|
Let's Play Microprose's Avalon Hill's Squad Leader [Part 1] https://i.imgur.com/F6Tk78I.gifv British Campaign - Mission 01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isRQGSpJr80  We start at the edge of an open field, a Horsa glider lies in pieces, its crew and passengers either dead, missing, or captured. Not only that, but it has weapons and ammo we need if we're going to make any effort to push out to our true objective. Take your squads, advance on the glider, retake whatever supplies are rightfully our and give the Jerrys a black eye while doing it!  [Note: Okay, seriously, apparently AMD really likes screwing with my recording efforts. Hopefully I won't have such blurry and artifact'ed shots post Mission 02.] Missions often give you a deployment zone larger than what you can bring in terms of squads and specialists. This allows us some flexibility in our attack (or defense) - do you advance up the road with smoother terrain, but worse cover, or charge towards the glider, and use whatever bits and pieces of the fallen craft to protect you on the approach? In either decision, open ground awaits you. Let's hope the Germans are as surprised as we are and unable to find their marks.  1: Direct Fire - Allows you to shoot any object or map cell freely. 2: Aimed Fire - Trades Snap Fire for Aimed Fire, costing more AP to shoot, but increasing accuracy. 3: Walk - Move at a normal pace. 4: Run - Move at a quick pace. 5: Crawl - Move at a slow pace. 6: Explosives - Toggles the use of the currently equipped Grenade, Satchel or Demo charge. They may be placed or thrown. 7: Opportunity Fire - A soldier with enough AP remaining at the end of their turn will use those points to shoot on moving targets during the enemy's turn. 8: Standing Stance - Soldier stands upright. 9: Kneeling Stance - Soldier goes down to one knee. 10: Prone Stance - Soldier lies down on the ground. 11: Rally - The soldier attempts to rally nearby friendly units. 12: Exchange - The soldier attempts to pick up, drop off, or exchange items with a location or person. 13: Melee - Initiates Hand-to-Hand combat mode. 14: Crew Weapon - Attaches the soldier to a crew-served weapon. The first is the gunner, others are loaders/spotters. 15: End Turn - Ends the player turn, not the soldiers'.  God drat this artifacting is gross.  John Landover scores our first incapacitation. For brevity's sake I will call these Kills, if only because we need to win each scenario, which means they will almost certainly die, and because there's no distinction between a captured or killed enemy. You can see it took at least two shots to get this result.  Enemies are spotted behind the glider, down the road... in Flag's path.  By the end of the turn, I've barely advanced into the field, which units either prone or crouched. This will give me a good position to advance up to the Glider proper, but those fields are not looking appealing in the slightest... Turn 2  Paul Christopher shoots multiple times at a German standing in the open, sending the poor guy to ground, crying for help before being wounded by Paul and getting a kill of his own.  A German soldier moves around, spotting at least three paratroopers, although no shots are taken against them. Turn 3  As a pair of paratroopers move around the starboard side of the glider, shots are taken against a man hiding behind a box of some sort. A previously unseen German is in the hull of the aircraft.  Another for Paul Christopher.  Flag tries his best at killing a German in a ditch, but 20 shots sprayed from the Sten only knick the kraut once. Edward Granger, our medic, also takes pot shots with his revolver and forces that man to ground. That's one less person to worry about shooting back at Flag... Turn 4  Reinforcements, drat!  Barely at the objective, but what can be seen and what we know to exist on the map are two very different things... Turn 5  Flag claims an easy kill with a grenade, on an enemy hiding behind some bushes. A second grenade fails to kill the soldier he CAN see. Paul, and some others, pitch in to eliminate the threat. By now there's about 5 dead/dying Germans at the Glider, three wounded/dead along the road on the north-western side of the map, and another two incapacitated at the far end, passed the glider itself.  A grenade explodes between two soldiers in the enemy turn, yet miraculously neither man dies. Time to count some blessings! Turn 6   Saved by the RNG. (John Landover, the 2nd man in the blast, is similarly hurt) A failed booby trap? A bad throw?  An explosion rips through the aircraft, near the cockpit.Turn 7  The game allows you to end the mission early. Let's try to get a little more experience!  It turns out that a German medic was hanging out in the area and maybe have grenaded himself? Valkri finishes him off with a grenade of his own. Our own medic shoots a German who for purposes of avoiding a court martial was clearly still an active combattant.  REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED Wounded soldiers block paths  The rest of the scenario is just chasing down a trio of enemy units, one of which is gutted by our medic. That's... legal, yeah?         Pte Valkri --- SURVIVED, 1 Kill claimed. A Flag --- SURVIVED, 1 Kill claimed, 1 Wounded claimed. [Note: I couldn't find a guide online for the game because none exist. I don't know how exactly it does its calculations for how to assign experience points.]
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2022 03:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 18:02 |
|
|
SCW-03 - Son Servera - Part 1 Location: Majorca, Spain Date: 17 August 1936 Briefing: The Republic found itself on the move during August 1936. Among other initiatives, on 9 August a Catalan and Valencian expeditionary force under an air force captain, Alberto Bayo, arrived in Ibizia in a requisitioned luxury liner, with two destroyers, a submarine, and six aircraft in escort. After a brief uprising the island was returned to Republican control. A few days later, Bayo arrived on the island of Majorca, quite without the knowledge of the ministry of war in Madrid. Operations commenced at dawn on 16 August as Bayo disembarked with 8,000 men on the east coast. That evening, six 75mm and four 105mm guns were also off-loaded at Porto Cristo. The day after the landing, Bayo's columns advanced north toward the towns of Son Servera and Son Carrio. Expecting the same lack of resistance experienced the previous day, Bayo's men were sorely disabused of that notion when Nationalist troops of the Ordovas column, Falangists and Guardia Civil, were encountered, the latter tasked with sweeping the area south of their positions. The Nationalists, however, left their southeast flank un-guarded, an error promptly exploited by the Republican commander with a strong attack. The Nationalists were soon falling back toward Son Carrio, then further back, until the Republicans occupied Son Servera. This action would be the high watermark of Republican success on Majorca. On 3 September, a Nationalist counter-offensive began, forcing Bayo to withdraw his bridgehead. While some say his withdrawal was taken unnecessarily, and the result of Nationalist air supremacy forced a handful of Fiat CR 32 aircraft, the corpses that lined the beaches and the Republican prisoners, few whom were spared execution, speak of the results of Bayo's decision. Victory Condition: The Republicans win if they exit 10 CVP off the northern edge, as well as causing 16 or more CVP.  Republican Strategy This scenario started out as a total mess. I somehow set up on the wrong side, both RootinPutin and myself misread the objectives, and a lightning strike killed the stream on the first night of playing this, it is a surprisingly bloody scenario when played the way we did. Speaking of which, The Nationalists are given the ability to hole up on the large hill in the middle of their play area, grain and vineyards dotting the land. I have a mixed objective, needing to accumulate 16 CVP in kills/captures, while also exiting 10 or more CVP off the board. Exiting VP is not, in any way, a complicated goal, as the Nationalists are spread thin if they cover the entire horizontal axis, or can't interdict if they decide to make a concerted effort in one location. As it stands, the Nationalists have numerous forward-operating troops, which I need to neutralize as quickly as possible, while minimizing my own losses. Once I take the woods, priority is on killing the Mortar on the hill, and breaking any troops in exposed positions, such as the houses on the hillsides.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terrain: All orchards are Vineyards. Construction: All buildings are wood. Opening a tab: The Republicans have Molotovs. Turn 1 - Republican  A hectic first turn, including lightning strike, that sees my initial shots by my Guns miss their mark and an MMG team in a house on the right flank also failing to achieve anything. In the middle, I break a squad, break one of my own LMGs, and move up. I should've moved the trucks first, but alas, a squad is given the honors and quickly pays the price, advancing into woods, they trigger Heat of Battle, and immediately surrender under the pressure of the defenders. Instead of accepting the surrender, Rootin declares no quarter, and the squad is eliminated for free. A dreadful way to lose a decent quality squad... Elsewhere, I have some Dynamiteiros break before the second squad is eliminated outright in the open. On the left flank, horseback riders bolt passed the defenders but are shot by a hidden MMG in a woods hex, the rest rush the lone squad in the woods, who break a squad in defense, but otherwise are surrounded.  By the end of the turn, the left flank had claimed the squad in the woods, the broken Nationalist squad was captured, and the middle woods were vacated (with 1 Leader killed, the two squads ran into the grain field above) Turn 1 - Nationalists  Early shots in the turn by Rootin failed to generate more than a Pin result, still a pain for troops in the open, while the last squad on the left flank started to bolt through the grain... only to be shot at, generate a Heat of Battle, go Berserk, and immediately go charging the half-squad in X1. Multiple shots and failures to hit lead to a desperation attempt by the 9-2 leader and the men with him, causing the Berserk squad to roll boxcars, KIA'ing the squad entirely. An entire rollercoaster of emotion, from both sides... Nationalist units shuffled around on the hill, and no shots at other points in the turn did anything. Turn 2 - Republicans  With ground needing to be covered, my 2nd turn is almost entirely movement-based, and no shots connect anywhere. I manage to break one of my Guns, troops in the middle advanced into the grain fields, and the left flank made it to the edge of the map with a stack of units. I was currently sitting at 10 CVP and 0 EVP, jumping up to 5 EVP by the end of this turn. Turn 2 - Nationalists  Nationalist turn 2 sees an error by the enemy player, running a squad into the open, into the waiting arms of an MMG team that promptly laid them to rest. A 2nd squad is eliminated on the right flank in the woods, a product of an earlier shot in the turn. More re-shuffling around.  State of the board, end of game To make a long story short, an hour later the game was in the bag for the Republicans. Unfortunately, it was a rather unclimactic ending - I had 15 CVP and 11 EVP of the required 16 CVP and 10 EVP, and a Gun had taken a shot at a broken crew in the hill, eliminating them while they were already broken. If it weren't for like, 3 turns of slow movement and shots that did nothing, I'd write more about it. In any case, RootinPutin had put up a good defense and was a good sport about the whole thing, despite it all. [Edit: Also, Rootin did due diligence in beginning to retreat into the far corner of the map, which would've made it painful to chase after, especially so if I wasn't at the edge of the CVP Cap. The MMG squad in the top middle/left was doomed] [For Historical Result, see Briefing] Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Sep 19, 2022 |
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 01:53
|
|
|
FT-24 - Cuando Te Vas? - Part 1 Location: Trijueque, Spain Date: 13 March 1937 Briefing: The Republicans had moved up to the front a large amount of forces and on the afternoon of the 13th, launched their counter-offensive. The 11th Division and 1st Assault Brigade, spearheaded by T-26 and BT-5 tanks, assaulted the Italian line while the 14th Division fell on the Italian flanks. The effort was aimed at the Italian CTV, specially towards the Littorio Division. Victory Condition: The Republicans must control all buildings on Board 42 between rows B and K.  Republican Strategy Our first real scenario with Mud (ok, maybe 2nd?) and there's a lot more ground to cover. The objective is further away than you might think, and getting there involves crossing a lot of terrain that exacerbates the Muddy conditions. Making matters worse is the potential, or need, to move up in height, slowing down the process of moving across terrain that much worse. The Italians have Guns in the town, flamethrower tankettes, and reinforcements that will join up and add to the defenses. Sadly, there's no way for me to arrive at the city and pressure them before that happens. I also have conscripts, who move even slower. In any case, the ultimate plan is to reach a jump-off points, typically the woods in front of buildings for the village, capture what buildings I can, then use those as bases of fire to advance further.  Turns: 8.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Mud, with no Wind at start. Turn 1 - Republican  Movement. The roads played an annoying part in this because I'd forgotten they aren't as cheap to move across. I guess technically it'll bite me later on, but important to point out. Turn 1 - Italians  The Italians strike first, with one tankette abandoning its defensive position and attacking a stack of troops out in the open. As one might imagine, despite currently being in motion and my men being concealed, it had little effect on preventing the flamethrower from breaking most of the stack. I also happened to break an LMG in the process (which would later be discovered to be irrevocably so.) Turn 2 - Republicans  With no tanks able to immediately strike at the tankette, I'm forced to move, sometimes in single counters, to get out of the way. The muddy hills make movement a pain in the rear end, doing a lot to restrict my forward momentum. A diversionary group continues its path up north, a pair of tanks (red arrows) start to position themselves to harass Italian troops, and a pair of tanks approach to cut off the lanciaflamme from retreating. [Note: The ATR was handled by a Leader, and I am absolutely going to blame the passage of time between sessions as a reason for a later blunder.] Turn 2 - Italians  The Italian reinforcements, three tankettes, arrive on scene, with the third in the group bogging on the unpaved roads. The 2nd lanciaflamme reveals itself and tries to go the long way around, and the original culprit survives a horrendous amount of attacks, only to be done-in by an MMG sneakily brought into a building in O8. Not only that, but the damned crew even survived!  Things have not been going well.Turn 3 - Republicans  Having miscalculated my movement for prior turns, I opted out of moving at all to make up for it. As a result, not much happens for me aside from some movement in the Advance Phase. Shots occur, but nothing hits. Turn 3 - Italians  With me skipping on a turn of movement, it gives the Italians time to move away and not be challenged. Turn 4 - Republicans  In my turn, finally back to moving, I have quite a few people advance up the line. After all, I need to capture buildings. I avoid the building in I8 [Note: A HIP SMC was revealed here, meaning there also must be a squad. I completely blanked on this.] One of my tanks in the rear bogs down in the mud, and an Italian MMG malfunctions.  As is customary in ASL and PC dice, rolling a 12 usually means you'll get a 2 shortly after. Hypnobeard's two came up on a 10fp shot at some of my best troops. As "luck" would have it, my 9-2 leader was immediately killed, and then I failed 3 morale checks in a row, effectively halving that stack in one shot. Stroke of genius and luck, it must be said.  Trying my best to not let this setback kill any potential for the assault on the village, I advance in CC and kill a 9-1 Heroic leader in the woods just ahead of the village, and I have a strong base of fire next turn with my own MMG to fight back. Turn 4 - Italians  As the turn begins, Hypnobeard instantly repairs his broken MMG, and turns it against the nearest neighbors, breaking my last good leader and a squad. Tanks move in to block my own encircling efforts and I get nothing out of any shots I make.  By the end of the turn, the game was functionally over. Any troops I had to block or do something against the un-hidden Squad + LMG failed to achieve anything, and I was in a terrible spot where routs would eventually see me lost the majority of my forces. To make matters worse, my BT tanks on the right kept getting shocked, whereas my own shots failed to even scare the Italian crews. My tanks on the left flank couldn't force a morale check, and my northern flank was instantly stopped by a single shot when I failed 3 of 4 morale checks.  End of game I hope this doesn't come across as taking away from Hypnobeard's victory. The HIP squad was a great tactic, and one I honestly should have clued in on before it happened. Being able to repair his MMG instantly, and me failing so many morale checks led to an early loss that, I don't feel there was much of a way to mitigate, whether it was before "the incident" or not. The movement penalty is extremely high in muddy terrain, and having conscripts with 3 movement factors means they can never move more than 2 hexes unless with a leader, and I need those to get fighting faster with my better squads. Aftermath posted:Following the tanks, the 11th Division assaulted the best Italian unit in Spain, the Littorio Division, and found themselves halted by several flamethrower tanks. However, as the fight progressed, the Italian tanks soon got stuck and immobilized in the mud, thus becoming easy targets for the heavier guns of the Russian tanks. On the flank of the CTV, the regular Italian units abandoned Trijueque at night, in a rout rather than a retreat. Only the advent of darkness and the disciplined retreat of the Littorio Division saved the day. The Nationalists derided their allies' performance stating that CTV stood for <Cuando Te Vas?> (When are you leaving?)
