The Final Act ‐ Verkhniy‐Kumskiy

The Germans have held Verkhniy‐Kumskiy but the pressure from the Soviets is increasing. The German objective is now to withdraw from the village and press on towards Stalingrad.

This scenario is a bit special because the German infantry starts in the village while the depleted panzer platoon (2 Panzer III) enters from the Soviet table edge (anywhere but not within 18" of a Soviet unit).

At first glance the Soviets will have a tough time against the German force. We roll a dice and...I get the Germans (again).

I place two German jump-off points inside the buildings, forgetting that the fences block LOS from most of the windows so any troops wishing to fire will have to go outside.

The Soviets get the first turn and a T34 enters the table. I'm in luck with my dice roll and am able to deploy a Panzer III which puts an AT round straight into the T34: 3 net hits and the T34 is no more.
This leaves the Soviets with an anti-tank rifle as their only anti-tank capability.

To block the Soviets from using the jump-off point I deploy the second Panzer III and move it onto the jump-off point.

Also the German MMG deploys.

My opponent tries to take out the Panzer III with his anti-tank rifle team, but it is wiped out before it can do much damage. Fortunately for him the Soviet squad he deploys contains eagle-eyed-Ivan, who is a crack shot with the LMG.

Ivan fires at the Panzer III and forces it to reverse 6". This means off-table!

Seeing the panzer routing from the table is a blow to the German morale. Because of the loss of the jump-off point, the Soviets are forced to bunch up in the scrub, under fire from the other panzer, the MMG and a newly deployed German squad.

Soviet junior leaders are getting wounded and men are killed, but the Soviets also inflict casualties on the German side.

Morale is dropping on both sides and I decide to deploy a fresh German squad.

They never fire a shot though. Ivan's unit is wiped out by panzer fire which reduces the Soviet force morale to 1: game over.

The next chapter of the Winter Storm campaign will see the Germans return to Verkhniy‐Kumskiy. Before we game this next chapter however, we'll probably game something entirely different, taking a break from the frozen steppe.

A Desperate Defence ‐ Verkhniy‐Kumskiy

The fighting has reached Verkhniy-Kumskiy in our Winter Storm Chain of Command campaign. The Germans are holding on to the village and must resist the Soviet onslaught.

We rolled a die: I got the Germans.

Since the Soviets had a supporting T34/76 and the German's only AT capability were 2 satchel charges, my plan was to lure the T34 close enough to a jump-off point to spring an ambush with a full Chain of Command dice. Although betting on having a full Chain of Command dice is risky, I learned from our previous game.  Also I would probably have to spend the first one on ending the turn because the Soviets laid down a pre-game barrage which gave me a 50-50 chance to deploy my troops until the end of the first turn. 

Patrol phase went well for the Germans

The T34 spearheaded the Soviet attack.

My first attempts to deploy fail due to the pre-game barrage, but I am buidling up Chain of Command points. Normally I would hold back deployment when defending to deny the enemy targets and wait form him to commit his force, but with the uncertainty of the duration of the pre-game barrage I'd like to have at least some troops on the table. So when the opportunity presents itself I deploy two squads and a sniper team. A dice roll of three sixes ends the turn. I can use my Chain of Command points for the T34 ambush!

The German sniper wounds a Soviet junior leader. He's out for the remainder of the turn.

A Soviet squad is however approaching the house where the sniper is located. 

I completely forget my ambush plan and deploy my last squad in the sniper house to fire on the Soviet squad.

The Soviets assault and close combat ensues.

Although the defending German team (including their senior leader!) is wiped out, they've killed more Soviets during the fight so the Soviet remnants are repulsed losing also their junior leader.

Meanwhile the Soviet squad under fire by the sniper is bolstered by a second Soviet squad.

Again the German sniper succeeds in wounding the Soviet junior leader.

Soviet force morale is now dropping fast. 

The Germans try to push the Soviet force morale further down by firing on the remnants of the Soviet squad that survived close combat.

My opponent intervenes and brings up his last Soviet squad and the T34.

Although ambush was no longer possible since I already deployed this squad, they still had their two satchel charges. So the German gefreiter sends Soldat Pauli der Panzerknacker to take out the T34.

Pauli runs to the rear of the T34 and throws the charge on top of the engine compartment.

While Pauli runs for cover the charge explodes: 3 net hits.

The loss of the T34 reduces Soviet force morale to zero and the Germans hold on to the village.

The firefight on the other side of the table had chipped away at the German squad over there to the point that they were pinned. My opponent was planning to charge them before his sudden force morale collapse so we decided to go ahead with the charge to see the outcome.

The Soviets won the charge and broke the German squad, knocking German force morale down to two, but not zero.

Indeed a desperate defense.

The bear fights back - Verkhniy-Kumkskiy

Winter Storm, scenario 12. The Germans are holding Verkhniy-Kumskiy and are fighting off waves of Soviet reinforcements when a Soviet mechanised brigade manages to move to their rear and attacks.

