"Our war brotherhood cannot be broken," announced the cavalryman slapping the table with his swagger stick for emphasis. It was unfortunate that the end of the stick caught a fork and flipped it into the air impaling a Hungarian colonel in the eye. The German continued unphased, "German and Hungarian together to the end as it should be. As it always has been and always shall be. Here in, um (a hasty question to a subordinate) Budapest we shall prove this ancient alliance continues to endure."
One of the Hungarians raised his hand,
"What happened to Admiral Horthy?"
"Shut up," suggested the German.
"Tell me," asked another Hungarian, "how did you get that knight's cross?"
The German beamed with pride, "I got it for killing seven hundred unarmed Russian peasants as they slept."
"I thought a thousand was the minimum requirement for a knights cross."
"You get double for children."
The German swaggered from the room and the Hungarians stared at each other gloomily.
"This war brotherhood crap," said one, "how come all of the fighting seems to take place in Hungary?"
"Sometimes there were battles in Germany," replied another.
"When was the last time?"
"Battle of Lechfeld, 955AD."
"What were we doing in Germany?"
"Invading it."
"Why did we ever stop doing that?"
Leaving the Hungarian higher command to meditate on the geo-political mistakes of their nation over the last eleven hundred years or so we come to today's after action report. Having dragged Ivan Kent to Somalia for our last game I acceded to his demands that we now head to Budapest (better architecture but worse weather) to play FB19 - War Brotherhood. This pits a somewhat eclectic group of Germans and Hungarians combining (or at least fighting in close proximity) in an attempt to push a small but gunned up Soviet force off a hill.
I would take command of the much vaunted "war brotherhood" of Germans and Hungarians while Ivan would command the hill dwelling Soviets. My forces consisted of a task force from Panzer Division Unpronounceable, a detachment of the SS Florian Geyer cavalry division which had spent much of its war service slaughtering peasants and an adhoc collection of Hungarian conscripts and assault engineers. Collectively I had nine elite German squads, three first liners and four second line and they were backed up by a plethora of machine guns, DCs, halftracks (including one with a pair of flamethrowers) and a pair of Panther tanks. The Hungarian contribution was three conscript squads, three first line squads, three assault engineers and a single Zrinyi II self propelled gun. Ivan had seven elite squads, seven first liners, a pair of elite half squads, an hmg, two mmgs, a pair of 76mm guns and two 50mm mortars plus several rubble counters. Up on the hill was his artillery support; two 122mm guns and two 81mm mortars.
There were a bewildering array of victory condition options for the Axis but it all boiled down to, capture the hill. This was made charmingly difficult by the fact that I entered from offboard at the bottom of the hill with strictly designated areas of entry for each of my three forces (Unpronounceable, Florian Geyer, Hungarians). From the picture below you can see my three starting positions; panzertruppe on the left, peasant butchers in the centre and Hungarians on the right.
Ivan had set up his rubble along the left to make it difficult for the panthers to get forward (successfully). He had a few units forward on the left but for the most part set up a defensive line covering the road. Obviously bulking up to oppose the fearsome Germans it seemed to me that perhaps my little regarded Hungarians might be able to pull off a coup or two against more slender resistance. So far any coup pulling has indeed been the preserve of the Hungarians.
Before we started Ivan had to tell me the special rules for Festung Budapest, I'm not particularly interested in campaign games so I had no knowledge of FB before being dragged into this scenario. Ivan explained the rules carefully. Then he explained them again. Part way through his third attempt I pointed out it was already 10.30pm and if we actually wanted to get any play in he might just like to tell me when I screwed something up as we went along. With a weary sense of deja vu Ivan agreed.
Cramped for room and with slender cover I held back some of my forces on the first turn (I held them back on the second turn as well but that's because I forgot they existed). On the left I committed a panther and some squads to deal with his up front defenses and hopefully clear myself a jump off spot for further advances later (at least that's what I'm saying in retrospect and you can't prove otherwise). In the centre I pushed a bunch of squads into the nearest buildings again hoping to build a firebase to shoot his forces out of their positions. A 7-0, halfsquad and DC I labelled as "designated victims" and charged them forward hoping to strip concealment and get behind his forces. Bizarrely they have managed to survive so far. I kept back all of the half tracks except the flamethrower which I rolled up behind his forward troops in the hopes (so far unrealised) of inflicting incendiary death on them.
