Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Played Falangist pride today with my good gaming buddy Fritz E. All I can say is wow! This was one of those scenarios where your knuckles turn white each game turn as the battle ebbed and flowed in a most violent way. Anyway, heres the skinny on this cool scenario:
Falangist Pride is apart of Critical Hits historical module called Guerra Civil and take place in Villanueva de La Canada near Brunete, Spain 1937. Boards 43 and 17 are used for this one but with two major terrain change: all woods are brush and orchards are Vineyards. This is important because now the Republicans have to traverse a lot of open ground to reach their objectives. But the quality of units facing the good guys is seriously suspect.
The Republicans get the following stuff to attack the Nationalists with:
nine 448's, 8 447's, a 228 crew(allied Minor), 9-0 commissar, 9-1, 8-1, two 8-0's, two crappy 50mm MTR’s, one MMG, four LMG’s, an 81mm MTR that you can attempt to manhandle on board or exchange it for a DM’ed version and lug it on board, one truck, FA-1x2, T-26x2 and Bilboa 32x2. These guys enter from off board so the nationalists will get concealment.
The Nationalists get the following equipment to cause the Republicans all kinds of possible greif:
four 457's(these are Moroccan Regulares IE “Fuerzas Regulares Indgenasâ€)
eight 347's, three 336's (the 347's and 336's are called the Blueshirts, Franco’s version of the Italian Blackshirt militia’s)
three Axis Minor 227 crews, 9-1, two 8-0's, two 7-0's, and one 10-1 chaplain (this guy swings his Rosary over the heads of those who need to take MC’s and blesses the Nationalist weapons systems as they dish out death to the heathen Republicans)
One HMG, three LMG’s, two 50mm MTR’s, One Phone for 70mm Artillary, one 81mm MTR, two 37L ATG’s, four trenches and two Road Blocks. The Nationalists set-up on both boards of 43 and 17 from hexrow AA and back.
Some explanations on various SCW GC stuff:
The Republicans basically were trained by the Russians, so more and more throughout the War, they became dependent on their Commissars to motivate the troops and lead the way, hence there are 10-0 and 9-0 commissars included in the Republican order of battle. Also, it should be pointed out that the Republicans use Allied Minor SW, Crews, concealment and so on. The Nationalists use Axis Minor equipment, crews, SW, concealment and so on.
The Republican Armor is a mixture of Russian lend lease and local manufacture; The FA-1 is essentially an old version of the BA Armored Car, the T26 is the T26 M33, the Bilboa 32 is an Armored Car of local manufacture, all are radioless, so some thought will be needed when these guys roll on board. The Nationalist 457's are Elite guys, but due to their lack of familiarity with urban terrain, they cannot be concealed in buildings, I think this is a bit over the top because who the hell is gonna remember that?
The victory conditions are unforgiving IE, the republicans win either by capturing all the multi-hex buildings or exiting 16 CVP’s of infantry only off the board, opposite of their entry area, thus the Republicans have a long hike across a full length board and try to exit with 8 turns. There is no CVP cap, so you can essentially throw your Armor into the teeth of the enemy defense, but I would not recommend it, the Armor is much more valuable in helping the infantry do Armored assualt.
The Game:
In a way, this scenario is a lot like desert, lots of open ground with little to no cover when approaching the Nationalist stronghold. The good part though is, I have to contend with just one HMG, a high caliber MTR and light OBA plus this is not quality equipment I am facing but I also have deal with two HIP ATG’s out there, so caution is the watch word. I have also decided that controlling the four Multi-hex buildings mid board is a lot easier then going for the exit VC, the added plus to this is that I can be more deliberate in my attack on the village and don’t have to rush myself. So with that in mind, I go ahead and set my guys up in force off board 17, my intent is to take the two multi-hex buildings on board 17 and then wheel over to board 43 to take the last two multi-hex buildings in the koresh compound. I Spread my guys out along the entry area of board 17 no more then one to two squads are stacked together and they will move individually, not as a stack, in a scenario like this, stacking is bad. I make one fatal mistake, my fear of an upfront ATG keeps me from entering my Armor on this turn (I can enter on turn or later) I dismantle the 81mm MTR, put my crew on the Truck so as to get them forward to the Board 17 DD5 CC5 wall, this is another bonehead mistake on my part! I could have just stacked a SMC with the crew and made it to the walled area in one turn. From the looks of Fritz’s set-up, it looks like He put a screening force up front and his MG’s and what not at mid board. I also see he has Squad on the 1st level of 43O7 and 43O8, it turns out that these guys are the HMG, radio man and the Nationalists 81mm MTR spotter, the MTR is HIP In 43N7. This is excellent placement of the Nationalists weapons, and the HMG is very effective out to a range 12 hexes.
