The Struggle For A Commission: The Diary

[waynebaumber]

Well Vince is right that this was a major session and one which I believe has settled this game, at one stage I had the opportunity to take out possibly 6 steps of German AFV this would have reduced the German initiative considerably but bad luck, coupled with some good German moves (In effect Vince sacrificed some INF to cover his Stugs retreat) led to a frustrating end to the days play.
The battle will continue as I am playing a game and my soldiers are made of card-stock not flesh and blood. It will be interesting to see if I take any further towns.
Although I am getting beaten I am enjoying this one and looking forward to our next session.

[vince hughes]

Wayne, yes. The turn when my tanks were threatened..... including the whole company of PzIV's not just the StG was a very worrying point in the battle for the Germans. I think our crap shots helped with the escape of the PzIV's ... the StG's of course eventually perished, but by then, the crisis was averted (for now).

BTW ... I'll need to add to wreck counters into Nikonovo. One StG step and the BT7 step.

[vince hughes]

I have sent this out to some other players by personal email, but if there is any other reader out there (regular player or new) who might fancy a short session over Skype by either starting a new game or playing one that is a short 2-3 hour effort, I have some midweek dates for UK evening time (US midday sort of hours onwards), that I would be available.

If interested, email me on hughesvince69 AT yahoo DOT com

Dates are (March):
Thurs 6th
Mon 10th
Thurs 13th
Thurs 20th
Weds 26th

[zaarin7]

You've got mail!

[vince hughes]

2nd Session Turns 6-10 (of 15) BN scenario "43rd Wessex Attacks"

Yesterday (saturday), played the 2nd session (of what will be 3 sessions) against Tony Langston over Skype. This represents a 2 x Battalion attack on 12th SS positions around Mouen & the Bas de Mouen. The first session had the first British battalion (the Worcesters) getting in some strife. Well that continued in this session as they suffered 6 more steps from their formation plus a Bren platoon taken out. Morale for the Worcesters has dropped to 7/7. These damages came from varied means. A combined Grenadier Panther assault against more numerous enemy. OBA hits, a couple of double demoralisation and an AT shot for the Bren (from a PzIV ..... NO Chance !!). No DF hits though. This lowering of the Worcesters morale will probably halt further progress by them at Bas De Mouen. They have a toe-hold there, but its hard to envisage much more forward movement.(hopefully). British OBA took out the 1 step of German losses this session (GREN's).

However, the Somerset regiment entered on turn 8 which was a life-saver for the British force and their line of attack had them thrown in at Mouen itself rather than Bas De Mouen. They were well supported by smoke shells which got them to the very line of SS positions and the battle is just beginning there with the British in a good position as they unleash their first assaults on the town hexes of Mouen.

All in all, 90% chance of a Draw here. Both sides need to oust the other from one side of Mouen or the other BUT also hold onto the other bit of Mouen that they do not oust the enemy from. It looks like both sides will probably hold both parts, albeit, the British casualties look as if they will be high.

I say 90% and thats maybe because both sides have perhaps a 5% chance of a win. Who knows, with the right dice rolls, a flash of inspiration and perhaps pressure on one area causing the other area to weaken, then a result for one side may be remotely possible. Whether that'll be the freshly entered Somersets or the fanatical young boys of the 12th SS, we'll see. More than likely a draw though.

BTW - Into turn 11 next and no sign of the RAF (Waaaayne !!!). Tony asked if the British had BV's on their aircraft too LOL ! They have had 2 activations of entering, both Marauders. But when they did, they just conducted a fly past, failing to ID any targets ?? Still, the British can not moan about their OBA force.

[vince hughes]

Played the third session in the North Wind Scenario # 8 "Quiet Persuasion" with Alan Sawyer on Friday.

This is a scenario where my Bosche are suffering the relentless pummeling of very high and numerous OBA numbers. I almost conceded this game the other week. In fact, I even said I was conceding. But my 75%+ mantra kept nagging at the back of my head and PG guilt took over and I had to review my decision and elected to continue playing. In fact, to see how many points I can actually accumulate, I will play to the end, regardless of any massacre that might or might not occur.

Anyway, in this session, with renewed vigour, now that my decision had changed, I continued to try and plough ahead with the remaining battered German Grenadiers and their tanks. To be fair, they made some pretty good headway and managed for once to strike some satisfying counter blows against US Armour as well as push back some of the GI foot troops. But the American position stays strong and still holds the town and road.

