Tenente Leonardo di Tartarughe-Ninja stopped stumbling blindly through the frozen waste for a moment and gazed across the countryside. The only thing that confused him more than the German's apparent desire for this dump was the fact that the Russians seemed determined to hang on to it. The evidence was incontrovertible however, several hundred thousand screaming Soviet soldiers backed up by tanks was a pretty convincing argument. di Tartarughe-Ninja brushed the snow off one of his hands. One of his fingers came with it. That was frostbite for you. Behind him were forty thousand freezing, starving weaponless soldiers looking for the most convenient exit from the Soviet Union, ahead of him was...di Tartarughe-Ninja blinked. Was that General Reverberi climbing on top of an armoured car? The words "Tridentina Avanti!" made their way to him through the frozen air. Tartarughe-Ninja glanced at his incriminating shoulder patch, was it too late to pretend he was from the Sforzesca division?
You know I did quite a lot right in this scenario. Unfortunately what I did wrong turned out to be utterly catastrophic. Here I command the brave, if somewhat chilly, alpini of the Tridentina as they attempt to break out of the Soviet encirclement after the Battle of Stalingrad developed in a manner not necessarily in their favour. To win I have to clear the Soviet defenders from a village, specifically I need to ensure there are no good order non-crew Soviet MMC within five hexes of 44Q5 and 12Q5. This effectively means taking out the lot unless the defender makes an absolute pigs breakfast of their deployment.
The Italians it must be said have provided their best. I command a dozen elite squads and five more first line bullet catchers. These units have two mmgs, three lmgs and a DC, they are commanded by four officers and General Reverberi. Let's take a moment to examine General Reverberi, a mighty 10-2 he dominates the battlefield. Italian units with a line of sight to his august presence have their morale and ELR increased by one. Also once in the game assuming Reverberi is still up and functioning the Axis player (me) may declare his units fanatic for the rest of that player turn. Supporting the Tridentina's despairing charge is a battery of Italian artillery firing off its last rounds and some German armour somewhat reluctantly helping their allies escape the mess they had been dropped into. Two PzIVHs, a couple of second hand French Renault 35Rs and a pair of PSW222(L) armoured cars provide some extra punch for the desperate alpini.
My opponent Dave commands the Soviets who having captured the only shelter for miles around are disinclined to let it go without a fight. Dave's force comes in two packets. Entrenched along a railway embankment are five squads (two first line and three conscript) along with a pair of lmgs and a single 8-0 leader. In the village proper are eleven and a half more squads; one and a half elite, six first line and four conscript. They have a hmg, three lmgs, a pair of 50mm mortars an antitank rifle and two 45LL anti tank guns. They are led by a 9-1 and an 8-1 but their principle motivation is a desire not to sleep on the open steppe in midwinter. Circling above is air support in the form of one FB without bombs. It will leave after three turns.
By SSR I could designate a certain amount of my at start force to come on later from a flanking position to hopefully catch the Soviets out of position. I allocated four elite squads, an 8-1, 7-0 plus an lmg and the DC to this critical role.
Below is the at start set up. My first objective was to clear the railway embankment. I wanted to do it fast and without much in the way of casualties. I would throw virtually my entire armoured force at the defenders and follow up with troops inspired by Reverberi's electrifying presence. That presence almost vanished immediately when Dave's sniper killed the 9-1 commanding a pair of mmg squads literally right next to him causing me a near heart attack. If Reverberi doesn't survive the game the objectives are changed to "within seven hexes" of the victory locations. Despite Reverberi's presence both squads failed their LLMC and I had two elite squads and an officer down before the fighting really began.
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| At start. Dave has his 9-1 and a hmg team in the steeple which is the only level 2 location on the board |
Despite my sniper induced coronary things went almost disturbingly well in that first turn. My tanks rolled up on to his foxholes locking his troops in terrified impotence as my alpini rushed up, fixed bayonets and plunged into CC. I took prisoners at every opportunity (conscripts were too tempting to resist) as I didn't want Dave low crawling his broken vermin away from me. This would come back to bite me later. By the end of the Soviet first turn I had wiped out his embankment force and was looking towards the village proper. His hmg team had been largely stymied by intervening buildings so far but I would need to cross some open ground now.
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| So far so good. Now for the difficult bit |
Reverberi successfully rallied one of my broken squads and I started to move into the village proper. Dave had a squad and lmg in forward building to the left so I sent three regular squads and a Renault to deal with it. The Renault sleazed it and then waited patiently, engine running, while my squads got into a position to place fire on it.
