There are no photos from the game Richard and I played on
Saturday afternoon, 12 May, but to me the essence of a good game is if it
produces a compelling narrative.
In late 1944 a German counterattack had established a
bridgehead that the Soviets were determined to eliminate. A large force of armour and infantry backed
by significant artillery assets was ordered to undertake the mission, but got
off to a slow and confused start. The
Soviet barrage hit just as their forces were closing in on the enemy landing
square on their lead elements, throwing the Soviet infantry into confusion who
through, a command blunder, then fell back, quiet understandable, but against
orders – they were of course expected to attack through the friendly fire. Some of the T34s took a number of hits and
stalled, but there were plenty of tanks and they proceeded to literally overrun
the forward German positions. The German Tiger tanks then entered the fray and
started to knock out the T34s, however the Soviet JS IIs which had been holding
themselves in reserve (the only way to justify their tardy progress and save
their commander from the firing squad) then appeared and took out the
Tigers. The German commander then
suffered a command blunder in ordering the 88s, weapons that could have matched
the JS IIs, to make a partial withdrawal.
Again, a move that was very understandable, but against orders. Such a move could only result in the collapse
of the German position and therefore nicely brought the game to a close within
the allotted eight turns.
The game played well even though we were a bit
rusty on the rules.Richard organised the game so I haven't paid any attention to the points or Order of Battle for the forces involved. For me it was all about the game telling a story.