My Guys enter on and the fire work begin as my lads come under small arms fire from a few of his squads in the upper levels of 17W3/W4 and also from a squad in 17X0. My truck and crew end up living a charmed life as they park in hex 17DD5 but come under intense 81mm MTR fire directed by a spotter, Fritz hits the Truch, but no effect, whew!
But then in Fritz’s DF phase, he calls on the radio, and draws a black card for 70mm OBA to come down on my guys. On turn the Nationalist turn one, Fritz’s OBA goes off, and which was to happen throughout the game, his OBA roll’s were accurate but the results always ended up being on the average of 10 or more. The HMG though, rips two of my squads apart before breaking on an 11 roll.
On my turn two, I am still paranoid that his ATGs are lurking up front, so one more I leave my armor off board, a very dumb move and I’m paying for it in higher then normal casualties. I forgo Prep and move my guys forward through the brush and grain only to be met by more small fire coming from the 17W3 building, I know I needed to prep at it earlier, but I wanted to get close enough to where my units were in range to deal out max death. I unload my stupid crew and DM’ed MTR and get attacked by the 81mm MTR, once more my lads live a charmed life and survive. I try moving a few squads forward along the seam of boards 17 and 43, but my guys just don’t have the hart to press on and melt away at the intense small arms fire being chucked at them. The HMG did not repair this turn, so my thinking is, I gotta take advantage of that. My progress on the left flank of board 17 aint bad, but if I want to punch through, I need to get my Armor on board.
On Fritz’s turn two, He corrects his OBA to my squads advancing along the seam of board 43 and 17. Once more his OBA is accurate but once more he gaks the results. He also manages to repair the HMG but only gets one ineffectual shot off. I set-up my own 81mm MTR for some turn three return fire into the korresh compound on board 43.
On my turn 3 I line my Armor up behind the board 17 road, and once more I bone head another mistake, Instead of having My FA-1's and at least one Bilboa 32 in a platoon, I put a T-26 into each platoon, talk about being slowed down! BTW, you need at least three vehicles to make-up a platoon. Anyway, My plan was to send one group to support my troops making their way towards the Koresh compound and the other group was to be sent to support my attack into the board 17 village, as you can see, my plan for a right hook with all my forces never happened. So On my turn 3, I blast away with my 81mm, at the upper levels of the Koresh compound breaking everybody with great RoF, BUT I did not follow through later on when Fritz left those guys up there ( he did not want to abandon his radio or HMG.)
I am also able to get adjacent to building 17W4 and survive lots of DF, My armor also roll on to board 17 with one Platoon going towards 17V6 and stopping in that area. My other Platoon, move forward to support my attack on the koresh compound but mid way, Fritz opens up with his HMG and Stuns my Bilboa 32 thus forcing my platoon to halt their movement.
On Turn 4 My lads are in CC in building 17W4, but I am bogged down on the attack towards the koresh compound. Once more my my Armor lurch’s forward on board 17 only to run into an HIP 37L in hex17R5, my Bilboa32 gets destroyed, but my other two tanks are out of LOS, in hexes 17u6 and V6. My other units moving around board 43 are peppered by HMG fire, killing one of my squads. The CC in building 17W3 is turning into a bloody mess as my CC rolls are just terrible, so another round of CC and valuable units are once more held up.
On Turn 5 I roll for independent movement with my FA-1 and succeeded, I roll forward around the 37L in hopes of doing a bypass sleaze freeze, on the ATG’s first shot, Fritz has to crank around to get the AFV in his CA, a nasty +6 drm from being in building, he misses and I roll out of his CA to come from behind, but Fritz is not put off and cranks the ATG around again to fire another shot, +6, +2 motion +1 small target, but a -3(I stopped so as to get a 4FP MG shot off before going into bypass) So guess what? Fritz rolls a three and hits! My tank is destroyed. I try to go independent movement with my T-26 but thats a no go. On board 43 My armor, feeling pretty safe in the fields of grain, make it up to the 43 Q7, Q8, and Q9 hexroll with plans of doing lots of bypass sleeze, but Fritz reveals an ATG in hex43P3 and one tank gets blown up.
Lets skip over the rest of this thing and get down to what finally transpired; I did manage to CC the gun crew on board 17, but my losses from that were nasty, Also Brother flarity in building 17P4 went heroic and was giving me all kinds of grief, but I did manage to take him out and building P4, but my board 43 forces were just to badly mauled and it was turn 7, so I had no chance to get my forces from one point to the other point. So I threw in the towel.
A lot of tactical mistakes on my part, splitting my forces up was very wrong and why I went against my original plan, I just cant think of why. What Fritz thought would be a speed bump infront of my forces on board 17, turned out to be a major factor in his win. Anyway, the bottom line is, this is a fun and balanced scenario, just don’t do what I did, stick with your plan and attack the objectives in full force, not piecemeal like I did. Great scenario indeed!