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2022 23:20
|
|
|
FT-25 - 21 Nations at La Cañada - Part 1 Location: Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain Date: 6 July 1937 Briefing: Throughout the Spanish civil war, the Madrid front was to be the center of many battles as the capture of the Spanish capital by the Nationalists would give them the decisive victory. In an effort to relieve the pressure on Madrid and to regain the initiative on General Franco's forces, the republican high command decided to launch an offensive with their 5th and 18th Corps (6 Divisions) in the area of Brunete, held only by some Elements of the Falange from the 71st Division. As part of this attack of Jurado's XVIIIth Corps, the 34th Division, supported by armored units, was to quickly breakthrough the village of Villenueva de la Cañada. However, due to an unexpected fierce resistance of the Falange Battalion holding the village, their assault failed. Knowing that, the Commander in Chief Miaja ordered Jurado to take Villanueva at all costs, threatening him with his own batteries on his rearguard to make his troops push forward! Jurado immediately threw his crack XIIIth International Brigade and regrouped some armor support in order to strengthen the assault. Victory Condition: The side with the most VPs at game end wins. CVP awarded normally (tanks are worth half, prisoners are not doubled). 1 VP per bldg on board 24. Exit VP for each Republican unit exiting off the South edge.  Republican Strategy The Republicans get a ton of toys this time around, with a small amount of LMGs to supplement the high squad quality, a quintuplet of tanks to arrive later on, and Off-Board Artillery (OBA). The massive amount of olive groves does much to help conceal the advance of troops, while also making the advance deadly by the end, when the protections are no longer afforded and open ground remains. The first hurdle to cross is the Falangist troops covering the forward defense, and possibly preventing their retreat, this will not only net me CVP but prevent a larger defensive line from forming. The OBA's primary goal is to start with the Falangist line where a large number of stone buildings are, destroying what units may be there. If that can't be achieved, one of the other potential targets is to be gauged and tested. If and when the defenders begin to crumble, any forces I can spare are to exit off the board for extra VP gains. I have time to take things slow, so hopefully I won't lose units too quickly through brash risks and poorly-thought out plans.  Turns: 9.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Very Dry, with no Wind at start. Heat Haze is in effect. No Kindling is allowed. Terraforming: Woods, Grain, and Orchards are considered to be Olive Groves. All buildings are Stone. The valley on board 24 is a level 1 hill. Turn 1 - Republicans  With few shots, and no damage inflicted by either side, the turn ends with tons of movement completed, and a failed OBA check... Turn 1 - Nationalists  Some units skittered about, but movement was kept to single-hex shuffles and without revealing anyone new. Two shots were made, but poor dice and intervening hindrance caused misses. Turn 2 - Republicans  Against skipping any attacks in my prep fire phase, deciding that movement is the most important right now, especially when considering the rest of the nationalist defenders are so far away. Most shots fail to find purchase, save for a nice shot against a full squad moving in the road to go for a close combat attack later, where they were reduced but not broken.  Post-advance/Close-Combat Turn 2 - Nationalists  Although adjacent, the stone building does enough to prevent a terrible end for the lone republican squad housed inside. Another attack by the Falange on the upper flank misses its mark, and units at the rear move up towards the trenches (and my newly moved Spotting Round (SR)). The Falange troops in the building are killed as the melee finally ends. Turn 3 - Republicans  With some back and forth shooting in the bottom section of stone buildings, it feels like the olive groves are providing just enough cover, and the buildings moreso. A hidden gun opens up on an unlucky stack, wounding the 7-0 leader and breaking a squad. That could've gone far worse, so I'll take the blessing where I can. My tanks also finally make their appearance, only for one to immediately get shot at by a sniper, permanently making them worse. Movement is again the choice option as I need to keep closing against my targets.  After advancing everyone, a death stack had formed against the Falange hero and their companion squad. The result was bloodshed on both sides, with the Falange force wiped out and a Republican squad KIA'ed. Turn 3 - Nationalists  The Falange units begin retreating, though a squad suffers a pin result while moving away. Other units move into the trenches where artillery is being prepared for landing, and the damnable sniper recalls a tank! (  )Turn 4 - Republicans  My artillery finally comes down on the defenders, and a stroke of luck sees a critical hit on the bottom left hex, outright killing a squad and breaking a 2nd. I continue to move as there's not much shooting I can do otherwise, discovering the last of the dummy counters for the Falangist group, while a squad is KIA'ed from a critical hit in open ground, and my upper pair of tanks overruns a squad twice, piling on 10fp each time against the unfortunate defenders. My recalled tank makes its way off-board. [Its important to note as well that a recalled tank provides 0 CVP unless stated otherwise.] Turn 4 - Nationalists  The Nationalist Gun opens the turn with a wonderful hit, blowing away one of my T-26's, the crew being unable to abandon their vehicle in time. The MMG in the upper trench continues to shoot at the armored vehicles, but cannot find the hit it needs to kill a 2nd. Swapping to movement, the last Falange leader is killed while trying to evade capture, and a squad foolishly moves from one trench hex to another, and a critical hit(!) [A 2nd one for artillery in one game] immediately reduces them the a pile of bloody gore. And, unfortunately, that is where it ended. While I will not fault Hypnobeard for choosing to throw in the towel, I was looking forward to a few more turns to see how things shook out. It likely wouldn't have been close, especially as my very large flanking force was going to move as deep as possible and take any buildings they could from behind the defensive line, while I still had a lot of strong pressure from the front. I figured I could have taken out the gun this turn or the next, and artillery would continue to hit the bottom gang before switching to a more profitable target. Because this scenario is long, I truly think the defender needs to cede ground immediately and only shoot on their turn until both forces can join up. Perhaps if the Falange is all one big blob, they can achieve more, but that is for a revisit, perhaps in the next 30 or 40 years... Aftermath posted:The Tschapajew Battalion, consisting of nationals from 21 different nations, was to advance along the Brunete road past the cemetery to turn eastwards in the village and mop it up. This time, the Brigade's Political Commissar, Parovic, was amidst the ranks... the open ground combined with heavy and very accurate fire from the defenders, as well as the torrid conditions with temperatures above 45 degrees celsius, hampered the advance. With the armored support, the reds managed to overcome the defenders and achieve their objective by 21h15, but with so many losses that any further advance was impossible. Among the losses was Commissar Parovic.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2022 04:54
|
|
|
GR-06 - Mourir à Madrid - Part 1 Location: Madrid, Spain Date: 1 November 1936 Briefing: La guerre d'Espagne opposant la République aux rebelles phalangistes et franquistes fait rage. Les rebelles commandés par Franco, le "Caudillo", et copieusement soutenus par les régimes fascistes italiens et allemands se jettent sur Madrid afin d'enlever la décision rapidement. La ville est défendue par un assortiment hétéroclite de soldats et de gardes civils restés fidèles à la République, de milices communistes ou anarchistes et par les fameuses "Brigades Internationales". L'équipement des républicains provient en grande partie d'URSS, car les démocraties occidentales refusent de sengager par peur d'Hitler, tandis que les rebelles sont équipés par les allemands et les italiens. Des deux côtés, des observateurs militaires observent l'éfficacité de leurs matériels respectifs. Cependant, des unités rebelles réussissent à s'infiltrer jusqu'à l'université de Madrid. La victoire semble en vue. Mais le mot dordre républicain est "No Pasaran"... Victory Condition: The winning side is determined by VP calculation - Reps gain 1 VP per stone building hex [21+22] and 5VP per bridge controlled. Nats gain 1 VP per stone building hex [1+20] and exit VP off the west side.  Republican Strategy The Republicans have a tough job, and I opted for a truly aggressive setup [which will bite me in the rear end in short order] with the main goal of attacking and destroying the Moroccan troops before shifting my focus on other, less dangerous, troops. By muzzling those troops, the range advantage and morale advantage should either swing my way or simply be equivalent, which I need. If things go wrong, I can retreat to the blue/red defensive lines and await reinforcements. I don't care to keep the bridges, if only because the end goal is to re-gain them later when my tanks arrive and that base of fire can exert itself. I have some alright line of sight, so hopefully I can put that to good use...  Turns: 11 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. Fanatical: All Moroccan troops are fanatic Turn 1 - Rebels  The Rebels open up with a flurry of shots, with only negligible damage, although the loss of a squad with the LMG in front of the bridge was annoying. What truly set this out to be a poor playing experience was the movement phase. My opponent decided to skulk [The act of moving back one hex, specifically to re-occupy the previously vacated hex in order to avoid any and all fire against them - This is an accepted move by tournament go'ers because they suck at defending] in order to avoid a 24 firepower attack designed specifically to break that squad and allow entry into the building. We will see why this was important in due time. A double-Machine Gun stack in P2 fired at a stack of rebels running in the open and rolled boxcars, with the ensuing random selection deciding that both of my best MGs should be malfunctioned. Another shot by a squad with an LMG against a pair of units moving into a building also malfunctions its machine gun. Adding to the pain was a sniper activation killing one of my 8-0 leaders in the rear, who would've been used to rally troops in the central location.  Note the squad in the upper left, back at his original spot, without a care in the world. Also take note of the LMG and the squads that are now in H10, looking down an open road. My troops die in the CC. Turn 1 - Republicans  As my turn begins, I fail to repair any of my machine guns, and at most obtain Pins against enemy units. Both snipers strike, breaking a squad each, and my 24fp group up top immediately crumbles, again, thanks in large part to a squad that skulked once, seeing as I have no smoke and surely I couldn't fail 3 morale checks in a row, right? Either way, it was not looking good, immediately.  Turn 2 - Rebels  With so much going on, especially in terms of movement, some things get lost in the process. Multiple sniper attacks and the beginning of more close combat rounds as the turn ends.  Although thos are mostly duds at the moment. Turn 2 - Republicans  With most units dead or in need of shooting, little movement is made, and my attacks don't get me very much... I do manage to repair the machine guns I broke on Turn 1 and even shot them once this round!  The turn ends with another close combat ending, this time completely in my opponent's favor. Turn 3 - Rebels  Turn three begins, and it brings reinforcements with it. Shots break a squad in the cemetery and then the troops begin to move. My opponent, at the start of this session, had claimed they only VBM Sleeze Freeze (I tactic that sees some use at all levels of play, and is frowned upon on a case-by-case basis) in a desperate situation as they themselves hate it... only to promptly use it here against a lone squad nearly surrounded by 6 enemy squads (and a further 3 as reinforcements) at the western portion of board 21. [Sleeze Freezing is the art of parking an AFV in the same hex as an enemy unit to prevent them from shooting at anyone else.] To make matters worse, my stack of Machine Guns [HMG+MMG], only just recently repaired, rolled their second 12, and the random selection to determine which broke was a pair of threes, so both broke... again.  This, coupled with the massive losses in troops, was the final nail in the coffin. We continued playing for another two or three turns, where my 8-1 and squad with the previously mentioned MGs broke. My hero with the other HMG slightly south of them never got anything going and THAT HMG also broke and I never managed to really break anything else otherwise. Truly a frustrating experience, started with my opponent pulling a really BM play with skulking, and dice that just would not cooperate. My sniper number of 7, the most average of numbers, was danced around frequently, and my sniper results never gave me anything to work with. My dice were a -3 for the IFT, abysmal numbers, -2 on MCs, whereas my CC dice were +4 , although this was rarely needed as the victories I scored were long odds at losing anyways. The last bit of statistics, I managed to roll 7 boxcars, 4 of those on Morale Checks, which weren't rallies, killing units outright in some cases  End of game Historique posted:Après de sanglants combats de rue dont les deux côtés sortirent épuisés, les rebelles renoncèrent à prendre Madrid et se retirèrent. Ils n'étaient pas passés, mais ce n'était que partie remise...
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2022 19:01
|
|
|
Allied Minors Armoury - Ordnance #25 - 3.7cm PanzerabwehrKanone 36   The German 3.7cm PaK 35/36 was the most widely distributed anti-tank gun of WWII. Over 20,000 were manufactured during the course of the war. In addition to Germany and the USSR, this gun was bought by Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Greece (10/40-5/41), Japan, Spain, and Turkey, as well as being the model for versions by the U.S. and the Netherlands (which this piece also represents [5/40], and which equipped its Pantserwagon armored cars). This counter also represents the Skoda M38 used by Yugoslavia in companies of 12 guns (4/41). Although the PaK 36 was capable of being carried en-portée, the Allied nations appear not to have done so. #35 - 20mm Oerlikon   Until the end of the 1930s, the Dutch Army was equipped with the Vickers and Spandau AAMG to combat aircraft. With growing international tension the interest in AA defense increased and an order for 175 20mm Oerlikon AA guns was placed with the manufacturing firm in Switzerland, but only 170 guns were delivered by May 1940. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Oct 10, 2022 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 00:31
|
|
|
German Armoury - Vehicles On September 1 1939, Germany possessed some 4,564 AFV, of which only 583 were armed with a 37 or 75mm gun; the vast majority of German AFVs of this period had only MG or 20mm armament. During the invasion of France the German Army fielded about 2,800 AFV against approximately 4,000 French and British; in the invasion of the Soviet Union some 3,350 Panzers were initially committed. These figures show just how effective the new Blitzkrieg tactics really were. Of course, the Blitzkrieg itself was successful due to the Germans’ radical theories on, and greater experience with, combined arms warfare. Panzer divisions—the crucial element in Blitzkrieg—were entirely self-sufficient formations, an arrangement that provided greater flexibility and, in concert with sound training and bold aggressive leadership, led to successes out of all proportion to their numbers. Individually, German AFV were generally characterized by their engineering sophistication—sometimes to the point of needless complexity. This sophistication together with insufficient standardization (which led to problems in mass production) made them time-consuming and expensive to build relative to the Allies’ AFV. When they worked they performed extremely well but when broken-down were often difficult to repair. Moreover, the persistent shortage of AFV after the first few years necessitated their almost constant use, thus exacerbating wear and tear and increasing the likelihood of breakdowns. Still another problem was the proliferation of different AFV types—especially tank destroyers. To illustrate, there were no fewer than seventeen different types of tank destroyers having production figures of at least sixty vehicles and used in combat. Such variety must have been a nightmare to the supply and repair echelons. For the first three years of what Hitler had envisioned as a short war, AFV production was kept at a relatively low level. By late 1942 however, it was seen that this policy was leading to disaster and so production was greatly increased, resulting in some 20,500 AFV being built in 1943 (3.5 times the number built in 1941). Of this figure though, more than one-third were simply armored halftracks. After being caught with inferior tanks in Russia, by 1943 the Germans had regained the initiative in new tank design but could never gain quantitative parity with the Allies. Germany’s total World War 2 AFV production was approximately 80,000 vehicles (including the many command, observation, recovery, etc., versions), but of these only about 22,800 were the Panzer III-VI models. In contrast, the U.S. produced almost 50,000 of the Sherman alone. In the end, Germany’s panzer divisions were swamped by a vast flood of Allied AFVs; no degree of tactical superiority could overcome such disparity in numbers. #1 - PzKpfw IB   This was the first German tank to be mass produced. Intended only as a training vehicle, it was nonetheless used in combat as early as 1936 in the Spanish Civil War. By June 1941 however, only 74 were still in use. About 1,500 Ausf (Ausfuehrung = Model) A and B were built. Five PzKpfw I made up a platoon. Critical Hit Guerra Civil: Along with Condor Legion advisors, a good number of these German tanks were supplied to the Nationalist army where they formed some of the first Nationalist armoured battalions. Lightly armoured compared to the Russian T-26B, the Pz. IB was still utilized on a number of fronts in Spain. However, the inability of Nationalist light tanks to stand up to Russian armour int he field led Nationalist officers to develop tactics based on artillery rather than a tank striking force. The French doctrine of tanks as infantry support maintained its hold on Spanish tactics. Though initially manned by German Condor Legion personnel, these vehicles were very quickly turned over to Spanish Nationalist troops. The Spanish designation for this tank was Carro Ligero Pz Kpfw I ausf. B. This tank had a crew of two. #2 - PzKpfw IIA   This was an interim design ordered due to the delays in production of the PzKpfw III and IV. Nonetheless, it was used as a main battle tank in Poland, where 90% of the German tanks used were PzKpfw I and II. The Ausf A is representative of the various early types, of which some 1,200 were built. Five PzKpfw II comprised a full-strength platoon. #99 - SdKfz 7   The most common (over 12,000 built) Ger man halftrack prime mover. Used to tow medium and heavy artillery and 88s. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jan 30, 2024 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 01:02
|
|
|
Updates to the German, Allied Minor, Italian, Russian, French, and Japanese Armoury listings today.
Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Oct 10, 2022 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 01:17
|
|
|
Axis Minor Armoury - Vehicles Spain #CH SCW.12 - Bilbao 32   Mounting a Hotchkiss machine gun, these 4.8 ton vehicles were designed for crowd control and intimidation by the paramilitary police before the war. They were utilized in the early fighting for the cities, such as Madrid and Barcelona and found no prominent use thereafter, either being returned to security duty or lost as a prize amongst various militias. They could travel up to 45 km/h or 40 km/h in reverse, carried one 37mm gun and one machine gun and had armour of up to 12 mm in thickness. Spanish designation for this car is Auto Blindado de la Policia. #CH SCW.15 - Camion Blindado No.2   This type of armoured truck mounted two Hotchkiss machine guns to either side, sometimes supplemented by riflemen. Better constructed than other armoured trucks, this type was actually use off-road in irregular terrain and was capable of speeds up to 62km/h. Trucks of this type were used in the North in Asturias and in the Battle for Teruel. Armour varied between 8-12mm while crew size varied based on type, frmo 6-13 men. Common Vehicles #31. PzKpfw IB(g)  [Will find a photo later] The Germans provided Hungary with 22 of these tanks (German Vehicle Note 1) in 1942, all going to the 1st Armored Division. They also supplied Croatia with some that were used for anti-partisan activities. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Mar 30, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 01:46
|
|
|
SCW-05 - Dombrowski's Stand - Part 1 Location: University City section of Madrid, Spain Date: 16 November 1936 Briefing: The 3rd Battalion of foreign volunteers was the "Dombrowski" Battalion, commanded by a Pole, Boleslav Ulanovski. The unit was chiefly composed of socialist and communist miners recently living in France and Belgium. Included in the unit were surviving Poles who had fought at Aragon and in the Tagus valley. The entire group of foreign volunteers made up the 11th Brigade, commanded by a Hungarian, Kleber. It had arrived after being cheered by peasant throngs shouting, 'no pasaran' and 'salud' to which the volunteers responded with shots of 'Rot front'. These marching volunteers greatly impressed the citizens of Madrid, many who feared their capital already lost. On the evening of November 8th, the Dombroski Battalion was sent to join Lister and the 5th Regiment at Villaverde. On the 16th a bloody battle began in the University City section of Madrid. Hours of artillery and aerial bombardment were followed by room-to-room hand-to-hand combat. Neither side gave way. A company of Poles from the Dombrowski Battalion holed up in the French Institute's Casa de Velazquez after receiving a written order from Kleber on a slip of paper that read simply: "Resist!". And resist they did. As the building filled with the dead and the dying, the Poles held out to the last man. The 3rd Company of the Dombrowski Battalion would be annihilated: when reinforcements arrived five hours later, only a captain and six soldiers from the unit remained standing. The Casa de Velazquez was held. Victory Condition: The Nationalists must Control the building on the hill.  Nationalist Strategy A seven turn scenario with little ground to be covered, although all done in the open and with a need to take control of a large stone building, which won't be possible unless the enemy is removed from the building entirely, or they abandon it. The large amount of firepower I have in the form of machine guns and artillery give me a good base to suppress and break the defenders to clear the way for my advancing troops, and, once I can get into the building, I will have to make sure that I can retain the foothold and reinforce as quickly as bodies can be thrown or carried up the hill. Positioning will also play a key role as it may prevent routs in some directions, or force them if I can get too close...  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Orchards are Vineyards Off-board Artillery: The Nationalists receive 1 module of 100mm OBA (HE Only) with Plentiful Ammunition Turn 1 - Nationalists  Turn one opens with an artillery request against the troops in the building. Anywhere on the building is fine, as the defenders are naturally stacked to prevent my men from advancing unharmed. And unharmed they are not. Despite breaking the squad with the HMG in O6, I could do nothing against the troops further north, who broke a squad and casualty reduced a 2nd.  Turn 1 - Republicans  Despite the spotting round landing on the building, the enemy chooses to remain at the windows, and manage to break the recently-reduced half-squad. Sadly, there is no success elsewhere for RootinPutin. More units move up to the windows, in fact...  Some of which are now under an artillery barrage (which managed to break a unit). Turn 2 - Nationalists  With my artillery breaking a number of units, I can have a serious attempt at entering the building this turn. A snake eyes come into play for me, breaking the replacement squad that went to O6 to pick up the HMG in the upper-building Location, and follow-up shots did their job and eliminated the broken men. Movement was less than stellar, with a break early on in open ground, followed by a squad going berserk in a different shot, and eventually dying as the remaining firepower struck them multiple times. They tried, at least...  State of the board, end of turn. Turn 2 - Republicans  Much of a lighter turn, with shots exchanged and dm's re-assessed on broken units. This was a turn where Artillery was not called in because I need the area to be clear and safe for my troops to enter the building. Turn 3 - Nationalists  My turn comes around again and the usual suspects plink at the usual victims, breaking a squad again. Sadly, that doesn't net me nearly as much as I'd hoped (And it turns out my opponent moved some men through walls when he shouldn't have. ) This oversight by my opponent, and me not being able to call it out, meant that the HMG in O6 was operational, when it definitely should not have been. This costs me a squad and a Hero KIA. Moving with my troops into the building, I sneakily gain control of both locations with stairwells to the ground, allowing me to encircle every unit in the building. Turn 3 - Republicans  With the Republicans set in their ways, shots are made where they can before more artillery falls, netting two broken squads. My own artillery comes down and breaks my squad in N5 on the ground floor. [We'd played the OBA rules wrong. Higher locations get less protection, not the other way around as we did] Once more the defenders are under heavy pressure!  End of Turn 3 Turn 4 - Nationalists  With more artillery falling down, and unit density reaching a high-point, it makes it rather hard to show all the different actions. The units in N3 are pinned thanks to an extremely lucky sniper, which prevented the squad with the DC from throwing it... The O6 HMG group remains under constant pressure, and several units change position to be able to enter the building and to push forward to prevent routs. Turn 4 - Republicans  Another turn with shots from either side, although notably the only successes are breaking my stack of MMGs in Q2, who'd been a right pain in the arse for Rootin'. On my end, I managed to break more troops in the very large stack of men in M5 on the upper level. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Decidedly stuck in the building, the Republicans face more pressure as I break a squad in M4, the defenders hoping they could buy more time for broken troops in M6 to rally. A squad makes its way into O4 to face the Commissar and a squad, only for the nationalists to survive the onslaught. Other troops approach the building; with only two more turns of movement for me, I need all the troops I can get.  Fortune favors the bold, as the Commissar runs away with a broken squad, a Pinned squad remains. Snake eyes guaranteed me the kill, but the subsequent leader generation was a cherry on top of it all. Turn 5 - Republicans  Trying to stop the flow of troops means running through artillery, and unfortunately it finds its mark several times, breaking two separate units, while a shot by a sniper wounds the leader with my still functional machine guns, who fire at the overstacked group in M6 and DM the broken squads.  Post-Advances Turn 6 - Nationalists  Just picture dozens of men running towards a building on a hill, trying to do their best to help their fellow soldiers already clearing room after room. My 7-0 leader breaks in O6, which is, by far, the best result instead of the half-squad he was with. My wounded 8-1 leader also bites it while moving in the open. My leader calling in artillery, no longer having any purpose, runs over to U3 in order to attempt to rally the squad in T3 next turn.  A little deceptive, only the ground floor is engaged in CC. The 9-2 does not make it. Turn 6 - Republicans  Turn 6 and the Republicans are at the very end of their rope. Shots were taken against my 8-1 and squad in M5, only for them to go Berserk(!) while the 4-4-8 squad and commissar ducked out of the building, only to re-enter it in M4/M3 on the ground floor. The stack in M6 was much larger at the start of the turn, but with nowhere to run, all of the broken units were eliminated... Turn 7 - Nationalists  And here is where it ended. The 4-4-8 in M4 broke under the pressure of a 12fp shot from the adjacent troops, and there simply wasn't any way for the Republicans to last afterwards... I had planned to shoot at the troops in M6 with a squad+LMG in N5 before my berserk units would be forced to run into the hex, although I could just as easily have refrained, I doubt it would have made a major difference. Anyone that broke would've been eliminated, either in routing or in the CC/Melee, the ground troops would not have been able to stay in the building regardless of any further actions the Republicans could make, and the 10-0 Commissar was just a sitting duck for a CC attack. All in all, it went almost the entire distance, and I have to say I felt quite good, considering I wasn't all too confident in my attack - as it relied on the artillery being available and my many machine guns hitting their targets. Luckily, they did, often and with notable success, but life could've been a lot worse... [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2022 02:05
|
|
|
Gonna get a couple of updates out this week, so apologies for the radio silence. Both gaming partners have taken a step back for personal reasons so I've been going at it with some solo play and I reached another milestone... If anyone is looking to be an opponent moving forward, please don't hesitate to drop me a line. To my ex-gaming partners, I hope ya'll are doing well  .
