Silly After Action Report - Hube's Pocket

 Captain Illya Phlegmovitch Chestikoff looked around at the forested hills with disapproval.

"Why are we ploughing through this mess?" he demanded in a tone he thought of as probing and insightful although the opinion of his comrades leaned more towards petulant whining.

"The Germans have made their move," replied the colonel with a sigh.  The regimental commissar tapped the pistol in his holster suggestively.  The colonel was tempted but decided to try patience, briefly.

"The Germans have committed an SS panzer corps to try and rescue General Hube's encircled trucks."

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe they're short on transport.  Besides trucks are always useful to the war effort."

"We could do with some," muttered Chestikoff.  "I'm sick and tired of clinging to the paintwork of a T-34.  The bastards are always driving through orchards."

Nobody mentioned that it was only the tank Chestikoff was riding that went through orchards, so far he hadn't taken the hint.

The colonel's patience was exhausted.

"If you capture a truck you will never have to ride on a T-34 again."

Rare elation showed on Chestikoff's face, 

"Do you mean it."

The commissar stepped forward,

"I personally guarantee it."

So here we are with ASL Scenario G - Hube's Pocket.  This venerable scenario actually predates ASL itself in various forms.  Here I shall command the gallant troops of the Soviet 5th Tank Corps as the try and keep a valuable collection of transport assets from being salvaged by the SS Frundsberg division.  Since the Germans move first I guess I am technically the scenario defender.  Both sides, starting with the Germans, enter onto the board.  The Germans are heading from west to east to bring succour to the desperate truck drivers of the First Panzer Army.  My Soviets are driving north-south to head them off at the pass.

The game notionally lasts for a monster fourteen turns.  My opponent Dave Wilson has to exit at least ten vehicles in one or two convoys off the western edge of the board.  Said truck convoys enter on the east edge so there is a fair way to go.  All I have to do is stop him.  Should be easy, right?

It has to be admitted I have a fair force to do the stopping.  Eighteen squads, eight of the elite the remainder first line.  Three officers command spearheaded by a 9-1 and three lmgs are the sole support weapons allocated.  But here come the tanks, six T-34 M43s and a trio of upgunned T-34/85s.  Collectively a powerful force, how could the Germans stand against it?  For answer check Dave's OB.  Eleven squads of elite SS troopers, four officers including a monstrous 10-2 and a full supporting cast of support weapons including DCs, panzerschreks, lmgs and hmg.  His own armoured support was equally impressive.  Four halftracks including one carrying a dismountable heavy machine gun, three PzIVH and the queen of this and any other battlefield a Panther.  It was on the rock of this Panther that my hopes would founder.

Figuring out what to do wasn't too hard.  The Soviets had to interpose themselves between the relieving SS troops and the truck convoys which would turn up on or after turn five.  The Germans have sixteen trucks and have to exit ten of them so if I kill seven trucks it doesn't matter if I lose my entire force doing so.  As I said figuring out what to do wasn't hard.  Figuring out how to do it was a little more problematic.

I decided I would send my elite troops into the hills accompanied by my three T34/85s.  These would be my delaying force to hold up Dave's troops.  The first line squads accompanied by the bulk of the less well endowed T34s would plunge south looking to cover all of the road entry points from the east.  It is fair to say that things didn't go entirely to plan.  I knew enough to know that the 76mm gun on the T34s was virtually harmless against the Panther's frontal armour.  If I had researched just a little more I would have realised that the 85mm gun on my "war winners" wasn't much better.

End of German turn 1

Above is the end of the first German turn.  He has sent a strong mobile force (consisting of a pair of PzIVs, the Panther and a couple of troop carrying halftracks along the southernmost road.  The rest of his force is easing towards the hills.  Perhaps the most brilliant tactical decision I made during the game was to plonk my sniper down right next to his.  This would pay dividends later.

