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Kudos to George Kelln for finding this Russian seaborne assault against the Germans somewhere on the coast of the Black Sea in September of 1941. The scenario is in one of his Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler scenario packs. The defenders consist of the pioneer battalion just recently arrived at the port of Swobodny. They’ve had no time to fortify anything, but they have two HMG to reach out and touch the incoming Russians. When the Russians hit the beach, the Germans have also two flamethrowers, four LMG and four DC for their twelve 5-4-8 squads. Their leadership is of fair quality, a 9-1, 8-1 and two 8-0. The Germans also receive eight dummy counters; somehow I forgot to use them.
They also receive reinforcements. Two towed 105mm guns join them on turn two. Three PzJg 1 AFV trundle on in turn four; these are open top, non-turreted AFV with 47L guns.
The Russians are Red Marines of the Black Sea Fleet. According to the scenario text, the soldiers used miscellaneous small craft to conduct their seaborne assault. George chose to represent most of these craft with the Japanese Shohatsu landing craft, nine of them, along with three LCP(L). All twelve are armoured only in the front. The Shohatsu has a 2FP BMG, while the LCP(L) have an 8FP AAMG.
The Russians need to take 60 VP of building hexes. They have 33 squads and five leaders bundled into these twelve LC. They have nine LMG, three MMG, three ATR, three flamethrowers and six DC. Six of the squads are 4-5-8 assault engineers to operate the FT and DC; the rest are 5-2-7 squads. Helping the Russian is off-board naval direct fire support of a 76L gun that can fire in the PFPh, AFPh and the DFPh. It can pick a new hex from which to fire in every fire phase. Hindering the Russians are the inexperienced crews piloting the landing craft. This reduces the the MP of the LC from four to three, which negatively impacts how many "unloads" the LC can make in each MPh. The LC do not have ramps, so unloading troops costs 50% of the 3 MP, FRU. Because of the inexperienced crews, the run-in of the LC will take quite a few turns. This will allow the German HMG to have many shots at the exposed passengers of the Shohatsu LC. Should the LC present their side aspect to the HMG, the passengers on all the LC are now vulnerable without the +2 CE DRM, albeit still at half-firepower for fire into an ocean hex.
Below is an image of the German setup before concealment. Since I have no idea if the Russians will prefer the north or south side, the Germans are fairly equally spread along the coast. I kept a two squad reserve in the gully with a leader; I felt they needed to be out of sight to the Russian navy 76L gun.
Although the LC can take only two damage points (to immobilize), the HMG will in all probability, not be sinking any landing craft; nor will the 50mm mortars. The German 105 artillery can sink a LC in one shot by firing HE using the vehicle target type. HE 105 has a penetration of ten versus the armor factor of 0 giving a Final TK of ten. Rolling a TK of 7 will inflict 3 DP to sink a landing craft. It isn’t so easy for the PzJg 1. The 47L HE penetration is only five; one would need to roll snake eyes to sink the LC in one shot. Using AP, their penetration is 11; however rolling less than or equal to half of the Final TK yields only one DP. The PzJg 1 would need to do that three times to sink a LC.
The Russian navy gun attacked various German hexes. Firing at the infantry was not easy because of red TH numbers at a range of 15 or more hexes, and because of the Germans usually being in buildings. Nevertheless, the 76L did some damage to the German infantry.
On turn two, one German artillery piece used the roads to be able to unhook during their turn of entry; one of the LC MG broke the crew after it unhooked the gun. The crew would return to the gun later, however, and sink a LCP(L) during turn four, taking two squads, a DC and a light mortar to Davy Jones’ locker. The other 105 unhooked in turn three safely, but the over-excited crew would quickly lose the gun to intensive fire after inflicting no damage.