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2022 04:07
|
|
|
HazMo-15 - Sticks & Stones - Part 1 Location: Convent of San Marcial, Near Irun, Spain Date: 6 September 1936 Briefing: By the beginning of august, battle lines throughout Spain had become much clearer. Desperate to demonstrate some successes to foreign as well as domestic audiences, the newly formed Nationalist forces launched three columns from Pamplona - consisting primarily of Carlist requetés - to seize more territory from the Republic. The largest of these columns, under the command of Lt. Colonel Beorlegui, was sent north in an effort to cut off the Basques from the French frontier. By late August, the column had driven a wedge between San Sebastian and the border town of Irun, which was defended by local militia and Asturian dinamiteros. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win at game end by Controlling the Convent of San Marcial and all four trenches.  Republican Strategy The Republicans defend a small amount of territory against a great many number of attackers. With about 6 more squads, plenty of machine guns, and a pair of tanks, I truly have to be careful with my unit placement and where I choose to run and where I choose to die. Luckily for me, I have some concealment counters to build up some fake stacks, and my roadblocks should help funnel the tanks into certain areas. I'm also keeping a watch on all the open ground, where I can hopefully do the most amount of damage. Avoiding it will cost the Nationalists time, which they can barely afford.  Turns: 5.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All buildings aside from the Convent are wooden. Pack Rules: Several additional special SSRs are in effect Turn 1 - Nationalists  With a lot of movement made and too many arrows to draw, the main focus is a tank that used assault movement to advance up to the woods in the south, only for a Green squad to reveal itself as real and spoil the day for 2 squads. The tank continued on, with little it could do for the moment. Additionally, the roadblock was revealed and will force the tank to either go through my occupied woods or back eastward for a detour. Elsewhere, troops invade the woods of P15/Q15 and a valiant attempt is made by the half-squad to score some successes to no avail. They break in the AFPh, while a nice shot by Rootin' reveals my fake stack in O12.  At the end of the turn, after advances, some Hand-to-Hand combat develops in O19, but the lucky Green squad comes away with a win. A sigh of relief is let out. Turn 1 - Republican  In an attempt to capitalize on a bad spot for the infantry in the open at Q19, a shot is made but the troops cower. Green's cower twice. Oof.  After advances, the Greenies match up against a 4-4-7 in O20 - both sides lose a squad. Turn 2 - Nationalists  The attacker is already feeling the pressure to get to the objective, and tanks move up to act as mobile walls to frustrate me. I shoot to lay down some residual firepower, which serves me well as the following infantry break one at a time, thanks to some very unfortunate rolls by my opponent.  The end of the turn sees gains in many buildings, along with the loss of 1.5 of my squads by melee. Sadly I just could not reciprocate with my own dice. Turn 2 - Republicans  With few options other than "reveal a unit to get shot at in DFPh", I opt for shooting with my Green Guys at the south end, with one miraculously getting a normal morale check against a stack of broken squads and a 9-1. The result is devastating, as that is the best leaders available and a squad of casualties.  Pulling back ever-so-slightly. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Once more the whole line moves up and the cost is large for the defenders. While I pin a number of squads, I can do little to nothing against those moving into J12, K12, L12, or L13. The units in that house are doomed, and will eventually die later in the turn. The tanks are now adjacent to my trenches and my troops, making things that much worse for them if/when they stop and shoot.  I lose two half-squads in the Hand-to-Hand combat in K15. For some reason the CX counter was removed, no clue who did it. Turn 3 - Republicans  Combat is deadly as ever, with the close proximity almost ensuring that someone breaks, and worse, that retreating is just as bad. The Green squad in O20 continues to be a jerk by constantly DM'ing the squads (which now I'm trying to figure out if they would've missed a shot or two for that purpose...) Return fire breaks a squad in a trench, and I can't risk my MMG being caught up in an advance or overrun so am forced to move them back at the end of the turn.  End of turn. Turn 4 - Nationalists  As you can imagine, movement is a-plenty once more, as there is only two more turns of movement left. The tanks set about moving, with the western one overrunning a bunch of fakes, but my MMG fails to capitalize on this. Elsewhere, I manage to pin two squads and break another. The other tank malfunctions their main armament (MA) and is no longer a threat (PHEW!).  State of the Board Turn 4 - Republicans  I manage to kill the functional tank, but nothing else. I opted to not shoot with the squad I had in I14, but then in the movement phase realised they wouldn't be able to actually leave their hex. I could've had an easy 8fp shot against a unit in open ground, at the very least... Green squads move back for a last dash into trenches. By the end of the turn, I threw my squad in I16 into the troops in J15. The Close Combat is a draw and it devolves into a Melee. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Desperation begins setting in and movement is made regardless of the dangers. There was some contention with a move from K15 into J15 because the attackers had control of the Trench, however, they can't move in to reinforce a melee so they would've necessitated moving into the open, which is how it was played. Unfortunately the MMG attack was far too good for them and the supposed reinforcements crumbled. I also managed to break a squad trying to gain the trench with the tank, but could do little against the others north of the convent.  Things are not looking good... Turn 5 - Republicans  A stroke of massive luck sees my MMG+Squad kill a leader and break the squad they were with. I use this to shuffle my Greens up the hill so that I can capture the trench. The Hand-to-Hand melee ends with both sides dying. Turn 6 - Nationalists  As if to pump up the tension even further, a Nationalist squad self-rallies, and is immediately thrown into the fray. Sadly for them, they are pinned trying to move up the hills, and a follow-up shot in the DFPh breaks the squad hiding with the tank. The game is called there when Rootin' no longer sees a way forward to victory. Although it was later mentioned, he'd forgotten that the Fortified convent could've been assaulted much sooner as only a half-squad was inside, which doesn't prevent an advance into the location. We had some back and forth about just what else could've been that turn, but even gaming it out for fun didn't pan out. We also discussed how much of a jerk the defender could be if they chose to set up the trenches far away from eachother, rather than bunched up as I had. In the end, it was an extremely tight scenario that, I'm sure, Rootin' will want to get back at me for. It was a well-played effort. Epilogue posted:The militia and dinamiteros fought a ferocious battle to hold the town from behind well-prepared defensive positions. While they fought with remarkable skill and determination, their lack of supplies and ammunition forced them into an increasingly desperate situation. During the final attack, the remaining miners who were holed up in the Covnent resorted to throwing sticks of dynamite and rocks at the advancing Carlists. Irun was left a burning ruin as the surviving defenders sought refuge across the French border. Nationalist forces soon secured the entire province of Guipuzcoa, isolating the remaining Republican forces in the north, all of which would surrender in the following year. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Oct 31, 2022 |
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2022 02:53
|
|
|
SCW-07 - Resist or Die - Part 1 Location: Madrid, Spain Date: 29 November 1936 Briefing: Franco's offensive against Madrid had the capital in unrest. The streets were filled with refugees and livestock. Amidst the crisis the government was re-formed to include the Anarchists in a desperate attempt to maintain order through cooperation between different factions. The Battle of Madrid raged on throughout November 1936 when, in early November, as the Russian embassy pulled out, the only remaining official, Orlov of the NKVD remarked, "There is no front, Madrid is the front." As a last ditch effort to save the capital, a military junta was formed. The enthusiastic young men of the junta, knowing if Franco prevailed, they would die, rallied volunteers to the defence. Many of them were refugees from other parts of Spain. They included carabineers, regular soldiers and militiamen - all inspired to their duty by pamphlets that proclaimed that those that did not believe in victory were cowards. They listened to these exhortations, and dug in. To keep their own momentum going, the Nationalists began an attack an early on the morning of the 29th against the Case de Campo, a large scrub-covered and wooded area in Madrid. Despite the recent Republic rhetoric, the attack moved forward, meeting no resistance. Franco's troops would find a change in their fortunes when they struck the Republican positions in the Casa de Campo woods. The battle began in earnest, centered around a key position of the Pozuelo Cemetery. The cemetery was captured by the Nationalists, following a Republican withdrawal. The government troops then halted their retreat, turned and re-captured Pozuelo Cemetery, stopping the Nationalist advance in its tracks. As the day light faded, both sides halted to lick their wounds. Casualties had been high on both sides but at the end of the day, the Republican lines in Casa de Campo woods had held firm. Victory Condition: The Nationalists must control eight hexes of the 12X2 Graveyard or exit 10 VP along the south edge by Game End.  Republican Strategy As a solo endeavor, I've opted towards gunning for the left flank as the terrain isn't as restrictive to get into the cemetery, and the roads can allow me to run off the bottom of the board (not pictured) if things go poorly with the attack and I hit the big red eject button. The nationalists have some decent troops and decent numbers, but the Republicans get vehicles and their own significant reinforcements later in the scenario. I have to hope that my attack doesn't suffer too many setbacks early on so that I can have the positional advantage. If I can nab the church or a few graveyard hexes early, I might be able to force the issue for the Republicans to take risks of their own, instead of having that be an attacker-only thing. I am playing this solo.  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All single-hex buildings are Single Story Houses. Skirmishers: Republicans pay 1 MP to enter Woods or Brush. Turn 1 - Nationalists  The first move of the day, and the first shot, yield a KIA result, in typical fashion. I always know its risky, but you never automatically assume your opponent is going to roll something so good from the get-go. Another group to see some hardship was a leader with a full squad that were shot at point blank but failed their morale checks. Later on, a republican sniper would reduce the squad. On the plus side, in the AFPh, the 4-4-7 on the left was broken by a large stack, and eventually eliminated when the Nationalists refused to take prisoners. Turn 1 - Republicans  The Republicans focus entirely on re-structuring their defense and centralize all of their units. The terrain made it impossible to tell whether or not a shot could potentially hit a unit moving about, so most of the moves went unpunished. Turn 2 - Nationalists  While not stalling out on the attack, another 3 squads and a leader break, doing little to aid in the advance. Having two squads in the house break was a particularly annoying result as that was a good base of fire I was hoping to use to pin down Republican troops at the corner of the graveyard. Turn 2 - Republicans  Tragedy hits the Nationalists when the rally phase and a 12 kill off a broken leader, and the pain is piled on when the Republicans have a direct shot at the broken stack, reducing a squad there, applying DM and forcing them to re-position themselves later. There's some movement but the Nationalists just aren't in a position to get any results. The armored vehicle moves over to the extreme left flank to, hopefully, prevent anyone from using the road to skirt around the side and exiting.  End of turn 2 Turn 3 - Nationalists  Some progress is made, but in truth this is mostly just to get troops to their actual jump off points, and I'd bet I'm about an entire turn behind schedule thanks to all of the breaks my troops have suffered. A sniper pitches in to break a squad, although not one critically placed.  An ill-advised close combat move, but if I can force a melee, I can give myself some time to move more troops up to either reinforce, or eliminate the survivors... Turn 3 - Republicans  The Republicans continue to pressure every unit they can, getting lucky breaks, casualty reducing a squad in the north, and reinforcements that arrive immediately into the church and covering the left flank. With the amount of forces here, now, it is unlikely I'll be able to exit off the map. To make matters worse, the roads are now treacherous for the Nationalists to sprint across and grab their other possible objective. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Desperate times, desperate measures - everyone is called on to move forward, with the expected breaks continuing to occur.  With equal forces AND a -2 leader, the attackers were expected to win, but the dice refused and the end result was a Casualty Reduction against the defenders, while all the attackers were eliminated. The other CC resulted in another Republican victory, and the fighting was essentially over. There's no way to protect the troops I had now critically exposed to 2 separate hexes (both prior CC fights) from tearing me up in Prep Fire, and the Republican strongpoint in the church was far too great for my forces to advance against. This isn't to say I didn't try, but you can probably expect the number of dead or broken squads Rep Turn 4 generated (The entire stack in T3 broke, aside from the leader)  End of Game Turn 5 It was not a pretty sight to behold. Ultimately, I was held up just a little too long by the defenders. I may have done better to split some troops to act as a spoiling force on the right flank to force more defenders to stay there, or maybe change the reinforcement rules so that the Republican troops come in a turn later... Either way, my attack faltered in the face of better dice (and slightly better tactics). [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2022 04:47
|
|
|
SCW-14 - Internacionale Follies - Part 1 Location: Boadilla, Spain Date: 14 December 1936 Briefing: The Civil War in Spain brought a wide variety of international volunteers and mercenaries to that troubled nation. Following upon the narrowly defeated Nationalist drive on Madrid during the Autumn, the Nationalists thought to renew a more limited offensive to complete their aim of isolating the nearby city of Madrid. The Nationalists assembled 18,000 infantry and cavalry organized into four mobile brigades, supported by elements of the German Condor Legion, and a large contingent of 155mm guns. Opposing them were the famous International Brigades, composed of left-wing dissidents, exiles, communists, and socialists. These enthusiastic volunteers were determined to stop the fascists. The brigade at Boadilla was the Thaelmann Battalion, consisting mostly of German communists and some Englishmen. The fiercely-independent ideologies of both sides promised for particularly vicious fighting. The Nationalists began the attack with the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war. The Nationalists attacked Boadilla and successfully seized it the first night. A counterattack by two of the Republican International Brigades and a detachment of Russian tanks forced the Nationalists to withdraw from the town the next morning, only to see them counterattack later that day, successfully trapping the Thaelmann Battalion inside the town. A terrible fight ensued throughout the town. Casualties were heavy for both sides as each side funneled more troops into the fighting. All Republican counterattacks to relieve the besieged comrades failed. Elements of an Russian Armored detachment engaged the panzers of the Condor Legion inside the town square, while elite Spanish Moroccan Infantry fought their way into the fortified Marketplace and the nearby Castle Duque de Sueca. The Thaelmann Battalion and their Spanish and International brethren were forced to fight their way out of the town, leaving many dead behind. This costly fight left the Nationalists with a modest victory in having seized Boadilla and the surrounding territory, while both sides (especially the International Brigades) were heavily depleted in strength. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win if the Control all buildings in the Republican setup area at Game End.  Nationalist Strategy The Nationalists get some reinforcements, but will have to make do with what they start with for now. The biggest threat is a trio of tanks the Republicans get from the get-go, coming in from the east, and more than adequate for overrunning troops caught out in the open. Ample machine guns can at least let me threaten them in return, but the likelihood is low regardless. An impressive boon is a pair of German HMGs and crews, which easily outrange anything the Republicans have. I also plan to have artillery settle in on the fortified building on the hill. If the Nationalists can get enough of an advantage early on, they can push into the buildings in the center, but the going will be tough, no matter the method.  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Orchards are Olive Groves. Fortified Location: All ground level hexes in building O6-N5 are Fortified. Artillery: The Nationalists receive one module of 150mm HE OBA. Fierce Fighting: No Quarter & Hand-To-Hand CC are in effect. Turn 1 - Republicans  With the roads covered, it was impossible to have troops arrive on the map and not potentially shot at and eliminated with relative ease. As a result, the tanks went ahead in order to draw fire and lay down a solid position where they could threaten exposed units. This was rewards when the Republican snipers woke up and pinned one squad, breaking a 2nd. The movement cost me an entire squad to learn that those roads were deadly, and the German HMGs overcame the Spaniards, killing them through repeated RoF and bad morale dice (for the rest of the game, I don't think I'll ever get to reclaim that HMG). Turn 1 - Nationalists  Nationalist artillery takes a risk and converts while correcting and finds itself in the middle of the whole establishment, and the 150mm rounds break a pair of squads, with one later being reduced thanks to the German HMGs. Gains are made in the town, slowly, and troops are moved up on the right flank to intercept the infantry and to threaten the tanks. One of the Nationalist squads gets unlucky in the open and breaks as a result.  By the end of the turn, two out of three tanks have been attacked in CC, to no effect, artillery is locking down the main defensive position, and the Republican reinforcements are in quite the pickle to get through the human blockade. Turn 2 - Republicans  Turn 2 sees more successful movement than I thought I'd complete, the tanks pulling through and breaking a ton of units thanks to overrunning an assortment of troops. In the end, however, a machine gun lying in wait in the woods managed to stun one of the tanks in return. Not deadly, but will make things worse for the crew for the remainder of the scenario. In the bottom left, I attempted to break a concealed stack and got some green troops broken in return. Losses are about 2 republican squads to 1 nationalist squad. The artillery continued to fall, seeing no need to switch targets, and a critical hit managed to rubble one hex, the falling debris rubbling a 2nd hex. Thankfully, that wasn't where the Republican commissar was hiding. Turn 2 - Nationalists  Nationalist reinforcement arrive on scene, but not before plenty of shots are attempting. Nobody seems to be able to find their mark, but a flame is started in the fortified building. A Panzer IIB arrives on the map and is instantly sniped by an AT Gun, at first shocking the crew (essentially a more dangerous Stun which can kill the crew outright) and then following it up with a shot that pierces the fuel tanks, sending it up in a blaze. Other tanks came on the board at the bottom of the shot, opting to go through the town. The infantry does the same, ending up in the chapel and the building adjacent to it. The advance phase sees a Nationalist squad take the fight to the tanks and actually succeed! Always lock your hatches, folks. :orc101: Turn 3 - Republicans  A less eventful turn, several Republican squads and the Gun taking shots but scoring no successes. The T-26s turn around and overrun the squad with a tank kill to its name to break (and kill) them. A pair of close combats take place, but no side winds in either. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Opening shots break a leader on the left flank, a machine gun malfunctions while trying to eliminate a T-26, and a 2nd Panzer IIB is wrecked moving down a road toward the AT Gun. Try as they might, the Nationalists just couldn't roll well enough to take out the AT Gun, and time is of the essence here.  End of game turn 3 Turn 4 - Republicans  The left flank tries its damnedest to do something to no avail. A T-26 reduces a squad and is turned into a burning wreck as a receipt - infantry move around to consolidate my position towards the fortified building, which itself took more damage in the form of another rubbled hex spilling out into an open hex. The Nationalists lost a squad on the right flank via melee. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Only three turns of movement left, so everybody needs to get a move on. This is a little costly, as a full stack sees two squad break and two other units pin. The artillery is re-centered downwards and claims more units (although it should technically be 1xBreak). Another PzIIB runs afoul, first breaking its machine guns against a squad and then getting hit in the turret and suffering a Shock result. Turn 5 - Republicans  The Shock turns into an Unknown Kill (The crew might legitimately be dead, but nobody knows - do you shoot it some more or leave it as a silent gravestone?) and a squad breaks when overrun by the T-26. Troops move into the further corner of the fortified building to do their utmost to prevent a Nationalist victory. Turn 5 - Nationalists  With the HMGs providing little additional support and only one broken squad in the far right, I've cropped them out for the future. The Unknown Kill tank turns out to actually be dead, a fate soon shared with the last remaining PzIIB from a point-blank shot by the last T-26. Plenty of movement occurs on the left, and although lots of Nationalist troops break, it does force the collapse of the line there. The Republicans have very few troops left, something I can hopefully use to push through next movement phase. Turn 6 - Republicans  The last tank is eliminated while trying to leave and join the survivors in the upper-left corner. Everyone else on the defenders side consolidates into the building. Turn 6 - Nationalists  Post-Advance Phase. Line of sight is so bad that nobody could get a shot on anyone else. Turn 7 - Republicans  Shots out, no breaks. Things are tense here... Turn 7 - Nationalists  NOW IN JUMBO VISION Ultimately, the big problem here is that the ground floor is fortified so... I can't actually advance into them. I have to move adjacent and try to break them all in multiple shots.  But it wasn't meant to be. The advance fire phase just couldn't secure any of the needed breaks. The Thaelmann Battalion survived this day. A far more tense scenario than I'd expected, especially playing solo, having the German HMGs doing so much damage, and the artillery blowing up two hexes of the building, there was a time where I was sure the Nationalists would pull through. The realization that everything was fortified was a true heartbreaker at the very end. [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 03:27
|
|
|
AP-53 - Far From Home - Part 1 Location: Boadilla del Monte, Spain Date: 18 December 1936 Briefing: By the end of November 1936, the Nationalists' drive to capture Madrid from the west had ground to a bloody halt in the outskirts of the city. On December 16th they renewed the offensive, this time pushing northward in an attempt to cut the Curuna Road and eventually swing right to isolate Madrid from the north. One of their first objectives was the village of Boadilla del Monte, which they seized on the first day and held against ineffective counterattacks. The Republicans, now realizing that they faced a renewed offensive and not just a local attack, responded by calling on the XI and XII International Brigades to retake the village and halt the Nationalist advance. The counterattack on the town itself fell to the XI Brigade, which had had its baptism of fire (and performed admirably) in November during the defense of Madrid. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win at game end by amassing at least as many VP as the Republicans. Additional VP are gained for control of K14, M10, M15, O5, & P4 - as well as 2aK10 and 1aJ8, plus buildings.  Nationalist Strategy The Nationalists have an advantage in manpower, support weapons, and vehicles, although this is specifically true in a quantitative sense, the Republican AFVs feature 45mm guns and the advantage of being on a defensive posture. The victory conditions incentivizes an early, forward defense followed by a shortening of the perimeter to hold on for as long as possible. The Nationalists have to spend several turns moving over open ground before reaching the relative safety of some woods, and branching out from there.  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with a Mild Breeze from the northwest at start. Inexperienced: Nationalist AFV crews are Inexperienced. Missing Equipment: All AFV are radioless. First Person View https://i.imgur.com/w4y72qQ.gifv [Considering I have a backlog of 26 of these monsters to edit, I may rely on a little gif-age to help me catch up] For those not paying attention to my other LPs, I had quite a few changes at the start of this year, with some worries I have yet to overcome, but didn't want this thread to die out as I am still playing regularly. Turns 1 & 2 were full of movement for the attackers, and very little to shoot at by the defenders. Regardless, the defenders were able to gain access to the vital VP buildings, providing valuable points until the end of turn 3. Tanks snaked their way through buildings and woods and assaulted the enemy positions in the M-line of the left board, several attacking squads broke, yet the defenders did not yield and a melee ensued. This could not last, and by turn 4 the attackers had gained several buildings at the edge of the defensive line of the Republicans, taken by force, and half the time in Melee. Despite this, the score was 13 to 0 for the Republicans, a steep climb remained, halfway into the scenario.  The 4th Republican turn saw plenty of defensive reinforcements, allowing them to stabilize the front. Soon after, two Nationalist Panzers were reduced to burning wrecks at the cost of one tank's main armament. A small group of Republicans, stuck in a brutal melee for two turns managed a local victory. Despite being surrounded by axis troops on nearly all sides, they were at least alive! Turn 6, the Republicans are down two tanks, fires had started to spread to adjacent hexes, and troops everywhere we in trouble.  Despite the count at the top right, I'd forgotten 1 hex, making the VP counts equal at 25 - a result that ends with a Nationalist victory. The carnage seen, revolved mainly around the bridge into the village... It's hard to recall all the feelings I had back then [November 2022]. Thankfully, a review I'd left on a useful archive tells me I thought this scenario was exciting, rewards an aggressive attack, and requires the attacker to switch to defending staunchly once the Republican reinforcements hit the field. Aftermath posted:The XI International Brigade's Andre and Thalmann battalions were composed primarily of German communists who, having been stripped of their nationality by the Nazis, had an intense hatred of fascism. Consequently, they attacked with great determination and, supported by both poor weather and Soviet-supplied T-26 tanks, succeeded in driving the defenders out of Boadilla's stout country houses. Tactically, their victory was short-lived, for the next day the Nationalists plastered the town with heavy artillery and recaptured it. Strategically, however, the bloody exchange presaged a level of casualties the Nationalists could not long afford, and in January they called off the new drive. For the XI International Brigade, though, the cost of less than two months' valiant but bloody combat versus a professional army had been severe; by Christmas the Thalmann Battalion alone was down to 40 men out of its original 600.
