In order to better learn the Iron Cross WWII skirmish rules our group has landed on for our WWII Wednesdays, we started simple with an infantry on infantry match. This was followed by a tank on tank match. The third game here is a mixed force versus and infantry force. The newer players were on the Russian infantry side (to get comfortable) and the more experienced players lined up with the German mixed force.
The table was set up using my 9′ x 5′ ground cloth. All the rest of the terrain was from the game store’s (Huzzah Hobbies) collection. I placed the hills under the cloth to give that rolling terrain effect and place the woods, fields, stream, buildings and roads around the battlefield to provide decent cover.
The Russians had 12 infantry squads and two medium machine guns. The Germans had 6 infantry squads, a medium machine gun squad, a light mortar squad and two Stug IV assault guns. It was a meeting engagement with both sides marching onto their side of the table. The table had six objectives to keep everything interesting.
The game began with the Germans moving forward aggressively the first three turns and using up their order chits to move their entire force forward and take ground. The Russians used this to their advantage on turn three, by pouncing on the unprotected German armor, by concentrating on a few squads to advance and close assault the panzers. This resulted in one Stug being destroyed and the other with a number of morale hits. This early loss caused the Germans to get conservative with their forces and try a right hook. The Russians responded in kind and attempted to overwhelm the German assault. The fight then concentrated around the wood on the flank, drawing in forces from across the table. Both sides attempted to rally their units to keep them in the game. The Germans hang on by their fingernails and finally took the initiative and then went on to victory.
