Squad Battles: Always Enjoyable

I don't always feel a desire to play a squad-level, purely tactical game...

Before (much) modding

After modding

...but when I do, more often than not it'll be JTS Squad Battles.

(Not) Being Heinz Guderian

This weekend I tried my first full scenario of John Tiller's Campaign Series beyond the tutorials. To give my operational foray of Fall Weiss a bit of tactical spice, I selected a scenario representing an attack by the 5th Panzer Regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division against the Polish defenders of the village of Gross-Klonia. The action takes place early in the operation, on September 2nd, 1939.

The only Tiller game that I prefer the 3D map to 2D. The boxy truck in the woods to the lower left is the recon battalion HQ. These are fragile but must be kept within a certain range of your units to provide supply.

Turn 2 and my recon company has discovered, at the cost of an armored car, Polish improved positions around the village of Waldowo. I have a company of armor up, support from an infantry gun, and some dismounted motorcycle infantry.  From the horses I suspect the village is held by cavalry. I decide to put in a hasty attack with the assets in hand to clear the way for the remainder of the regiment.

A Return to Poland

Inspired by Chris, I decided to pick back up my Decisive Campaigns: Warsaw to Poland game I've let lay for, oh, about a year and a half...

The situation on 5 September when I resumed the campaign. In the north, 3rd Army has made significant inroads toward Warsaw. This is a feint, however; 3rd Army doesn't have the necessary troops to carry through the attack. I want them there to pin down Polish forces and keep them away from my real main effort in the north: Guderian's Panzers of XIX Corps

John Tiller's Campaign Series

John Tiller's Campaign Series is one of those games, another old Talonsoft creation, that even today has a large and faithful following. I've heard about it for years, but was always slightly put off by the look of it. Given that John Tiller designed this game I should have known better.

My Soviet Ski Infantry battalion prepares to assault a German held village during the winter offensive of 1942

Across the Tartar Ditch - German AAR

Tim at RangerX3X beat me to the punch with his great AAR of Chris' soon to be released latest Command Ops scenario, Across the Tartar Ditch. In this scenario the German LIV Corps is tasked with making the breakthrough into Crimea. Opposing them are the Soviet 51st Army. The Soviets in particular hold a substantial (and ancient) fortification known as the Tartar Ditch that the Germans will need to penetrate to accomplish the breakthrough.

Scenario Briefing

Three Views of Fall Blau: Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue - 2nd Kharkov Beginning

It was a long, bitterly cold Monday, and I need to get testing on Chris' Race to the Volga scenario for Command Ops, but I wanted to take a few minutes and get things introduced for the next entry in the "Three Views of Fall Blau" series.  In our second go around with 2nd Kharkov, I'll be playing Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue from VR Designs, published by Matrix.

DC:CB is a very different game than Unity of Command.  It is almost board game like in it's presentation, and definitely an old school wargame in most of it's approach.  There are some really unique things about it though that make it a real joy to play, assuming you're okay with moving lots and lots of counters.

Three Views of Fall Blau: Unity of Command - 2nd Kharkov

All of this playtesting Stalingrad scenarios for Command Ops has me interested in the entire campaign leading up to the massive battle itself.  Beyond reading Moscow to Stalingrad - Decision in the East I wanted to game the campaign to get an overall sense of events.  It seems I've been collecting games that allow me to do just that.  I have three different games that either have Case Blue as a scenario or are specifically focused on the German offensive of 1942.  Specifically, I have Unity of Command, Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue, and War in the East.

Each of these games is at a different scale and different level of abstraction.  Unity of Command is scaled at 20km per hex with four day turns; units are German divisions and Soviet Corps.  DC: Case Blue uses 10km hexes with two day turns, units are regiments and divisions.  War in the East has 10 mile hexes with weekly turns.  Units are divisions and corps.  Unity of Command is the most highly abstracted of the three, War in the East the most detailed and complex, and DC: Case Blue is also generally complex, though in ways different from WitE.

