Battle of Orchomenus 86BC using Ancients Battlelines Clash

Introduction

This is game 54 in play testing my ancient rules by replaying historical battles.  I am using my rules Ancient Battlelines Clash.  I am in the process of writing up some revisions to the rules.  I am play testing the rules by replaying all the Peter Sides scenarios from his Historical Battles books.  ABC is designed to finish in around 30 minutes on a 2’x2’ table.

Battle of Orchomenus

After the Battle of Chaeronea, Mithadates Vi managed to scrape up another army to face Sulla.

Here is an internet link of interest I used for this replay:

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orchomenus

Troops

Roman

Roman forces

3 Legions, Heavy Infantry, elite, line relief, medium missile protection

3 Allied Legions, Heavy Infantry, line relief, medium missile protection

3 Velites, Skirmishers, javelin

2 Heavy Cavalry

1 Light Cavalry, bow

1 +1 General (Sulla) with the Heavy Cavalry on right.

 

All trained.

Breakpoint: 10

 

Pontic

Pontic army

3 Phalanx, poor

2 Allied Heavy infantry, poor

4 Light infantry, javelin

2 Skirmishers, javelin

1 Cataphract

2 Heavy Cavalry, poor

1 Light Cavalry, bows

1 Scythed Chariot

1 General (Archelaus) with the Cataphracts on left.

 

All trained.

Breakpoint:  11

Scenario changes

I drastically reduced the number of light infantry in the Pontic force but they still have more overall units than the Romans. 

Deployment

Roman on the left, Pontic on the right

Game

The only way the Romans are going to win this in the infantry battle in the centre.  Their left flank is equal to the enemy, and the right is inferior (so will hold back both flanks).  Of course, the Pontic side know this and will be aggressive with their left flank!

 

Romans advance the centre, Pontic advance the cavalry flanks and launch the Scythed chariots.

Scythed Chariots contact the Roman line

The Roman skirmishers manage to rout the chariots.

The Roman centre continues their advance.  The Pontic cavalry left flank is so close to Sulla.

Pontic Cataphracts and heavy cavalry advancing on Sulla’s heavy cavalry.

The Roman line makes it to the enemy.  There is a of missile fire that goes on between the skirmishers and also the peltasts at the legions.

Roman battle line encountering the enemy

Summary for right side:  skirmisher missile fire sees the Pontic one retire, Pontic infantry then advances, Roman skirmisher retires, Pontic infantry continue to move into legions.  Combat ensures and one phalanx retreats, legion pursues and another melee.    All done via reaction and dice rolls.  I have said it before but this is what I like about the rules – very solo friendly!

Roman battleline right side.

The left battleline flank was easier to resolve – skirmishers retired and legions advanced.

Roman battleline left side.

Wow!  In the Pontic turn for battleline combat they lost 3 heavy units while the Romans lost none.  Mainly due to the Pontic are Poor units so at a disadvantage. 

 

Three Pontic units lost

Archelaus contacts Sulla! Sulla retreats off the table.  Archelaus follows!  Both leaders are counted as lost, although there are rules that will allow Archelaus to come back in a few turns.  But if the Romans can destroy another unit, they will reach their breakpoint now and free the field before Archelaus has a chance to return.

Archelaus contacts Sulla!

The Romans manage to rout two light infantry.  This is enough to make the Pontic army reach their breakpoint and so flee the field.  Rome has won!

 

End

Rule changes

None!  That is good news due to the multiple minor changes I made to the rules. 

Verdict

A great game and a bit of a nail biter – can Rome defeat enough in the centre before their inferior cavalry flank is overwhelmed?  In the actual battle, Sulla did through in his cavalry to allow the infantry to win the battle.

Operation Jupiter 16 - Trouble Near le Mesnil 20mm WW2 (Rapid Fire Reloaded)

Introduction

This is game 16 in replaying the scenarios from the Briton Publishers Operation Jupiter skirmish scenario book.  Game 15 was early 2017 so it has been a while!  I played this one on a 3'x3' table using 20mm, using some new rules (to me) Rapid Fire Reloaded.  And against my 12yo son. Links to previous games are on this blog page.