Dave had revealed (and broken) one of his 45mm pointing down a street I needed to run up. He repaired the gun on the next rally phase which was annoying. I pushed forward some squads into the village skipping through conveniently placed armoured cars until I met his first line of resistance, a 9-1 with an elite squad and atr. Suddenly my armoured cars looked vulnerable. I had already got a bit strung out, this was hardly a wave of Italian troops slamming into the enemy, it was more like a steady trickle but at least I was getting somewhere. I rolled the second Renault up in support. Over on the left I had sent both PzIVs to start dealing with the troops in the church. I had plans of covering the hmg team in smoke to allow my troops more freedom to move. That plan died when Dave revealed his other 45mm and suddenly my PzIVs had their own problem.
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| Pushing somewhat incoherently forward |
I had not yet got a critical mass of infantry forward to attack the village (what is a critical mass? Is it a service by a bad tempered priest?) but I attempted to probe with an armoured car an attempt which was stopped when Dave probed right back with an atr. His recently repaired atg immobilised the supporting Renault and things were looking a little problematic on the right. I called in my artillery more in the hope than the expectation and they responded by dropping a spotting round behind their own infantry. Over on the left my PzIV had broken his guncrew and removed one at least notional threat. Oh yes and Dave's air support turned up, suddenly crossing open ground had become even more hazardous.
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| Suddenly things have become more difficult |
Despite the fact that General Reverberi was bravely hiding in a foxhole in the rear I attempted to press forward with my attack. I corrected my artillery and brought down a 70mm concentration which hit friend and foe alike. I think you can guess what happened here. My guys broke under the metal rain while Dave's 9-1 atg team laughed at such inconveniences. Speaking of inconveniences it turns out that being machine gunned by aircraft is quite the inconvenience. A couple of my squads managed to get forward but the end of the turn saw several of the travelling in the other direct stumbling under the burden of blue & white DM counters. Dave's atg also managed to take out my remaining armoured car although it bounced several shells off my immobilised Renault. Renault may not have made great tanks and they certainly didn't make fast tanks but they definitely made solid tanks. To add insult to injury the three squads that were trying to take out Dave's lmg squad only managed a casualty reduction in CC and the melee raged on. My PzIV took his hmg team under fire without result.
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| Well there has been a little go forward but three broken units cringe under the dubious guidance of my 7-0 |
I finally managed to resolve the CC on the left in my favour. Little did I know that would be the high water mark of my infantry efforts on the left. My tanks suffered a series of, ahem, mechanical issues. One broke its CMG, the other broke both the CMG and the BMG next turn it would break its MA into the bargain. Dave rallied his gun crew and remanned the 45mm. Things were now looking a little awkward. Although not as far as Dave was concerned, as with most things its all a matter of perspective.
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| The attack seems to have stalled somewhat |
My turn four arrived and despite the disappointments of the previous turn I felt I was ready to move. I also had no choice as my reinforcements turned up this turn regardless of the battlefield situation. My brave immobilised Renault finally met a fiery end but I managed to push a few squads forward to bulk up my force pressing towards the village (pressing towards the village/cringing in houses, as I say its all a matter of perspective). On the left, freed from the constraints of close combat my three squads and their accompanying Renault pushed forward, one occupied a building next to the graveyard. The other hopped the wall and sought shelter amongst the tombstones. This turned out to be a mistake as they were broken but at least it could be said they were going forward. Dave's church dwellers were now menaced if that's the right word (it isn't) by a pair of squads and a pair of tanks albeit with sadly reduced firepower. The time had come for my masterstroke. I had selected my reinforcements to come on on the top left so they could hit the church from another direction and hopefully overwhelm Dave's defences. I sent a pair of half squads forward first to draw the fire of the defenders and with that done charged a stack of three led by an 8-1 to race up, safe from enemy fire and truly put the squeeze on. Can anybody tell me what I had forgotten boys and girls? That's right; Dave's air support! It was really adding insult to injury when Dave rolled a three on his 8-2 point attack. Three squads and a leader were reduced to a single disrupted half squad. It has to be admitted that I really suck at this game.
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| Well that was a chastening experience |
There was a brief pause as two million years of evolution disintegrated in a microsecond and I was reduced to a sobbing ape howling anguish while Dave looked the other away and put everything with a sharp edge out of reach. Having unsuccessfully attempted to impale myself on my dice cup I returned to the game.
