Big Sunday Game .....and its the Eastern Front AGAIN!

 No surprise for my regular readers of course - as we replayed the scenario from Andrew's place on Friday but on a much larger table and with more troops on both sides.

Mark, Rick and I took the advancing Russians whilst Andrew, Barry and John (Clark, not Leigh) took the defending Germans. 

Once again, the Russians gained one point for each of the nine infantry companies we had under our combined command we were able to get off the German side of the table, whilst the Germans gained half a point for each Russian tank destroyed - maximum possible points available to the Russians is 9, to the Germans 12 - so we did have to make sure we did not sacrifice all our armour to facilitate the infantry's advance!

We used Andrew's home brew rules again - a full deck of playing cards was used with most but not all of the face cards being "special events" eg a sniper or off table artillery strike. All the tanks and figures, with the exception of some SU76 SPG and the German infantry are from my FoW collection.

The table, Russians will be attacking from the right, trying to exit the left

Marks force was on our right flank, about halfway up our side of the table

I was in the centre of our advance

Rick was on the left - I would have preferred him to be right up in the left-hand corner, as our plan was to appear to be heading straight forwards, then incline left and all head for the corner of the German position as the exit point for our infantry.

Unlike in our Friday game, Andrew had the Germans lay out their hidden position markers before we took our first move, so obviously our scouts had been more effective this time than in the previous encounter!

Knowing where the Germans were before we started moving was obviously a significant advantage for us, as they had their forces spread thinly all across their side of the table, and our plan involved more or less ignoring/avoiding John and Andrew, and all heading for the area held by Barrys forces

Ricks armour heads southwest towards our intended exit point

In the centre opposite Mark, two Sakfz 251 with 75mm AT guns appeared and opened fire on the Russians

An the first (of many!) T34/85's was knocked out.

Barrys sprung his ambush on me, revealing a battery of Pak 40's, another of 88's plus a Tiger I and a King Tiger. My tanks quickly put some hits on the AT batteries

The King Tiger headed to the German right flank to try to head off Ricks force

Almost immediately, another T34 was brewed up!

But to Ricks right, my force was getting stuck into Barry, - the 88's are already on 4 hits, the PAK's soon to follow and the Tiger in the trees has a hit on it!

Now both German AT batteries are on 4 hits and will have to test to rally at the start of the next German turn - unlike infantry, they only get one chance - if they fail, they are gone for the game. And that's exactly what happened!

Rick added to the Russian success by taking out the King Tiger too!

A couple of Puma armoured cars with 75mm guns appeared in the woods ahead of my advancing tank force and took a toll as they opened fire, although I managed to silence one of them with my return fire!

Another Tiger had emerged to oppose Rick!

Meanwhile, there was a bit of a traffic jam as Rick and my infantry moved round to our left flank to follow behind the armoured thrust and hopefully get to the German table edge unscathed - no fighting for these boys today, if we can help it!

My tank force had been reduced to about 50% of the original strength but had taken out a lot of German kit and was still moving forwards - Urrah!

Two of Ricks tanks cautiously entered a BUA

And got involved in a close quarter battle with German infantry - not good with no Soviet infantry support!

My last three remaining tanks moving towards Rick, having knocked out the bulk of the German armour on this flank. That is my commander on the hill, spotting for potential targets for off board artillery. Shortly hereafter, he called down a mass strike by both conventional and rocket artillery, which took out another King Tiger as it made its way from the German left flank that we had bypassed.

The view from behind the German right flank position held by Barry - a lot of burning armour, both Soviet and German! The tanks in the centre left are Marks force as they move towards our planned exit point just to the right of the photo - in the top centre, Marks infantry component can be seen taking the same route as Rick and I had used to move our infantry around the German defensive positions

Again, from behind the German centre - the units that had been positioned to defend the German left flank (Andrew) are making the long march to try and assist the German right flank (Barry) contain all three Soviet commands

A view down the table from the German left/Russian right. The burning T34 in the centre left indicates where Mark started the game but by this stage, all three Russian commands were closing in on the exit point in the top right of the picture. The three German commanders are there, surveying the imminent Soviet breakthrough!

But the Russians have not won yet, as every turn, more of our armour burns!

The fighting to control the Soviet exit point was bitter, with neither side giving quarter!

But the column of infantry carriers was moving inexorably around the German flank, despite the large number of casualties amongst the armoured forces.

Symbolic of the intensity of the fighting - a close combat between Soviet armour and the defending Germans leaves the tank in flames but the infantry carrying four hits and forced to retire!

As the tanks provide an unbreakable shield of steel, the infantry trucks get closer and closer to the exit point. That individual stand is my command group, once again - keep an eye on them they are about to make another outstanding contribution!

Having braved a storm of lead from the quad 20mm cannons on a Wirbelwind (suffering 4 casualties) we held our breath as the commander rolled for rally - and they succeeded! 

Now, to roll for the off-board artillery on the target they can see from their exposed position....

And - booomski! The last King Tiger (and the last possible threat to the Soviet infantry) is removed from play.

A final shot of the carnage. We Russians got all 9 companies of infantry off the German table edge with no loss - I don't think they were ever even within range of any German gun to be a potential target! Now, we held our breath as the burning Soviet tanks were counted up ......sixteen - at half a point each, a German score of 8 - the Russians had won by a nose 9 - 8 - but at a pretty significant cost.

Well, that was a really great game, and I think everyone enjoyed it and liked the relative simplicity of the rules. Poor old John had a battery of 88 guns in a wood in the centre of the German position that never had an opportunity to fire and had no tow vehicle to relocate with. The Russian plan worked out pretty well although once again, like on Friday, too many Soviet tanks were lost achieving the breakthrough - we probably could have been a bit more cautious and kept our tanks in cover, engaging the Germans at a longer range, rather than making the sweeping, rapid advance across open country and just trusting to our superior numbers to get us through - but that is how the Russians play the game, isn't it?! We also only just made it, timewise, as at the end of the game, there were only 4 cards left, and when these were checked, only one was a Soviet move!

I am off to Taupo in the centre of the North Island from Weds till Friday for work, so no mid-week solo game or Friday night at Julians this week, but I will try and get something in over the weekend. Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest post and as always, please leave a comment - you know it makes sense!