Rules used were Rapid Fire Reloaded

Previous scenarios were played using various modifications of my own rules, loosely based off a Rapid Fire clone called Take Cover!!   Rapid Fire Reloaded (RFR) has been out for a few months and arrived earlier this week. It seems simple and aligns to my style of play.  And it will be good to play with rules as written.  It does not really have the concept of suppression but can live without that…for now anyway.

Most of my 20mm WW2 terrain is in storage and I only have access to a 1mx1m (40”x40”) grass mat I bought on the weekend.  And that will fit on the dining table.  Due to the small table size, each rifleman figure on the table is really 2 RFR figures.  When down a casualty I am using a maker to indicate the loss of an RFR figure. Crew served weapons are 1 figure = 1 RFR figure.  Oh, and testing morale at the level of 10 or so figures (a platoon in this scenario) rather than the 30-40 in the rules.

Note: We did play the rules slightly wrong.  In the rules, almost all section infantry are 2 figures to a base.  And you need to score 2 casualties to a base before removing the base.  The way I played is to track all casualties.  This is a really important difference to the rules!  This would have not made a lot of difference in this game but can see that with more balanced force this is a really great rule and will pay this way in future.  This actually ties in really well with my 1 figure = 2 RFR figures.  The way the rues work will work very well with my small table 6mm games where I am planning 1 base = 2 RFR figures.

Scenario

British must capture the barn within 8 turns from the German defenders.

One small gap can be made available for the British tanks to enter.  British troops take one entire turn to cross the hedge (turn 1 move to hedge, turn 2 cross hedge, turn 3 move away from hedge)

The field of battle

View of the objective from the British side

Troops

British

British

1 Company HQ

    3 figures

3 Platoons

    1 platoon HQ (1 figure)

    3 Sections (3 figures each)

1 2” mortar

4 Universal Carriers

3 Churchill VII

British are all regular.

 

Germans

German

1 Kompanie

    1 Kompanie HQ (2 figures)

    1 Zug

            1 HQ

3 Gruppe (3 figures each)

1 MG42

1 Flak 36 ATG (Elite)

1 PzKpfw IV

Germans are all regular except the ATG.

 

Game scale is 3 figures =  1 section (8-12 soldiers); 1 support weapon = 1 support weapon 1 AFV = 1 AFV. Ground scale is not specified but would be about 1:300.

Deployment

German deploymenr

Tank as a reserve, ATGun covering everything.  Kompanie HQ and the Zug in the barn while the rest of the company in the hedge out front.

I told my son a bit about the rules and that he had 8 turns to take the barn.  All the tactics were his and he was quite aware that the focus was: Barn. 8 turns. 

Game

Firstly, a few things. I normally play on half a table tennis table.  This is a 1mx1m mat.  It is half the size while in my mind it was a little smaller.  So there are too many units on the British side.  They are over 3:1 compared to the Germans and with the rules this is overwhelming advantage to the attacking British.  I should have reduce the number.  Secondly, I made 1 20mm figure = 2 RFR figures.  While this worked, It did mean that I had a lot of actual dice I could roll for combat. Reducing the  British figure count would have helped here.

Lastly (and the best bit), I was setting it up at about 7:3pm0 ready to play it after the children went to bed and my 12yo son asked what am I doing and can he play?  Did not hesitate and so I played my first game of 20mm WW2 with my son for over 4 years (he was 8 last time).  The game lasted about 45 minutes and he had fun.  So need to play again!

When I was taking the first few pictures he did ask if they were for the blog. When I said yes he said he felt sorry for everyone that has to read through the boring blog post.  So supportive 😊

 

The British brought on the carriers with some lead units and the Churchills lined up to go through the gap.  The rest of the swarm, I mean company, lined up on the bocage to cross it.  You can see already there are too many British figures for the small width of the table.

British enter the field

The British lined up their Churchills to protect the troops as they cross the hedge. The rules only allow for 4 figures to be protected by AFVs but he seemed so happy with his plan I told him it was OK (as I had not mentioned the rule and unfair to inflict it on him in the first game!).  So they counted as being in soft cover.

