Maggiore Colonnadi Portico shouted down the field telephone trying not to let the panic show in his voice.
"The damned Greeks are almost on top of us. Where the hell is my armoured support?"
Indecipherable crackling came from the receiver followed by,
"You have reached Commando Supremo, your call is important to us. This call may be recorded for self exculpatory purposes. If you wish to surrender press 1, if you desire our surrender press 2..."
Portico lowered the phone in disgust.
"Are our guns ready at least?" he asked Capitano Pirelli.
"Those that aren't frozen solid," affirmed the capitano.
"What about the gunners?"
"Much the same."
Portico lifted the phone to his ear.
"If you would like a signed photograph of il Duce, press five. If you want advice on Commando Supremo approved hair styles press six..."
"For god's sake," muttered Portico. Down the slope of the hill he could see masses of infantry moving towards his position.
Well I finally managed to select a reasonably well balanced scenario. This is Scenario HG2 - Konitsa Crackdown. Here I shall command a not very enthusiastic but spectacularly gunned up pack of Italians defending possibly the only hill in Greece that hasn't been recaptured yet. My force is nestled on the top of two snow covered hills staring down at fields that would be covered in snow if they weren't already covered in Greeks. To win Dave Wilson, my doughty opponent, has to accumulate 30VP. Victory points are gained from building control, control of level three hexes on board K and level 4 hexes on board H. To prevent the Greeks simply hurling their force at one particular hill the rules state that they must earn 10VP on each board.
There are two hills, one covered in forest and one more resembling the surface of the moon. In the valley between are a collection of buildings that can't be ignored if only for the fact that they're the only VPs on offer that don't require you to climb anything.
I have quite the arsenal to do the defending. Forget the 15 first line squads, five conscript squads and four leaders of varying levels of adequacy. Check out that support; two hmgs, four mmgs, four lmgs and six (count them) six 45mm mortars. Then we wheel out the big guns; two 65mm artillery pieces, one 75mm and two 81mm mortars. Even with the prevailing quality of Italian ammunition the amount of metal flying through the air is going to be impressive.
It will have to be because there are a fuck ton of Greeks heading hillward. Twelve elite squads, eighteen first line squads, two half squads (to die drawing fire), seven leaders including an impressive 9-2, four medium machine guns of his own plus six light machine guns and his own artillery support in the form of one 65mm gun, one 75mm gun and two 81mm mortars. Seriously the air is going to be solid.
Terrain dictated my deployment. Board K is thickly endowed with trees, buildings, olive groves and general hindrances to swift movement. There is almost nowhere you have a line of sight that extends for more than two hexes. Board H on the other hand is scantily provided with cover at best and the hilltops look particularly bare. Infantry would defend board K and the guns would defend board H. A solitary 65mm gun set up forward to cover the Greek approach. Foxholes filled with a mix of concealment counters and expendable conscripts occupied the forward slope. I didn't commit any more because I figured, correctly, that Dave would blanket the area with smoke. Both big mortars and the 75mm would set up to the rear where they could take Dave's forces under fire as they crested the hill. A leader led squad with an mmg also occupied the area.
I horribly misplaced my best leader and hmg setting them up in a foxhole overlooking the valley that was never threatened during the game. I think I had visions of pouring fire down on hapless attackers plodding along the valley floor. I forgot that Dave isn't a complete moron.
Over on board K I did allocate a single 65mm gun to set up in a building to provide some stiffening for the defence which otherwise rested on infantry more or less alone. Conscripts took the lead in defending the woods with (allegedly) better troops behind. A mix of dummies and infantry held the village for at least as long as it took the Greeks to arrive.
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| Set up |
Dave set up the bulk of his force facing board K while a select group (his best officers, mmgs and crews) set up on board H ready to sweep over the bald hilltop to victory. Both his mortars ran out of smoke but not before blanketing my forward foxholes (the foxholes were a mistake, I just gave him defensive terrain) My 65mm fired on some Greek troops but achieved nothing more than a pin which was matched when his 75mm took it under fire. Then his machine gun crews charged somewhat slowly forward (the snow was achieving a better defensive result than my troops) and seized the smoky foxholes.
On the other flank a Greek halfsquad died under a hail of conscript fire, the remainder pushed forward but didn't get very far what with snow, woods and slopes. In the centre my dummies were swiftly revealed and Dave pushed (again slowly) for the village.