How long did it take for the Russians to reach the beach? The first LC touched the beach on Russian turn five, but did not have enough MP left to unload any troops. During those five turns, the two HMG took many, many shots. It seemed that one of the two would have a decent amount of rate shots every fire phase. It felt like I rolled a lot of low numbers. It also felt like Magnus rolled a lot of high numbers for the MC of the LC passengers, who all use morale eight regardless of their actual morale. At some point, the German 9-1 battle hardened to a 9-2 to make the HMG fire even more effective. During their drive to the beach, the Russians lost 11 CVP, including a 7-0 leader; their best leader, a 10-2, was wounded as well. Sometimes, an LC crew stun would spin the LC and leave the unarmored side facing the HMG.
During turn four, the German AFV entered. I pretty much parked them on the beach to shoot at LC, completely forgetting about the Russian navy. I blame the two week time lapse between VASL sessions. Those AFV needed to be hidden from that gun in a manner to still be able to shoot at the LC. Besides wanting to survive, they need to avoid destruction on the beach because that 76L is most likely going to burn them which will give drifting smoke, courtesy of the breeze. That is exactly what happened to one of the PzJg soon after its entry. Another PzJg broke its MA early. On the fun side, I drove an AFV onto a pier for the first time. Another first happened on turn 6: a Russian unit with a flame thrower unloaded within range of a German unit with a flame thrower—duelling flame throwers! The German won. When it became obvious that no Russians would land to the south (right, in the image) of the pier, the southern Germans moved north as quick as they safely could, keeping in mind the Russian naval gun and the beached LC MG. Sometime mid-game, the sole surviving PzJg 1 repaired its MA.
After seven turns, the Russians are starting to have survivors on the beach and even one hex of hinterland, but they’ve taken a further 15 CVP in casualties, including a 9-1 leader. There are still fourteen squads in the LC. Here is an image after seven turns.
During German seven, the PzJg 1 immobilizes a fully loaded LC in a shallow ocean hex. Turns seven and eight see a significant number of Russians unload with a few casualties. The Germans have been forced back a small amount. Magnus decided that it is no longer possible for him to win. The Russians have too much ground to cover and only two movement phases left.
I think the Russians need to land in two areas to hopefully keep the German fire groups on the small side. They cannot change their mind after entering the board, however; they must head directly to the beach to have enough time to penetrate the defence and then claim building hexes. The Russian balance only improves the naval gun to an 85L; that will not help much. More turns would be better.
They also receive reinforcements. Two towed 105mm guns join them on turn two. Three PzJg 1 AFV trundle on in turn four; these are open top, non-turreted AFV with 47L guns.
The Russians are Red Marines of the Black Sea Fleet. According to the scenario text, the soldiers used miscellaneous small craft to conduct their seaborne assault. George chose to represent most of these craft with the Japanese Shohatsu landing craft, nine of them, along with three LCP(L). All twelve are armoured only in the front. The Shohatsu has a 2FP BMG, while the LCP(L) have an 8FP AAMG.
The Russians need to take 60 VP of building hexes. They have 33 squads and five leaders bundled into these twelve LC. They have nine LMG, three MMG, three ATR, three flamethrowers and six DC. Six of the squads are 4-5-8 assault engineers to operate the FT and DC; the rest are 5-2-7 squads. Helping the Russian is off-board naval direct fire support of a 76L gun that can fire in the PFPh, AFPh and the DFPh. It can pick a new hex from which to fire in every fire phase. Hindering the Russians are the inexperienced crews piloting the landing craft. This reduces the the MP of the LC from four to three, which negatively impacts how many "unloads" the LC can make in each MPh. The LC do not have ramps, so unloading troops costs 50% of the 3 MP, FRU. Because of the inexperienced crews, the run-in of the LC will take quite a few turns. This will allow the German HMG to have many shots at the exposed passengers of the Shohatsu LC. Should the LC present their side aspect to the HMG, the passengers on all the LC are now vulnerable without the +2 CE DRM, albeit still at half-firepower for fire into an ocean hex.