My Panzer IV knocked out a Churchill with its first shot.  Return fire missed entirely

Churchills move to protect the troops but one is knocked out

 

The British infantry are over the bocage.

The British spot the three figure Gruppe at the corner of the hedge and wipe it out (there are a lot of British.

Where a Gruppe was.

The British swarm follows in the shadow of the tanks.

The lead carrier that is providing flank ability for the barn is down to one figure after being targeted by the Panzer iV.

Bren carrier is down some troops

The Churchill move forwards to protect the infantry advance.    They are close to the barn now – ready to launch an attack!

The British ,protected by the Churchills, continue to advance

The other platoon guarding the hedge is targeted with a close assault.  They are gone.  I use a rule from Take Cover! where the winner loses one figure as well.

 

The British close assault the defenders of the hedge – 3 out of action, the fourth retreats to the barn.

The Panzer’s and AT gun are targeting the infantry.  The Churchills continue to target the Panzer iV.  I said you need a 5 or 6.  Rolled a five and a six.  I then said you need to roll 3-4 to damage, 5-6 to destroyed.  Another 5 and a 6 sees the PanzerIV definitely KO.

Panzer IV finally knocked out

The British now assault the building.  I had 7 figures in there and houseruled that that was maximum occupancy so he could assault with 2 more.  I won with good dice rolling. And the British retreat. Next turn the British go in again.

British close assaulting the barn

I roll a 1, he rolls a 6.  I lose and will abandon the building and roll a 1 for army morale so pull back off the field of battle. The Brits win!  Note this was turn 7 of the 8 turn limit.

End game – These are all the remaining troops + 1 German AT gun off right.

Verdict

The rules worked well. And playing with my son a definite bonus.  He wants to play again.  The game is one sided to the British but the point is the time limit to ensure the battalion continues its push.

Need to work out some rules on building assaults (likely max occupancy and assaulting figures can be max occupancy+2.  Other than that is so reminded me of my post 2000 playing with Take Cover!!  I feel I need to add suppression still, mainly as 3 figures are a section and so a section suppression should be part of the game, probably not applicable with 1:10 figure ratio that the game is designed for.  

Battle of Chaeronea 86BC using Ancients Battlelines Clash

 Introduction

This is game 53 in play testing my ancient rules by replaying historical battles.  I have revised the d3 in the rules to now all be d6.  d3 Ancients Clash was a minor revision of Ancients Battlelines Clash so have gone back to calling them Ancients Battlelines Clash.  90% of the rules are the same between the old ABC and d3AC.  I had just finished writing d3 Ancients Clash so should be soon I can revise them as the new version of Ancients Battlelines Clash an post them. I am play testing the rules by replaying all the Peter Sides scenarios from his Historical Battles books.  ABC is designed to finish in around 30 minutes on a 2’x2’ table.

Battle of Chaeronea

Sulla manages to bring Mithidrates VI’s army to battle.

Here are a few internet links of interest I used for this replay:

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaeronea_(86_BC)

Command and Colours: https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/ancients/maps/72-first-mithridatic-war-90-85-bc/612-dg04-chaeronea-86-bc.html

Aaron’s Lost Battles replay: https://prufrockian-gleanings.blogspot.com/2011/11/chaeronea-86bc.html

 Troops

Roman

Roman

3 Legions, Heavy Infantry, elite, line relief, missile protection

3 Allied Legions, Heavy Infantry, line relief, missile protection

3 Velites, Skirmishers, javelin

2 Heavy Cavalry

1 +1 General (Sulla) with the Heavy Cavalry on right.

Subleader with Cavalry on the left.

 

All trained.

Breakpoint: 9

 

Pontic

Pontus

1 Phalanx

3 Phalanx, poor

2 Allied Heavy infantry, poor

2 Light infantry, javelin

2 Skirmishers, javelin

2 Heavy Cavalry

1 Light Cavalry, bows

1 Scythed Chariot

1 General (Archelaus) with the Heavy Cavalry on left.

 

All trained.