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2023 22:30
|
|
|
Apologies for the large gif, I know its not particularly friendly for some people and their respective bandwidths. I'll try not to rely on it too much, but it seriously helps cut down the editing time, which I need with such a mountainous backlog 
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2023 22:37
|
|
|
HazMo-17 - Stackin' 'Em High - Part 1 Location: Madrid, Spain Date: 19 November 1936 Briefing: Generalissimo Franco was determined to take Madrid before Christmas and end the war. The Nationalist advance toward the capital began on the first week of October with a three-pronged attack intended to envelop the city and force a Republican surrender. A sense of panic took hold as the Republicans frantically sought to stymie the attack's momentum. Poor coordination, mounting casualties and unexpectedly fierce resistance checked the assault on two fronts. One column commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Carlos Asensio, however, discovered a gap in the Republican line which enabled the Nationalists to cross the Manzanares river and establish a bridgehead deep in University City. From there, only some 500 meters separated Asensio's men from the nearest cafe in Madrid. Victory Condition: The Republicans win at Game End by Controlling the University Building (V6)  Nationalist Strategy Nationalists once more, I have to push through half the map and establish a presence in the university building. I have tanks, I have plenty of troops, but traversing a city is time intensive, and over half of my AFVs are lovely FT-17s, lacking movement and with little firepower. To make matters worse, a large force will be reinforcing the Republican defenders, so hiccups in my attack will make it possible for more defenders to get into the university, and making my attack that much harder. The matter of destroying enemy tanks is another major hump to overcome, especially if/when I start losing my own tanks and support weapons.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moist, with no Wind at start. Melee!: Hand-to-Hand is in effect. No Quarter is in effect. Narrow Alleys: No AFV may use bypass movement in a hex with multiple building depictions. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Turn one ends with several shots, with two panzers on a long left hook to get behind the advanced defenders and prevent routing. This didn't quite go according to plan when one such vehicle was shot out by nearby LMGs. Turn 1 - Republicans  Opting for a more conservative strategy, the defenders pull back towards the university, but not across the road. One squad perished in R1 thanks to my overwhelming firepower. Turn 2 - Nationalists  A ferocious push claims yet more territory for the attacker, but not much in necessary results. The burnt out wreck in U5 is the only handicap for my tanks to reach the university, but the appearance of a light infantry gun will make further advance punishing. The northern side is mostly in shambles, and deadly hand-to-hand fighting cost me a squad, but won me the building (R5) Turn 2 - Republicans  One squad goes berserk while rallying and charges valiantly at my troops in U2... only for them to die and inflict MY squad with berserk status in return. Other squads were eliminated, the the university still seems so far away... Turn 3 - Nationalists  The loss of one of my FT-17s generates flame and smoke, troops flank to watch the path of reinforcements, and multiple CCs are won by the attacker, gaining me an important foothold in the university, but with enemy forces still inside and adjacent, how long I can keep this toehold? Turn 3 - Republicans  The vastness of the reinforcing group is on display (although helped by duplicate ? counters). AFV clashes with AFV, but very little in the way of casualties is claimed. Some green troops still hold a corner of the university, and a Close Combat turns into a deadly melee with no results. Turn 4 - Nationalists  The green troops did not prove successful in securing their defensive position, and the Melee was eventually won by the Nationalists, but not without casualties. The remaining Panzer only manages to stun the crew of the advance Armored Car. With a full spread of troops in various positions, I've set myself up to threaten as many avenues of approach as possible (V2 is very sneaky - can you tell why?) Turn 4 - Republicans  A devastating blow strikes me with the loss of my last Panzer. Troops advance against the university, but I can only shoot so many units so many times. While I manage to break a pair of squads, the rest gain ground. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Several units shoot, breaking several Republican units, and then spread out as much as possible - I want to make Rootin' fight for every hex and stone. (My poor FT-17s couldn't even move more than 1 hex thanks to obstacles and smoke.) Turn 5 - Republicans  The Republicans advance in force but, crucially, advance into adjacent terrain. This makes them all susceptible to 2xFP attacks for being adjacent and I have nothing to lose... Turn 6 - Nationalists  My plan only sort of works, breaking two units in X4/X5, and luck strikes when I claim an Armored Car as a casualty - although not its crew. FT-17s advance further, still depressingly slow. Turn 6 - Republicans  Overwhelming numbers helped the Republicans regain a part of the university, threatening my bid for victory. Turn 7 - Nationalists  Rather than pull back, I need to have troops stay at the frontline. Since I control the university (it was cleared of all enemy troops), the Republicans need to eliminate (or rout) everyone. The added defensive Terrain Effect Modifier (TEM) is truly helping me in this. Turn 7 - Republicans  In a last ditch attempt to gain complete control of the university building, several stacks of troops get to the university walls, but a tenacious defense makes it impossible for the remaining troops to attack and clear the building in the Close Combat phase. The Nationalists are victorious, if only just... Epilogue posted:In this sector, the most vicious fighting of the campaign took place. Savage close-quarters combat ensued as the legionnaires of the 4th Bandera and the Edgar Andre Battalion of the XI International Brigade fought a desperate action on the university campus, the front line literally traversing the institution's laboratories and libraries. The defenders even created makeshift breastworks by stacking up large volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica. While the Nationalists were able to maintain a foothold in the University, they would come no closer to Madrid. The failure to break through on November 19 led Franco to change his strategy. He would now attempt to lay siege to the capital, as he could no longer afford to risk any more of his best troops in futile frontal assaults.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2023 18:50
|
|
|
SCW-04 - Pingarron Hill - Part 1 Location: Jarama Valley, Spain Date: 23 February 1937 Briefing: During the Spanish Civil War, 2,800 American volunteers took up arms to defend the Spanish Republic. The Americans formed the "Abraham Lincoln Battalion", a unit which fought from 1937 through 1938. The the idealists of the Brigade, the defense of the Spanish Republic represented the last hope of stopping the spread of international fascism. Ten percent of the volunteers were Jewish, joining to fight Hitler. The idealistic soldiers attempted to create an egalitarian "people's army"; officers were distinguished only be small bars on their berets and in some cases were even elected by the rank-and-file soldiers. For the most part, traditional military protocol was shunned. Political commissars explained the politics of the war to the volunteers and tended to their needs and morale. By the end of the war, the Lincolns had lost nearly 750 men and sustained a casualty rate higher than that suffered by Americans in WW2. Few escaped without some form of injury. The first Americans moved into the front line near Jarama on Feb. 16 1937. The ill-prepared Lincolns, lacking proper training and equipment, had their baptism of fire when, on Feb. 23rd, they attacked Pingarron (Suicide) Hill. At 0900 two companies of Lincolns headed for the hill preceded by a Republican barrage. The first line of Nationalist resistance, men from the 2nd Tabor of Ceuta was wiped out and its commander, Zamalloa, seriously wounded. Reinforcements are called in to repel the Republican assault and elements of the Galician Battalion moved into the lines. Tanks of the Pavlov Brigade moved in to lend their weight to the struggle as Pingarron Hill changed hands three times in nine hours. In the end, the Lincolns would not carry the Hill on the 23rd. They sustained horrific casualties. Of the 450 who went over the top, 120 were killed and 175 wounded. Victory Condition: The Republicans must Control all Level 3 hexes on board 2 at Game End.  Republican Strategy With a hill to capture and artillery to help me do it, my plan of attack is to have several flanks take their time to advance into position before the actual hill-top attack takes place. In the meantime, the OBA will attempt to fall on as many defenders as possible, and hopefully net me enough results that I can take advantage of asap. Reinforcements for the defenders are going to make their presence felt sooner than I'd like, and minimizing losses will be a priority.  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Suppressive Fire!: Both sides receive one module of 75mm OBA (HE) Wooden Character: All buildings are wood. Turn 1 - Republicans  A large stack of troops on the right flank weaved its way into the forests, only to be met with attacks and having units break and pin. To the immediate left of them was a large group of units poised to attack and kill a good leader and assigned squad, only for them to go berserk. The middle was relatively quiet, and the left flank was harmed in a large way, thanks to some lucky hits - although things could've been much worse had the artillery landed on them as well... Turn 1 - Nationalists  Bottom of the turn sees the right flank hurting still, retreating deeper into the woods. The Berserk leader and squad were eliminated in Close Combat while others stuck to their positions (or retreated slightly). Turn 2 - Republicans  With the second turn of movement, more forces were able to close in on the defenders, although some notable exceptions existed - mostly those that shot this turn. Still, I have a long ways to go on both the extreme left and right flanks. Turn 2 - Nationalists  The loss of artillery on both sides, some units on the hill breaking and needing to run to the safety of the far side, and the generation of a heroic Commissar (which probably wasn't possible now that I think about it?) round out the second game turn. Turn 3 - Republicans  Turn 3 sees plenty of troops work their way upwards, troops still on the far left side of the map, and others trying to encircle the troops from the right flank. Unseen was the arrival of 3 T-26 tanks for the Republicans, with their lack of movement being the major reason they haven't approached the hill. Close Combats were split 50/50 for victories/losses. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Reinforcements! Also, a look at the losses so far. If the defending troops can get into defensive spots and occupy foxholes, it is likely they will carry the day. Turn 4 - Republicans  Tanks on the scene, further movement on the left flank and a slow and steady crawl to the top by everyone else. Movement here is dangerous, with almost every hex being open ground and subject to many negative modifiers for shooters. Turn 4 - Nationalists  A similar crawl is effected by the Nationalists, gaining minimal ground towards the top and minimizing exposure to shots from the enemy. Turn 5 - Republicans  Tanks on the hill and poised to overrun troops, possibly. Troops remaining on the left hill are providing support with mortars and machine guns, while the right hook is hampered and mostly just troops. I've got a lot of work ahead of me to assault this... Turn 5 - Nationalists  Ok, Republicans are a tank down now, it's okay... Not much else has happened aside from the defenders being real snug on the top of the hill. Turn 6 - Republicans  More dead troops and yet the yardstick barely shuffles. Close combat actions become more common, but struggles to find any result. Turn 6 - Nationalists  More fighting, more dying - this scenario looks like it'll go the distance! Turn 7 - Republicans  (Note all the grey counters under the foxholes) Advances have been made by the attackers, but there is still time for a defensive push - especially as everyone is next to or near the required hexes. Turn 7 - Nationalists  !! Tension is building !! Turn 8 - Republicans  Ahhhhhhhhhh!  Turn 8 - Nationalists  Unfortunately, the Republicans had simply lost too many units and could not prevent the Nationalists from taking control of some hexes, sealing the deal for the victory, even with the two ongoing melees. So much carnage and death! A tight scenario, although one has to wonder how things would've been different if I'd done more to drive the tanks around and mulch people under their tracks, or having artillery last longer than the 1 or 2 turns they managed... [For Historical Result, see Briefing]
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2023 22:29
|
|
|
SCW-11 - Italian Brothers-In-Arms - Part 1 Location: Near Brihuega, Spain Date: 10 March 1937 Briefing: At dawn on March 10th, Brihuega fell to the advancing Italian Black Flames under Coppi and Black Arrows under Nuvoloni. Bergonzoli's Littorio division followed as a reserve. Meanwhile, the Republican Garibaldi Battalion - consisting of Italian volunteers to the loyalist cause - advanced along the road from Torija towards Brihuega, with no idea that their countrymen - and enemies in war - had taken that town. Reaching the so-called "Palace of Don Luis", the Garibaldis advanced on foot, accompanied by a patrol of motorcyclists. Three miles short of Brihuega this patrol encountered a motorcyclist from the Black Flames, who asked if he was on the road to Torija. No shots were fired and both groups returned to their headquarters. Coppi then assumed the Garibaldi scouts were part of Nuvoloni's unit and he continued to advance. The Garibaldies had established themselves in some roadside vineyards after making contact with some advanced elements of the 11th International Brigade. Then Coppi's tanks appeared, drawing fire from Garibaldi machine guns. Black Flame infantry was sent in for the attack. Two patrols of the opposing Italian forces met. The Black Flame commander asked why the other Italians had fired on him. 'Noi siamo italiani di Garibaldi' was the answer. For the rest of the day the Italians fought a civil war of their own around a country house known as the Ibarra Palace. Loudspeakers called out through the woods during the fight, "Brothers, why have you come to a foreign land to murder workers?" The Garibaldis were successful in holding up the Black Flames at the Ibarra Palace until the position fell the following day. Victory Condition: The side that Controls 42V1 and at least two of the following: 42X2, 42Y6, 42DD4, and 42DD6 at Game End wins. If neither achieves this, the side with the most CVP wins. Republicans win a tie.  Nationalist Strategy Taking buildings is often hard, but if I can at least prevent the defense from maintaining control over the minimum needed, I can hopefully swing things my way - maybe with the helpful AFVs. Annoyingly, I don't have manpower advantage, so I have to hope that breaks are few and far between, and no AFVs find themselves turned into burning wrecks in short order...  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Suppressive Fire!: Both sides receive one module of 75mm OBA (HE) Wooden Character: All buildings are wood. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Early breaks were not what I was hoping for, although admittedly I was being aggressive. I was also a total dork that should've gone through the brushes in the center instead of trying to go through the vineyards on the right. Turn 1 - Republicans  One of the annoying things about third-party scenarios, or at least obscure ones, is you have to use proxies - in this case the Japanese - and that typically messes up a lot of the tracking/admin part of rallying/breaking. Anyways, there are some aggressive moves, specifically to deny me proper rally actions and to harm my progress towards the objectives. Turn 2 - Nationalists  With a lot more movement, throwing units at 42DD4 to wring the damned defenders out of a valuable defensive building. Other troops work their way, slowly, through the woods at the top. Turn 2 - Republicans  The defense gets away with blowing up a tankette and scoot away, breaking a squad up north and having the sniper be a nuisance. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Expected, after the Republicans ditched the house to save their skin. Unfortunately, it wasn't successful... Movement through the woods continues, but some serious movement needs to take place by the main attacking band soon. Turn 3 - Republicans  Defenders shuffle around, but little else is achieved. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Things take a turn for the worst when the armored car bogs in vineyard terrain and a 2nd tankette blows up. The troops that went down south to assault with the tankettes met some terrible ends, and the southern flank is depleted. Turn 4 - Republicans  The last tankette succumbs to a brilliant snake eyes that lays the vehicle to waste, aflame. Defending infantry gum up the works by sticking themselves into Close Combat. Things are not looking good for the attacker. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Rallies turn things around this turn and the attack finally makes headway to grab a 2nd building (DD6). Both melees in the northern woods end in Nationalist victories, but have taken time out from the defenders. Turn 5 - Republicans  Re-center the troops, cover the approaches (and also demolish one stack of troops in the woods.) Turn 6 - Nationalists  Through sheer grit the attackers manage to find themselves in 42Y6 with few enemies nearby. Time for the attackers to become defenders! Turn 6 - Republicans  The 9-2 stack has been pulling their weight and making a mess of the nearest defenders, to the point where there may not be a way for the Republicans to regain the nearest objective... Turn 7 - Nationalists   At this point I was being a little silly with the attackers - I had no need to move out of Y6 to get some more kills - and there wasn't a way for the Republicans to move out of the V1 building, maintain control of X2 and gain Y6. The tally of casualties reveal just how bloody Game Turn 2 and 5 were... But the objective called for a CVP tally since nobody controlled V1 and 2 buildings! The final score? 26 to 25 for the Republicans. I wish this pack (Guerra Civil) had an actual extension plugin because having to jerry-rig counters for these purposes sucks and is one of the biggest killjoys of these scenarios. That being said, I enjoyed this scenario in principle, and there's an earlier, simpler version of this scenario that is just straight up better. We won't get to see that simpler scenario (not exactly, anyways) as we'll play the more official, updated version instead! [This scenario has 6 versions, 2 from Critical Hit, 2 from Independent Devs, 2 from Official sources. This is why playing every scenario sometimes completes 4 scenarios at once - for those keeping track] [For Historical Result, see Briefing]
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2023 04:28
|
|
|
French Armoury - Vehicles France In 1921, all aspects of French tank design, development and use were given to the Infantry arm, which saw close support of the foot soldier as the true function of armor. To this end, various types of light, medium and heavy chars (“tanks”) were developed throughout the ‘20s and ‘30s. In 1931, a separate tank arm for the Cavalry was created—but its tracked AFV, like its armored cars, were required to be designated automitrailleuses (“machinegun cars”) since legally only the Infantry could possess chars. This separation (which also existed in the U.S. Army at the time) led to much duplication of effort and ultimately to the fielding of many different designs. (In May 1940, no less than nine different basic tank types—excluding the FT-17—were in French service.) In 1935 this distinction was finally dropped, and all new tanks were called chars regardless of whether intended for infantry or cavalry use. French infantry tanks, though well-armored, were generally slow with a short radius of action, and the lighter models carried a small-caliber lowvelocity gun with a limited supply of AP ammunition—all of which belied their role of support for the foot soldier. Moreover, the use of one-man turrets and poor or no radio equipment made all French tanks tactically clumsy and inefficient. On the other hand, they were usually well-built, and the newer, larger tanks had guns with better anti-tank performance than those of the Germans. Despite the fact that France’s first divisional-sized armored unit—the 1st DLM—was created a year before the appearance of the first panzer division, the defensive-minded French failed to grasp the striking power of combined-arms tank formations used en masse. When the Germans launched their attack with approximately 2,500 tanks (of which only about 1,000 had a gun of ≥ 37mm) concentrated in ten panzer divisions, the 3,132 French tanks (excluding FT-17) opposing them were spread out among 30+ independent tank battalions and companies, three DCR (plus a fourth in the process of creation), three DLM and five DLC. To make matters worse, these tank units were themselves dispersed more or less all along the front. In the end, the Germans’ advantages in tactics, organization, and experience proved stunningly decisive despite both their inferiority in number of tanks (not even counting the 300 British tanks in France at that time) and the gun/armor superiority of certain Allied models. For the sake of brevity, the following French acronyms are used herein: BCC (Bataillon de Chars de Combat): tank battalion BCP (Bataillon de Chasseurs Portés): mechanized infantry battalion of DCR BDAC (Batterie Divisionnaire Antichar): divisional 47mm or 75mm antitank battery BFL (Brigade Française Libre): Free French brigade CA (Compagnie d’Accompagnement): support company of (motorized) infantry battalion CACC (Compagnie Autonome de Chars de Combat): independent tank company CDAC (Compagnie Divisionnaire Antichar): divisional 25mm anti-tank company of (motorized) infantry division CE (Compagnie d’Engins): heavy-weapons company of BCP DB (Division Blindée): Free French armored division DCR (Division Cuirassée): armored division DIM(Division d’Infanterie Motorisée): motorized infantry division DLC (Division Légère de Cavalerie): light cavalry division DLM(Division Légère Mécanique): light mechanized division EDAC (Escadron Divisionnaire Antichar): divisional 25mm anti-tank squadron of DLC or DLM GRCA (Groupe de Reconnaissance de Corps d’Armée): corps reconnaissance group GRDI (Groupe de Reconnaissance de Division d’Infanterie): infantry division reconnaissance group RAM (Régiment d’Automitrailleuses): armored car regiment RCA (Régiment de Chasseurs d’Afrique): African chasseur regiment RDP (Régiment de Dragons Portés): vehicle-borne dragoon regiment (usually of DLC or DLM) #1 - FT-17M & FT-17C & FT-17 75BS   With its revolutionary combination of 360°-traverse armament, rear-mounted engine, and fully tracked chassis, the FT-17 was the direct ancestor of the modern tank. Designed and developed by Col. (later Gen.) Jean-Baptiste Estienne and the industrialist Louis Renault, and known officially as the Char Léger Renault FT mle 1917 (“FT” being the production code assigned by Renault), almost 3,200 of various models had been manufactured by the end of WW1, with the number rising postwar to some 3,800. First to be built was the MG-armed FT-17 Mitrailleuse, followed by the FT-17 Canon with a 37mm gun derived from the infantry support weapon, and then the FT-17 75BS with a Blockhaus Schneider 75mm howitzer. (A fourth type, not included in the game, was an unarmed radio vehicle designated the FT-17 TSF.) Due to its slow speed, short range of 12-21 miles and general fragility, the FT-17 was usually transported by truck for journeys of any length. FT-17 were exported to a large number of foreign countries after WW1, and saw more action between the wars (including use by both sides in the Spanish Civil War) than any other tank type. In the 1930s the FT-17M received a newer type of MG; this version is referred to in some sources as the FT-31. Modified versions of the FT-17 were built in the U.S.A. (the 6-Ton Tank), Italy (the Fiat 3000; Italian Vehicle Note 1) and the U.S.S.R. (the KS and MS series). In May 1940 the French still possessed almost 1,600, of which some 536 were on active duty in France, equipping nine BCC (most of which were behind the Maginot Line), three CACC, and about a hundred independent sections used primarily for the defense of certain cities, airfields and military installations. In addition, 244 were stationed in French North Africa, 54 in the Levant, and one company in Indo-China. A section (i.e., platoon) theoretically comprised a mixture of five FT-17M and FT-17C plus one FT-17 75BS; independent sections, however, contained five FT-17M. The Germans captured hundreds of FT-17, and used them in action on a few occasions; e.g., one FT-17C at Dieppe in 1942 (which allegedly managed to immobilize a Churchill), and seventeen FT-17 that operated against the Paris Resistance in August 1944. Critical Hit Guerra Civil: The French Renault FT-17 tank was one of the most widely exported tanks in the period between World Wars I & II and saw more use in that period than any other armoured vehicle. Both Spain and France made use of the FT-17 during the Rif War in Morocco in the 20's. Spain's surviving Renaults were posted to Madrid and Saragossa to form respectively Infantry Light Tank Regiments 1 and 2. At the time of the Civil War, the Saragossa unit fell into Nationalist hands, but after limited use, did not see further action. Madrid's FT-17's, augmented by 16 more purchased from Poland, were used in the early defense of Madrid. For both sides of the war, the limited capabilities and reliability of the FT-17 caused them to be overshadowed by foreign tanks provided by the allies of both sides. Spanish designation for this tank was Carro Ligero de infanteria Renault M 1917 FT. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jan 29, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2023 04:50