End of Soviet turn 1

In my first turn I stuck to my battle plan, driving south as far as I could.  I dropped off a couple of first line squads in a convenient building where they could cover the northernmost of the trucks entry roads and the remainder kept going.  My troops were of course clinging to the hulls of the T34s and one of my elite squads was broken when the tank swung its turret to dismount them.  After that little debacle I discreetly stopped the tanks and allowed the infantry to get off of their own volition.  You may also see if you look closely that I have a pair of squads on the far left, inching down the board edge.  I have no idea what I was doing with those.  I think I had thoughts of setting up a final blocking position or something if all else failed.  In actual fact it just deprived me of the use of those squads throughout the game.  It was a stupid think to do and I would feel the absence of those two squads keenly later on.  Close observers will note that the Germans have managed to get into a position to dominate the southern road entrance which means it will be up to my second stringers to divest them of this.

In his second turn Dave solidified his grip on the western edge of the hill mass, unloaded the hmg from the halftrack and also unloaded troops in the woods mass in the centre of the board.  More things I would have to get through somehow if I wanted to control that southern road.  With a pair of PzIVs sitting in the south he turned his Panther north towards the hill mass where it would create panic in my soul far beyond any actual achievement.  He also drove one PzIV up onto a tiny second level hill in the west where it proved to have a disturbingly clear line of sight to where I needed to go.

End of German turn 2.  Not a shot has been fired and I'm already worried

With my broken troops freshly rallied I essentially mirrored Dave's movements in the west doing my best to lurk behind concealment counters and ready myself for what I assumed would be the inevitable onslaught.  Meanwhile in the east the presence of Germans across my line of advance imposed a level of caution and something of a traffic jam as I realised that possibly I had allocated too many troops to a reasonable small area.  The mask dropped from a couple of concealment counters as I started moving units into line of sight of his tanks.  This would rapidly turn out rather badly for me.

Somewhat late in the day I've realised I'm going to have to fight my way through in the east

So far shooting had been scanty as we settled into convenient positions and then looked around to see if we could find the enemy.  This ended with a bang as Dave's PzIV (the one on the far left) managed to shoot across virtually the entire map and nail a T34 that had been hoping that distance and luck would preserve its wretched existence.  Dave didn't seem to keen on going forward in the west and I didn't really have the troops to do so myself.  Once again I cursed the stupidity that had kept two squads of troops virtually out of the battle.  What I did have was T34s and I moved them up onto the hill just on the other side of the ridge from his Panther.  The crews exchanged comments on their opponents respective mothers but otherwise kept the peace.

One T34 down many more to come

Things started to look a little better in the east.  Another T-34 went up in flames as it attempted to push forwards but a comrade took advantage of the fact that the Germans had fired to roll down the eastern board edge and managed to put an APCR round through the front of one of the PzIVs (although the crew would escape to pester me later).  Unfortunately I compensated for this modest success by doing something spectacularly foolish in the centre.  The Panther loomed large in my calculations.  Destroy that I reasoned and I would be well on my way to winning the game.  OK, not an unfair assessment but my execution of this laudable goal would be severely deficient.  I rolled not one, not two but all three of my T34-85s up on to the top of the hill where they could gaze down on his distinctly isolated Panther.  Surely with three 85mm guns spitting APCR I would gain the kill even if I did lose a tank or two in the process.

I cannot emphasise the importance of checking out the capability of the weapons at your command.  If I had done so I would have realised that even with APCR the chances of killing the Panther through the front were microscopically low.  I had also forgotten or chosen to ignore the fact that a nearby clump of trees housed SS grenadiers who were sweating under the weight of all the panzerfausts they were carrying.  First blood however went to a lowly halftrack.  Congisant of the fact that if success was to be achieved I would need to gain hits early all my tanks were CE.  One of them parked right next to a halftrack which took the opportunity to fire at the exposed crew.  I had taken the odds, even at point blank range it was only a 6+2 shot and my crew had eight morale.  So Dave rolled snake eyes and the crew of that particular tank wound up weeping on the floor of their vehicle while the war got along without them for a while.  The other two tanks dutifully presented themselves on the ridge and gained acquisitions on the Panther will simultaneously pointing out to me exactly how hard it was going to be to kill the thing.

Further disaster occurred on the left as Dave's 10-2 guided a squad and hmg to slaughter my best officer and an elite squad despite the concealment counter that they clung to in desperation.  With that butchery over the 10-2 shepherded his boys towards the patch of woods that would allow them a clear shot at my tanks.