Scott
Falangist Pride is apart of Critical Hits historical module called Guerra Civil and take place in Villanueva de La Canada near Brunete, Spain 1937. Boards 43 and 17 are used for this one but with two major terrain change: all woods are brush and orchards are Vineyards. This is important because now the Republicans have to traverse a lot of open ground to reach their objectives. But the quality of units facing the good guys is seriously suspect.
The Republicans get the following stuff to attack the Nationalists with:
nine 448's, 8 447's, a 228 crew(allied Minor), 9-0 commissar, 9-1, 8-1, two 8-0's, two crappy 50mm MTR’s, one MMG, four LMG’s, an 81mm MTR that you can attempt to manhandle on board or exchange it for a DM’ed version and lug it on board, one truck, FA-1x2, T-26x2 and Bilboa 32x2. These guys enter from off board so the nationalists will get concealment.
The Nationalists get the following equipment to cause the Republicans all kinds of possible greif:
four 457's(these are Moroccan Regulares IE “Fuerzas Regulares Indgenasâ€)
eight 347's, three 336's (the 347's and 336's are called the Blueshirts, Franco’s version of the Italian Blackshirt militia’s)
three Axis Minor 227 crews, 9-1, two 8-0's, two 7-0's, and one 10-1 chaplain (this guy swings his Rosary over the heads of those who need to take MC’s and blesses the Nationalist weapons systems as they dish out death to the heathen Republicans)
One HMG, three LMG’s, two 50mm MTR’s, One Phone for 70mm Artillary, one 81mm MTR, two 37L ATG’s, four trenches and two Road Blocks. The Nationalists set-up on both boards of 43 and 17 from hexrow AA and back.
Some explanations on various SCW GC stuff:
The Republicans basically were trained by the Russians, so more and more throughout the War, they became dependent on their Commissars to motivate the troops and lead the way, hence there are 10-0 and 9-0 commissars included in the Republican order of battle. Also, it should be pointed out that the Republicans use Allied Minor SW, Crews, concealment and so on. The Nationalists use Axis Minor equipment, crews, SW, concealment and so on.
The Republican Armor is a mixture of Russian lend lease and local manufacture; The FA-1 is essentially an old version of the BA Armored Car, the T26 is the T26 M33, the Bilboa 32 is an Armored Car of local manufacture, all are radioless, so some thought will be needed when these guys roll on board. The Nationalist 457's are Elite guys, but due to their lack of familiarity with urban terrain, they cannot be concealed in buildings, I think this is a bit over the top because who the hell is gonna remember that?
The victory conditions are unforgiving IE, the republicans win either by capturing all the multi-hex buildings or exiting 16 CVP’s of infantry only off the board, opposite of their entry area, thus the Republicans have a long hike across a full length board and try to exit with 8 turns. There is no CVP cap, so you can essentially throw your Armor into the teeth of the enemy defense, but I would not recommend it, the Armor is much more valuable in helping the infantry do Armored assualt.
The Game:
In a way, this scenario is a lot like desert, lots of open ground with little to no cover when approaching the Nationalist stronghold. The good part though is, I have to contend with just one HMG, a high caliber MTR and light OBA plus this is not quality equipment I am facing but I also have deal with two HIP ATG’s out there, so caution is the watch word. I have also decided that controlling the four Multi-hex buildings mid board is a lot easier then going for the exit VC, the added plus to this is that I can be more deliberate in my attack on the village and don’t have to rush myself. So with that in mind, I go ahead and set my guys up in force off board 17, my intent is to take the two multi-hex buildings on board 17 and then wheel over to board 43 to take the last two multi-hex buildings in the koresh compound. I Spread my guys out along the entry area of board 17 no more then one to two squads are stacked together and they will move individually, not as a stack, in a scenario like this, stacking is bad. I make one fatal mistake, my fear of an upfront ATG keeps me from entering my Armor on this turn (I can enter on turn or later) I dismantle the 81mm MTR, put my crew on the Truck so as to get them forward to the Board 17 DD5 CC5 wall, this is another bonehead mistake on my part! I could have just stacked a SMC with the crew and made it to the walled area in one turn. From the looks of Fritz’s set-up, it looks like He put a screening force up front and his MG’s and what not at mid board. I also see he has Squad on the 1st level of 43O7 and 43O8, it turns out that these guys are the HMG, radio man and the Nationalists 81mm MTR spotter, the MTR is HIP In 43N7. This is excellent placement of the Nationalists weapons, and the HMG is very effective out to a range 12 hexes.
