Silly After Action Report - Partisan Stronghold

 "We're certainly glad to see you guys," said the German officer with his best "I'm attempting to pretend to be sincere" smile.

Major Sizlan Barbacu was almost certain the man was lying but didn't want to start a diplomatic incident with people not famous for being diplomatic.  Behind Barbacu his troops, elite mountain warriors of Rumania, were fanning out, taking photos and buying postcards.  It seemed that the German was waiting for him to say something.

"So, ah where do you want us?" asked Barbacu attempting to put at least a modicum of enthusiasm into his voice.  The German waved a hand vaguely, managing to encompass a broad swathe of hilly not particularly inviting terrain.

"Over there somewhere.  The place is full of partisans."

"And lice," replied Barbacu.

"We'd like you to clear them out."

"The lice?"

"The partisans.  Although anything you can do about the lice would be appreciated.  If you succeed General von Manstein will mention you in an Order of the Day.  What more can you ask for?"

"Decent equipment, better weapons, more training, a functioning command structure..."

"Let's not get silly."

After my last attempt at picking a scenario I tried very hard to find one that was reported to be balanced.  I came up with this FT183 - Partisan Stronghold.  Here a bunch of tough (for Romanians) mountain troops attempt to clear out a group of Crimean partisans who absolutely are not unarmed civilians.  To win th Romanians have to amass more CVP than the partisans and capture (or rubble or burn) their stronghold, a fortified building.  Prisoners are not encouraged and the Romanians are actually penalised for having them at the end of the game.  This is partisan warfare, red in tooth and claw.

Dave Wilson would command the partisans, seven 337 squads (one fanatic by SSR) guided by a 9-2, a hero and another more modestly talented leader who was probably feeling a deep sense of inadequacy.  They have a single light machine gun and demolition charge to their name.  Ten concealment counters help to disperse Romanian firepower.  Dave can designate one building as fortified with a tunnel leading to a convenient patch of woods.  Also he has Level B booby trap capacity on board 4.  What this means is if I roll an 11 on a PTC a unit in the relevant hex is casualty reduced.

To cleanse these particular ethnics I have eleven squads of elite Romanian troops led by three officers who range the gamut from adequate to not so.  My troops have a medium machine gun, a light machine gun and a demolition charge of their very own.  Up on the hills a 75mm artillery piece and a secondhand 60mm mortar provide fire support for the troops.

Set up.  The two red circles mark the most likely spots for the fortified building

Above is our set up.  Dave had to set up at least one squad in the stronghold and four squads in building locations.  Given that this was Winter in the Crimea the surprising this is that he persuaded anyone to go outside.  I had tagged the two rear buildings as most likely to be the stronghold as they're about the only two that can't be hit by the 75 no matter what hill hex you put it on.  I had a couple of squads deployed and intended to do some fire drawing early followed by a flanking attack on the left.  Secondary forces would struggle across the hill on the right adorned as it is by out of season orchards.

Things went quite well on the left and centre.  I pushed forward taking minimal casualties to drive in his defences while simultaneously circling around to aim at the woods and potential stronghold building no.1.  On the right things were a little more problematic as partisan fire pinned most of my troops and left a single CX halfsquad to plunge into CC.  Plunge it did and achieved more than expected by surviving until the next turn.  The 8-0 putatively leading the troops in that sector broke at the first whiff of grape and would subsequently disrupt on a self rally attempt.  It would play no further part in the battle not that it had done much so far.

End of Romanian turn 1, not bad on balance

In Dave's second turn he would attempt to pull his troops on the left back to face the challenge of my flankers.  My 75mm and mortar pummeled them and broke a squad moving through the woods but in revenge Dave's sniper would break the gun crew.  These guys would eventually self rally only to be promptly broken by the sniper again.  The 75 would not play much further part in the game.  Still it had inflicted casualties and soon Dave's entire left hand position would be compromised.  On the right the melee raged on which satisfied David but not me as two and a half squads were being delayed.

End of Partisan turn 1.  Things are going suspiciously well for the Romanians.

Over the next couple of turns I managed to encircle and eliminate the partisan defenders on the left.  I finally also managed to resolve the CC on the right (at some cost) and, rather belatedly, started moving across the hill towards his other potential stronghold.  In the centre my troops moved forward to menace his final position.  In the rear I broke the mortar which meant that all of my artillery support was out of the game.

Some losses have been taken but I seem to be moving in the right direction

 With the Romanians running or at least sauntering rampant Dave decided to fall back on his strongpoint using his previously undisclosed tunnel to do so.  I on the other hand was slightly out of position as taking out his left position had left my troops a bit scattered.  It was time to close in on the final resistance point.  The stronghold was of course in the rear building on the right, the furthest from my troops.  With that and the building in front held Dave challenged me to throw him out.  An honourable mention needs to be given to a partisan dummy stack which made convincing threat displays and forced me to waste troops and firepower dealing with it.

Pressing in on the final resistance point

Dave had two squads and two officers left.  I had considerably more despite losses (more on that later).  All he could do was cling to the walls of the buildings and prey sorry, pray.  I summoned troops from everywhere.  Sadly my squad/mmg combo (commanded by my best officer) wasted its firepower on the dummies and bought Dave a few more seconds of life.

Four turns have gone out of five and a half, am I too late?

 With the pesky dummies swept away I pushed boldly forward surrounding his final defensive position with a ring of fire.  At this point Dave suffered a blow when his 8-0 and one of his two remaining squads chose this particular moment to go berserk in defiance of the tactical situation.  Dave watched helplessly as they hurled themselves into a maelstrom of Romanian fire and left him with precisely one squad and one leader left in the stronghold.  I for my part had precisely one turn left to turn them out.  

Endgame.  Dave is surrounded but clings on at the last.

 

Well I tried.  I pushed my troops forward heedless of his fire and plastered him with as much advancing fire as I could.  It wasn't enough, a dozen or so partisans stayed holed up inside the only victory building of the game.  In retrospect I think I allocated a little too much force to the attack on the left, the right hand building was the obvious choice for the stronghold and a little more firepower a little earlier might have been decisive.  Always assuming they survived.  Booby traps were going off all over the place.  I rolled five pin checks on board 4 for and rolled an 11 four times.  I killed the equivalent of two squads of my own troops without Dave having to fire a shot.

I really enjoyed this game, despite the result I was pleased with my play and despite appearances it was a nailbiter to the end.  I was concerned that Dave might not have enjoyed it quite as much, by the end of turn three all the partisans could do was shelter inside the building and hope but he claims he had fun.  Of course winning always helps with that.

"Well that was disappointing," said the German officer shaking his head.  "No Order of the Day mention for you."

Barbarcu silently held out a cardboard packet.  Written across it in brightly coloured letters were the words "Lice Begone!"  The German stared then snatched at the packet with desperate eagerness.

"OK, Order of the Day and Iron Crosses for any four soldiers you care to name."  Clutching the packet to his chest the German dashed off towards his staff car.  A corporal (its always a corporal) approached Barbacu.

"What are your orders sir?"

"Let's get the hell out of here before he starts rubbing that stuff on his body."