Day of Days 2010

A couple of players didn’t turn up so we only had 10- 5 Germans and 5x soviets. I ended up running my cossacks to even things back up so no fun with grilles this time!

Germans

• Grenadier Company: 4x hornisse
• Jagdpanther company: 5x jagdpanthers
• Stug Company- 10x stugs and panzer IVs + some pioneers
• Panzer Grenadier company- 3x panthers
• Sturm Company- 4x stugs, 2x pak 40s

Soviets:

• Cossack Battalion (supported by 3x SU 152s and 10x T70s)
• Razvedki- supported by 6 T34s(most 85s) + 3x decoy panthers
• Tank Company- 20x T34s (76s & 85s) + 5x Stuarts
• Tank Company: 20 odd T34s + Motostrelk Company
• Tank Company: 20 T34 76s & 85s + 3x decoy panthers

Borrowed from the bF website- gives you an idea of the campaign but ignore who is controlling what!

Round 1

Round one started with the Soviets trying to smashed the German defensive line in a series of fortified engagements. The Germans one three of these, Cal’s tankovy being stopped in a river assault by Kent’s Panzer grenadiers with panthers at Zhoblin- lacking infantry did not stop Cal throwing his T34s over the minefields with gay abandon (or is that Soviet ruthlessness).

My own Cossack company defeated a jagdpanther company- 5x jagdpanthers and 2 begepanthers! Which were supported by firestorm tigers and stugs, driving the Germans from Dobryna. One tiger died to the bombardment a second to an airstrike the Poochie had to roll a company morale test on turn 1- but from there he fought back and it was a very close game. Jamie's tankovy with decoy panthers literally rolled over a stug company (Nigel) with minimal casualties in a Breakthrough Assault and thus opened up the Southern route at Kaprilovka.

The end result was 3 Soviet wins so the German lines were breached but a couple of the key cities of Mogilv and Orsha held.

Round 2

Saw 4 more Soviet victories as the juggernaut gained momentum. My Cossacks defeating Nick Garden’s grenadiers with 4x hornisse in a bloody urban Cauldron while Jamie (Xelee) captured Orsha from Kent after a bloody battle that went down to the wire.

Round 3

The Soviet momentum continued with another 3 victories. My Cossacks defeated Kent’s panzer grenadiers on a heavily forested table as we sought to open the southern route to Minsk. We suffered a couple of reverses though but by the end of the turn both sides had managed to cut off each others troops from supply.

However the Soviets had made two deep penetrations in the Germans lines aiming straight at Minsk and even travelling as far as

Round 4 (Day 2)

The intention had been to run 32x rounds of multiplayer games, one in the morning the other in the afternoon but they take more time to play so we ended up playing only 1 round featuring a German counter attack at Orsha and a Soviet attack just south of Minsk as the Soviets sought to shore up their precarious supply line before the final attack went in.

The Germans after a mammoth game beat the Soviets and recaptured Orsha- Cal and Steve Jamieson’s T34s no match for jagdpanthers, hornisse, tigers and stugs!

At this point we ened but Nick and I rolled for turn 5 and the Germans own both dice offs and so got to launch two counter attacks to relieve pressure on Minsk.

Nick’s view

Holding on the first turn was a huge morale boost for the Germans. The Soviets then decided to push forward around the German held cities. Our chance to cut the Soviet advance to the south failed but it seemed the Soviets were more a bit more cautious the turn after.

On the second day we decided that Orsha must be retaken. We assigned our best firestorm troops and sent our offensive minded Generals to take it back knowing that the Soviets wouldn't risk taking Minsk knowing that we still controlled the Soviet supply lines into Minsk.

Thoughts

Overall it worked pretty well, the Firestorm game added a different dimension but most players concentrated on the table top games. Next time we would run the 4 round version- 3 single games and one multiplayer on day 2. Next time through I think I might even come up with a Kursk campaign- or use my Axis of attack, Kursk- or even modify a Stalingrad board game.

Some Photos

German commanders confer

Game 1 vs Pooch- after the first round his command jagdpanther was all that was left so we charged it!

Cal's T34s try a river crossing without any infantry support!


Game 2 Cauldron vs Nick Garden.


Game 3- Encounter vs Kent's PGs- these panthers were outnumbered by Soviet ones


Same game: Cossacks love woods!


Multiplayer- Cossacks and T34s attack gug in sturm company on the hill- as happ3ns in these kinds of games too many troops and not enough room, another foot of depth would have been handy (or simply used the table tennis table!).

Craig