My Guys enter on and the fire work begin as my lads come under small arms fire from a few of his squads in the upper levels of 17W3/W4 and also from a squad in 17X0. My truck and crew end up living a charmed life as they park in hex 17DD5 but come under intense 81mm MTR fire directed by a spotter, Fritz hits the Truch, but no effect, whew!
But then in Fritz’s DF phase, he calls on the radio, and draws a black card for 70mm OBA to come down on my guys. On turn the Nationalist turn one, Fritz’s OBA goes off, and which was to happen throughout the game, his OBA roll’s were accurate but the results always ended up being on the average of 10 or more. The HMG though, rips two of my squads apart before breaking on an 11 roll.
On my turn two, I am still paranoid that his ATGs are lurking up front, so one more I leave my armor off board, a very dumb move and I’m paying for it in higher then normal casualties. I forgo Prep and move my guys forward through the brush and grain only to be met by more small fire coming from the 17W3 building, I know I needed to prep at it earlier, but I wanted to get close enough to where my units were in range to deal out max death. I unload my stupid crew and DM’ed MTR and get attacked by the 81mm MTR, once more my lads live a charmed life and survive. I try moving a few squads forward along the seam of boards 17 and 43, but my guys just don’t have the hart to press on and melt away at the intense small arms fire being chucked at them. The HMG did not repair this turn, so my thinking is, I gotta take advantage of that. My progress on the left flank of board 17 aint bad, but if I want to punch through, I need to get my Armor on board.
On Fritz’s turn two, He corrects his OBA to my squads advancing along the seam of board 43 and 17. Once more his OBA is accurate but once more he gaks the results. He also manages to repair the HMG but only gets one ineffectual shot off. I set-up my own 81mm MTR for some turn three return fire into the korresh compound on board 43.
On my turn 3 I line my Armor up behind the board 17 road, and once more I bone head another mistake, Instead of having My FA-1's and at least one Bilboa 32 in a platoon, I put a T-26 into each platoon, talk about being slowed down! BTW, you need at least three vehicles to make-up a platoon. Anyway, My plan was to send one group to support my troops making their way towards the Koresh compound and the other group was to be sent to support my attack into the board 17 village, as you can see, my plan for a right hook with all my forces never happened. So On my turn 3, I blast away with my 81mm, at the upper levels of the Koresh compound breaking everybody with great RoF, BUT I did not follow through later on when Fritz left those guys up there ( he did not want to abandon his radio or HMG.)
I am also able to get adjacent to building 17W4 and survive lots of DF, My armor also roll on to board 17 with one Platoon going towards 17V6 and stopping in that area. My other Platoon, move forward to support my attack on the koresh compound but mid way, Fritz opens up with his HMG and Stuns my Bilboa 32 thus forcing my platoon to halt their movement.
On Turn 4 My lads are in CC in building 17W4, but I am bogged down on the attack towards the koresh compound. Once more my my Armor lurch’s forward on board 17 only to run into an HIP 37L in hex17R5, my Bilboa32 gets destroyed, but my other two tanks are out of LOS, in hexes 17u6 and V6. My other units moving around board 43 are peppered by HMG fire, killing one of my squads. The CC in building 17W3 is turning into a bloody mess as my CC rolls are just terrible, so another round of CC and valuable units are once more held up.
On Turn 5 I roll for independent movement with my FA-1 and succeeded, I roll forward around the 37L in hopes of doing a bypass sleaze freeze, on the ATG’s first shot, Fritz has to crank around to get the AFV in his CA, a nasty +6 drm from being in building, he misses and I roll out of his CA to come from behind, but Fritz is not put off and cranks the ATG around again to fire another shot, +6, +2 motion +1 small target, but a -3(I stopped so as to get a 4FP MG shot off before going into bypass) So guess what? Fritz rolls a three and hits! My tank is destroyed. I try to go independent movement with my T-26 but thats a no go. On board 43 My armor, feeling pretty safe in the fields of grain, make it up to the 43 Q7, Q8, and Q9 hexroll with plans of doing lots of bypass sleeze, but Fritz reveals an ATG in hex43P3 and one tank gets blown up.
Lets skip over the rest of this thing and get down to what finally transpired; I did manage to CC the gun crew on board 17, but my losses from that were nasty, Also Brother flarity in building 17P4 went heroic and was giving me all kinds of grief, but I did manage to take him out and building P4, but my board 43 forces were just to badly mauled and it was turn 7, so I had no chance to get my forces from one point to the other point. So I threw in the towel.
A lot of tactical mistakes on my part, splitting my forces up was very wrong and why I went against my original plan, I just cant think of why. What Fritz thought would be a speed bump infront of my forces on board 17, turned out to be a major factor in his win. Anyway, the bottom line is, this is a fun and balanced scenario, just don’t do what I did, stick with your plan and attack the objectives in full force, not piecemeal like I did. Great scenario indeed!
Scott