We rolled a dice and the result meant I was going to play the Soviets. In this scenario, the tanks deploy from jump-off points, the Germans have one tank more than the Soviets, but the Soviet infantry may deploy in the rear (anywhere on the German table edge, as long as they are 18" from any German unit.

The patrol phase ends with my opponent placing one of his jump off point near the table edge. My plan is to seize this jump-off point with the Soviet infantry and then force the end of turn with a full chain of command dice, taking away the jump-off point and lowering German force morale.

The Germans get the first turn, but end up not deploying anything. I seize the opportunity and deploy a Soviet section on the German jump off point and a T34 on the other side of the table. So far so good...

In rapid succession the tanks and panzers are deployed. The German command tank tries to blast the Soviets off the jump off point while the other panzers try to keep the T34's at bay.

The Soviet command tank takes a fatal hit!

The next one to blow up is the Panzer IV.

Meanwhile the Soviet section on the German jump off point is steadily taking hits.  I manage to remove shock with the junior leader but his luck runs out and he is killed.

What is worse: I can't seem to roll any fives. So no full Chain of Command dice to end the turn and take away the German jump off point.

When the last Panzer III arrives I find out I made another mistake.

I deployed a T34 with his side exposed to the Panzers. It is hit several times and takes multiple types of damage.

Both my opponent and I increase our efforts in the fight for the jump off point. He deploys his sdkfz 251 with a German section while I send in another Soviet section with a senior leader.

And an AT rifle team.

Still not enough fives for a full Chain of Command dice!

My badly positioned T34 is finally knocked out.

And while one of the Panzer III's finishes off the Soviet AT rifle team, I succeed in knocking out another Panzer III.

The Soviet Leytenant has been busy running from one section to the other section, frantically removing shock while men are being hit by German machine gun bullets and HE. I'm down to 4 command dice. Still no full Chain of Command dice to end the turn.

And then it's over for the Soviets. The Germans score four hits on the last remaining Soviet section.

All kills.

Remarkably the Leytenant and a junior leader are the only survivors. But the Soviet force morale is down to zero.

The Germans win. My plan failed. But it was exiting to the very last. 

Strike Three ‐ Verkhniy‐Kumskiy

Still the battle around Verkhniy‐Kumskiy is raging as the Soviets try to stop the Germans from pushing towards Stalingrad. This scenario (number 11 from the Winter Storm campaign) is again an all tank battle. Since there were no special scenario elements (a straight meeting engagement) we didn't play it using Chain of Command rules but used What A Tanker. Because of the number of tanks we replaced the initiative roll (due to the expected frequent re-rolls required) by the draw of a card (regular deck of cards without jokers). Increasing the chance of taking the initiative was possible by sacrificing a Wild Dice for an extra card, allowing the player to choose the highest (or lowest) card.

The "who takes which side" dice roll left me in charge of the Soviet force: 3 T34-76's and 2 T70's. They would be facing 3 Pzr III's and a Pzr IV.

An unsteady hand of the guy in the spotter plane blurred the aerial photograph of the battlefield somewhat.😉

Germans on the left, Soviets on the right

With this number of tanks on the (6x4) table and little intervening terrain, both sides immediately blasted away at each other, moving forward to gain a better firing position.

My T34's were taking hits and already suffering permanent loss of command dice. Then my opponent's Pzr III scored an overwhelming number of hits on a T34.

 And retreated into the scrub.

The German Pzr IV succeeded in taking out another T34 by total permanent command dice loss. Only one (damaged) T34 and 2 as yet unscathed T70's left. 

But the German force was also taking punishment. One Pzr III was first immobilized and subsequently put out of acting by total permanent command dice loss.

My remaining T34 was crippled by running gear damage (-2 pips on movement dice) so I maneuvred  the T70's around the flanks in an attempt to get a shot at the side armour of the German panzers.

This fortunately paid off and after taking one Pzr III out by total permanent command dice loss the little T70 managed to blast the Pzr III to bits.

Unable to take the risk of exposing his flanks to the firepower of my remaining T34, the Pzr IV was caught in a pincer of 2 T70's firings at its side armour.

The Pzr IV crew finally surrendered, ending the game in a victory for the Soviets.

The game took longer than a Chain of Command game with the same forces and (nearly) the same terrain. I think this is mainly due to the mechanism that in What a Tanker you almost always can do something with a tank in its turn (which will always come) while in Chain of Command tanks can only be activated with the right dice roll. But when they are activated they can do everything (move and shoot), while in What a Tanker you have these (sometimes frustrating) situations where you can't fire because you are missing an aim dice or are unloaded and missing a load dice or something.

I got the feeling that this game was more dynamic (more movement and maneuvering) than the Chain of Command all tank games.

Anyway, it was an entertaining game. Next scenario will feature combined arms (bot sides have a tank platoon and an infantry platoon) and we will play that again using the Chain of Command rules.