|
|
|
ASL-137 - Italian Brothers - Part 1 Location: Near Brihuega, Spain Date: 10 March 1937 Briefing: The civil war in Spain has been called the "world war in miniature". Few conflicts in this century aroused so much international emotion. In spite of a non-intervention policy adopted by the League of Nations, foreign nationals flocked to Spain by the thousands. As a result, foreign troops were used by both the Nationalists (an alliance of Conservatives, Monarchists, Falangists, and Fascists - led by Francisco Franco among others; and determined to overthrow the government), and the Republicans (a coalition of Liberals, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists), to fight their war. On March 8, the Nationalists opened an offensive with the objective of taking Guadalajara and surrounding Madrid. Near Brihuega - units of the same nationality clashed on the road to Guadalajara; the Garibaldi Battalion of the 12th International Brigade made up of Italian socialists, communists and other anti-fascists, and the Black Flame Division of the regular Italian army. Victory Condition: The Republicans win immediately if they control 6N4, otherwise the winner must control three of the following at game end: 17P2, 6J8, 6K4, 6K1. If neither side controls these, the side with the highest CVP tally wins.  Republican Strategy With a different orientation and different boards, this exact same action is designed to play out in a different way. The troops and support weapons are different, and as the Republicans I still have a lot to deal with regarding those three tankettes. Without managing them, they can threaten a lot of units without much I can do against them. Since I move first, I will be forcing my troops to run towards the objectives and grab them as soon as possible and use the defensive terrain to my advantage. If I can manage it, I'll cross the defensive line I'll create and try for the immediate win. At worst, I gain valuable CVP in case things go terribly and I need to pull back.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Suppressive Fire!: Both sides receive one module of 75mm OBA (HE) Sturdy Construction: All buildings are stone. Turn 1 - Republicans  Not much to say, the vehicles weren't able to pose a threat yet, mainly because they couldn't really see much. Everyone up top ran towards objectives. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Nationalists claim the special condition building and are able to quickly settle into the large building in the center. Luckily for me, I manage to destroy one of the three tankettes. Turn 2 will start to get bloody... Turn 2 - Republicans  Lots of shooting and barely any movement start to show here, with several units breaking and pinned in the N4 building, and exchanged shots way up top, with the Republicans holding a small advantage. Turn 2 - Nationalists  A reversal of fortunes up top make things quite un-easy for me, as well as a number of troops shuffling through vineyards to try to surround me men. I'm going to need a lot of luck to survive this! Turn 3 - Republicans  Deaths start to occur, with an exchange of half-squads, but both sides are starting to feel the sting of broken units desperately waiting to be rallied and saved. Turn 3 - Nationalists  The noose is tightened, and an even more lopsided melee is taking place in the center. Note the prisoner in building N4. Turn 4 - Republicans  An absolutely disgusting turn sets me up to regain a victory building, break an MMG-equipped squad, and this stupendous melee ends with me as the sole winner (Disgusting roll here!) My ballsy play to get troops to loop the long way and come up from the bottom has worked out well, despite being stupid. Turn 4 - Nationalists  The tactic at the bottom backfired and the tankettes managed to break everyone. Let's just pan away from that, yeah? Cool. More MELEES! Turn 5 - Republicans  Time is running out and either side is working hard to gain the necessary buildings or the CVP for a victory. Turn 5 - Nationalists  So many dead cardboard men  . If you haven't guessed yet, the screenshots are from the end of turns in order to show off the action of the turn. The Nationalists have to hold N4, but a move on K1/K2 would be nice if possible.Turn 6 - Republicans  Tank(ettes) are worth a lot, hence why they are still in the running for CVP - even if the number of units killed does not seem large at all. Turn 6 - Nationalists  A second tankette lost gives the CVP victory to the Republicans, despite the amount of troops thrown at the victory buildings. The center building (K8/K9) had too many units occupying it to be able to push in and take it. I think a scenario like this shows off the variety you can get out of any individual action. Barring absolutists who would only accept one specific scenario for any one action, there's simply a lot on offer to build something that best brings history to life. In this particular scenario, I thought it was exciting to have the rigorous back and forth for two nearly adjacent objective buildings, and both sides requiring significant troops being deployed in the area to maintain said control. Aftermath posted:At noon, the Garibaldi Battalion advanced north along the road from Tarija to Brihuega, unaware that Brihuega had already fallen to General Giovani Coppi's Black Flames. Three miles short of Brihuega, a Black Flame patrol encountered the Internationals, and hearing Italian voices, assumed the Garibaldis were a patrol from another Italian Division. Upon hearing this report, Coppi ordered an advance south along the Torija-Brihuega road. Ilia Bartoni, the Commissar and acting commander of the Garibaldis, also continued his advanced. He established his men in the vineyards along the left side of the road. As Coppi's tanks came rumbling down the road, the Internationals' machine guns engaged the AFVs and the Black Flame infantry was sent in to attack. For the rest of the day the Italians fought a civil war of their own around a country house known as the Ibarra Palace. Nightfall saw the Black Flames holding the major portion of the Ibarra, but their advance towards Guadalajara had been halted.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2023 03:34
|
|
|
Looks like the SCW scenarios are a lot better put together than some of the earlier ones. Thanks for continuing! 🤘
Hypnobeard fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Apr 2, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2023 13:52
|
|
|
EP-97 - Mussolini's Soldiers - Part 1 Location: Torija, Near Guadalajara, Spain Date: 11 March 1937 Briefing: On March 11th, the Italian Black Flame Division under General Coppi launched a major attack from the north-east. Their objective: to capture the provincial capitol of Guadalajara from the Spanish Republican 11th Division, positioned just south of Torija. With armored cars, tanks and artillery support, the Italians moved forward in their initial assault to crack the outer defenses of Torija. A vicious battle ensued as the men of the 11th Division tired to stem the Italian tide. Soon, the Republican trench system was overwhelmed, forcing the Spaniards back to conduct a house-to-house struggle as the Italians tried to clear the town. The clank of treads on pavement was soon heard, as a detachment of Russian T-26 light tanks put in an appearance. The appearance of Spanish armor turned the tide of the battle, halting the Italian drive on the town. A few days later, the Italians would be streaming twenty miles to the rear, the result of a counter-stroke led by an unknown Russian General named Pavlov. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win at game end if there are no Good Order Republican units within 2 hexes of 22oW5.  Italian Strategy My strategy with the Italians is to use the tankettes as an active threat , with the artillery pieces threatening defensive terrain, and have the infantry force their way through the left flank. Troops on the right flank will try to dissuade the enemy from supporting troops on the opposite side of the road. I get some artillery (Note the radio) which I will start using later in the scenario when I can use it on the objective building, or perhaps the Republican reinforcements.  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All marshes are Woods, Orchards are Vineyards, Grain is in season. Turn 1 - Italians  The tankettes were able to make their way to the defensive line, and the flamethrower-adorned vehicle in the group immediately goes to work. The attack in the center didn't go as well as I'd hoped, with the large stack failing to break whatever finds itself in AA3. The right moves about as well as I'd hoped. Turn 1 - Republicans  Seeing the terrain as untenable, the majority of the troops retreat in order to reach the city and hole up there. One tankette becomes the victim of the close proximity to troops with support weapons, but otherwise very little action takes place. Turn 2 - Italians  The tankettes continue their assault, doing a good job at threatening the retreat of the Republican troops. What was going to be a strong center/left flank push has been delayed, mostly due to my own caution - at least when compared to the right flank. [Note the red-marked territory for the victory condition] Turn 2 - Republicans  Losses continue to mount for the Republicans, and they are almost back to the safety of the village/city. The ATR on the right can threaten the tankettes if they go north along the road, but I wouldn't be guaranteed any safety should it miss. The artillery guns in the back won't really make an appearance anymore iirc. Turn 3 - Italians  With the T-26 tanks coming in soon, and no infantry to reinforce immediately, I didn't want to risk losing another tankette just yet. I've got a small stack of units on the left flank threatening to encircle some units, while the rest are making their way to the objective building. Turn 3 - Republicans  T-26s on the field, and the race is on to see who becomes a burning wreck. The Republicans don't want to retreat too quickly, else they won't be able to threaten the road with great modified shots. Turn 4 - Italians  One of the T-26s suffers a malfunction, and my fears of the Tankettes being reduced to spare parts were unfounded. However, because of the open ground and the lack of the right amount of troops, I had to delay an attack until Turn 5... Turn 4 - Republicans  Well, at least it's not the flamethrower tankette. The forces in the center suffer a setback, and I have a squad in the woods break under pressure. Turn 5 - Italians  Rallies continue to not go the way of the attacker, but I'm ever-so-close to getting into the VC perimeter, and I've locked down the ATR thanks to some melee action - although I tried hard to outright kill that squad with the tankette. Turn 5 - Republicans  Preserving troops (and their good order status) is now the main concern for the defenders - a tall order as SWs start to break, squads aren't rallying, and the tanks are only capable of oh-so-much... Turn 6 - Italians  Turn 6 - Republicans  Things are getting quite bloody now. The tanks I could ignore completely at this point - one is immobilized and the other needs to pass a Task Check (twice) to be able to start and to be able to move. The remaining Republican troops can still attack troops moving in, but every choice needs to be carefully considered. Turn 7 - Italians  Turn 7 - Republicans  Final turn, final melee, final roll and the Republicans just couldn't seal the deal in V4. Had they won their Melee, they wouldn't instantly become Good Order as the Melee would have ended and the Victory Condition fulfilled. This was far more tense than I'd pictured it being considering how I started on defense, but the fact that it came down to the last turn was a pleasant surprise. [For Aftermath, see Briefing]
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2023 17:48
|
|
|
HazMo-12 - Foreign Legions - Part 1 Location: Corunna Road, Pozuelo Sector, Spain Date: 3 December 1936 Briefing: In November 1936, Franco launched a three-pronged attack to take Madrid and end the war by Christmas. The Nationalists were confident of success, with Franco even boasting he would attend a celebratory mass in Madrid's Catedral de la Almudena on Christmas Day. Led by General Jose Varela, one of these thrusts featured a series of attacks down the Corunna Road to the northwest of Madrid. The opening assault, which included some 3,000 Legionnaire and Moroccan troops supported by tanks, met with initial success as the Republicans were routed, with the surviving defenders abandoning their positions en masse, fleeing pell-mell to the rear. Victory Condition: The Republicans win at Game End by Controlling Building J4 and 11 other Buildings on/between hexrows I and N.  Republican Strategy The Republican strategy at hand is to have the tanks advance as far as possible, annoying to do while moving in platoons, and break through the first line of defense with the infantry. Once the infantry and armour link up, they'll be able to push up across the bridge and make their way into the town - whether they remain in one or split into two columns will depend on the defending forces and their own composition. 8 turns should be enough to get to the town, but the sheer number of MGs (Both portable and in vehicles) can and will pose a serious threat against any movement.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Buildings are Ground Level only, All Grain is Brush. Early War Doctrine: The Republican tanks must act before infantry. Turn 1 - Republicans  Plenty of movement and most of my goals accomplished. Having two separate vehicles stun is a problem, as it means they will be worse (having a +1 DRM to most actions) for the rest of the scenario. I had a leader and 2 squads break to a 6 firepower shot by the bottom tank, but I'm happy that I'm threatening the gray units (Moroccans, the deadlier of the two squad types available to the fascist side). Turn 1 - Nationalists  Feeling the need to get their tanks in on the action, the Nationalist forces advance, though not cautiously enough. While my tanks may have +1 DRMs now, tremendous luck has seen two tanks go up in flames. Sadly, I don't think they ever spread . Minor troop losses take place, and the loss is attributed to the continuing melee.Turn 2 - Republicans  The T-26s push through the line, but a large stack and multiple machine guns make advancing a death sentence at the worst of times. I must be patient, unfortunately... Turn 2 - Nationalists  Stun results are exchanged, and more squads die in close combat. The big stack I feared was reduced, if at least slightly. [Thankfully, you cannot receive the stun penalty more than once, the +1 is the most you can get] Turn 3 - Republicans  The troops now in the rear shot to prepare the way for other troops to move up, which they mostly accomplished. Sadly, I couldn't kill the tank with the malfunctioned gun in CC, but perhaps soon enough I will get it. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Two major setbacks occur. The first is when the group in CC against a tank are shot at and all break, and a lone leader with an LMG manages to break an entire stack of troops in S6. These are delays I can't afford... Turn 4 - Republicans  More movement is made, and I'm finally getting right up to the buildings I need to win. The upper flank is deeper, though sparse in troop concentration. Hopefully this amount of pressure will force defending troops to move. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Another two tanks are dead, and that accounts for all of the Panzers. Honestly, I was shocked I managed it. I still have a lot of defenders to punch through though... Turn 5 - Republicans  Some luck leads to advances as I get real close to cementing a position in the village. Sadly, you can see how things are taking a toll on my men, with at least 7 visible squads broken and, effectively, useless. Sometimes its not just who dies, but who refuses to fight. Turn 5 - Nationalists  The Nationalists can do little but retreat. I may not want to kill the broken units, but I still have to waste time fighting them to claim buildings, and a victory. Turn 6 - Republicans  I can't have my tanks abandon their vehicles, and the closed nature of the town makes it very hard to move anywhere. I am so very very close to victory, I can almost taste it. I just need to capture buildings. I just need to push a little. bit. more. Turn 6 - Nationalists  At this point there's no way for the broken troops in the rear to be able to help fulfill the mission objective. Nationalists troops are holed up wherever possible in a last desperate attempt to hold out. Game Over  Several more grinding turns pass and the game ends with multiple Close Combat attacks, both players with baited breath. Sadly, there is no record of the true victor. Why? Well... I sort of miscounted who was going to win, and forgot that J4 was the victory building. The combat ended in a Nationalist victory in K4 and we didn't realize it while recording. In the footage, I lost. But in the post-match discussion we realized the error and rolled for the CC combat that we didn't play and I won. Who do you think won? This scenario was fun, a little bit heartbreaking, and a whole lotta stress. Good scenarios, and good games involving those scenarios are typically seen as those that come down to the very end, with the very last dice rolls. Good balance, for whatever it is worth for a semi-historical game as ASL, may not always be the desired goal, but it's fun to come down to such results Epilogue posted:Understanding the gravity of the situation, the Republicans reacted with uncharacteristic tenacity and resolve, launching a swift counterattack supported by T-26 tanks. The Nationalist assault in the sector was soon stymied and the line re-established after vicious close-quarters fighting. Other attacks ended in a stalemate, with both sides suffering around 15,000 casualties in the process. In light of this setback - and similar outcomes in the other two sectors - there would be no swift Nationalist victory in Spain
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2023 02:25
|
|
|
SCW-09 - The Road to Torija - Part 1 Location: On the road to Torija, Near Guadalajara, Spain Date: 11 March 1937 Briefing: Guadalajara in peacetime is a quiet, provincial capital set alongside the gorge which the Henares River runs through. The quiet would be shattered during early March 1937 as the Italian "Black Flame" Division assaulted the Republican lines using what would later be celebrated as Blitzkrieg tactics. The first operation of the Italians broke the Republican 12th Division upon first contact. The weather then set in, with cold temperatures and rain, which grounded the Italian air fleets, catching the CTV troops in their summer tropical uniforms. Despite the inclement weather, the Italian advance began to move again on the 9th. But just as the Republicans began to give ground, the Italian commander called a halt to rest his cold and weary troops. This decision would turn out to be critical as the halt allowed the Republican 11th Division, under Lister, to get established in the woods along the road from Trijueque to Torija. After Italian fought Italian on the 10th (Republican Garibaldi vs CTV "Black Flames", the Italian "Black Arrow" Division attacked the front of Lister's 11th Division, supported by armored cars and tanks. After smashing the front of the 11th, the "Black Arrows" were stymied, to a great extent, by the efforts of one man. The Republican Chief of Staff, Ludqig Renn, rallied the men to hold the road from Trijueque to Torija. On the 12th, a storm permitted the Republican bombers to pound the stationary Italian columns and combined with Pavlov's tanks, a successful counterattack was launched. Victory Condition: The CTV must control four of the six multi-hex buildings on Board 22 at Game End.  CTV Strategy The Black Arrow Division and its attached vehicular support have the tough job of pressing through two boards before having any chance at securing the objectives. The Red group will act as a distraction and to pressure the left flank once they have access to the walled vineyards. The slightly stronger Yellow group has to use the terrain to advance on the defenders and then properly time their advance over open ground with the other groups lest they become target practice for any defenders with an eye towards them. The stronger Orange group has a harder time with movement due to all the non-open ground terrain costing more to move through, but should hopefully roll up any defenders, throwing them back towards the objectives. The more strength they manage to keep alive into the town, the easier it'll be to push into the Stone building and further.  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Orchards are Vineyards. Grain is in season. Fire Support: CTV Troops receiving one module of 100mm OBA (HE Only) Turn 1 - CTV  Italian fascists advance on the Republicans, with the latter learning that there are two flamethrowing tankettes ready to cause chaos! One squad breaks some a lucky shot, while another is pinned, but the attack has so far been painless. Turn 1 - Republicans  Luck is on the Republicans side when the first of two armored cars has a weapons malfunction for their main gun, while its sister car is stunned by a good shot from a LMG-toting squad. A slow poo poo northwards takes place to better allow for mutual protection and overlapping fields of fire. Turn 2 - CTV  Tankettes push through the middle, but are caught flat footed by a Russian 45L anti-tank gun. One of the tankettes succumbs to its power, while the other is lucky enough to break line of sight and push through. The armored cars act as cannon fodder on the left flank. A major roadblock develops in the center as a single Republican squad wounds a leader and smashes an Italian squad, overall doing enough to survive the subsequent Close Combat later in the turn. On the right, the best Italian leader is wounded in action. Tankettes forces their way into the trenchline, suffering a loss of a non-flamethrowing variant, but trenches have been occupied. Turn 2 - Republicans  Artillery finally makes an appearance, generating some fires in the grain field on the right flank. If those become blazes, it'll seriously restrict where the Italians can move. Another Italian vehicle is wrecked, this time the AC with the malfunctioned gun, and the melee adjacent to it continues. Other troops evacuate wherever possible to safe ground - oh, and I forgot to note that one of the flamethrower tankettes was immobilized. These armored losses are unsustainable... Turn 3 - CTV  Bad luck strikes the Republicans when their 45L gun breaks down, the Italians advancing their vehicles where possible, injuring a Hero in the process and causing future routing problems from the troops in the vineyards on the left flank. Two Melees continue to plague the Italians, and more troops break under fire from the Spanish mortar. Neither side is able to conserve a large contingent of troops... it will be up to leaders to rally them back into action, or for dumb luck to take over. Turn 3 - Republicans  Reinforcing tanks have finally been able to be present against the enemy, only for one of them to be stunned by the Italians. They attempt revenge with a squad in CC by abandoning the Mortar they were using. Fire continues to spread in the grain fields, with movement prevented in any hex containing a BLAZE counter. As mentioned before, the smart money is in recovering to the town and the objectives within. Units caught out, like the squad with a broken LMG in the vineyards on the left flank are as good as dead. (Two melees on the first map ended in Italian victory, with the one next to the shot-out Armored Car still ongoing) Turn 4 - CTV  More problems strike the Italian vehicles as the left flank is, for all intents and purposes, out of action - the final tankette there was immobilized and the Armored Car's main gun was knocked out (and its secondary weapons are having problems as well!) The Republican squad in U6's vineyard is proving the be an annoying tick, but its days may be numbered at this point. Artillery is shifted north, while the fires it caused expand. The Italians push fiercely up the right flank, and it is up to a pair of tanks and a meager infantry force to prevent disaster. The final Melee in the south finally ended when the Italians rolled terribly, allowing the Republican unit to shift a hex, ready to blast away next turn... Turn 4 - Republicans  The infantry on the right scurries away to occupy objective buildings, while in the center the Republicans do as best they can to gather near the Stone building. It may be the source of victory. The ex-melee entrapped unit gets its revenge, breaking a leader and squad - the immobilized tankette also being eliminated. Turn 5 - CTV  The red-striped 3-4-7 squad is broken - third party scenario woes. More oil is spilt as both sides lose an AFV, the Italians preserving their final, precious Flamethrower tankette. The enemy tank adjacent has no functional main armament, allowing some safety in where the tankette is parked. Artillery was unfortunately shifted towards the south and causing some friendly fire, and more and more fire!! The number of turns is coming to a close and the Italians need to start pushing hard. Turn 5 - Republicans  The Republicans hole up where they can, with the attempt at retreating costing them a 2nd tank. It doesn't look like much, but even a half-squad stowed away in a large building can be the deciding factor. Turn 6 - CTV  Despite the large number of losses on the Republican side (Turn 3 - woof!) and the absence of vehicles on that side, they haven't allowed any buildings to be captured just yet. 2 turns is not a lot to push across the map to grab T6/U6. Also note the last of the Italian vehicles was eliminated by a hidden gun in X5 (see the Blaze in the street). Game Over  A pair of turns later and the Italians lost all steam, nabbing only 1 of the required 4 buildings. The heroics of so many Republican squads keeping equal or greater numbers of enemy soldiers stuck in Melee actions across three maps saved the other defenders from more pressure, and perhaps preventing any cracks for the Italians to exploit (save the right flank which blew open 'round turn 4). The artillery just couldn't manage anything decisive, in part because the defenders were well spread out. [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2023 03:16
