J63 Silesian Interlude AAR

[Adrian Carter]

For our next scenario we decided to play J63 Silesian Interlude, a popular scenario from Journal #3. Before logging our game ROAR indicated 138 Russian wins versus 128 German wins. Thus the scenario appeared popular and balanced. The action took place in Upper Silesia on 19 March 1945 and depicts the attacks of Hermann Göring Parachute Panzer Division against elements of the 10th Guards Tank Corps in an attempt to prevent the encirclement of the Oppeln Bulge. The German infantry were supported by 3 Panther Gs and one PzKpfw IVJ. The Russian infantry was supported by a Joseph Stalin-2 (IS-2), a 45LL AT gun, and a T34/85 as well as receiving two SU-100 as reinforcements on turn 4. This looked like a short, sharp late-war, heavy-metal action. I attacked with the Germans and my regular gaming buddy, Johan, defended with the Russians. The Germans have to take the village and exit 11 VP off the eastern edge of the map to win.

• German advantages: 1st line and elite infantry, Panthers, 9-1 leader
  German disadvantages: open ground, vulnerable PzKpfw IVJ
• Russian advantages: IS-2, reinforcements
  Russian disadvantages: inadequate infantry, 45LL AT gun

Start of Game. I decided to advance my tanks only far enough forward as to not expose the weaker side armour to possible ambush positions by the 45LL AT gun. The of the German tanks role initially through was to use their Nahverteidigungswaffen (sN) aka snoogiewoofers to provide covering smoke and advance the infantry in three platoons: one through the woods in the south armed with a Panzerschreck to flush out the Russian tank, one through the middle and one through the woods in the north of board 38. I planned pound the buildings and woods with the tanks and attack with my infantry. I also remembered to take my bog checks for the Panther that moved adjacent to the marsh in38S1. The Russians looked to try and hold the village with their infantry and provide covering fire with their tanks from protected positions. I suspected that the 45LL AT gun was somewhere in the woods in the south of board 38.


Start of turn 3. The German infantry had successfully flushed out and broken the crew of the 45LL AT gun and were pushing through strongly the woods. I was about to lose a Panther to recall because the crew had rolled a six on their repair attempt to permanently disable the main armament. Otherwise I was very satisfied with my progress. I had a toe-hold in the village and the Panther was keeping the IS-2 at bay. It was like a mini chess game. Whichever tank moved first would probably lose, but that way the IS-2 was neutralized. A leader-led MMC/dmMMG combo was about to seize the high ground on board 18 to prevent any Russian skulking games in the village.
End of game.


By the end of turn 5 the Germans had gained control of the necessary building hexes in the village and exited 12 VP of the eastern edge of board 38 in the south to earn victory. The dice gods did not favour the tank crews. Three of the remaining six tanks on the board had malfunctioned main armaments (one German and two Russian tanks). This was a fun scenario and could have gone either way depending on the DRs. Highly recommended!

 

[Chas]

Very proud of this design.
I might post a thread in the near future about how I have gone back to my beginnings in scenario design.

 

[gorkowskij]

Had a great time with this one five years ago! An AAR from the way back machine...

J63 Silesian Interlude

Our game play demonstrated the value of playing through your pain to the very last dice roll. Luck is a fickle mistress and likes to switch sides. David Garvin played the Germans and John Gorkowski the Russians, February 2018.

The German main force of three Panthers and several squads surged forward into the leafless orchards of board 38. They simultaneously advanced one infantry platoon along the woods to their right and a Panzer IVJ through the wood line on their left to approach my Russian hill position on board 18.

My hilltop T-34/85 spied a tempting flank shot at a Panther in the orchards below. But I rolled boxcars to break my gun and fumble the opportunity of a lifetime. To make matters worse, my IS-2’s mighty 122 mm gun at the head of the orchard in the valley below flubbed its one shot. A couple of decent small arms attacks did take out a few German half squads.

But things got worse during my turn. My T34/85 failed to repair its main gun. The IS-2 missed again! And then, that scrawny Panzer IVJ scored a critical hit against my T34/85 that turned the hill top into a funeral pyre. Again, my Russian infantry nibbled at the German advance, but Jerry fired back at my foxholes to break my best leader, two squads, and their MMG.

I felt like quitting. There I was in the second turn of an infantry-armor scenario with no armor. The Germans hadn’t lost a single tank, although one Panther had a busted main gun. All I had left to “threaten” them was a puny 45mm anti-tank gun. But I did not want to deny David the sweet taste of victory. So, I soldiered on.

Then the dice changed. One of David’s Panthers drove deep into my position, to corner the broken 8-1, squads, and MMG, and so unknowingly ended its move adjacent to my HIP 45mm anti-tank gun. That side shot worked; the Panther brewed up. Then some tertiary small arms attack stirred the Russian sniper who took out the German 9-1! Both of his escorting 5-4-8 squads failed their leader loss morale checks and so routed to the rear with their LMGs.

Two German tanks exited to secure the necessary exit VP while one stayed behind with what infantry remained to secure the board 38 village. My two SU-100s entered, one on the left and one on the right, to put the one remaining Panther in a cross fire. It pivoted for defensive fire but missed. Then my CE SU-100 fired and hit. David and I both gasped when we realized that the Russian 100L had a kill number of 27! Bye, bye Panther. The other SU-100 later scored a critical hit against a German half squad, rubbling a building in the process.

The end game saw about six German squads trying to traverse a few open ground hexes to overtake about six Russian squads flanked by SU-100s guarding the village. The Russians held on to two of four critical buildings for the win.

 

[Tesgora]

Very proud of this design.
I might post a thread in the near future about how I have gone back to my beginnings in scenario design.

I look forward to Chas’s thread. I played Silesian Interlude some years ago and enjoyed it. I believe it was part of an abandoned scenario pack on the HGD that instead saw some of its scenarios published by MMP. Below are my impressions after playing the scenario:
Hermann’s best men are trying to punch a hole in the Soviet defense to capture a few building in a village and exit some points from the board. The scenario has a Schwerpunkt-flavor because it requires from the German player a relentless and brutal assault as there is little time to complete both victory conditions as on turn four the Soviets are being reinforced by two deadly SU-100 and a few infantry squads that can make the German exit near impossible. The initial German force has up to 12 squads of first-class and elite quality infantry but with only an ELR of 3. They are supported by three leaders, a fair amount of support weapons, one Pz IV, and three Panther tanks. The Panthers are key to the game as they can handle all the Soviet AFVs and they have enough VPs in themselves to satisfy the exit conditions. Unfortunately, I lost one Panther to the IS-2 heavy tank, and another got shocked and destroyed by the same IS-2 after barely surviving an ambush CC. This left one Panther alive and the puny Pz IV got destroyed by a SU-100. The armor fight is quite brutal determined by the first hit and ending in brew-ups. The infantry fight for the few buildings was difficult for the Germans and they only captured two of the four buildings required before I conceded the game.

 

[Chas]

Was not abandoned. Curt called me and MMP bought the rights to the Published Hell on Wheels and unpublished Hermann Goering packs. The scenarios were heavily featured in J2 and J3.

 

[PS NJ]

Love this scenario! One of a handful I've played 5 times or more. Always ends up a swirling melee of fun. It's the scenario where I learned to hate the no Intensive Fire restriction on the soviet 122 guns.