Mid-week Solo - Back to Barbarossa

 This game took place a few days ago but I am only now getting around to posting a report. 

Initial layout, the Germans will enter from the bottom table edge

The Germans had a Stuka strike, an artillery strike and reinforcement by a PzKfw III, the Russians only had a couple of "partisan assassins" (mainly so I could use a couple of the female Pulp figures that have been sitting on my painting desk for 12-18 months!)

Turn two saw a Russian card turned and one infantry unit appear randomly by dice roll right next to the advancing Wehrmacht!

The leading carrier continued to advance, whilst the second one dismounted its infantry to confront the ambush.

On turn four, the second Russian unit appeared, directly ahead of the leading Germans - a well-executed ambush, even if it was all just a random fluke of dice rolling!

The MG34 gunner immediately engaged "targets front" 

The Luftwaffe arrived and scored two hits on the enemy, which resulted in the Russians pulling back into the woods, out of sight of the deadly MG

To the rear, the Germans put one hit on the other Russian unit

The leading half-track advanced over the small stream and then dismounted its infantry.

The Russians had managed to rally off a hit and decided to charge forward - but rolled a very low movement score!

The next turn, they got into contact, but neither side could gain an advantage (three or four turns of no hits by either of them!)

An impressive exchange of small arms fire at the original ambush site - unfortunately for the Russians, cover reduced the double 6 to 11, so only one hit was scored.

Meanwhile, at the ford, the evenly balanced melee continued - I think I rolled double matching scores like the above several times.

Finally, a decision, the Russians put a hit on the German infantry, and they had to fall back.

The first partisan appeared in just the right place and put TWO more hits on the leading German infantry unit!

Next, the Russian infantry scored a killer hit on the SdKfz 251 with a grenade or Molotov cocktail!

And by great good fortune, the second partisan appeared from the same building, and put the Wehrmacht unit up to four hits!

The Germans failed to rally and fell back 10cm (dice roll). Meanwhile, the other Russian unit was falling back to consolidate the defence (to the right above)

The retiring Germans again failed both rally attempts (one in the rally phase at the start of the turn and again in the movement phase) and were within spitting distance of exiting the table. The other unit advanced warily up the flank, whilst their carrier rolled forward to add the support of its MG34.

Buoyed by their success thus far, both Russian units now rallied off all the hits they had been carrying

Another turn, another failed rally, and the retreating German unit left the table. The Germans fired at the Russians to their front but failed to score any hits.

FINALLY, the PzKfw III arrived, but it was too late, with the game scheduled for 26 turns (the Russians had 12, the Germans 14.

The tank put one hit on the Russians across the river in each of the last two turns of the game, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome. The Russians had successfully defended their village, and the Germans would have to commit more resources to dislodging them.

A few eye candy shots to finish off with.

Finally, I have ordered up some more Ostfront reading courtesy of Auckland Public Library service - I am currently halfway through "A Writer at War".

Th...th..th....th...tahts all folks! Thanks for visiting and special thanks for all comments!