Over on the right the Hungarians (except the assault engineers) moved on, conscripts in the van, and in the absence of notable opposition started climbing the hill. Such resistance as was met was dealt with by the Zrinyi (not by actually hurting anyone but once it gained acquisition Ivan decided it was time to leave). It was nice to have at least some notional success because things went badly elsewhere. On the left limited objectives met with limited success but no real disasters. In the centre things went rather badly. I had moved a trio of squads (toting an hmg, mmg and lmg) into a stone building hoping to use it as a firebase. Unwise to have such a force collected I know but my options were limited and they were elite, concealed and led by a 9-2 leader. Ivan unveiled a 122mm gun staring straight down their throats. The result really wasn't too bad, a normal morale check on eight morale troops led by a 9-2. The 9-2 pinned and that was the lowest roll I made. All three squads broke, one of them ELRed and my centre force was impotent for a turn or two.
Turn three rolled around and with it my sudden realisation that I still had troops to bring on. My Hungarians were pushing forward boldly so I sent a squad carrying halftrack from the SS to help them out. In this way I skillfully discovered where one of his 76mm guns was located as he sent both halftrack and squad to fiery hell. I had actually forgotten about the 76mm guns, do I suck at this game or what? My Hungarian assault engineers I brought on in the wake of my boldly advancing conscripts and first liners. For the moment the second rate troops could take the strain. In the centre things had improved somewhat, my FT halftrack had unstunned itself and actually managed to break an elite squad that threatened to bring the dream run of my half squad and his 7-0 cheerleader to an abrupt end. Instead the mini flanking goes on. Which is good because a combination of buildings and snow means that the rest of my centre force is likely to be in position by 1946 at the earliest.
Over on the left things are starting to move. I've managed to unhinge the very left of his defences and captured his hmg into the bargain (although I abandoned it the next turn as simply too heavy to move). I've brought on my other panther and sent it on a long loop down to the right so it can find a rubble free access point to the higher levels. My FT halftrack has slunk a little further forward menacing (although not actually hurting) his defenders while my infantry is pushing forward very slowly into the rubble.
On the right I moved a Hungarian squad and officer into the line of sight of his 76mm which proved to be unwise. I had hoped that having to traverse the gun might make it more difficult for him to hit me. I was so, so wrong. Both officer and squad are now a shattered mess snivelling in a building in the rear. On the other hand Ivan revealed both his 50mm mortars (hiding in the same foxhole if you please) but promptly broke one of them. As for the thrice damned 76mm there was conscript vengeance headed in his direction. Cheerfully inviting him to shoot I moved a conscript squad next to the gun. When Ivan disdained to fire on such a lowly target I moved another conscript next to the gun as well. Meanwhile other troops (and the Zrinyi) kept his remaining troops in the area occupied. With nothing else to shoot at Ivan blew away one conscript squad with the 76 but the other plunged into CC with the crew and went hand to hand. A roll of eight or less would kill his gun crew. I rolled boxcars because CC has a deep and virulent hatred of me but this put Ivan on the horns of a dilemma. He could withdraw but that would cede the gun to me. He stayed to fight it out but couldn't kill my boys either. I haven't captured the gun yet but I have rendered it useless for a turn or so. Meanwhile other Hungarian troops have clambered up another hill level and have snaffled a couple of buildings up there. They're hardly likely to win the war singlehanded but at least Ivan has something else to worry about. I've also rolled my flanking panther up to the area in the hopes that he can shoot (or at least scare) the defenders out.
This is where we left it. We recommence with Ivan's third turn tomorrow night. I'm happier now than I was in the first couple of turns but I still rather suspect that time and the somewhat disjointed position of my forces will count against me.
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