Just for a brief moment things look good

The next turn brought some ups and downs.  Over on the far right my T-34 would follow up its tank killing ways by shocking his remaining PzIV in the vicinity.  It would be a drawn out process but that PzIV would wind up destroyed as well.  Half Dave's tank force was out of action.  Unfortunately the half that remained included his Panther.  On the left his troops started pushing forward against my now attenuated and leaderless force.  And of course his guys found a panzerfaust and fried one of my T34/85s.  By this stage I had realised the folly of my position but any attempt to remove myself from it would simply result in more shots against my vehicles so I decided to stay and fight it out.  Very briefly that worked.

By some miracle one of my T34/85s managed to shock the Panther and put it out of the game for a couple of turns (sadly it didn't wind up getting killed) and the other used its machine guns and 85mm on infantry targets.  The slaughter was terrible, Dave's 10-2, a squad and the hmg were vapourised and another couple of squads and a 9-1 were broken and sent fleeing down the hill.  Briefly I dared to hope.

Things could be worse

Unfortunately that was the high water mark for me.  Over on the left a panzerschreck toting halfsquad broke its schreck but made up for it by finding a faust in the next turn and frying the tank I had left supporting my infantry.  Said infantry were now being monstered by considerably more SS troops and in the centre the swiftly rallying SS took out another tank with a faust.  A lone SS squad moved into the hex with the resultant burning wreck waited patiently for the advance phase.  Then it jumped into CC with the remaining T-34/85 found an ATMM and that was all she wrote.  Just to add insult to injury the Panther chose that moment to recover and now I was in a dreadful situation.

I still had a few tanks left and quite a bit of infantry but I couldn't effectively cover all of the entry points for his convoy (which didn't actually appear in the entire game).  Still obsessing over the Panther I tried one last roll of the dice.  It was still sitting on the hill devoid of infantry protection so I said a quick prayer and drove one of my remaining T34s on a circuitous route that resulted in it sitting right behind him (this is what I should have done with a clutch of tanks but whatever).  If I could hit the Panther in the rear maybe I still had a chance.  I didn't still have a chance, Dave simply rotated the turret of the Panther two hexes and blew away my forlorn hope.  At that point I conceded.  

The end, dead Soviet tanks litter the battlefield

The number of mistakes I made in this scenario is embarrassing.  I overcommitted infantry on the right, stuck two squads out on the left to no good purpose and finally presented all of my best tanks in a neat little row for Dave to kill which he obligingly did.  I'm not sure how the Soviets win this one but "not what I did" is the best advice I can give more a player giving it a shot.  Interestingly Dave played this as the Germans some years ago and lost because he did exactly what I did and tried to dominate the battlefield from the hilltops.  This time he hid behind reverse slopes and invited me to come to him.  Like a good little sub I obliged.

Captain Chestikoff wiped pieces of fruit from his uniform and cursed the tank driver.

"There aren't even any orchards in this scenario," he snarled, "how the hell did the bastard find one?  I'll never make it to the battlefield at this rate".  He looked up at the battlefield and his expression changed.

  "On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't criticise our bold tank drivers too much."  He looked around for his fellow officers but he seemed alone on the field.  The remnants of the assault force were shambling back and looking to him for orders.

"Screw it, let's see if we can get some lend-lease trucks instead."

Silly After Action Report - Expendable Allies

Hauptmann Andreas Ketteldrumme looked around at the various signs of military busyness taking place.  It was 1945 and here they were in eastern Germany preparing to launch an attack on the Poles.  It gave Ketteldrumme an uneasy feeling of deja vu.

"I'm pretty sure we've done this before," he muttered.

Leutnant Hümmelchen looked across at him in surprise.  A fresh faced youngster, Hümmelchen had missed Germany's days of conquest.  Defeat was all he knew.

"Done what before?" asked Hümmelchen.

"Attacked the Poles."

"Did we win?"

"Back then we were enroute to conquering Warsaw.  This time we're trying to stop the Poles from occupying Bautzen.  You work it out."

"Well, perhaps this time we'll win."

"And perhaps pigs will fly backwards over a full moon while farting Deutschland Uber Alles."

