An old gaming buddy of mine was in town last week and had some time to play a game. I reached out to some of the old grognards to meet up at my place for a get together of old friends. I needed to decide what game to run. Since this is something that is a rare treat, I figured the game should be the same. With that, I chatted with another buddy about his Berlin 45 terrain. He had run a couple games ten years ago on the subject and still have all the stuff.
He pulled it all out of storage and brought it to my place. It needed a bit of work to get it back into gaming shape. The original board was done with 20mm figures in mind. However, I wanted to go with 15mm, as I thought it would fit better. So, we had to make some adjustments in buildings and side terrain. After an evening, we got everything sorted out and the table was set.
I decided to go with Flames of War rules, as most of the players had at least a little experience with them. As this was a city fight, it would be even more helpful that the players had some idea how to play going into the game.
The scenario was build around the break out attempt from the Berlin on the last night of the war. The Russians knew that the peace would be in effect the next day, so spent the night celebrating. The Germans got their forces together for a breakout. The forces were a rag tag group of SS, Heer, Volksturm and support vehicles.
To make the game interesting, I decided to start the game at night and we would roll for day time starting on turn three. This would reflect the Germans struggling to get their forces organized, Since the Russians had been partying the whole night, I decided that they would all start suppressed. The armor would be double suppressed. The first represented the crews not being in their vehicles and the second getting their tanks started. The Russians would have no command rerolls to reflect there knowledge of the war ending and not wanting to die. We also halved the number of commissars.
The Russian forces started with three Hero Rifle Companies on the table blocking each exit road. There was also a battery of ISU-122, a battalion of Hero T-34/85s and a company of IS-IIs. On turn three, the Russians would roll for reinforcements. The first would be an off board battery of 122mm howitzers. On a four up, they would receive the units on the German exit roads. The reinforcements would include three Hero SMG companies and any rifles companies that were eliminated earlier (recycled). Any units that did not arrive, would automatically arrive on turn four. Starting on turn five, the Russians would roll for more troops. These were three companies of Hero Assault companies. These would enter randomly on the German side of the river or rear. These represented troops closing in from the rear.
The German starting forces would include two Grenadier (veteran, 4+ morale), two SS Panzer Grenadier (veteran, 4+ morale) and two Volsturm platoons (green, + morale). There was one Tiger II, with another Tiger II that was broken down (basically a bunker), four sdkfz 250/1 halftracks with wounded, two sdkfz 250/8s and a section of 150mm Infantry Guns.
The Germans would automatically pass any last stand checks, but would roll morale as normal for everything else. In addition, each force would have a spawning area to its rear, this would be the road entrance behind its set up area. The German players could respawn any platoon that was down to one or two stands by removing them from the table and rolling a morale check (with a re-roll). If passed, the unit would return full strength at its spacing point. If failed, the unit could try the next turn. The Germans would have this option until the spawning point was overrun by the Russians.
In addition, there were random events every turn starting on turn two. The German would roll a D6. On a one, nothing would happen. On a six, there would be a random salvo attack on the table. This would be AT3 and Firepower 2. on a two through five, a German AFV would arrive at a random road entry. The order of arrive would be Stug III, Brumbar, Ostwind, JgPz-IV, then a sdkfz 234/4.
To make things sticky and ensure the vehicles did not dominate the table, all terrain (except the bridges) would be rubble and would require a cross check. All rubble was also bullet proof cover. All destroyed buildings could be driven into by vehicles, but each wall would also require a cross check. All intact buildings would be impassible to vehicles. The river was uncrossable.
The game would last eight turns. The winner would be based on points. The Germans would gain three points for every started unit that exited one of the three exit roads. The would also gain one point for every Russian unit destroyed. The Russians would gain one point for every German unit destroyed or re-spawned. In addition, the Germans had to get at least one unit off the table or would loose automatically.
So, we had a scenario and game day arrived. I did not have quite the number of players that I expected, but made do. We got organized on sides and started the game. The Germans had the option to decide which bridges each platoon of infantry would cross. This would determine their spawning point. All the vehicles and guns were set up by the game master (me). The Russians had to set up on each of the three exit points, but had freedom to set up their individual bases. The tanks were set up by the game master.
The Germans decided to cross on each flank with a Volksturm platoon, with the Heer and SS concentrated on the central bridges. The plan was to use the Volksturm as a pinning force to slow down the Russians on the flanks and pin them down. The remainder of the units would storm through the center and try to overwhelm the Russians and break through.
The game started with the Germans storming forward to get across the bridges the first two turns. They did not fire, as they tried to stay hidden during the night turns. The Russians started to roll for their pinned units and only managed to get about thirty percent on turn one, with another thirty on turn two. The vehicles rolled particularly poorly, with only four T-34s getting going. As a matter of fact, this trend kept going, with the last company not going active until turn eight!
On turn three, day arrives and the Germans start their first attacks. They wipe out the Russian artillery observer and the central infantry platoon. It looked like the way was open, but Russian reinforcements arrive to fill in the gap. The Volkstrum attack forward and get shot up early and go on the defense, as the Russians start counter attacking the next five turns until they wipe out the Volksturm.
The Germans keep pushing into the center, with the Heer making it to the IS-IIs, as they tried to start their tanks. They manage to kill one, before the others run away. This clears the way for the first German unit to exit the table. The SS continue to clear Russians to their front, but have to respawn their first platoon. The fighting continues with both sides trying to push units into the breach, with a company of T-34s even trying to attack through ruined buildings.
The supporting Russian assault troops arrive on both flanks to the rear of the Germans and overrun the Volksturm spawning points. This allows the Russians to outflank the supporting King Tigers and taking one out! As the Russian secured the flanks, the Germans destroyed the remaining Russians in the caterer and started exiting off more units. The random vehicles mostly entered during the game, but did not really have much of an effect the game, short of nice photos! The game ended on turn eight and we totaled up the points. It looked like the Germans had won it easily, but the the Russians did have a lot of one or two stand units, so these points would be lost to the Germans. In the end, the Germans spawned three units and lost another four. This gave the Russians seven points. The Germans destroyed three Russian units (two on turn eight) and exited three units off the table. The Germans ended up with twelve points. This game the Germans the victory (at least for the day).
- Manteuffel
That’s some nice looking terrain, if I say so myself! 😀