalions on the contrary have landed perfectly.

After this initial invasion phase, play resumes to the normal sequence and German must play his reaction turn with some restrictions on movement to simulate the reaction delay.

WWII: BtB, Turn 2, Summer 41

 

This is the first normal turn in the game so the first thing to do is to roll for Orders.

Allied should make an offensive in Africa to relief some pressure from the russians.

And German got Orders directly from the Führer to pay attention to the South Front. So, Odessa and Yassi had Stand Fasts markers.The last Stand Fast marker goes to Hellfire Pass.

The beginning of the summer began with German concentrated in the operations of Army Group North. 3 Pz Army took Riga and penetrated deep into Narva, menacing  Leningrad. 4 Pz Army conquered Minsk and stopped there. Russian called from reinforcements in an attempt to establish some kind of front line. Fronts are deployed in Smolensk, Kiev and Leningrad.

German Infantry Armies continued to clean the lines of Russian weak Armies, specially in the roads to Leningrad but also around Pinsk whereas Panzer Armies wait for delayed infantry formations to follow the push. Russians are using any calm in the offensive to prepare replacements of their heavily damaged units.

Situation after Round 3:

German commander decided not to attack Leningrad and played Nordlicht card for Ops. 3 Pz Army is relocated at Vitebsk to lead the attack against Smolensk. German North flank remained guarded by infantry formations. Russian redeployed some small Armies at Kalinin to avoid being outflanked and protect Moscow from the North.

The German attack on Smolensk was finally conducted by 3 and 4 Pz Armies with the support of 16th Inf Army. In spite of the odds advantage for Germans (14-6), Russian presented stiff resistance and were able to hold the position. Also in the Center, Germans began to prepare an offensive at Gomel. In the South 1st Pz Army did not encountered any opposition to reach Kirovograd.

As Germans are not directly menacing Kiev, Stalin ordered to move SW Mechanized Front to hold the lines at Smolensk.

Siberians troops have been freed and may be redeployed in a near future.

British attacked Gazala from Tobruk bu without any significant result.

In his last action, German reinforced his lines, adding 2 Pz Army to the Battle of Smolensk, and sieging Kiev. Not being menaced by any imminent outbreak, Russian expended his effort in more replacements.

This is the final situation before Russian replacements.

Summary of losses:

Soviet: 1 LCU eliminated, 6 SCU eliminated, 1 SCU reduced (to avoid retreat). Total: 19 steps

German: 1 LCU reduced. Total: 3 steps.

Replacements: 7 Russian points, 3 British points.

British points are used to bring back to full strength 3 scu: 1.5 points.

Russian replacements are used to rebuild 2 LCU at Moscow and 1 at Tula at full strength. Last point placed 1 reduced SCU at RB and bring back to full strength the reduced SCU at Smolensk.

WWII: BtB, Turn 1, June 41

This game begins with an special turn of only one Action Round. German must decide if playing Barbarossa or Von Paulus Pause Events.
Here German has decided to go with Barbarossa offensive. Now, he had the opportunity to put combat markers in five different hexes. Barbarossa event also cancels Russian Trench advantages and gives +1DRM to the attacker.
Here is the opening German movement:

Army Group North had the mission to attack from Memel to Kaunas and move to Vilna.  4 Pz Army  is the main formation of the northern arm which will try to envelop Russian troops at Bialystok. The pocket should be closed by the 2nd Pz Army which, attacking from Warsaw, must overrun Russian weak units at Brest Litovsk and achieve Baranovich. The rest of the Army Group Center will concentrate in eliminating Russian units at Kovel. In the South, German and Romanian Armies had the task to capture Odessa and defeat the resistance at Chernovitsi.

All the German attacks have been succesful and Russian units had only inflicted minor losses (1 scu step) at Werchmacht units.
Russian expended his reaction round trying to save as many units as possible.

In spite of Stalin orders, Russian SW Front abandoned its trenched position at Lwow and retreated to Kiev.  Also the other two Russian units that risked to be envelopped in the next turn by Germans, at Kolonyja and Tarnopol-Rovno  were deployed at Kiev and Vinnitsa.  Courland SCU was called to protect the route towards Leningrad and it was placed at Pskov.  Finally, Russian commander begun to deploy a defensive line behind the Dnieper river and called the Reserve at Mozhaisk to reinforce positions at the forest in Gomel.

German losses: 1 SCU step (1 step)
Soviet losses: 1 LCU, 4 SCU (14 steps)
The Soviets unit pocketed at Bialystok can not be saved and it is eliminated : 8 steps (LCU+SCU).