Breakpoint:  10

 

Scenario changes

I drastically reduced the Pontic forces but they still have more than the Romans.  I also did not model the defile as the main battle lines would be clashing outside of it and so would not impact my recreation of the battle.

Deployment

Romans on the left, Pontic on the right.

Game

The Romans need to win the centre – the flanks are much the same on either side.   With that knowledge, the Romans advance the centre.

The Pontic army advance their army (except the left flank cavalry that did not get the order to move), including launching the Scythed Chariot at the enemy line.

Both sides advance.

The Scythed Chariot makes it through the skirmishers but fails miserably against the legions and retires.

 

Scythed Chariots pit themselves against a Roman legion.

The Roman centre continues to advance and the skirmishers exchange missile fire. Neither inflicts any damage and both retire from the field.

Skirmishers exchange missile fire

Some legions are in range of the Pontic light infantry and so the latter fire their missiles. Although is does not disorder the Romans, the legion advances into the light infantry and accompanying Allied Heavy Infantry.  The Light infantry are destroyed and the legion is disordered.

Legion advances into opposing forces while under missile fire.

On the Pontic turn they do not advance the centre, pinning hops on their superior (but only just) left flank.  The latter, sent the skirmish cavalry forwards to harass Sulla and his cavalry.  The light cavalry retreat, Sulla pursues and gets close enough to Archelaus (the opposing general) that Archelaus charged Sulla.  Sulla is at a disadvantage as Archelaus is supported by the light cavalry.

Archelaus charges Sulla.

Wow.  Two 6’s in a row sees Sulla forced to retire with his cavalry.  The game is not over as there is a subleader to take over for the Romans, but not looking good for the Romans. 

Oh now, the Roman right infantry flank decides to not yet engage the enemy.  However, the left flank charges in.  Mostly disorders (this will favour the Romans next turn as the phalanxes are disordered and poor).

Roman left infantry flank in melee.

Archelaus and the cavalry about face.  A few turns of movement will see them in the rear of the Roman infantry on the right.  Speaking of which, the Roman right flank charge in.  The entire battleline of both sides is engaged.

The engaged battleline.

A few disorders and one legion is routed on the left flank.

There used to be six legions, now only five.

Archelaus is moving towards the rear of the Romans.

Racing towards the rear

In the battleline, another legion lost but the Pontic side has lost two heavy units.  Rome can afford to lose only one more unit before it is broken (The Pontic army need to lose another three).

The battleline is much thinner

Another Pontic unit lost!   And Archelaus arrives in the rear.

Attacked in the rear

Unsurprisingly, the legion is routed and Rome has lost.

End

Rule changes

I did make some changes to the rules going from 2D3 back to D6.  The main one is that missiles fire now uses the same results table as melee, although the modifiers are different.  And I made the missile contests and missile firing trigger and process a bit easier so missiles are now very clear as to when and results.

Verdict

The revised missile rules worked well.  Happy with being back to 1d6 rather than 2d3.  The game was closer than it seemed as it Sulla had held out a little longer the Romans would have likely won the centre infantry battle.

500,000 hits and a look into the past and the future

500,000

I have reached half a million hits!  Never did I think I would get there. This is from Google blogger stats, they are not the same as Google Analytics that cut out bots etc.  Without the bots it is really just over a third of this.  But hey,  let’s not dwell on that J It is also nearly 11 years since my first post.  Until last month I thought it was 10 years and believed it was serendipity that I reached 500,000 and 10 years about the same time.  I then thought about it a little more and looked it up and my first post was April 2010.  So 11 years, not 10 and throw out serendipity!

What is on the blog?

For the 10 years prior to 2010 I had done very little gaming – about 1-2 games per year, reading a few articles here and there. In 2010 I had children aged 2 and 4 and thought a blog would be a good way to get back into gaming. My 300,000 post has a lot more detail on the background to starting the blog.  I did start this blog to do one thing – play the same battle (I chose Callinicum 531AD) with different ancient rules.   I managed 7 different rules with Callinicum  and then about 14 with Heraclea.  After a few year I did what all wargamers do and branched out – 20mm WW2.  And then decided to create some solo ancient rules of my own.  Then some WW2 rules of my own.  And acquired some 6mm WW2 and ancients and started playing some games with them too.