It's my fault.  I was looking for a scenario to play with Dave Wilson and happened across this one simply because it was near the top of a pile of scenario cards.  Still with solid troop numbers and honking big tanks it looked like it could fun.  It was, for one of us.  This scenario ASL J215 - Expendable Allies is so late war it almost starts another.  Here the armoured paratroops of the Hermann Göring are steaming to the rescue of the town of Bautzen under threat from Polish troops serving with varying degrees of enthusiasm under Soviet commanders.

In order to win I need to seize three buildings all situated an inconvenient distance away from each other by games end while not losing 55 or more CVP to the Poles.  But wait, there is another way to win.  The Germans can win at the end of turn three if they have captured just one of the three buildings provided they have also amassed more CVP than the Poles.  It certainly looks like I have the tools to do the job.

Coming on from the east on turn 1 I have thirteen squads nine first line and four second line (even the Hermann Göring was getting a little ragged around the edges by this time) led by three officers including a 9-1.  They have three light machine guns and one medium.  Backing them up are two Panther tanks, three PzIVJs, a halftrack toting a 75mm gun and three halftrack troop transports.  On turn two a second force enters from the north consisting of five squads (two first line, three second), a pair of officers, a lmg and a panzerschreck.  Supporting them are a pair of StuGIIIG(L) SP guns and, low of profile but hard of punch, a JgPzIVJ.

Holding this recently snaffled piece of Germany are Dave's Poles in Soviet uniforms.  Thirteen first line squads are led by no fewer than four leaders (although one is a miserable 6+1).  They have three lmgs, two atrs, a DC and one of those hernia inducing Russian medium machine guns.  Also present are two ISU-122s with a monster 122mm gun and two very capable T34/85 tanks.  On turn four Polish reinforcements arrive in the form of three more first line squads and a 9-1 leader.  They bring another lmg and atr to the fray and are accompanied by two IS2 tanks.  Same 122mm as the ISUs but in a fully rotating turret.  Also he gets a truck for reasons best known to the scenario designer.  

Dave's force seems formidable but it labours under two handicaps.  Firstly at least two of the victory buildings are easily accessible to the Germans within three turns so he has to split his defence.  Secondly three of his total of six AFV are manned by inexperienced crews and thus a little less fearsome than their armour and firepower would imply.

At start, Poles lurking under concealment counters and a massive German traffic jam

Above is the at start set up.  Dave has perforce split his troops three ways to cover the victory buildings.  With his AFVs staring down the roads in my entry area I decided on a cross country attack.  I planned to get the bulk of my force up onto the hill and simply rain firepower on the defenders while hoping, perhaps optimistically that Dave wouldn't do the same to me.

Turn 1 did indeed fulfill my hopes.  My Panthers (and a goodly number of troops) rolled up on to the hill and took up positions behind conveniently placed stone walls and well sited buildings.  Such as hadn't made it up were at the base of the hill athirst for the opportunity to climb.  Even better than that a Panther took out one of his monster ISUs in the advance fire phase (Dave does this all the time but it rarely happens for me).  It has to be said I was somewhat cock-a-hoop after turn 1.

End of German turn 1, the Germans are on the hill.  Unfortunately so are a bunch of Poles

Dave's first turn left him scrambling to retrieve what appeared to be a threatened position.  His surviving ISU 122 heaved its bulk around to point its snout menacingly at my Panthers (now hiding behind a wall and thinking small thoughts).  Despite the presence of German infantry the SP gun remained proudly CE throughout a stance justified by his breaking the only troops capable of laying down fire on it.  To add insult to injury his 6+1 fired the antitank rifle at a half track and immobilised it, the crew promptly fled the vehicle weeping hysterically.  Why they thought they would be better off without armoured protection is something I can't explain.

End of Polish turn 1.  The more overtly aggressive of my troops have been punished

Turn 2 saw the arrival of my reinforcements which if nothing else provided the remainder of Dave's force with something to shoot at.  I strongly suspected that the stacks he had in the woods covering the board 59 edge were dummies and decided to put my money where my mouth was.  That is I decided to sacrifice my troops on the basis of a guess.  I was partially right.  On the left a boldly advancing halfsquad hit nothing but question marks but on the right its companion blundered into a real unit.  The subsequent close combat would prove messy for both sides.  In a rather transparent attempt to be sneaky I splashed some troops and a StuG through the stream.  This enabled them to keep concealment at the price of being nowhere particularly useful.  The other two AFV and my remaining infantry pushed forward and found themselves rather alone with a pair of T34/85s giving them a speculative glance.