Below is an image of the German setup before concealment. Since I have no idea if the Russians will prefer the north or south side, the Germans are fairly equally spread along the coast. I kept a two squad reserve in the gully with a leader; I felt they needed to be out of sight to the Russian navy 76L gun.
Although the LC can take only two damage points (to immobilize), the HMG will in all probability, not be sinking any landing craft; nor will the 50mm mortars. The German 105 artillery can sink a LC in one shot by firing HE using the vehicle target type. HE 105 has a penetration of ten versus the armor factor of 0 giving a Final TK of ten. Rolling a TK of 7 will inflict 3 DP to sink a landing craft. It isn’t so easy for the PzJg 1. The 47L HE penetration is only five; one would need to roll snake eyes to sink the LC in one shot. Using AP, their penetration is 11; however rolling less than or equal to half of the Final TK yields only one DP. The PzJg 1 would need to do that three times to sink a LC.
The Russian navy gun attacked various German hexes. Firing at the infantry was not easy because of red TH numbers at a range of 15 or more hexes, and because of the Germans usually being in buildings. Nevertheless, the 76L did some damage to the German infantry.
On turn two, one German artillery piece used the roads to be able to unhook during their turn of entry; one of the LC MG broke the crew after it unhooked the gun. The crew would return to the gun later, however, and sink a LCP(L) during turn four, taking two squads, a DC and a light mortar to Davy Jones’ locker. The other 105 unhooked in turn three safely, but the over-excited crew would quickly lose the gun to intensive fire after inflicting no damage.
How long did it take for the Russians to reach the beach? The first LC touched the beach on Russian turn five, but did not have enough MP left to unload any troops. During those five turns, the two HMG took many, many shots. It seemed that one of the two would have a decent amount of rate shots every fire phase. It felt like I rolled a lot of low numbers. It also felt like Magnus rolled a lot of high numbers for the MC of the LC passengers, who all use morale eight regardless of their actual morale. At some point, the German 9-1 battle hardened to a 9-2 to make the HMG fire even more effective. During their drive to the beach, the Russians lost 11 CVP, including a 7-0 leader; their best leader, a 10-2, was wounded as well. Sometimes, an LC crew stun would spin the LC and leave the unarmored side facing the HMG.
During turn four, the German AFV entered. I pretty much parked them on the beach to shoot at LC, completely forgetting about the Russian navy. I blame the two week time lapse between VASL sessions. Those AFV needed to be hidden from that gun in a manner to still be able to shoot at the LC. Besides wanting to survive, they need to avoid destruction on the beach because that 76L is most likely going to burn them which will give drifting smoke, courtesy of the breeze. That is exactly what happened to one of the PzJg soon after its entry. Another PzJg broke its MA early. On the fun side, I drove an AFV onto a pier for the first time. Another first happened on turn 6: a Russian unit with a flame thrower unloaded within range of a German unit with a flame thrower—duelling flame throwers! The German won. When it became obvious that no Russians would land to the south (right, in the image) of the pier, the southern Germans moved north as quick as they safely could, keeping in mind the Russian naval gun and the beached LC MG. Sometime mid-game, the sole surviving PzJg 1 repaired its MA.
After seven turns, the Russians are starting to have survivors on the beach and even one hex of hinterland, but they’ve taken a further 15 CVP in casualties, including a 9-1 leader. There are still fourteen squads in the LC. Here is an image after seven turns.
During German seven, the PzJg 1 immobilizes a fully loaded LC in a shallow ocean hex. Turns seven and eight see a significant number of Russians unload with a few casualties. The Germans have been forced back a small amount. Magnus decided that it is no longer possible for him to win. The Russians have too much ground to cover and only two movement phases left.
I think the Russians need to land in two areas to hopefully keep the German fire groups on the small side. They cannot change their mind after entering the board, however; they must head directly to the beach to have enough time to penetrate the defence and then claim building hexes. The Russian balance only improves the naval gun to an 85L; that will not help much. More turns would be better.
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