My focus has moved from replaying ancient games with the different rules to playing chronologically a long list of ancient historical battles with my own rules.  Slow going though as currently up to Sulla’s battles against Pontus (86BC). 

And also wanting to play 30 scenarios from an Operation Jupiter campaign book with 20mm WW2 (halfway but currently stalled at game 15).

And occasionally challenging myself to a series of game such as using Imperator for a campaign to generate battles, 30 battles in 30 days and 15 dark age battles in a month

Throughout all of this, almost every game has been solo and in a set of map drawers – a great way to have multiple games on the go at once.  It is another reason for so many of my games being on a 2’x2’ board!

Top 10 posts

These are the top 10 posts based on Google Analytics so are what users are actually interested in rather than the bots (bots really seem to like the post with our cat eating a 20mm tree during a game).

1. Starfire with miniatures battle report (2013)
2. WW2 Portable game – “play in a box” 4x3 grid battle reports and rules development (2017)
3. Two battle reports using Triumph rules
4. 1986 6mm British Vs Warsaw Pact battle report (2015)
5. 10 One Hour Wargames scenario battle reports using my own rules (2020)
6. Four WW2 games on a 24cmx24cm 12x12 grid and rule description (2018)
7. Irregular Ancients rules review (2010)
8. Battle of Magnesia game (2020)
9. WW2 6mm East Font 1943 battle report (2019)
10. Links to Armati rules reviews (2010)

Some are from the first year (The Armati and Irregular miniature Ancient rules reviews for instance) and the 10 One Hour Wargames post at number 5 is from 2020.  The rest are scattered across the years.

Other stats

• 123 followers. never thought I would get past 10, let alone past 100!
• 216 posts – about 1 every 2 ½ weeks.  None of my posts seem to end up being short and are generally battle reports or reviews.
• 985 comments (average of nearly 5 per post but half are me responding).

The last few years

Since mid-2017 my posts, and solo gaming, have been half or less of previous years. Normally about 24 per year, 2018 was only 6 as an example.  The 400,000 blog post from December 2018 explains the main reason – house renovating.  We moved into the half-renovated house in mid-2019 but still doing bits and pieces of reno here and there. So still going!

Work has been busy in 2020 (I work in IT in healthcare) and my gaming mojo I lost in 2018 never really came back, except odd spurts. Actually, my gaming mojo was mostly about playing games.  I used to be able to play a game over a few weeks just playing 5-10 minutes here and there.  I seem to have lost that art and prefer slightly longer session times at the table, around  20-30 minutes.  These slots are harder to find and the children are a bit older and between them and spending time with my wife I don’t have a lot of free time in the evenings (when I used to play).

When it comes to rules writing I do that more than ever.  And I also have been coding up rules into an Excel Spreadsheet and spend many, many (too many hours) tweaking it to automate as much of the rules as possible!  This is especially true for my attempt at finding an SF RPG and solo skirmish rules that I can play solo Classical Traveller Adventures and Pulp Alley campaigns.  I have another blog for this and I think I have written a set that will work.

BUT….

Going forward

I think my mojo is back.  While I had no time over the Christmas break for gaming, I seem to have got it back, at least since November 2020.  I am playing some more ancient games, I have started a 6mm WW2 campaign, played some Machinas (post-apocalyptic car racing, no blog posts though) and looking at playing more of the SF RPG.  And playing solo the board game The Final Frontier about 1 turn a week or two and blogging about it (to eventually create a Solar system setting for some SF RPG adventures).

In 2018 I wrote a post that became a blog page where I outlined what my potential priorities for gaming might be over 2018-2022.  Having not done much gaming since 2018 and my interests are unchanged, it still holds mostly true now and probably for the foreseeable future.  I have updated the blog page with commentary on how I am going at the same time I write this post.

Final word

I will just copy what I said in my 200,000 milestone post back in 2015 as it still just at true in 2021:

The gaming blogging community is still going strong and I cannot imagine a gaming life without it.  When I started blogging I did not dream how wonderful it would be and I am grateful and glad to be a part of it.  Thanks to all out there that continue to read gaming blogs, comment on them and/or write their own. Gaming is just that much better with you around.