|
|
|
SCW-06 - Brihuega Disaster - Part 1 Location: Brihuega, Near Guadalajara, Spain Date: 18 March 1937 Briefing: On March 18th the Republicans went over to the offensive on the Guadalajara front. Heavy Republican artillery supported the attack. In the van were over seventy of Pavlov's tanks, supported by over one hundred aircraft of every variety available to the Republican forces. The attack came as Italian confidence was wavering. General Roatta had left the front just that morning to meet with Franco in hopes of calling off the attack on Guadalajara. Franco refused, suggesting a new plan for attack, when Roatta's headquarters phoned the General to advise of the Republican onslaught. At two o'clock, Lister's and Cipriano Mera's two divisions attacked, supported by the tanks, with one division striking from the east and another from the west. As the Republican plan began to succeed in enveloping the town, the Italians received orders to retreat. They pulled out quickly, so fast that unit organization almost broke down completely, leading to a rout. In this so-called "battle of Guadalajara", Mussolini's Italians reported 400 dead; the figure was actually closer to 3,000 KIA, 4,000 wounded, and 800 POWs. Ernest Hemingway, who arrived in Spain on March 16th as an American newspaperman, wrote in a dispatch: "I have been studying the battle for four days, going over the ground with the commanders who directed it, and I can state flatly that Brihuega will take its place in military history with the other decisive battles of the world." Victory Condition: The CTV must control 16 buildings on both boards or exit 32 or more CVP off the north edge by Game End  Republican Strategy The Republicans can't rely on the CTV going for the Exit VP victory condition, firstly because they control some really good terrain to begin with, and because moving off-board involves crossing some fairly open terrain. [Fun Fact: You could set up adjacent to the North Edge and leave on turn 1, winning in the process. Critical Hit did not double check this one in the slightest...] Anyways, in a more sporting outing for this scenario, the Republicans need to advance through grain fields in the east and attack from behind the safety of the walls/hedges, while the west (Red) group is to advance into the woods and hill and attack southwards. Artillery will hopefully get dropped on the best concentration of CTV troops and, once the air support arrives, any valuable troops left in the open will be targeted relentlessly.  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All buildings on Board 17 are wooden. [There is no Board 17 in this scenario - a testament to Critical Hit's quality control...] Fire Support: CTV Troops receiving one module of 100mm OBA (HE Only). The Republicans receive one module of 150mm OBA (HE only). Air Cover: The Republicans receive Air Support. Turn 1 - Republicans  The Republicans occupy the nearest woods in the west, with tanks doing whatever they can to provide support. Artillery is launched at the hilltop town only for the rounds to drop harmlessly where no defenders are. In the east, lots of ground is gained and I can start planning for turn 2 where they can set up a base of fire. Turn 1 - CTV  The Italians lose a vehicle in the woods, a predictable if unfortunate loss. The troops in the south-west corner of the map make their way into the town. They were initially set up there because the Republicans could've come in anywhere on that side of the boards. Artillery was repositioned and found its mark, breaking a pair of units. Losses, so far, have only occurred for the Italians. Turn 2 - Republicans  The give and take of battle finally starts claiming Republicans. A flamethrowing tankette is revealed on the left flank, roasting a squad caught out in the middle of nowhere as they tried to advance on the town. Other units were broken or shocked by the arrival of Italian artillery blasting away in the forest they'd used for shelter. Two Republican tanks were claimed as losses, one due to a short-ranged surprise from Italian vehicles in the woods, while the one in the east was blown up after a hidden gun exposed itself. Turn 2 - CTV  Disaster strikes the Republican side when a lone tankette takes advantage of a bad situation and runs ramshackle on broken troops in the rear of the left flank. Surviving troops are left desperate and demoralized, and the attacker's tanks aren't helping, experiencing malfunctions and providing little support. Turn 3 - Republicans  More trades take place, with the Republicans breaking the crew of the Italian AT Gun, a tankette getting shocked, and a flamethrower tankette being attacked in CC. Infantry drags itself through the woods north of the town, while others force their way into the walled vineyards, but will they be able to maintain their foothold? Turn 3 - CTV  The Republicans must have received a bad batch of guns as all but two of their tanks have malfunctions. The foothold in the vineyards is largely beaten and repulsed, save for troops in one lonely hex. The west flank has lost another batch of infantry to the CTV vehicles roaming the area. A victory from the Republicans is not looking likely... Turn 4 - Republicans  The attack must continue, and as a result, more Republican tanks are lost trying to gain ground. The roles are almost completely reversed in the vineyards due to very lucky roles and opportunistic moves. Some infantry gets into the town, but fail to decisively gain ground in close combat. Turn 4 - CTV  As the advance continues, more vehicular losses are incurred by both sides. CTV troops relocate to the western side of the town to prevent any cheeky gains in the stone buildings. Turn 5 - Republicans  The Republicans finally secure two buildings in the town, in addition to the other 3 they have so far. 5 out of 16 with 3 turns to go. Doable... probably. The attackers are down to 2 functional tanks; the Italians, one. There's plenty of manpower left with the Republicans, they just have to push aggressively from the vineyards and across open ground... Turn 5 - CTV  Little happens apart from shuffling units around to where they are needed most. The Italian tankette with the broken main armament is recalled and drives off the map. Turn 6 - Republicans  The Republicans are up to 9 buildings out of 16 required. The Italians cause a lot of trouble with their leader-led machine gun just under the Melee counter. Another CC that happened in the town ended with a complete Republican loss, costing them 1.5 squads for no Italian losses. Turn 6 - CTV  Losses are high for both sides, with a total of 3.5 squads dying in the stone building in N5 (where the leader-led machine gun was). In addition, some buildings were reclaimed, and the fight for another is ongoing thanks to poor rolls extending the CC into a Melee. [8 out of 16 buildings captured] Turn 7 - Republicans  The Republican-controlled building in the north-east of the town is chased away, most of the Republican troops are killed in the north(west) of the town, and a pair of buildings are captured by the attackers. Its still just 11 out of the 16 needed buildings controlled. Turn 7 - CTV  The only real change is a stun result against one of the surviving Republican tanks. Oh, and some Italian troops are lost in K6 (where the -2 Acq counter is) due to breaking and being unable to rout anywhere.  Just... so much death. Turn 8 - Republicans  With one last desperate push, the Republicans throw in everything they can but land 1 building short of a victory... Which wouldn't help anyways as the Italians get the last turn, and the last laugh! Game Over With no movement possible, the turn could've ended immediately as the Republicans couldn't fulfill their win condition. That said, if my counting was off, I had the Italians fight on, where they regained several hexes and pushed their victory over the edge. There were simply too many losses by the Republicans before they could hit the town proper. [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2023 00:28
|
|
|
PBP-11 - A Civil War, Not A Gentleman's War - Part 1 Location: Villanueva de la Canada, Spain Date: 6 July 1937 Briefing: The Republicans had decided to clear the Brunete area just 20 km west of Madrid, using every available (Russian supplied) tank and plane to support a showpiece offensive by the Communist Party's troops. The attack began at dawn on July 6th, and despite initial success on the first morning, command failure became evident when the leading divisions halted indecisively because follow-up units had not cleared bypassed villages. At Villanueva, despite the presence of many Republican tanks, machine gun fire from the church tower and other buildings had mown down the ranks of struggling 34th Division infantry. When that spent unit pulled back from the town, dazed with thirst and fatigue, the XVth International Brigade's British and American battalions were committed to take over the attack. Victory Condition: The Republican player wings by controlling at least 18 Building/Rubble locations between rows J and V (inclusive) on Board 24 at Game End.  Republican Strategy This low unit count scenario forces you to make some bold decisions, like focusing on one front, or splitting into two attack vectors. The value you may get from splitting the defender isn't always obvious, or possible, but we're going to try and do it. The main thing is having the Yellow and Teal groups, made up of three tanks each, arrive at their forward positions unscathed and provide valuable fire support wherever possible. The defenders don't have much in the way of AT capability, save for an AT Rifle fit for the job, but machine guns can still be deadly with the right amount of luck.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Dry, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All woods hexes are Olive Groves - the paths still exist. Green Crews: All Republican tank crews are Inexperienced. Turn 1 - Republicans  Advances are made, and some shots are taken by the defenders, but no hits are achieved. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Remember me mentioning luck? Well, despite firing at concealed units, in defensive terrain and, in some cases, at a higher level, the defenders get first blood by breaking 2 squads on the far right flank and then fire a few more times, eliminating one and reducing the 2nd. Not a great start, losing almost 1/4 of your infantry on turn 1... Turn 2 - Republicans  The Republicans punch back, but not without losing a tank in the process - the ATR getting its first kill. Multiple CC's are attempted, one become a Melee on the left and the 2nd resulting in the Republicans being ambushed and the Nationalists choosing to retreat from it to run away next turn. Turn 2 - Nationalists  The crew with the MMG on the right fails to rally, the crew with the ATR is broken by multiple shots from the tanks staring them down. One of the tanks on the right malfunctions its gun, and combat revolves mainly around Close Combat this turn. On the left, the Melee is reinforced with another Nationalist squad, though they still only generate a casualty reduction for either side. On the right, no result is taken despite ambushing, a good leader, and a numerical advantage... Turn 3 - Republicans  The right flank of the Nationalists crumbles as more units break (one due to a sniper attack). (I may have made an illegal move with the tanks on the right flank? Not quite sure what went through my mind there) A 2nd Republican tank is turned into a burning wreck as an LMG-equipped squad next to it finds its weak spot. They also managed to finally get set up in the rear-left of the town, on the upper level. The MMG there will surely help apply pressure! In CC, the Nationalists rolled snake eyes and generated a 6+1 leader to help the cause. The Republicans have... 1 building of the necessary 18 so far. Turn 3 - Nationalists  Leaders do everything they can to rally the men, but the rolls are high. The Nationalists have units stuck in an upper level on the right flank and are subsequently eliminated for failure to rout by the end of the turn. CCs claim another pair of units, one on each side of the conflict. Turn 4 - Republicans  Despite being the only side to suffer any losses, the Republicans only increase their control of the town to 4 of the necessary 18 buildings. A sniper attack hit the Melee on the right flank, hence the broken (DM'ed) squad having retreated away from there. Furthermore, a tank was hit with a shock result, with the crew's status unsure - they may all be dead! The broken gun on the other is of no help on the attack. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Disaster! The ATR claims a tank, and the LMG one level lower claims a 2nd. It isn't often you see every tank kill becoming burning wrecks, which further frustrates return fire due to all of the smoke! The melee on the left flank continues into its... 5th player turn in a row? Other Nationalists advance into Close Combat against the sole remaining Republican leader on the left flank and easily dispatch him. Game Over  The Republicans attempt to sneak a unit to the right, but the squad, in desperate need of cheapest movement costs possible, gets caught out and broken (and reduced!) in open ground. With only one more turn of movement after this, there's simply no way for the attacker to claim the needed buildings. The Republicans ended it with 3 out of 18 needed. Conclusion posted:The inexperience of the tank units made them almost completely ineffective during the Brunete offensive. Lack of coordination between Republican infantry and tanks had allowed the Falangist defence of Villanueva to succeed, but only temporarily. During the Brigade's approach to the town, the British lost 50 of their comrades, including several long-serving battalion members, so they were in no mood to take prisoners when clearing the buildings at last light. Those defenders who survived had managed to surrender to the Americans. The speedy redeployment of Nationalist reserves soon stabilised the front and another Republican opportunity had slipped away. Naturally, the communists could prove afterwards that the other commanders had failed in their duty and were to blame for the fiasco.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2023 04:51
|
|
|
SCW-12 - Ring of Iron - Part 1 Location: Outside of Bilbao, Basque Provinces, Spain Date: 12 June 1937 Briefing: Franco's plans for the Basque campaign of March-June 1937 grew out of a realization that Madrid could not be immediately taken, and the war won quickly. The Nationalist rapier would now thrust at the Basque Provinces, and all available armor, artillery, and air assets would be focused on this task. Many thought the Basque citadel of Bilbao could be taken within weeks of the start of operations. Enemy deployment was known following the defection of Major Alejandro Goicoecha, a Basque engineering officer who had taken part in the building of Bilbao's defenses. This so-called "ring of iron" was the main defense line of Bilbao and was counted on by the Basques to hold off any Nationalist attack. The ring of iron consisted of two lines about 200-300 yards apart, lacking depth and protection, standing on hills without camouflage. The Nationalist offensive began on March 31st but dragged on on for months while the advance ground inexorably forward. By early June the final ring around Bilbao had been reached. The Navarrese 5th Brigade was hurled at what was thought to be a weak spot in the Basque line, there facing the men of the Ejercito de Euzkadi, a unit reinforced with a few T-26 and Renault tanks. The Navarrese requetes, aided by armor, aircraft, and artillery support cracked the Basque lines. Disorganized enemy troops abandoned their positions, falling back behind the last part of the ring of iron while being strafed by aircraft of the Condor Legion as they retreated. The Republicans finally turned to form a final defense line on the western bank of the Nervion River as Nationalist artillery began the shelling of Bilbao, now part of the front lines. Victory Condition: The Nationalists must Control three of the five hills at Game End without losing more than 44 CVP. (Hills are defined as all Level 2 Hexes on a hill mass).  Nationalist Strategy Whooooo boy! A 3.5 map stormer with tons of units on either side, artillery, air support, vehicles, and a large-scale objective. With 8 turns, it also means that there's no amount of time to spare. Every group must push, barring spectacular events, every flank must be pressured. Blue group on the far-right is the only ones to not have the support of vehicles, as they have more running to do then anyone else. The center [Yellow] group has a large hill immediately ahead of them to flatten before moving on to a 2nd, and even 3rd hill. The Beige group is a spoiler mean to force the tiny level 1 hill group to shoot at them instead of Yellow or Red groups. Speaking of, Red group has an annoying gully to cross, but with some effort should be able to blow past this hill quickly thanks to what appears to be a low number of defenders.  Turns: 8 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All orchards are vineyards. Fire Support: Nationalist Troops receiving one module of 150mm OBA (HE Only). The Republicans receive one module of 70mm OBA (HE only). Air Cover: The Nationalists receive Air Support. Restricted Start: All trenches must be set up in a Level 1 or Level 2 hex. Secret Santa: Each Republican AFV reinforcement must make a secret dr to enter play. On a 1 or 2, they may enter play during that turn's MPh. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Blue and Red groups make good progress, and Beige group sets up for a potential move next turn. The Yellow group sends tanks out quickly so future attacks (or overruns!) while having infantry advance under the cover of woods/forests to line up with the tank attack. Turn 1 - Republicans  The Republican defense retreats slightly, mostly to gain the safety of defensive terrain, while a lucky hit knocks out a German Panzer. The 45 CVP limit doesn't look to great when you've 1/9th of the way there almost immediately... Turn 2 - Nationalists  [Yuge screenshot - why I timg them] A second Panzer tank is eliminated (which I forgot to count for whatever reason) while advancing through the center but progress continues. An injured hero and a good number of infantry are on the edge of the hill and ready to pounce next turn. Both sides have artillery dropping nearby, and great care will need to be taken to not pummel one's own troops. On the right flank, the advancing units split up into a number of individual stacks - this will hopefully stretch the defenders thin and give me more options on the attack. On the left flank a gun is reveal on the tiny hill but fails to knock out one of the T-26s on hand - with a Panzer immobilizing itself right next to it when attempting to overrun it. The assaulting beige group has also lost a squad, half its force. Not much I could really do, the lack of protection there was always going to be an issue... Turn 2 - Republicans  Losses begin to mount for the Republicans, but no flank or defensive group collapses - save perhaps the tiny hill with the Gun. The Gun's crew was eliminated, and one of the squads retreated rather than be subject to an adjacent Panzer spewing hot lead at them for turns on end. Several units attempt to dig foxholes on the hills. An armored car goes 'round a Panzer between the grain fields on the right flank, and a French tank arrives on the field to attempt to stop yet another Panzer's penetration attempt. Turn 3 - Nationalists  What was supposed to be smooth sailing on the right flank becomes the stuff of legend when a single conscript squad took a bogus deterring shot at the advancing fascists in open ground and eliminated the squad. Thinking that that would the end of their good luck, more Nationalists were sent in to attack. The 2nd squad to face the conscripts were Reduced and Broken. A third squad was sent in, and the final protective fire attempt (which counts as a Morale Check against them) was low enough to eliminate them outright. Not many conscript squads can have such claims to fame... especially since a leader and 4th squad also made the trip and the leader was subsequently pinned. Sadly, it counted as a break result for the defenders, who would later be eliminated when failing to rout. Heroes all! In the center, a critical hit landed by the Fascist artillery blew away 2 squads hiding in the building nearest the bottom of the map, massively easing the job of the attacker in the hill's capture. Other tanks maneuver, both to lock out defensive guns or prevent future tanks from joining the defenders. In the turmoil, a 3rd panzer is eliminated. (The total CVP lost here, I believe, should read 27. 45 ain't that far away...) Turn 3 - Republicans  The central machine gun house is finally broken after numerous back-and-forth shots between them and the French vehicles facing them. The southern hill gets more help from Nationalist artillery and even a sniper attack. The left flank just doesn't quite have the manpower needed to take the hill yet, Close Combat is attempted against several tanks, and Republican tanks hit the field on the right flank where there are absolutely not enough anti-tank assets to deal with them... Intermission  This image taken from the start of the 2nd stream related to this playing. Turn 4 - Nationalists  Despite artillery and snipers, the task of taking the southern-most hill is still a difficult, costly endeavor. The left flank brushes up against the hill, ready to pounce on the broken defenders. The right flank is... not going well. Turn 4 - Republicans  The melee in the center, led by a 10-2 leader against a Panzer continues with neither side gaining the upper hand. The right flank is quickly turning against the Nationalists, the only "heavy weapon" they had, a medium machine gun, being abandoned when the users were broken and forced to rout away. The last of the defenders in the bottom middle are holding on through another melee, but their days seem numbered. Turn 5 - Nationalists  The push starts to run out of steam here. The left hill was miraculously captured when the last defender broke, eventually being forced to rout away and abandon the high ground. In the bottom center, defensive artillery made a mockery of things breaking squads and just being enough of a pain that helping to push at the end would be nearly impossible. The Panzer on the center hill abandons its melee to better deter the mass of Republican tanks on the right flank, which itself is not looking good. Game Over  Jump ahead a turn and the Nationalists call it. Not only has it been about 6 hours of gaming spread over 2 sessions, but the Nationalists just don't have the troops or firepower to get them control of another hill without hitting the CVP cap (which, again, I think should be +5 from its current number). The FT-17s in the center are quite fragile, and slow, and may not even make it up the hill they are adjacent of by the end of the game. The right flank has lost all potential to push uphill, to say nothing of holding the territory against any counter-attacks. In the center, it would take 2 of my remaining 3 turns to get onto the level 2 hill hexes. Any setbacks at all make capture/victory impossible. And when you have to play with a 0-turn leeway, you play aggressive, and that gets units killed easily. Going back to this after like...a year(?) since I recorded it, it was a shock to see those conscripts do so well on the right hill, and they likely cost the Nationalists the ability to storm the hill. Certainly so before any Republican tanks could park themselves there. [See Briefing for the Aftermath] Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Dec 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2023 20:55
|
|
|