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| End of Greek turn 1 |
In my second turn the shape of the battle became obvious. On board K he slowly ground away at my defenders who attempted to trade space for time and present concealed opponents to the Greeks who would promptly break them due to the generous amount of firepower his squads possessed. I dared not stack against him as a break would blow my front wide open so I bled slowly but inexorably as his troops ground forward.
On board H however his machine gun teams met the full fury of my mortars. I love 81mm mortars when they're on my side. Now that the Greeks were up on the hill his own artillery was largely impotent and I created carnage amongst his brave machine gun teams. I kept my 75mm hidden waiting for the moment Dave had thought he'd won and could relax a little (another mistake, I should have thrown everything I had at them from the moment they appeared.) Because of my reluctance to engage my 75mm early while Dave's initial assault was smashed over the next couple of turns I couldn't quite wipe his force out and sufficient rallied to cause me anguish later. Oh and his 75mm and my 65 kept plinking away at each other wasting their respective nation's ammunition reserves to no good purpose.
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| On board K I am unsuccessfully trying to put some distance between my troops and the avenging Greek horde |
Realising his mortars could do no more Dave dismantled them and started the laborious process of hauling them up the snow covered hillside. He would abandon that effort a couple of turns later in favour of using the crews to replaced their deceased comrades manning the machine guns.
The next couple of turns were a combination of elation and despair. My mortars reduced his force on board H to a couple of broken crews while his surviving officer scrambled to try and rally something while over on board K my troops engaged in what I call a "fall back defence" which is the say the Greeks would approach, blow the crap out of my defenders the survivors of which would fall back or rout as it is sometimes called. I was funneling troops forward from my rear positions to maintain a front and at least slow his forces down although I doubt if I was putting much more of a brake on him than the terrain would have imposed anyway. The 65mm gun I had hidden in a building had one brief moment of glory when it evaporated an elite Greek squad but then succumbed to the mass of fire Dave could deploy.
Things started to go sour midway through the game. Over on board K my troops were crumbling as rapidly as I could thrust them towards the front, a task made easier by the fact that the front was getting slowly closer. On board H the heroics of my mortar crews couldn't last. Firstly his 75mm finally broke the crew of my 65 and in doing so ended its own participation in the battle. Then one of his surviving mmg teams broke the crew of a mortar while the other malfed without any involvement from the enemy.
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| Oh crap |
Suddenly board H was bereft of heavy hitters apart from the still hidden 75mm. A 45mm mortar team did their best to make up the difference and over the course of a couple of turns managed to kill a Greek squad clambering slowly up the hill from the valley. Nevertheless things looked bad. My mmg team had already been traumatised out of any capacity for resistance and I was learning exactly how stupid my positioning of the hmg and my best leader was. In desperation I abandoned the malfed mortar and moved the crew to the its comrade which was still intact but bereft of crew. This got one mortar back in action but my firepower was significantly reduced and while it was reduced Dave rallied what he could and moved back up crews to grab mmgs whose previous owners had passed beyond the need of earthly things.
Meanwhile over on board K the slow but inexorable crumbling of my position continued although a halfsquad with a mortar sneaked behind the Greeks to recapture a building while their opponents were looking the other way.
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| Things are not looking all that great |
The end, when it came, was abrupt. My remaining 81mm mortar and the 75 were banging away manfully but not getting quite enough in the way of results to deliver victory. Then his 9-2 guiding a single crew and mmg stepped forward. A morale check on my mortar crew led to failure, rate then delivered another morale check on the crew of the 75 which similarly failed. That was the end. Every single artillery piece was out of action and there was literally nothing to stop Dave sweeping across board H for the locations he required. Over on board K defeat was only a matter of time as well. With a heavy sigh I conceded the game to Dave with two turns to go.
I have only myself to blame for my defeat. The foxholes, keeping the 75 hidden too long and the boneheaded positioning of my best leader and hmg (who didn't fire a shot all game) all contributed to my demise. Nevertheless it was close for a considerable period of time. It was really a tale of two battles as my troops on board K slowly crumbled without any input from the Italian artillery while on board H for quite a while it did look like I would hold my position and deny Dave the victory. Many thanks to Dave who had to put up with self congratulatory ranting and hysterical tears depending on how things were going for me at any given time.
Greek soldiers pushed cautiously through the wreckage of an Italian gun position. A squawking tinny voice caused alarm until it was tracked to the receiver of a field phone dangling where it had been dropped. Curious a soldier placed the receiver to his ear.
"If your position is under attack and you need urgent armoured support, press 724."
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