Good gaming!

East Front 1943 Salkov Campaign, Mission 01. 6mm WW2 on a small table

Introduction

I am planning to run a small campaign to get in some 6mm WW2 games with my own rules.  I am using a variant of Platoon Forward to generate the missions and opposing forces.  I will start with a Russian green company and follow it through as many missions as I feel I want/need to do.  Anywhere from 4-10 I feel at this stage.  Some of the Force and mission status may seem a little dry as I am using a spreadsheet to keep track of the Company and also to generate the missions automatically.

Company status at Campaign start

Leader Salkov, morale Green, experience 0.

1st Plt Ldr: Formin, morale Green, experience 0.

1st Plt 1st Section: Leader Amelin, morale Green, experience 0.

1st Plt 2nd Section: Leader Vetrov, morale Green, experience 0.

1st Plt 3rd Section: Leader Yeltsin, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt Ldr: Shulgin, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt 1st Section: Leader Zimkov, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt 2nd Section: Leader Klimov, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt 3rd Section: Leader Letov, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt Ldr: Tokarev, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt 1st Section: Leader Milyokhin, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt 2nd Section: Leader Perov, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt 3rd Section: Leader Slobozhanin, morale Green, experience 0.

Mission 01

Generated scenario

It is 1943 and a USSR infantry force is attacking a German infantry force. The USSR mission is a raid on listening post.

The force is ordered to raid into enemy territory to silence a listening post.

The terrain is woods, with 3x3 terrain:

Marsh | Woods |Hill

Light woods | Light woods |1-3 buildings

Crops | Light woods |Open

Victory is to spend at least 4 turns engaged in combat and cause several enemy casualties. Lose if do not capture a prisoner or listening post or inflict casualties in the 4 turns of combat.

Major Victory is achieved if capture a prisoner or listening post without sustaining significant casualties. Minor Victory if spend at least 4 turns engaged in combat without receiving major casualties and cause several enemy casualties.

The USSR force enters in zones 7-9. The German force deploys in zones 1-6.

Note: The defender will withdraw once shooting starts. Listening post zone 2?

The USSR has green morale for its seven sections and two leaders. Support includes 2xMMG.

Preparatory artillery consists of 2x82mm. Available indirect support is 3x82mm.

The German has green morale for its four sections and two leaders. They start dug in. Support includes MMG 2x50mm.

 

USSR Forces

USSR force

Seven sections and two leaders

CoHQ Ldr (Salkov) (on table as a leader),

1st Plt Ldr (Formin) (Formin on table as a leader), 1st Plt 1st Section (Amelin), 1st Plt 2nd Section (Vetrov), 1st Plt 3rd Section (Yeltsin),

2nd Plt Ldr (Shulgin), 2nd Plt 1st Section (Zimkov), 2nd Plt 2nd Section (Klimov),

3rd Plt Ldr (Tokarev), 3rd Plt 1st Section (Milyokhin), 3rd Plt 2nd Section (Perov).

2 x MMG teams

Indirect support:

Preparatory bombardment of 2x82mm mortars

Available support: 3x82mm mortars

 

German Forces

German force

1 Company HQ leader

1 Platoon Leader

4 Gruppe

1 MMG team

2 x 50mm mortars

All green

All dug in

 

Battlefield

View of the battlefield.

 Deployment

German deployment and Russian entry zone.

German listening post in the woods (mandatory) which is a Gruppe with Zug leader, and a supporting Gruppe and 50mm mortar.  MMG on the hill and the remaining forces in the farm buildings.

Woods cover a lot of the table.  Maximum visibility in woods is 12cm (table is 48cmx48cm)

The Russian, post pre-artillery bombardment, will thrust up the centre towards the woods.  2nd platoon (with MG) will provide flank resistance against any attacks from the farm while 3^rd platoon will guard the left flank.  The 1^st platoon, with MG and Company Leader, is tasked with finding the listening post.

Game

The pre-bombardment mortars supress the listening post!