Casualties this session amounted to 8 US step equivalents and 5 German step equivalents taking the game totals to 16 German losses and 13 US, so something of a little fightback, but no ground taken.

[vince hughes]

Session 4 - Tank Battles Scenario "Hell's Fury III"

Saturday I had Wayne at the house as we pushed onto session 4 of this monster scenario.

When we left the game last time, the forward defended town of Nikonovo looked as if it would fall into Soviet hands this session. It still wasn't to be. By the end of 4 gruelling turns... (yes, just 4 turns played in 5h 53 mins of actual game time), Nikonovo still had 3 hexes of it 6 hex size being defended by the Wehrmacht. Not only were they still defending, they even counter-attacked a Soviet Guards DEM stack of an INF, HMG and T34, causing quite some damage. The Soviet assaults have been plagued by bad luck.

Also, at the start of the session, a group of 3 x PzIVE platoons were under some risk from Soviet T34's in a nearby wood. Over 3 turns, they lost 2 steps, but extricated themselves. This was probably due to the timely support of 2 x StGIIIG platoons that provided covering fire against the T34's causing some damage to them also.

The next town along, Maloe Kropatovo is now coming under some risk as a next wave of Soviets close in. This town is quite well defended, so the Soviet advance has been cautious. Elsewhere, German artillery has been deadly, cutting down swathes of Russian infantry, cavalry and leaders.

Its a very tough one for the Soviets, despite their numbers. Crossing the ground to get at the Germans is a deadly business as they face DF, AT and OBA. We did though, play 4 full turns where FOW would just not cut the turn down to a shorter period, so at least the Soviets are getting full value per turn. That said, I think Wayne is beginning to find the scenario a heavy burden through frustration ?

Casualties this session over 4 turns, the Germans lost (in steps), 3 FOOT, 2 AFV. The Soviets lost 14 FOOT, 1 CAV, 2 leaders, 6 AFV.

Total through 18 turns (over 22 hours of play !!) is.

German - (22 step equivalents) 14 FOOT, 2 Leaders, 4 AFV

Soviet - (About 90 step equivalents not properly totted up yet) 42 FOOT, 8 Leaders, 1 CAV, 2 ART, 19 AFV, 7 Trucks

[vince hughes]

The first of this quartet of games should be finished tomorrow night as Hugmenot and I bring the St Barthelemy scenario to a conclusion.

[waynebaumber]

In reply to Vince's post, not much to add really. I am finding it hard work with the 2 x 55 OBDA slowing my advance to a crawl as units demoralize, Vince has even had the gall to drop 55 OBDA on single leaders disrupting the Soviet advance even further. I believe that I need to take at least 3 of the 5 towns to even have a remote chance of victory. It ain't going to happen at this rate, still we will continue for a while yet.
Are we downhearted ? Well yes a little. But it's been fun so far.

[vince hughes]

Session 5 - Stalemate at St.Barthelemy Black SS # 28)

I won't write too much as I wrote a long AAR on this one. But just to say that finally, the first of this quartet of scenarios is complete.

The US tried for 2 of the final 3 turns to inflict losses and capture locations with late opportunistic grabs (as I would have done) in the hope that fate would smile on their troops. In the end it didn't really. Only 2 of nine town hexes were taken and the road junction was contested and no absolute control there. The Germans maintained control of 5 town hexes meaning two were left as under dispute.

The Americans did their best to push forward on the right, left and centre, but due to the 'confusion' rule and the sudden loss of some officers, momentum could not be drummed up for the final flings.

In the end, with the Germans suffering 20 step loss equivalents and the Americans 40 step equivalents, the final score ended as a 50-26 win in favour of the Germans.

Statistics of note were that this was the highest loss of American foot troops in a scenario I have played (36 steps) and SS GREN losses in my PG career have now gone over the 100 mark (105)

Scenarios left to complete here in this thread is

'The 43rd Wessex Attacks' (Beyond Normandy) v Tony Langston - 1 more session

'Quiet Persuasion' (North Wind) v Alan Sawyer - 3 mores sessions, maybe 2 ?

'Hells Fury III' (Tank Battles) v Wayne Baumber - 3 to 4 sessions

Hugmenot and I will now move on to pastures new and will be gaming "Restoring The Line" from North of Elsenborn in the Siegfried series.