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This was a 2-session, very fun, play-through with the magnanimous and clever Schoenwulf, commanding elements of the high-morale, attacking Podlaska Cavalry Brigade. I led the green & low-morale, defending Landwehr troops of the German 206th Infantry Division in what turned out to be a ferocious nighttime slugfest. We used the FOW, strategic movement and excess initiative optional rules. We also utilized these two logical house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units – All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units. Visibility was preset at only 2 hexes. Ironically, the Germans drew a fine set of leaders, the attacking Poles did not.
The initial, action-packed, session (game turns 1-10) featured the swift Polish cavalrymen approaching the 7-hex town on Map 4 by concentric strategic marches to get the drop on the sleeping garrison on the north margin of the slumbering community. Laszlo, the German’s mascot snail had just gone to bed in his master’s haversack, after spending the day training his Landwehr-keepers how to low crawl under barbed wire entanglements & through minefields. The first Polish charge proved deadly, eliminating and entire infantry platoon in hex 4-0710 during game turn 2, and setting off shrill alarms throughout the town. The Poles had wisely selected the weakest points in the German defensive perimeter and quickly moved to exploit their advantage in the gloaming. The German line recoiled, and Laszlo was forced to hitch a ride in the garrison commander’s pocket after hastily donning his hazelnut shell helmet. Repeated adjacent-hex firefights and close attacks followed, as the high morale Poles struggled for seize as many town hexes as possible in the face of stiffening Axis opposition. A Polish leader was eliminated in the 5th game turn, and 4 platoons of horsemen were halved, as well as with the lone Taczanka, horse-drawn HMG unit, as the fighting grew in intensity. At session’s end, step losses were 6 for the avid and brave Poles and 5 for the embattled Landweher soldiers, with the Poles in control of 2 town hexes. Both sides suffered a reduction in initiative level in the confused fighting in game turn 10. The initial victory point tally was 17 for the defending Germans, and 9 for the attacking Poles. There were only 2 FOW-shortened game turns of the ten played, so far.
The second, and final, session (game turns 11-16) featured intense urban fighting at night as the remaining Landwehr defenders doggedly, held-on in the face of repeated adjacent-hex firefights & close assaults. At-length, the Poles secured a pair of additional town hexes, resulting in a draw with a final victory point tally of 14 for the Polish attackers, and 11 for the defending German side.
This gamey, but relatively balanced, and not properly playtested encounter was fun to play with a challenging & creative opponent. We give this one a rating of 2 and recommend it for SOLO play only.
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