At the club's December games day, Simon and I tried out another of the Hexes and Miniatures Rommel Scenarios. This one was a Soviet offensive to recapture Smolensk. Simon took command of the 215th and 274th Rifle Divisions and the 42nd Guards Tank Brigade while I had the German 113th Infantry Division and a small Kampfgruppe.
I redid the map to use hexes:
The Soviet forces in the distance (each hex is 1 km across).
There were not enough Germans to hold all the victory locations,
but I had decided to hold the forward ones.
The Soviets had to contend with swamps and minefields,
but had some plentiful artillery to help them, along with pioneers.
Fighting in the central sector.
The Soviet pioneers would soon commence to clear the minefield,
which is protected by a German AT unit
(I've asked Santa for some actual AT models).
The Soviets are finding it hard work,
but have started to push through gaps in the German lines.
The fighting continues for the urban area and its immediate surrounds,
key victory locations the Soviets must take.
Germans counterattack in an attempt to stop further infiltrations by the Soviet forces.
The German lines are holding - just!
Soviet armour has decided to just drive through one minefield.
The mine clearing elsewhere is not proceeding very quickly (Simon keeps throwing 1's)
The Soviets have been able to capture some of the rear area victory locations
that the Germans had left unoccupied. Time for a counterattack!
At this stage the Soviets have seized two victory locations,
but are struggling to take the three forward ones,
not that they haven't been trying.
Although surrounded, the Germans hang on.
A key tactic that they have used is "rapid reinforcements".
This allows a unit to be brought into combat from an adjacent area at the moment of combat.
Final Soviet attack of the day fails as the day fades.
With a number of historical based scenarios now played this one presented a different and interesting challenge for both players. For the Germans it was an exercise in patience, for the Soviets grim determination. There are only eight turns per side, too many for the Germans and not enough for the Soviets!
Excellent game and very happy to get my troops out on the table (it was a first for a few of them). The trees were Simon's.
Well, that was fun to read! I'm looking at that map and thinking... It has been a long time since my last WW2 action - more than a year, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteDo you have an OOB for the respective sides? Were the minefields part of the set-up or did you get to decide their placement? I just have at some time to adapt it for my own hex table and Portable WW2.
Thanks. You will find the OOB for this scenario and a heap of others of a similar size here: https://www.hexesandminiatures.com/ww2-squares-rommel
DeleteThe minefields were free set up along with some defensive positions (which in Rommel act to absorb the first "hit").
Cheers. I might (with some juggling) try it as a Memoir '44 game.
DeleteAn enjoyable game by the sounds of it and a tight tussle.
ReplyDeleteMore fun for the Soviets than the 1941 Smolensk scenario :-)
DeleteNot a bad scenario for the Soviets but i forgot the most important thing- sticking to the plan. I did not concentrate my attacks sufficiently on the objective hexes. A good game all round.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely worth a few replays.
Delete