HazMo-11 - The Beleaguered Capital - Part 1 Location: Boadilla del Monte, Spain Date: 16 December 1936 Briefing: As part of his effort to seize Madrid, Franco aimed to cut off the municipal water supply and electricity by blocking the Corunna Road, the capital city's primary lifeline to the north. With this aim in mind, the Nationalists assembled 17,000 men, backed by 4 mobile brigades, batteries of 155mm howitzers and air support in the form of Ju-52 bombers. The first objective was the village of Boadilla del Monte, which the Nationalists pummeled with heavy artillery and air strikes prior to the assault. Victory Condition: The Nationalist win at Game End if the Republican player cannot trace any contiguous line of Road Hexes from R5 to EE6 (inclusive), free of Good Order Nationalist MMC on/Adjacent to the Road.  Nationalist Strategy The Nationalists have an assortment of troops, and tanks to go with them, but... well, let's just say I have a major problem with this scenario. It is far too skewed towards the Republicans. Why? Well, there are few safe ways to approach the enemy in safety, as well as having NO manpower advantage. When attacking stone buildings, this cannot be the case without special scenario rules to affect the abilities of either side. Any time a squad on my side breaks, that's it for them, and my chances at victory, in the great teachings of Scott Steiner, drastic go down. My plan initially was to send in the tanks, almost invincible considering the defender's options, pop smoke to obstruct any view, and have infantry come in behind them to reduce losses/threat to them. Because the weather was Mud, none of my smoke should've worked in this scenario - but we'll see why that didn't matter in the end. The briefing might say the offensive got a lot of extra support, but you'd hardly believe it here...  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: EC is Mud, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Roads are Paved. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Turn 1 goes well enough. The infantry on the left flank manage to infiltrate into the various buildings and kill some units in Close Combat. However, the northern group suffered some setbacks when the machine guns failed to produce any valuable results and a sniper struck out at them. Turn 1 - Republicans  The left sees two squads break by the squad in P5, who are subsequently pinned. Movement is the major player here, making sure the extreme right flank looks impenetrable. Turn 2 - Nationalists  Progress continues on the left flank, although the tank fails to get any smoke going (which it couldn't, as mentioned above). One of the squads peels off to get on the hill in a roundabout way. Why? Well, I need to kill a potential road link between the objective hexes, so its not just about cutting off the northern road, but the southern one as well if I can't lock down R5 or EEwhatever. Turn 2 - Republicans  New tank comes in, immediately breaks its main gun.  I finally manage to punch through the defenses of R4! Now to actually occupy the building! The CC ends in victory in P5, and a lucky snake eyes at the start of the turn helps generate a 6+1 leader for the defenders.Turn 3 - Nationalists  Another tank arrives on the field of battle. The other functional one was immobilized while trying to overrun units. At this point the Republicans are about to get all of their reinforcements and if I can't lock down R5 and the surrounding hexes, I'm basically dead. The stone building on the hill (S7) has the same functionality. Turn 3 - Republicans  Annnnnd all of the Republican reinforcements are now on the field and I am vastly outgunned. My tanks, well, tank, on the battlefield that can move and shoot is outmatched by the Russian tanks, who've forced 3 squads to pack their poo poo and run away to P3. If I can't get into the stone buildings of R4/S5, I'm basically done for, and even then my odds right now are comically low. Game Over In fact, we called it here. I forget if it was partially due to time, but I'm fairly certain it was just due to frustration and a lack of any options to get me out of the predicament. With only 6 squads available (roughly) and having to run over open ground just to get to the necessary victory hex, I had no confidence in accomplishing that, and certainly not when my opponent Rootin' could simply get into close combat until the end of the match. Epilogue posted:Initially, the Republicans had only a few battalions in the town to counter the Nationalist threat. When the general staff in Madrid realized the scale of Franco's attack, however, it rushed the XI International Brigade along with T-26 tanks to the battle. The Brigade proceeded to conduct a successful counterattack at Boadilla, only to find itself cut off and virtually isolated in the town. In response, the Nationalists redoubled their assault, culminating in an appalling slaughter on both sides, even by the breathtaking standards of this 6-month old civil war. After three days, the battle ended in a stalemate, the Nationalists having paid a frightful toll in blood for the capture of only a few square kilometers.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2023 22:31
|
|
|
SCW-10 - Falangist Pride - Part 1 Location: Villanueva de la Canada, near Brunete, Spain Date: 6 July 1937 Briefing: Following the capture of the Basque provinces, Franco paused before making his next move. The Republic chose this time to launch its long-awaited diversionary offensive in the center against Brunete. A largely communist army was gathered, supported by 40 armored cars, 300 aircraft, 130 tanks, and over 220 field guns, with the aim of cutting off the besiegers of Madrid from the West. The 15th International Brigade was chosen to lead the attack. The Nationalists were surprised by the attack, due in part because it had been discussed in the cafes openly for so many months and seemed nothing more than a rumor. Depleted elements of the 71st Division, mainly Falangists and about 1,000 Moroccans, bore the brunt of the initial attack by Lister's 11th Republican Division. After a heavy aerial and artillery softening-up, Lister struck at dawn on July 6th and advanced ten miles in the first few hours. One of the places where the Nationalists defended staunchly was the village of Villanueva de la Canada, most of the defenders being young Falangists. As the 15th Brigade approached, heavy casualties were taken, mostly among the unit's British soldiers, and a lack of coordination between armor and foot-soldier, hampered the attack. The fight for the village was grim, but resolved by the next day with its capture by the stalwart American and British International Brigade fighters. The delay imposed by the Falangists would prove critical. By July 13th, the offensive stage at Brunete was over and the Republicans would move to the defensive. Victory Condition: The Republicans must Control all multi-hex buildings at Game End. They may also win immediately if they earn 16 or more Exit VP with infantry by exiting off the South edge. Nationalist Strategy As the Republicans, I have my work cut out for me. The terrain isn't unfavorable, but it is slow. Grain has a higher cost to move through it, and so does brush. This forces me to move constantly, rather than allowing for the possibility of regrouping any spent forces before renewing a push. Red group is a small spoiler group meant to attempt some encircling shots and divide the attention of the Falangists, with Green group meant to support them. Any cracks that the vehicles can create can be exploited, even if only in a limited capacity. Teal group is support weapons meant to set up near the hedges and pummel away at the stone buildings of the village. If I can put down some smoke, that'll also help the push - but if things go south, well, its more bodies to throw at the problem. Orange group is meant to divide the walled buildings and the rest of the buildings of the village. As long as they don't die and get to shoot at people, their job's being done admirably. Blue, on the other hand, has the butcher's bill of the work today. Armor and Infantry will have to work together to approach the buildings, secure the objectives, before finally pushing towards the walled section. Units will be running a lot here...  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Dry, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All orchards are vineyards. All woods are brush. Fire Support: Nationalist Troops receiving one module of 70mm OBA (HE Only). Turn 1 - Republicans  The Armoured cars in the upper map are shot at by an AT gun, which thankfully misses, but forces them to change their destination. I'll have to use them on the bottom map where I already have, perhaps, too many vehicles circling around. Most squads got 3 or 4 hexes of movement while CX'ing and all advancing end of the turn. Oh, and the Nationalists are already practicing their artillery support. Moving it will be a little problematic, but its a large threat regardless. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Case in point with the artillery, a successful call-in sees it land perfectly on the armored cars, wrecking one in the process and forcing its crew to jump out. Shots by the forward troops with LMGs fail to have the same affect against the Republican tanks surrounding them. Turn 2 - Republicans  As the Russian-furnished Armored Cars next to the LMG-toting squads move into the village to get around some troops and be annoyances, a hidden Gun in the building watching the crossroads reveals itself and plugs two shots dead center into the two unsuspecting vehicles. Neither crew survives and the rear car becomes a blazing wreck. Additionally, one squad is eliminated in the upper map and another breaks. I'll only be able to assault my first building on Turn 3... Turn 2 - Nationalists  More units break, almost equally shared by both sides. One of the valiant squads attempting to stop the Republican push from the get-go will likely fall next turn, and a crew manning a mortar for the attacker is sent packing, leaving their weapon behind. Turn 3 - Republicans  In the upper map, the Republicans are lucky enough to see the AT gun break itself while attempting to shoot, although it is safe to say that the group is completely used up and will have a hard time contributing anymore. Numerous moves are made in the "south" (South is technically left) map with losses on both sides, but the capture of two buildings helps establish a foothold that the Republicans can more adequately attack from. Turn 3 - Nationalists  It turns out that the AT gun only had a minor malfunction and is back in action! Its in a compromised position, but not completely useless if I can remember to move it around. The Nationalists basically re-center their defense in the buildings outside the wall. Its not great, giving up a building or two, but staying safe from a turn's opening shots can be the difference between victory and defeat. Oh, and did I mention the other small mortar crew broke? Turn 4 - Republicans  A lack of support weapons isn't necessarily the problem here, but it isn't any less annoying. The Republicans insert themselves into more buildings, but time is seriously against them now. A close combat occurred in the crossroads where the armored cars were blow away, and the defenders scored a roll of 2, helping them kill the attacker and generating a new leader, the 7-0 there. Turn 4 - Nationalists  A deathblow is struck when the Nationalists manage to attack the building, right above the Blaze counter, and breaks all 3 Republican squads inside - all of them having to high-tail it out of there in the rout phase. [Note that huge DM stack] The northern group is harassed by gunfire, the Republicans lose a Squad and their largest mortar... Things are going terribly! Game Over  By the end of Republican Turn 6, the towel had to be thrown in. While the kills were finally starting to come to the Republicans - see the extreme left of the image - it simply cost them too much time, and two turns is at least one, likely two, turns short of being able to even threaten the capture the walled structures on top of the current problems. Honestly, there is just too much in the way of required movement in this scenario for it to really be feasible. Maybe a 10 turn scenario, but I really lost too many troops early (look at turn 3, yikes!) for me to be able to keep it up. Turn 4 was just kicking the Republicans when they were already down... [See Briefing for the Aftermath]
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2023 00:18
|
|
|
FrF-01 - Jarama Proving Ground - Part 1 Location: Near Ciempozuelos and the Jarama River, Spain Date: 6 February 1937 Briefing: The Nationalists' most effective force was the Army of Africa. In October 1936, after having been airlifted from Morocco in German Junkers and scoring a number of victories in Spain, they stood before the gates of Madrid. But the Republican militia's proficiency in street fighting and the growing foreign aid in the form of International Brigades and modern Russian weaponry ground the offensive to a halt. To counter the Russians, the Germans decided to increase their aid and an independent German command named Legion Condor was formed. On 6 February, the Nationalists opened a new offensive to the south of the capital. Their goal was to cross the Jarama river and ultimately cut the Madrid-Valencia road. The majority of the Nationalist troops were Spanish Foreign Legion and the feared Moroccan Regulars, but the force also included Legion Condor and their 8.8cm FlaK guns, which made their combat debut in the direct fire ground support role. Victory Condition: The Nationalist win immediately upon exiting 6 or more non-German squad equivalents along the east edge (bottom), provided the Republicans have not amassed 35 or more CVP. (German units are worth double)  Nationalist Strategy The idea is to get off the map, but this is far easier said than done. My advantage is being able to concentrate all my forces, and in this case they are all stacked on the right flank. Although it is punching through some "hard" terrain, if you consider all the defenders in the forest hexes - the moment they collapse inward, the entire front opens up. What makes this desirable here is the open ground on the hills and potential LOS blockage from the woods and building there, while also being able to intercept any enemy units that escape the safety of their own woods hexes on the western hill. Additionally, I have a decent view along some hexes/hexgrains to the middle bottom. I just need to exit off the map, nowhere in particular, so preventing the defender from running that way and potentially affecting them is great. Because of the flow of the map, I only have an idea for the start. Red group is the aggressive infantry that will attempt to stall the defenders from moving too close. Green group is the gang that needs to break through the woods on the right, then punch south deeply, as quickly as they can. Blue is the Germans, who need to get to the hills rather quickly to set up. Yellow group are off-board reinforcements that will each supplement the group they point to.  Turns: 7.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Grain is Brush. All Orchards are Olive Groves. No Quarter Given: No Quarter is in effect for both sides. Restricted Use: The SdKfz 7s may only carry German passengers. Turn 1 - Nationalists  I have some good gains for the hill, my German machine guns approach the woods, and so do the limbered AA guns, but otherwise I'm setting up to punch into the woods themselves. I was hoping that I could knock out the squad (marked with the Pin counter on the right) but they managed to survive for now. Had they broken, the leader and accompanying troops would've made a break for it. Turn 1 - Republicans  The Republican player is no fool, and is quickly shifting all their forces right. The question is whether or not they will arrive in time to make a difference... Turn 2 - Nationalists  Turn 2 sees the Germans and Nationalists enter the woods, and one Nationalist squad entering and winning their close combat attack. German vehicles have made it across the hill and will be ready to set up soon. German Panzers have also made their approach on the right, and stymying movement efforts by some of the Republican troops in the middle of the maps. Turn 2 - Republicans  Despite not losing many units (my opponent wasn't putting them to the side for easier tracking), the open ground makes preventing my movement through the woods nearly impossible. Adding insult to injury, my Panzers are breaking squads and my best leader went Berserk, but their target will be one I'm willing to run face-first towards (the squad adjacent to the Melee) The Broken AT gun rounds things out. Turn 3 - Nationalists  The Nationalists continue their aggressive approach, losing another half-squad (hence the 3 CVP on the green counter), but tying up the troops in the woods. The German AA guns are ready to deploy on the hill, and the Panzers have managed to reposition themselves to great effect. Perfect for me is the loss of the other Artillery Gun by the Republicans. Game Over Sadly, this is where this one ended... Particularly short, and I tried to gently argue the case that we should continue, but the heart wants what the dice wasn't providing. I don't like prolonging a bad feeling, and the loss of both Guns and my tanks running rampant didn't give them any confidence that they could resist the attacker. Sometimes it be that way. Aftermath posted:Colonel Garia Escamez commanded the brigade on the north flank and seized Ciempozuelos in a rough fight, where the defending Republican 18th Mixed Brigade lost 1,300 men. The Nationalists initially made good progress and soon reached the Jarama river, but a flooded river and tougher Republican defenses would bog them down. At Jarama, the Republicans suffered heavy losses but successfully defended the vital Madrid-Valencia road. This battle, among others of the Spanish Civil War, were proving grounds for new Italian, German, and Russian tactics and weapons.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 03:28
|
|
|
YASL-01 - Full Immersion Baptism - Part 1 Location: Jarama River, Spain Date: 12 February 1937 Briefing: In early February, Franco's Nationalist forces launched an offensive to cross the Jarama, cut the road, and compromise Madrid's defenses. On the early morning on the 12th, the Nationalists captured the Morata Bridge, over the Jarama, in the British Battalion's sector. The British Battalion was a mixed lot in terms of military experience, some had already seen fighting in the early battles in and around Madrid. For others, their most recent military experience had occured nearly 20 years prior in the First World War. For many more, there was no military experience at all, just a scant week of training that had wrapped up prior to shipping to the front. The drama that unfolded over the next few days on the Spanish fields south of Madrid would be the British Battalion's baptism of fire. It would indeed be full immersion. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win at Game End by amassing 14 or more Exit VP, provided there are no unbroken Republic MMC on any overlay hex(es). The Nationalists amass Exit VP only for non-prisoner MMC that exit off the east edge of board 33 on/between hexrows I-Y.  Republican Strategy The Republicans have a forced setup in a lot of respects, where many units must be within a set distance of a center hex. This makes flexibility a hard task to achieve. Since I knew, and expected, my opponent would have to push hard, I had as many troops set up in a forward manner to lay down fire wherever possible. The lack of entrenchment (IE: Foxholes, trenches, etc) makes it a very dangerous proposal. Anyone on my side that breaks has to cross open ground to get to safety, potentially leading to lots of interdiction and unavoidable losses. The Gold Line is the first line I want to stop the attackers at. Barring that, the Blue line is the 2nd defensive line. These are more to indicate where I want to stop my opponent, rather than where I hope to place units. Additionally, considering the setup my opponent took, I will absolutely need to shift units from the left flank to the middle or right.  Turns: 6.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Moderate, with no Wind at start. Terraforming: All Orchards are Olive Groves. Specialists: Moroccan, German, and British counters are in play. (These have plenty of SSRs I am not writing) Offboard Artillery: Beginning on Turn 4, the Nationalists get one module of 70mm OBA. Harassing Fire: The Nationalists get 3 artillery shots (roughly a single-hex OBA) each PFPh and DFPh for the first three turns. Turn 1 - Nationalists  The first Nationalist turn sees a lot of movement. A pair of squads are broken from the get-go in the center thanks to accurate fire from the machine-gun havers, as well as a squad on the right flank. The attackers, however, have far more that break on the advance, the open ground proving to be deadly to anyone trying to cross. Turn 1 - Republicans  The Republicans choose to be aggressive themselves, despite losing a lot of units on the right flank to poor morale rolls (they are now either dead or retreated to the woods at the bottom of the map). The left flank advances to try and catch the machine gunners (and good leaders stacked with them) out in the open where they are most vulnerable. The right flank moves into a bunch of woods and buildings to be annoying, whereas the troops on the hill will watch over the rest of the open ground. Turn 2 - Nationalists  The Nationalists do their best to punch through the open right flank. Early breaks and pins made it impossible offer some resistance there. In the center, the hill that I am on (all the blue hexes) is a huge collection point for broken and wounded troops that I hope to get back into the fight ASAP. Things are not looking good. Turn 2 - Republicans  I get lucky with rallies in the bottom, next to the exit point, and everyone I can must is thrown to the right flank. One of the machine gunners in the top left is broken (or perhaps it was the leader, its been like 1.5 years since I played this scenario!) but the continued fire from the attacker is making the lives of the men on the hill overlay on the right a right pain. They have been in a constant rotation of breaking or being pinned. On the plus side of all of this, having retreated from the center, the mortars now need to move to have any targets of value now. Turn 3 - Nationalists  The push on the right flank continues, with troops even getting into close combat! (Which I promptly lost!) Enough delays have been created, and space given away, that the support weapons in the form of the mortars and machine guns absolutely must start moving to continue having an impact on the fight. Turn 3 - Republicans  By the halfway point, I'd gone into some more close combat fighting to buy time. The reinforcements from the left flank are pretty much settled in, and I started hoping that long-range shots could do the trick if the enemy ever tried to exit off the road. Despite pressure on them, the machine gunners at the top/center are still able to hold their ground, to our collective frustration (mine in not being able to push through, my opponent on not being able to break more units.)  Losses so far Turn 4 - Nationalists  The Nationalists go all in on the approach to the exit on the right flank. The artillery fails to find its mark, the machine gunner and leader on the left flank are broken once more. You can see how the support weapons (machine guns and mortars) are starting to move up, though only in the advance phase, delaying things ever further. Turn 4 - Republicans  With the far left finally cleared, units can consolidate towards the middle. Mounting losses force more units to more ever-so-closer to the enemy to prevent an easy escape on the road, exposing themselves to machine guns and concentrated fire. The enemy is also on the hill in the center of the map with a sizeable force. My only hope is surviving in the church on the hill and preventing exits via low rolls and liberal use of residual fire. Turn 5 - Nationalist  Despite pushing through the woods, the attackers have lost a lot of steam on their attack. The center hill saw several units break when moving through the woods, and the advance on the right has been stalled for at least 2 turns, not being able to kill the singular squad holding everyone in melee. Game Over  By the middle of Republican Turn 5 the towel was thrown. Losses had simply mounted too much, and the requirement to push through to the exit AND clear out the hill hexes was an insurmountable task. The right flank being stalled for so long was really the death knell of the attack. Although it is hard to suggest reasonable solutions after the fact, a more aggressive push by the troops on the right would likely have favored them if they didn't stack. Couple that with the artillery falling on the houses and providing hinderance through it, there was more of a chance for success. Either way, it would've been incredibly close at the end regardless. Battle Results posted:The day of the 12th did not go well for the British Battalion at all. Their opponents were experienced, blooded veterans. Many British observers remarked on the Moors ability to cover long expanses of wide open ground while constantly disappearing into ever fold of ground along the route of advance. Nationalist artillery began to fall randomly at first, and then after several ranging rounds, began to concentrate on the 4th Company on the heavily wooded White House Hill. The pressure on their position became too much, and with the 4th Company caving in, the battalion was forced to run for their lives to the olive groves behind. The Nationalist forces were able to take the hill positions the battalion had been holding, but were turned back at the end of the day from being able to further exploit their breakthrough. By the time the day's fighting was over, losses amongst the battalion were well in excess of 20%, higher amongst the exposed companies. Nonetheless, the British would manage to regroup and fight on over the crucial next couple of days. By the time fighting along the Jarama had ended several days later in bloody stalemate with the Valencia road still open, the British losses had risen to 50%.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 19:32
|
|
|
Nice, cool to see this is back!