Listening post suppressed.

1^st (Formin) platoon + Salkov and an MMG enter up the centre.

(harsh activation rules means to move more than 3 adjacent units requires to activations and only have 2 activations in first move)

Main centre forces enter

3^rd platoon (under Tokarev) enters on the left flank.

3^rd platoon (under Tokarev) enters on the left flank.

Listening post rallies (needed a 5+ so good rolling).

Tokarev’s 3rd platoon continue to advance

Tokarev’s  platoon on the left flank.

After a little while, all Russian units on the table – mortars on the left, 2^nd Platoon heading up the right of the centre woods and the leading Formin’s 1^st platoon ready to probe the listening post.

Overview

Formin’s 1st platoon moves to edge of the heavier wooed area and does not spot the listening post (needed a 6) but they are spotted in return by the listening post that opens fire!  They pin two sections – Amelin and Vetrov.

Shulgin advances to protect the right flank of the centre advance.

The 2^nd platoon moves forward.

The listening post continue to fire, suppressing  Ameliv’s section that was previously only pinned.

A centre section is pinned.

And then the German MMG opens up.  With excellent accuracy they take out all of Shulgin’s 2^nd platoon that rout.

MMG routs the entire 2^nd platoon under Shulgin.

The Russian MG opens up on the listening post – pinning one Gruppe and suppressing the other.

Russian MG fires

An event – a plane enters from the south and routs Amelin’s  supressed sections from 1^st platoon.

A plane – who know which side? – routs a centre section

Tokarev sees a chance and the 3^rd platoon (two sections) races into close combat with the listening post!

Tokarev charges the listening post

And routs the Gruppe on the listening  post! It is captured, although Perov and his section are casualties of the battle.

Flush with the win, Tokarev inspires his men to continue forwards into the other Gruppe.

Tokarev continues the charge!

And wins!

The Germans are all at a loss, having over 40% losses already.  The Russians have achieved their goal and retire.  The Germans do not pursue.

End game.

Post battle

The mission resulted in a minor victory.

Company HQ Salkov survived the battle.

1st Platoon Formin leader survived the battle. 1st section OK, leader Amelin OK. 2nd section OK, leader Vetrov OK. 3rd section OK, leader Yeltsin OK.

2nd Platoon Shulgin leader routed during the battle but OK. 1st section gone, leader Zimkov OK. 2nd section OK, leader Klimov gone.

3rd Platoon Tokarev survived the battle. 1st section OK, leader Milyokhin OK. 2nd section gone, leader Perov OK.

Section gone = suffered sufficient casualties to need enough new recruits to be green again.

Section leader gone – killed or incapacitated.  Sections drops a morale level (unless green - then stay green).

Company status

0: Leader Salkov, morale Green, experience 2.

1st Plt Ldr: Formin, morale Green, experience 2.

1st Plt 1st Section: Leader Amelin, morale Green, experience 2.

1st Plt 2nd Section: Leader Vetrov, morale Green, experience 2.

1st Plt 3rd Section: Leader Yeltsin, morale Green, experience 2.

2nd Plt Ldr: Shulgin, morale Green, experience 2.

2nd Plt 1st Section (replacement soldiers): Leader Zimkov, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt 2nd Section (replacement leader): Leader Bogrov, morale Green, experience 0.

2nd Plt 3rd Section: Leader Letov, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt Ldr: Tokarev, morale Green, experience 2.

3rd Plt 1st Section: Leader Milyokhin, morale Green, experience 3.

3rd Plt 2nd Section (replacement soldiers): Leader Perov, morale Green, experience 0.

3rd Plt 3rd Section: Leader Slobozhanin, morale Green, experience 0.

(note: at Experience 8 a squad will become regular)

Verdict

Using slightly revised rules form my other 6mm WW2 games where it is all 1d6 rather than 1-4 dice with 4+ a hit and varying the dice rolled.  The campaign system seems to go Ok after one battle.  Certainly generated a battle I would not have thought of myself.  And luckily relatively easy for the Green company.  Due to the close quarters melees and quickness of the battle I got to use the rally rules once, and not much firing or artillery rules either!