I then thought that it might be interesting, over the coming weeks and months, to play through the various scenarios and campaigns of these games covering the German offensive of 1942 and the Battle of Stalingrad/Operation Uranus itself and compare them.  All are great games with an eye toward historical accuracy.  I hope that playing through these campaigns will hone my skills with all three game engines the same way playing a lot of Command Ops has over the past few weeks.

While not part of the actual offensive itself, the prelude to Fall Blau is the Battle of 2nd Kharkov.  Let's start our series with this battle as depicted in Unity of Command's "Stalingrad Campaign."

Unity of Command - Black Turn

I'm playing a little Unity of Command: Black Turn while waiting for Arma III to download.  I missed picking Arma III up during the last Steam sale, but I suspect it's about the only thing I'll buy this time around.

I did grab Black Turn pretty much as soon as it became available.  It's interesting to contrast it with the obviously more detailed (and time consuming) War in the East and Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue.

I have to admit I have mixed feeling about Unity of Command.  On the one hand, it's entertaining, plays fast, is challenging and requires some thought to play well.  On the other hand, scenarios feel more like puzzles than an operational simulation.  Too often, I feel like I'm looking for a specific solution to maximize VPs rather than applying sound operational/strategic principles to win.  I like the UI, but am really not wild about the little busts and tanks and step dots.

Still, for the price its a fun and challenging East Front game for those time when you don't have the time or mental bandwidth for something more complicated.

The Blitzkrieg Bop: My First War in the East Scenario

About six weeks ago I swallowed hard and ponied up the cash for Gary Grigsby's War in the East, and with the Don to the Danube expansion.  As a simulation of the entire German-Soviet War from 1941 to 1945 at the brigade/division level it rightly has a reputation as a "monster" game.  I was concerned that I'd spent a lot of money on a game that would be so complex and dry that I'd never play it.  And honestly, other than running through the tutorial once, I've left the game alone for several weeks.

However, a couple of days ago I started reading Glantz's Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941 (purchased almost a year ago, the last time I was on an Eastern Front kick!) and wanted to get a better grasp for the opening phases of the operation, particularly the operations in Belarus by Army Group Center.  War in the East has a short scenario, "Road to Minsk" that covers the first three weeks of Army Group Center's portion of Barbarossa, which also seemed constrained enough to help me get a basic grasp of the game mechanics.

(Note that I am using Jison's MapMod for WitE) The initial situation along the Polish-Soviet border in Army Group Center's sector.  The ultimate objective for the Germans, Minsk, is just off the east screen edge.

My primary offensive units are 3rd Panzer Group (shown) to the north of the Area of Operations, and 2nd Panzer Group in the south, across the River Bug from Brest Litovsk.  The overall plan is to breach the Soviet border forces with the Panzer groups.  3rd Panzer Group will advance through Vilnius and attack Minsk from the north.  2nd Panzer Group will cross the river, take Brest Litovsk and advance up the rail line to take Minsk from the south.  Doing so will encircle most of Pavlov's Western Front.

A theater overview at the end of Turn 1. I've left most of the regular infantry units in place close to the border to fix the Soviet formations.  Meanwhile, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups have achieved their initial objectives and pushed more than halfway to Minsk.

In the north, elements of 3rd Panzer Group have overrun Vilnius. A corps from Army Group North (units with purple NATO symbols) has seized Kaunas to prevent the Soviets from gaining victory points from that objective.

In the south 2nd Panzer Group has taken Brest Litovsk and has elements across the Shara River.

The game has a sophisticated model of the air war that tracks individual aircraft, but is easy to use for the player.  My initial bombing strikes at Soviet airfields have taken a heavy toll of Western Front's supporting aircraft while they were still on the ground.

At the beginning of turn two, the AI has realized I'm trying to encircle it's forces, and it's moving to try and break them out before it's too late.  I was very impressed when I saw the retreat start rather than the AI just leaving units to stand an die in place.

Not, frankly, that it's doing them a lot of good.  The game also tracks each man and each piece of equipment, and the Soviets are losing plenty of both.  In two weeks of combat the units of Pavlov's Western Front have lost 140,000 men.  80,000 of those have been captured.  The Soviets have also lost 844 AFVs compared to total German casualties of just over 6800 and 62 AFVs.  Blitzkrieg indeed!