There were a couple of minor compensations. Dave managed to break the 45mm near the church. Over on the right Dave pulled back his atr team but I managed to break and disrupt the squad on the way in my first real triumph since the first turn. I was slowly incrementing a serious force in front of the village which was good because over on the left things had gone to crap. I still had a halfsquad and a DC toting 7-0 of my reinforcements threatening, if that's the right word (it isn't) his church dwellers and I attempted to patch an attack together out of the wreckage.
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| There is a certain amount of go forward but not enough |
The attack didn't really happen although I managed to get a couple of halfsquads forward. I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to do as they didn't have the muscle to achieve anything. I suspect I was just trying to do something. Dave's hmg team broke one of the first line squads who were supposedly attacking from the bottom left and everything settled into surly impotence. General Reverberi finally mustered up the courage to join his men in the village bringing hope and enthusiasm to any who didn't know the true situation although a sniper managed to break a medium machine gun squad right next to him. Dave's sniper seemed to chase Reverberi around the board never quite hitting him but keeping me teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown for most of the game.
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| Disaster on the left but Reverberi is among his troops. The Italians are saved! Spoiler alert, no they're not |
For my second (and as it turned out, last) artillery mission I targeted the church. What I thought I was going to achieve against troops in stone I don't know, possibly (definitely) I was running out of options. Once again the spotting round landed behind my troops. Then disaster struck (again!) on the left. The prisoners held by the squad broken by his hmg slaughtered their guards and seized their weapons. Strangely it was this particular disaster that would lose me the game. A conscript half squad didn't seem like too much of a threat particularly when I had a full squad next door. Sadly said squad proved to be incapable of hitting a barn from inside it. Then Dave's sniper bored with terrifying Reverberi wandered over and broke them. Suddenly the victory locations I had captured at the beginning of the game were under threat and I had virtually nothing to protect them. Incidentally the CC in the graveyard represents another attempt by prisoners to brutalise their guards.
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| Oh dear |
Despairing of doing anything useful with his atg Dave had decided on another use for his crew. He moved it into CC with my 7-0 who had been cowering inoffensively in a patch of woods. It survived the first round of CC albeit wounded. With few other options I dropped artillery fire on both of them. The combined firepower of my PzIVs had finally broken him hmg team and things would have been looking good in the church if they weren't looking so damned bad. On the right I was pushing slowly forward and I pulled out a PzIV to support them. Reverberi had the bit between his teeth now and was encouraging his troops on even as his left flank folded around him. In a futile attempt to deal with his recently recuperated half squad I sent a half squad of my own back with an mmg. The rest kept pressing forward. Time was running out but so were Dave's defences.
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| Things are advancing in the village but I have no answer to what is about to happen on the left |
My artillery fire killed his guncrew while my wounded 7-0 took the opportunity to battle harden into a heroic 8-0. How nice that would have been if it was in anyway useful. Dave's ex-prisoners did indeed begin to make their slow but unopposed way to my rear and, with no infantry in their path to prevent them his mortar team in the graveyard dropped their useless ironmongery and headed in the same direction. I knew it was over but I tried my last. At around about this point my surviving Renault managed to score a critical hit on some of the church defenders which at least reduced the number of good order squads in residence.
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| My mmg team has been utterly unable to slow the progress of his conscripts and now they have friends |
The last despairing charge was everything a last despairing charge should be. Hyped up by Reverberi's enthusiasm (and I suspect PCP) my Italians charged forward into fire. Casualties were ghastly bodies fell left and right but one squad got into one of Dave's two remaining buildings and Reverberi himself led a newly minted hero into CC in the other. Over on the left the Renault smashed its way into the church (I told you they were solid) and a PzIV brought his remaining defenders under fire. In a despairing throw of the dice I sent the other PzIV chasing his squads in my backfield to no avail. That was it. My surviving troops in the village might have survived the next turns CC, my Renault and PzIV might have broken his last squad in the church but there was nothing I could do about the troops he had in my rear. I gave Dave the concession. I almost won this. If not for a little bad luck and a lot of stupefying incompetence I might have done so. Dave and I both enjoyed this game immensely. It is a little pro-Italian (as witness my almost victory) but nothing that the balance shouldn't deal with. Heartily recommend, would be defeated again.
Tenente di Tartarughe-Ninja brushed more snow off his hand and watched as another finger dropped off. They had almost made it but almost didn't cut it and now they were doomed to die in this bleak, frozen land. A ragged, starving Hungarian artilleryman approached him and begged him for food. Di Tartarughe-Ninja gave him the finger.
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