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 19:52
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:Nice, cool to see this is back! It will never die! 
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 19:57
|
|
|
A256.1 - Il Palacio de Ibarra - Part 1 Location: Guadalajar Salient, Spain. Date: 12 March 1937 Briefing: The Republican General Lister attacks with the 50th Division supported by 50 tanks of Soviet production, under the orders of the General Pavlov. During the offensive the Republican Battalion ”- Garibaldi” receives the order to take the defended Palacio de Ibarra from the "Indomito" Legionary Battalion of the C.T.V. (Contingent Volunteer Troops): Italian blood flows on Spanish soil. Victory Condition: The Republican player must control building N4 and have more CVP than the Nationalists.  Republican Strategy While I'm playing this Italian scenario on both sides, the real strategy lies with the Republicans. The defenders have a HUGE advantage, stone buildings and their +3 DRM, the lack of flamethrowers makes attacking tough - although having a pair of DC (Demolition Charges) can do some work in the right circumstances. Additionally, the attacker has the advantage in leaders, which is nice, but no manpower advantage is a painful prospect to face. Ultimately, the first turn is some shooting and mainly moving into position. Turn 2 needs to see either a break into the building or massive shots everywhere that ruin a hex or two, for a follow-up soon after.  Turns: 7 Special Rules Weather: None specified. Terraforming: All Orchards are Olive Groves. Smokey the Bear: Kindling is NA. Turn 1 - Republicans  Turn 1 sees the tanks move up and prepare for a push around the building next turn. The machine guns of the Republicans were able to break a very important and dangerous stack in the opening shots with some breaks. A sniper triggered, but a pin result is of little importance in this instance. Losses start, but a half-squad can be shrugged off. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Little movement can be expected of the Nationalists due to being in the objective from the get-go, and having no reason to leave until the end (and even then its debatable). The loss of a leader evens out the score, but more importantly the units broken in N3 could be disastrous if they don't rally... Turn 2 - Republicans  Lots of shooting opens up the turn, getting some victories here and there, but a massive push by troops running through the streets is repulsed with numerous squads breaking and losing at least 2 full squads as well. On the plus side, the tanks are in position and will be able to provide a lot of support soon. Turn 2 - Nationalist  More shooting, but the stubbornness of the defenders is starting to wane. The number of units breaking is mounting, but so are losses from the attackers - which are far more permanent... Turn 3 - Republicans  Finally able to break into the building, Republican troops still have some losses, but start to force Close Combats to occur. Additionally, a stack of units were captured and are being moved away from the fighting. Turn 3 - Nationalists  As with the previous scenario, one of the biggest problems in a time-sensitive scenario is being stuck in Close Combat endlessly thanks to poor rolling. This can be an issue for both sides. For the defender, they may no longer have a powerful stack or support weapons that can decimate troops moving in the open. For the attacker, its units that aren't clearing hexes and being able to threaten other positions. Turn 4 - Republicans  Tanks move once more to completely surround the enemy, while close combats continue to be fought in the building. You can see the disparity in losses at the moment in raw CVP above the turn tracks, with prisoners to the left for reference. Turn 4 - Nationalists  In the Rally Phase, one of the Nationalist leaders not only self-rallied, but went Berserk, rallying and berserking a squad in the process! This forced them to move, going through the building, and immediately throwing themselves into the melee on the northern-most hex of the building. The results speak for themselves when you look at the turn track! Other units suffered some losses, so it wasn't entirely one-sided, but it is starting to look like the Republicans simply won't have the manpower to finish this off... Turn 5 - Republicans  So anyways the Republicans absolutely shellacked two hexes (M5 and M6) and were able to find purchase inside the building. The close combat in the south hex (O3) rages on, unbelievably, and the broken units in M5 and M6 (upper levels) may be in dire straits. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Things take a turn for the worst for the Nationalists as their failure to rally means they are sitting ducks waiting to be eliminated in the Rout Phase for failure to rout (they can't move somewhere that wouldn't be closer to an enemy unit) and they aren't in a position to surrender due to their location in the building. Game Over  After some 3 or so Game Turns (so 6 close combats), the one in the O3 hex is finally over. So many losses occurred on Turn 5 that, by default, there was no longer any resistance for the attackers to fight, save a pair of stacks of broken units, which would promptly be eliminated the moment they are cornered in the building's upper floors, and forced to be eliminated through failure to rout. The Prisoner CVP is always calculated at the end (because they can escape) and would thus no longer count towards the CVP value. Consequences posted:The Garibaldi battalion surrounded the Palacio de Ibarra and attacked it with the support of some tanks. The Legionaries resisted with determination and did not surrender until walls were not literally torn to pieces, the officers fell and the
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 20:49
|
|
|
Doing a bit update to the armoury to include stuff from Guerra Civil, one of the modules that is almost done with iirc.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 21:43
|
|
|
WCW-06 - Los Ejercitos Nuevos - Part 1 Location: Jadraque, Spain. Date: 9 March 1937 Briefing: After several months of war, both the Nationalist and Republican military leadership began measures to "regularize" their militia forces. On the Nationalist side, among the first fruits of these policies was the Division de Soria, formed from Carlist and Falangist militiamen operating northwest of Madrid. Holding a front of 50 kilometers, they had been opposed from the first day of 1937 by the Republican XII Division, one of the first large newly formed formations of the recently decreed Ejercity Popular (Popular Army) to reach the front lines. When on 8 March 1937, Mussolini's Black Shirts struck south down the Zaragoza highway towards Guadalajara, the task of clearing and screening the right flank of their advance fell to the Division de Soria. As the Italians poured through the XII Division's shattered front, the hills around Jadraque, almost the only elevations breaking the bare tableland, offered excellent positions both for the remnants of the XII Division to regroup and for Italian penetration. Colonel La Calle, commanding the XII Division, was determined to hold the hills; General Moscardo, commanding the Division de Soria, was determined to take them. The new armies of both Republican and Nationalist Spain were meeting in their first trial of major battle. Victory Condition: The Nationalists win if they control 8 or more level 2 hexes on Hill 526.  Nationalists Strategy With only 2 MMGs to work with, and plenty of infantry, the Nationalists have to cross open terrain across a stream/river and then go uphill the entire way... Not exactly an easy task when being shot at. If the MMGs can knock out VIP targets, such as the enemy MMG, and get rate of fire, they should be able to help ease that pressure the advancing troops will suffer.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Overcast Terraforming: All Woods are Brush. Bloody Fighting: Hand-to-Hand is allowed. Turn 1 - Nationalists  What a turn only shooting and advancing at the end of it looks like. No casualties and no breaks - a slow start. Turn 1 - Republicans  An exchange of fire between the MMGs and available LMGs leads to the Republicans having several troops break while in their foxholes, while the Nationalists have a squad break while waiting to move across the stream. Turn 2 - Nationalists  Finally across the river, but only barely. The main reason for this is the broken MMG crew and a broken squad with an LMG in Y3. Turn 2 - Republicans  What an average turn looks like for shooting. The Republican crew with the MMG rallied at the start of the turn and broke the northern MMG of the Nationalists. Turn 3 - Nationalists  The Republicans draw first blood when, after many moves and lots of bullets being slung all over the place, a Nationalist squad was eliminated for failure to rout. Turn 3 - Republicans  And although losses are light on both sides, the real scale of things is all of the Broken/DM units you can see (for example there's 3 foxholes with white counters in them, representing DM status). You can see a similar thing with the stack in Y6 (SE of the CX guy). The top CX guy is pinned. You can tell these, even at a distance, because of the way the counters look (the y in Rally: +4 sticks out - or because you can't be CX'd twice, hence CX and Pinned). Turn 4 - Nationalists  Finally the Nationalist make it to the heights of Hill 526 - taking out a squad that replaced the crew (to be able to keep using the MMG). The number of broken units on the Republican side is, essentially, insurmountable at this point. Although, the giant stack in Y6 is absolutely ridiculous, never do this, because if anyone were to shoot at them it'd be a -4 DRM shot or something... Turn 4 - Republicans  Despite lots of Republican troops being broken, they haven't stopped being able to fight! The troops on the heights are beaten back, which is a sore point. Rallying is tough enough as is, but its worse when doing so under constant fire and without access to many leaders to help. Turn 5 - Nationalists  The slow grind continues, with Nationalists regaining control of some hexes on the heights, but the problem of mass broken squads is still felt by either side. Turn 5 - Republicans  A bloody player turn ensues, but the melees may hold the attackers off long enough for a defensive victory here. If the Nationalists can't walk past those hexes, they can't gain control! Game Over  And here we see the results of those unfinished Melees. Because the fighting never ended in X4 and W5, the Nationalists had to go around, costing them valuable time and movement, which they couldn't translate into a win. I think they had 6 of the 8 needed hexes. Fun fact, this was the scenario I was going to start this project on before I found a whole mess of scenarios, purchased some scenario packs, and made trades with a local buddy of mine. 99 scenarios into this whole thing! Aftermath posted:Amid appalling conditions produced by nightly snow and daily rain with the temperature hovering about the freezing mark, Spaniard fought Spaniard in the hills about Jadraque. Attack and counter-attack were bitter and incessant, with quarter neither asked nor given. Better equipped and better led, the men of the Division de Soria made steady progress. Not even counterattacks stiffened by small quantities of Soviet armor were able to check their advance. By 12 March, they had cleared the Republican troops from the hills, and established themselves 7 kilometers beyond Jadraque. Not once during the Guadalajara campaign was the right flank of the Italian advance threatened.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2024 02:15
|
|
|
HazMo-16 - L'Inferno Fascista - Part 1 Location: Near Guadalajara, Spain Date: 8 March 1937 Briefing: The civil war in Spain was not yet a year old and it had already devolved into a conflagration of unprecedented violence, even by the standards of a civil war. As the clash of two fundamentally opposing ideologies, the conflict in Spain attracted volunteers from countries all over the world, eager to sacrifice themselves in the name of a cause they considered to be greater than themselves. One such group of men was Mussolini's Volunteer Corps, which Italian commander General Mario Roatta deployed as part of Franco's effort to encircle Madrid. On March 8, they attacked the understrength 50th Brigade, 12th Division of the People's Republican Army near Guadalajara. Leading the assault was a horrifying new weapon: the L3 Lanciafiamme, a flamethrowing tankette. Victory Condition: The Italians win at Game End by Controlling 10 of the 13 Buildings. For each Italian AFV Eliminated, Immobilized, or Recalled, increase the number of Buildings needed to win by 1.  Republican Strategy An aggressive defence will limit how much movement my opponent can achieve. The weak center is one, because crossing the woods would be more time consuming, and because I can catch him in the open if things go particularly well for me. The defensive plan is to bug out of the left flank once it becomes untenable, and shift the forces right where I have my vehicles ready to destroy the Italian tankettes and force the need to capture every building. Its an uphill battle whenever you have to deal with a flamethrower, and even moreso when its armored and capable of greater movement!  Turns: 5.5 Special Rules Weather: EC is Wet. Terraforming: All Grain is Brush. All Buildings are Wooden and Ground Level only. Turn 1 - Italians  The Italians moved up one vehicle at a time and did what they could to minimize casualties. On the other hand, I had no real shots... save one on the extreme left against some troops in a single wooded hex. The squad breaking was lucky for me.  Some other shots also hit paydirt when I broke another 3 squads. I had a squad break (and ELR!) from the flamethrower tankette. Turn 1 - Republicans  My mortar in the center (at the bottom), kept shooting at the units on the far left woods. One shot by a determined squad managed to penetrate and eliminate one of the Italian tankettes, though not the flamethrowing one. Still, it'll make the scenario harder for the attacker!  The Advance Phase (APh) sees me sending a squad into the captured building, ambushing and eliminating the enemy squad within. I'd say its a victory, but I'm also at the mercy of the tankette again... Turn 2 - Italians  The prep fire phase goes as one might expect - the 4-3-7 Greenies gave as good as they got and were burned to a crips by the lanciafiamme. The rally phase produced a berserk squad, which promptly threw itself into a large stack of my units, only suffering a casualty reduction. My center starting coming under fire as well, and a squad broke from mortar fire.  In the defensive fire phase, the broken 9-1 leader and accompanying infantry were attacked and went berserk (ugh!), although they should not have been able to move in the Advance Phase. My broken units were forced to run and had very limited destinations. I'll need them to recover... quickly. Turn 2 - Republicans  A leader, stuck in Hand-to-Hand combat against two enemies. A half-squad reduction in the rally phase, and not a lot of movement to go with it.  Luck strikes once more when a squad reinforces the melee with the leader and I come out with 2 kills for no losses. I'm really putting the squeeze on those troops. Turn 3 - Italians  The Italians make a push on the left, bolstered by the berserks successfully making it into the melee-winners hex (E5), but suffering terribly when the mortar hits troops moving in the open and breaking the stack. A further unit was thrown in to try and break through with no success. The Lanciafiamme stalks another prey.  The luck doesn't hold out for the leader and squad that were encircled (almost literally). An AFPh shot broke both and they were easily eliminated for failure to rout. The Tankette smoked the mortar squad and they were forced to rout away. Turn 3 - Republicans  Some minor movement, although importantly, a T-26 arrives on the battlefield to do more to potentially harm the Italian advance.  Note the difference in stack up top. That's what happens when you can't rout anywhere... Turn 4 - Italians  Plenty of movement to get grabbing the vital objective buildings, and the Tankette threatens a new group.  Some defensive shots managed to overpower the larger stack in the center trying to advance on my larger buildings, and the Green troops in the bottom left are feeling mighty vulnerable. Turn 4 - Republicans  Movement is little, but enough to have some units shift around to avoid being burned alive by the tankette. A spare squad is moved to the center, behind some lumberyards, to prevent the Italians from getting around and claiming a few easy buildings.  The nearest squad to the greenies in the bottom left was broken, though I think it routed the wrong way  . Either way, I'm still holding many buildings and forcing the Italians to make very tough decisions.Turn 5 - Italians  Under pressure now... I break a squad moving in the bottom left. Game Over  With so many troops broken on the push towards the objective buildings, the Italians threw in the towel on the final turn of the game (my last and then his last). There were frankly too many units to overcome to take control of the scenario and the Italian player did not see a way to victory. Epilogue posted:The Spanish defenders had not even bothered to construct many fortifications, since they had mistakenly assumed the Guadalajara sector to be a relatively peaceful part of the front. For this reason, the Italians were able to achieve nearly complete surprise. Upon receiving word of the surprise attack, the Republican High Command ordered T-26 tanks to the scene. Meanwhile - after offering some token resistance - the Republican line broke, its local commander urgently requesting both infantry and armored reinforcements as he joined the headlong flight to the rear. Flush with this initial success, the Italians could not know that in the coming days they would suffer a crushing defeat in the face of determined Republican counterattacks.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2024 21:36
|
|
|
Wooooo 100 scenarios posted.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2024 21:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 18:02 |
|
|
FT-26 - Vertice Mocha - Part 1 Location: Madrid, Spain Date: 7 July 1937 Briefing: As the Negrin government badly needed to win a battle in order to restore its leadership and bring optimism to the rearguard, it was necessary to strengthen the offensive strategy and stop the enemy advance in the North while seeking a partial victory for propaganda purposes. Everything was set for a reactivation of the Madrid front, the only front where the enemy had been defeated, and where the Republican troops where more than average. Rojo thus prepared a general assault with 80,000 soldiers, all the available aircraft as well as 100 tanks, 30 AFVs, and 164 artillery guns. Nationalist troops were composed of only 2 Banderas of the Falange, an Army Battalion and some other minor units, reinforced by 2 Africa Tabores brought as reinforcements. Victory Condition: The Republican player must control hills 654, 733, and 740 at Game End. (This requires controlling all Lvl 4 hexes of Hills 733 and 740, as well as hex 9H5.)  Republican Strategy Pre-Game Bombardments cannot be predicted, so I just have to hope it does the trick and breaks enough units. The initial movement or phase is the Red arrows. I need to gain access to higher ground and push fast while units are still broken from the bombardment. The Tanks, especially, will need to throw their weight around and hope they don't get immobilized or eliminated. Yellow phase is all about attack enemy positions, with the flanks taking priority. Blue is the advance on the tougher parts of the defensive line - there's a strong position in the stone buildings in the bottom left, behind a bunch of wire, while the center is just surrounded by mostly open ground, and thus exposed approaches. The right-most position is comparatively lightly defended and, hopefully, won't prove to be too much of a pain. The same goes for the forward green-colored units on the left side.  Turns: 6 Special Rules Weather: EC is Dry. Incoming!: The Republican player conducts a Pre-Game Bombardment. Turn 1 - Republican  The Bombardment had started off well enough, breaking a number of units, killing a squad and reducing another, but the open ground was equally deadly and the Republicans lose a trio of squads themselves. Paired with having some hard breaks to deal with, it puts the offense in jeopardy.  By the end of the turn, the tanks are still threatening the nearest Fascist troops on the left flank, and I have gained ground in some areas that should help me push further. Turn 1 - Nationalists  Lots of prep fire as movement just means troops exposing themselves. The right flank is relatively unharmed, whereas the left suffers some more breaks.  Defensive fire doesn't really accomplish much either. Turn 2 - Republicans  Slowly and steady on the right, and an assault on the left.  The assault on the left flank turns into at least one Melee, and units in the back left are broken, surprisingly! The prep work for the assault on the right hill is almost complete and a spoiling attack is taking place in the middle to draw attention away from that side. Turn 2 - Nationalists  The Nationalists manage to break a few units attempting to attack the right flank.  The foxholes in the center's left-most position are empty, which isn't a good sign for the Nationalists. Turn 3 - Republicans  Instead of trying to punch through, I opt for an extra turn of shooting to try and break some of the defenders, which luckily happens. The left is in shambles, with all units broken, and the only constraint being the movement through the wire hexes. The tanks are finally without a threat to face on the left that they can move to the center position.  Turn 3 - Nationalists  Prep fire from everyone produces no satisfactory result.  Return fire pretty much does the same. Turn 4 - Republicans  The push continues, though there is stiff resistance on the right flank, and the center does enough to stay alive for another turn - one of the tanks being Shocked is... not good.  The troops on the left flank are toast, they have nowhere to rout now. Turn 4 - Nationalists  The defense continues to put up a strong front, eliminating the 2nd tank! Berserk troops move against some Republicans and they survive to the close combat. The lone Republican squad in the right flank's hill is broken and forced to retreat later.  The troops on the left hill are eliminated for failure to rout. The squad on the right low crawls into open ground, and the units in the center are in a pickle... Turn 5 - Republicans  By the end of Turn 5's movement phase, the Republicans are no closer to gaining the hill on the right flank, while the middle is dangerously close to falling to the attackers just as it is possibly resisting until the last man!  Not much to say, close combats don't really exchange kills. Turn 5 - Nationalists  Shooting at over-stacked units is always good because a great result does a lot to thin out the troops - in this case it like... murdered 2 squads or close to it. That large stack on the right is in a very bad place. The center continues to put up a defense.  Curses! The center breaks at a critical moment, with one stack being eliminated for failure to rout and the other under a DM counter Game Over  The losses and breaks proved too much and the Nationalists hung on. The Right Flank failed to grab the hill there, and victory thus went to the Nationalists. A strong defense in the center and some terrifying rolls on the right to blast away the attackers made getting the objective impossible. Aftermath posted:Despite initial success, the lack of experience of troops used to trench warfare soon took its toll of losses. Even if Brunete fell without nearly any combat, the breakthrough could not be achieved and the Nationalists enjoyed the necessary time to reorganize and fill the gap. The Republican assault, once more, had failed...
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2024 02:50
|
|