TURN 4 spring 1862 "For the people"

Card1. First card play for USA is obvious, to demote poor McDowell and place in chargeof Army of Potomac Mr. McLlelan. It is the moment to do it, as Stoneman cavalry brigade gives a +2 for interception and negates the "-2" in all leader ratios. So now AoP defences with +3 and intercepts with 4/6. It affects USA SW with a -5 (McDowell political rating) but gives a bonus of +5 for placing in charge McLellan (special rule). With his first activation confederacy retreats AoNV to West Virginia leaving Van Dorn with a 15000 troops corp it Chambersburg (Pa) allowing to close Senandoah valley and threatening a raid in Pennsylvania.

Card2. USA places a fort in Grafton (WV) seeing the obvious threat of a raid through Pittsburgh. CSA creates AoW at Richmond with Lee in charge. This is a serious problem for the union, Defensive rating of the union armies depends on the difference of the CSA leader in command and the USA leader, if CSA leader is best, then just two leaders are added to the total of the army, on the other way round, grey's armies always uses three leaders. It means, AoW attacking AoP is a +6 vs +3, but if it's AoNV who attacks then it would be +4 vs +4.

Card3. USA places a fort at harrisburg to avoid Van Dorn corps to raid Pennsylvania easily. Then CSA begins a political offensive to join Misouri to the confederacy. <<First move of my buddy I don't like, more troops for reinforcement each turn, and 10 sw for political value of Mo, but very difficult for the greys to defend it.¿?.>>

Card4. Active AoP to recover Chambesburg, to close Frederick with enough troops and to stay in Harper Ferry. Now with new AoP intercepting with a 66% of the times willl respond to an attack from Virgina or from Senandoah. CSA continues with political war at Mo and places three more flags there.

Card5. usa places a fort in H.F. (north of Va) and south moves AoW to Strasburg. A good place to stop any advance from AoP and even to launch a final turn offensive through WV, Senandoah or Manassas.

Card6. For the people lets with some events to steal a card from your enemy hand, this time union plays now in order to steal a very good card (usually players left the best of their cards hand for the end of the turn), and that way then play the last card of the turn a powerfull one. With an incredible luck, USA steals the best possible card from south's hand "major campaign". It is typical to leave a major campaign for yor last card play in order to do three uncontested activation, ...but this can happen!!!. Now, without his  best card, south must play his last card leaving north to seize the last card play (this time). Michael decides to ativate Van Dorn and spreads all over West Virginia in order to place a lot of political markers, but Rosecrans intercepts VD with a "1" (just a 16% to get it 1 /6) stoping them.Very lucky again.

Card7. No cards on CSA hand, this is the last card payed this turn, and it's a campaign too (minor), so two activations for the blues. 1st one: is an amphibous assault from WDC to Fort Fisher (North Carolina). it closes North Atlantic blockade zone but easily greys will reopen it later due to the lack of troops to to defende Morehead city (Nc).
2nd one: Bank's corp move to seize the oportunity to secure Kentucky and even to assault Nashville to burst it's depot and enters Murfreesboro.

Situation in the east at the begining of turn 5. Two armies waiting for the opportunity to raid north

Situation in the west at the begining of turn 5. Kentucky and Nashville in north control but Missippi firmly defended by Johnny Rebs.

Turn losses               casualties.                attrition.
USA                                    15000                       15000
CSA                                     10000 +fort              5000

War  losses:  (casualties +  attrition)
USA                       125000
CSA                          75000

SW
USA 111(+)                        Blockade level=2 
CSA  96(-)

Normandy 44, GMT Games

 

It looks like the game of  Hearts and Minds played by Molina and Jordi has been blocked and they can not continue with their vassal match.

So, at our gaming club last week, we meet all of us and I proposed to play Normandy’44 by GMT games by vassal. This departs from our other vassal games as it is a classical hex-and-counter game and not a CDG. However, counter density and map size are reasonably small to manage in laptop screens, so it could be a good choice for vassal PBEM. Jordi and I have played a couple of turns once a few months ago in FTF and have found the game really excellent.

As usual, both of them agreed and we will play as me as the Germans against Molina as Brit and Jordi with US. Fortunately Vassal module is ready to be played with 2-3-4 players so it will be easy to handle the game.

As it is a typical i-go-you-go game, no much interaction is needed and we may advance in the game relatively fast (depending on family&job’s schedules).

We will try to report after every half turn.