At the beginning of turn 3 the encirclement is complete.  The units outlined in red are isolated and out of supply.  Again, the supply and logistics system in the game is very sophisticated, but easy for the player to manage.

There are a few scattered units east of Minsk, but this is the end of Western Front.

Turn three is really nothing more than mopping up isolated Soviet units and pushing the Panzer divisions to the remaining objectives on the far eastern side of the map.

The final situation.  Scoring a Decisive Victory in this scenario isn't a big deal - the scenario description calls it "Blitzkrieg 101" and recommends it as the first scenario to play - more or less an extended tutorial.  As you can see from the screenshot above, I never even bothered to move 9th Armee (green NATO symbols) any distance from their starting locations to support my spearhead units because there just wasn't any need.  The scope of the scenario is such that there's zero chance of even a limited Soviet counter-attack.

Still, I was amazed at just how approachable this game is for the player.  The UI is well designed.  It's generally easy to keep track of things like formations, logistics, and air support.  While very detailed, the game can automate a lot of the tedious tasks associated with that detail.  While a larger scenario will definitely be a lot more complex to play, and there are definitely aspects and capabilities of the game I never touched on in this scenario, I'm no longer concerned that I won't play it very much.  I suspect as I make my way through my stack of books on the Eastern Front this is the primary tool I'll be using to understand the significant operations of the war.

Case White: September 1-2, 1939

Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkierg Warsaw to Paris 
I love the idea of this game, but I'm a bit daunted by the size of it.  Years ago I used to really enjoy playing with operational level games of this scale.  I even used to play them as board games.  I have to admit I struggle with having the attention span and dedication to handle these games these days.
Nonetheless, the panzers have crossed the Polish border tonight. I promised myself I'd start a multi-session play through of this weekend.  I'm going to document the game in the hopes I'll stick with it and see it through to the final turn. Here's a summation of the first two days of the campaign:
As you can see from the strategic map, the main attack by Army Group South in the vicinity of Breslau has driven across the border and started a push toward Lodz, and eventually Warsaw.  AGS will form the southern arm of a pincer movement to encircle and cut-off Poznan and any troops to the west of Warsaw.  Meanwhile, Army Group North is attacking east across the base of the Polish Corridor and south toward Warsaw, forming the northern arm of the encirclement.

In the south, 8th Army is poised to take Kalisch and secure the flank of the main effort by 10th Army.  10th Army is about to turn the flank of the Polish 30th Division, exploiting the gap between it and the Polish 10th Division.  10th Army will then drive across the Warta north of Dzialoszyn, take Piotrkow and advance on to Radom, to the south of Warsaw.  The 2nd and 3rd Light Divisions along with the 25th Panzer Regimant will move south of the Polish 30th Division, cross the Warta at Czestochowa and protect the southern flank of 10th Army.
14th Army will primarily demonstrate along the southwestern Polish border.  VII Corps is encountering fairly heavy resistance from several Polish divisions around Myslowice.  I intend to use XVII Corps to drive north through the Polish 21st Division to get in the rear of the defenders at Myslowice at Krakau.  Hopefully this will allow the mechanized divisions of VII Corps to punch through and seize Kielce in a couple of turns.

In the north, 4th Army spearheaded by Guderian's Panzer Divisions has smashed through the Polish 9th Division and driven nearly to Bromberg.  Once there, they will drive down the Vistula to seize Thorn. 2nd and 3rd Corps will advance southeast of the Panzer divisions to screen them from any forces moving east out of the Poznan salient.  XXI Corps has engaged the Polish 16th Division in front of Graudenz.  It should take the town next turn and link up with Guderian's advance, sealing off the southern end of the Polish Corridor from Poland proper.  Frontier and reserve units will drive east across the Corridor to link up with troops in East Prussia.  The bulk of 3rd Army will attempt to advance south toward Warsaw, assuming they can push trough or flank the fortifications at Mlowa.

To be continued...