On Monday evening Steve and I played scenario 9 from the Road to Berlin book. It turned out to be a very interesting game which we could probably play again with a very different outcome. In this game there were three crossings over the river, one bridge and two fords. Whoever was in control (an infantry unit within 3”) of the three crossings would be the winner.
Steve had mainly veterans in hanomags with a couple of squads of shirkers with a Feldgendarmerie unit to make them behave. He also had a Panzer IV. The Tiger fear rule would be in operation.
As for myself, all my units were regular with one veteran unit of assault engineers with body armour in a half track, and Su122 and a light tank. Also I had included an air observer, sniper, medic and of course the free unit of green troops.
The game is more interesting because in each turn you have to dice for bad weather. It is a 50% chance of bad weather. It was all rough terrain.
On turn one the weather was bad which meant that visibility was limited. I was able to advance my assault engineers into the wood near the bridge. Steve advanced his tank, but due to the limited visibility he could see nothing.
Turn 2 the visibility was again bad and troops could advance unimpeded. Steve’s veterans occupied the wood on his right flank and the house near the bridge. Meanwhile his shirkers occupied the woods on the left flank.
Turn 3 saw the snow storm lift and I was able to call in my air attack. For once troops could see each other. Pins were caused but no casualties. In the meantime my flamethrower occupied the building on my side of the bridge. What with hard cover and small team they managed to avoid any losses despite several MMG shots. Meantime the SU122 took a shot at the unit in the building but missed. The light tank fired at the Feldgendarmarie unit.it caused a casualty and a pin. The tank riders dismounted from the tank and advanced on the ford.
At the beginning of turn 4 the Soviet plane turned up. Of course I rolled the inevitable one. Steve chose to hit my assault engineers. I had to go down, and so only lost half the squad. Despite 3 pins, they held. Bad weather again saved both Steve and my troops from being hit by the tanks.
Turn 5 saw lots of action. The weather cleared and everyone was able to see each other. On the right flank. Two squads of Soviet SMG’s appeared from outflank. The Police and one squad of shirkers were forced to go down and were hit badly, the police being destroyed. On the right flank the Soviet sniper was gradually causing pins and the occasional casualty on the veterans in the wood. The air observer having failed to do anything useful made their way towards the ford on the left flank. On the right flank the tank riders moved towards the bridge. However, the Panzer IV had a success and knocked out the SU122.
Meanwhile the German pioneers stormed the bridge. My flamethrower was on ambush and hit. Four of the six men were killed. The two men passed their morale test and with two pins needed a six to hit the flamethrower team in the building. Steve duly threw a six and wiped out the team.
My air observer having failed to do well advanced bravely on the right hand ford. The two man team lost a man due to fire from the hanomag.
Turn 6 and possibly the last turn, we actually forgot to dice for weather, so the weather remained good. The assault squad advanced on my assault engineers and killed two of the three men left. My assault engineers were made of stern stuff and refused to run away.
On the left flank, the Feldgendarmerie unit was wiped out. Somehow, the shirkers were left with just one man but somehow survived the morale test.
My tank riders were being pummelled, and were down to the last man, but managed to pass their morale test.
On the right flank, my lone air observer was cut down by machine gun fire.
In the final move of the game I moved my medic in to contest the bridge. The game ended with me narrowly winning the game as there was no turn 7. Next time with Steve it will be The Seelow Heights.
Tall Tales from the Tabletop 