Up on the hill I rallied some troops and pushed them forward where they were promptly broken again.  Halfttracks managed to manoeuvre around the buildings.  I have no idea what I was doing there but it looks impressive when other people do it.  The principal event of turn 2 up on the hill was the demise of his remaining ISU.  Not wishing to risk their armour the Panthers hung back and I swarmed it with PzIVs.  It took every last shot all three tanks could fire but in the end the job was done and Dave was bereft of armour on the hill.  Even the 75mm toting halftrack had a go (he was still CE and 12+2 is not a bad shot).

The last of the ISUs goes down.  The wreck is buried under a pile of acquisition counters

In his turn Dave sought to retrieve his losses by having a go at my rather sloppily handled reinforcements.  Sadly for him neither of his T34/85s turned out to have APCR (actually they did but the Poles couldn't read the Russian labels) but despite that he punched an 85mm shell through the front of a StuG whose armour proved sadly deficient at its job.  The crew however leapt out to continue the fight as long as the fight was very close and didn't require much firepower.  Up on the hill he stunned a halftrack but otherwise preferred to keep his forces hidden in their building.  It was up to me to roust them out.

End of turn 2, things are looking grim for the Poles

Turn 3 rolled around and the clock was ticking.  I wanted no mistakes on this so I used every bit of firepower available to me.  I dropped a smoke round on his annoying 6+1 with the atr, I sleazed a nearby squad with a halftrack (who surprised me by surviving) and then I literally pounded his troops apart with weight of metal.  My infantry surged forward eager for a fight (or so they claimed afterwards) but their role was simply to advance into building hexes occupied by nothing but bodies.  I had the building within the time limit and despite losing a StuG and some troops of my reinforcements was comfortably ahead on CVP.  I even advanced a halfsquad into CC with his 6+1 but that resilient loser held firm and locked me up in melee.  Dave had one turn to try and retrieve the situation. 

End of German turn 3.  All that's left of Dave's forward position is the indomitable 6+1

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Dave had been banging away at my JgPzIVJ sometimes hitting but rarely denting its frontal armour.  Now with nothing to lose he unleashed his remaining tanks.  One burst out of the building it had been hiding in (my defensive fire shot missed) and circled around for a shot at the JgPzIV's vulnerable rear.  The other headed on a deathride for the hill to see if it could take out a Panther.

It was a forlorn hope at best.  Hiding under the wreck of my StuG was a halfsquad with the panzershreck and as his T34/85 squeaked to a halt they managed to toast it nicely.  The other result was just the dicebot messing with Dave.  I had a Panther in motion directly in his remaining tank's path.  My defensive fire shot was actually low enough to gain a hit and that was the end of his last tank.

Once the game was over we checked out the win/loss ratio on ROAR.  It was Germans 10/Poles 2.  I fiddled with my clothes and looked at the ceiling.  I swear it wasn't deliberate but it does look like I ran a bit of a hound past Dave.  Actually, assuming average dice I'm surprised the Poles won that many.  It all comes down to that first hill and due to the set requirements the Germans have a covered approach.  My reinforcements did very little, their principal role seems to be to ensure that the Polish player can't simply pack the hill with every unit he possesses.  Personally I would suggest removing the turn 3 victory condition and simply force the Germans to take all three buildings.  That might make for a closer game.

With profuse apologies I promised Dave that I would play any scenario he cared to present for our next game.  Being somewhat more diligent than I he looked for the most balanced scenario he could find and came up with the lengthy and venerable Hube's Pocket.  It's fourteen turns long, I may die before we finish it.  According to Dave that counts as a concession.

 "Victory," shouted Hümmelchen in exaltation, "Bautzen remains German!"

"Well, Sorbian actually," muttered Ketteldrumme but he felt that he couldn't rain on the young leutnant's parade too heavily.  "Victory" it was probably the first and definitely the last time he would say the word.

"Do you think there will be a parade?" asked Hümmelchen excitedly.

"I think the Soviets are planning a big one for Berlin."