Scenario Orange One

THE ROAD TO POVYNKA

The Russians are probing down the approach road from the East towards Povynka, looking to gauge the enemy strength and assess the best point of entry into the town.

This game will use Scenario Two: The Probe, from the Chain of Command rule book. Each German player will place three Patrol Markers within 12” of the Western table edge. The Russians will enter the table along the Eastern edge, each deploying two or three Patrol Markers, at a fixed point as they choose. Each Player will be able to place two JoP’s.

To achieve a game WIN, the Russians must get at least two Infantry Squads or Tanks off the German table edge.

Away from the town environs, apart from the Orchard & Woodland the ground the Russians must cross is quite open, particularly on the South side. A still largely intact High Fence blocks the way here, but the dry Irrigation Ditch surrounding the Fallow Field will provide some cover to the Russian Infantry. The buildings are wooden in construction for the most part and therefore only provide light cover. Whilst proving light cover/obscuration, the hedgerows are (not really hedgerows!) very sparse affairs that do not block LOS.

For this game the Russians have 12 Support Points whilst the Germans only 6. As per the core scenario rules, the Germans cannot select any Entrenchments, therefore there is no Heavy Cover to be had on this table!

HOW IT WENT

The Russians decided not to go for a heavy JS tank in support but rather opted for one of their T34’s whilst the Germans for their part pitched all six of their support points into a lone Stug.

Unfortunately for the Germans, early on the Stug was KO’d by the T34, but it too suffered the same fate from a German Panzerschreck Team.

With the loss of the armour support the, Russian resolve stalled.

Lt Teripov on the left flank managed to secure a fire position at the irrigation ditch, it being enough to force Lt Brymann facing him away from the early fire positions he had taken in the upper floor of House 3 and fence line. However, the Russians felt unable to cross the open ground to the fence line against what they knew was a still strong and intact German force waiting for them.

On the right flank Lt Neilikov managed to get as far as House 1 but mounting casualties from the fire of Lt Andmacher’s Platoon prevented any further advance.

The Russian senior Commander Lt Neilikov, called off the attack which allowed the Germans to later fall back onto their second line of defence in good order.

Post-match

Lt Neilikov had lost 10 men including an NCO in the abortive probe, five of which would not be returning.

HQ were not impressed with Lt Neilikov (-1 on their “opinion”) and nether were his men (-3 on their opinion) which would reduce the Platoons Force Morale roll for the next battle by -1.

Lt Teripov shared the same disapproval from HQ as Neilikov (-1) whilst his men seemed indifferent (a 0; no change) having lost only one man who was known to be recovering in the Aid Tent.

Unfortunately for the German Officers there is no Senior Staff to witness their success as HQ had already withdrawn across the river.

However, the German casualties were much lighter than expected with only Lt Andmacher having two men who would not be returning to the Platoon. As such the Men’s opinion of him was at +1 whilst that of Brymann was at +2!

The Germans had won this encounter and knocked out a T34 Tank to boot, which pushed the overall German Resolve (Table) up 2 points to 12, from its initial starting point of 10.

Scenario Orange Two

ENTERING THE TOWN

The German second line of defence is at the outskirts of Povynka. Some heavy German armour can already be seen behind one of the houses.

This game is played using Scenario Four: A Delaying Action, from the Chain of Command rule book. Each German player will place three Patrol Markers within their Western deployment zone. The Russians will enter the table from the East, each deploying three Patrol Markers, at a fixed point on the table edge. Each Player will be able to place two JoP’s.

To achieve a WIN the Russians must capture one of the German JoP’s.

The Stream across the Russian line of advance is crossable at all points and the bank will provide light cover to any infantry lining it.

For the most part the buildings are damaged, but still relatively intact. Those within the German deployment zone (7 & 8) are more substantial structures providing Hard Cover. A Panther Tank is placed behind of these buildings, after the Patrol Phase but before the game begins.

The Bomb Craters are Broken Ground and will provide Light Cover to Infantry within them.

All other terrain features have the same effect as on the previous map.

Again, for this game the Germans cannot select Entrenchments to assist their defence. They still only have 6 Support Points available but now also have use of the Panther already on the table. The Russians have 14 Support Points plus a ‘free’ T34/85 Tank that has been sent up to assist them.

HOW IT WENT

Apart from a second T34 for the Russians, MMG Teams were the order of the day for the Support choice of both sides.

The Panther took a couple of Phases to get into position to knock out one of the T34’s but was then promptly knocked out itself by a particularly good shot from the second Russian machine.

The Russian infantry had been probing forward steadily and some long-range firefights were going on with their German counterpart, but this was having little impact on either side.

With the loss of the Panther and an eye on potential casualties, the German Commanding Officer Lt Brymann, called an early withdrawal rather than face the remaining T34 with only Panzerschrecks.

POST MATCH

Lt Neilikov lost 3 men in this engagement, only one of which would not be returning. Lt Teripov had a clean sheet with no casualties incurred.

HQ were satisfied with Lt’s Neilikov and Teripov (+1 on their “opinion”) on this occasion, restoring the rating for both back to 0.

The men were also happy with light casualties bringing Neilikov’s rating back up slightly to -2 with that of Teripov going up to +1.

This time the German Officers were lucky that no Senior Staff were present to witness their failure to delay the enemy at this second position.

However, the German casualties were very light with only Lt Andmacher losing three men, one of which would not be returning. As a result of this, the Men’s opinion of Lt Brymann rose to +3 and that of Lt Andmacher to +2.

Although the Germans lost this encounter, they knocked out a T34 Tank, which therefore left their ‘Resolve’ morale stable at 12.