Red Barricades CG III...........Once more into the Breach!

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Bob Miller and I decided to play RB CGIII again! This time Bob took the Russians and I of course took the doomed 6th Army. Day one saw my Germans secure the corner of the RB map but took a few losses in the attempt. I ended up losing two Pz IIIG's and one Stug IIIB. The Stug IIIB loss was the most heartbreaking because I fire into his adjacent squad, got two MC, he survived, and fired again and got a one MC and that squad still survived, passed its paatc and destroyed my stug in CC. On the first day, the Russian OBA rained down on my guys on a constant basis, never pulling a red or breaking its radio. My one Stuka I did receive on day 1 was ineffectual. Total casualties for the Germans on day 1 was 22 Inf CVP's and 12 AFV CVP's (34), Russian losses were 38 CVP's total in Infantry. Not a great start for the Germans but not a horrible one either.

On the 2nd day which we started playing on sunday, we play until Russian turn 4 and will resume some time next week, but for day two, the German bad luck of day was more then made up for on day two as the Russians pulled two red cards, so no OBA for them, I got two Stukas this time and completely crushed one of the buildings the Russians were in, Bob forgot he had a broken guy in the hex and I was able to spot on the broken guy, and drop my bomb (need a 5 or less), the bomb rolls a three with a subsequent roll resulting in the whole hex being rubbled. Lots of whinning could be heard from the Russian side of the lines.

And this is where we are at, on Russian turn 4 with probably more surprises to come for the Germans. The pics are the first pic is at the end of turn. the 2nd pic is of the start of day 2..

day 2 end of turn 4.jpg Day 2 start.jpg
 

Gunner Scott

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Poor Bob actual;ly lost his 9-2 on day 2 from that stuka attack. Still, I think bad things have happened to every body in this CG but if it is not a total blowout, which this CG is not, then you keep going. I should also mention that we are playing with a few rules from Melvin's Leaflet rules:
Gutted Buildings Possibly
Rubble is Rally terrain
62nd Army RG
Recalled tanks come back in accordance to the VotG rules.
The Russians have the option to buy the 15 Conscript squad RG
Engineers are never depleted.

I think thats it from the leaflet rules we are using.

Scott

Ah, was wondering. The Russians lost a 9-2 early on Day 1. Ouch !
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Another day of RB is in the can as day 2 comes to an end with good gains for the Germans in both territory and casualties inflicted on the Russians. Where as day 1 was a real kick in the balls to the Germans, day two turned out to make up for day one in spades. There were a few bad things that happened to the Germans but nothing catastrophic, the loss of one Stug from falling rubble and the recall of my last stug during refit phase were the worst things to happen. The Russians took it on the chin with the loss of around 28CVP;s vs the Germans loss of 10 CVP's (does not include Stg IIIB loss) The refit phases also have not been kind to the Germans as the Russians are averaging slightly more CP's then the Germans. Thus far a still alot of fun for bothsides and hopefully we might get a game in before years end.

Scottend of day 2.jpg rb day 2 002.JPG rb day 2 003.JPG
 

Bob Miller

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NEVER put a good squad in the same hex as a broken squad when 200mm bomb Stukas are flying. I knew better and did it anyways. One bomb hit rubbled 5 squads (two dudes in the basement), a HMG and the 9-2 leader.

Truthfully when I drew that second red card (on my 2nd draw attempt) for the 120mm OBA I should have vacated the building B13 as that cannot be held against a full company of attacking 548s without OBA help. I stayed and got slaughtered. Lost the building AND the troops. Day 1 my 80mm OBA crushed the Jerries attacking that same building along the A-B-C attack route pathway. THAT was fun. Alas not the case in Day 2.
 
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Higood idea

Just wanted to mention that I played the "rubble is rally terrain" and one of the main things that happen is that
the German bunch up in rubble terrain, which can often be in over watch positions ( esp: BB18). This means
that a HMG or 50 cal ( or 50mm) can just keep dm'ing those guys.

Also have a look at what happens if the BB18 building is rubbled ( namely by fire) it is excruciating how that opens
up the board for the Russian.

When that happens that the "Volga attack" doesn't seem like quite a good idea.

Oh did I give a HUGE tip away ???
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Bob and I did get together saturday and played 4 1/2 turns of day 4 of our RB campaign. As can be seen on the map, the Germans are advancing across a wide front. Losses have been mild for the Germans and heavy for the Russians with the casualties thus far at around 6 german squads and 1 tank destroyed another immobilized, Russian losses have been around 12 squads and 3 SMC loses so far. The has been some really bad luck for bothsides as highlighted below:

1. The German armor pushes along the Russian flank, Bob pops up a HIP engineer with a FT to ambush tank, FT rolls an 11 on the attack. Bob throws his glasses across the room and whines a bit.

2. My 81mm Mortar firing at the hex 21 rolls boxcars and x's out. A valuable piece lost on its day of purchase. Save the crew to man MG's for later in the game.

3. Bob's 120mm is holding up my attack on the flank and manages to immobilize one of my Pz III's, on turn three Bob's 120mm lands on a a HS with an HMG, two 9-1 leaders, Bob rolls snake eyes and crits that locations, random results see the HS die and both leaders break. Fortunately no rubbling.

4. I zero in on the 2nd floor of hex J21, where his observer is, and hit it with my other mortar with a CH! 30-4 shot kills the commissar manning the phone and ends the 120mm terror, he did get two missions out of it and after some retrospect felt he should have put the observer on the 1st level instead of the 2nd level and thereby avoiding good shots into that location.

5. My armor swings around to F21 (single hex building) to begin cutting rout paths for a couple of broken Russians, stupidly, and I knew Bob had an ATR on the upper level of one of the buildings on the flank, takes a shot at one of my tanks bypassing a building hex, hits it, needs I thing a 4 or less to kill it and rolls a three, I gave that one away and should have known better.

6. On turn three, as my units are advancing into the big factory (L18), Bob announces a rocket attack and puts down his rockets, the extent of error ends up closer to his side and only catches a couple of German squads in its blast area. Still, now we have a few rubbled hexes and flames, I did lose a squad I think out of that rocket attack.

All in all, classic RB action thus far with both of us whining up a storm. But in the end, we are having a great time with this great CG. So now it is Russian turn 4 when we stopped for the day, playing RB is mentally exhausting lol. Bob will have some big decisions to make on his turn as he now has multiple fire groups facing him down in many spots, will he fall back or take a chance to try and hope for RoF on his weapons and hope to cause casualties? Or will he avoid that and fall back? We will see next week.

Scott
end of day 4 turn 4.jpg
 

Bob Miller

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A commissar manning a field phone? Really?

JR
10-0 Der Commisars are almost immune to all forms of attacking firepower, especially in a Fortified Building. Almost all forms. The 80mm MTR critical hit is NOT one of those things he is immune to however.
 

jrv

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10-0 Der Commisars are almost immune to all forms of attacking firepower, especially in a Fortified Building. Almost all forms. The 80mm MTR critical hit is NOT one of those things he is immune to however.
True dat. But I would think a 10-0 has more important things to do. You must be blessed with leadership.

JR
 

Ganjulama

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True dat. But I would think a 10-0 has more important things to do. You must be blessed with leadership.

JR
If I had 120s I would at least have a 9-1 on the phone or a 10-0 commissar if I had one to spare. I’d also have an extra MMC with him to mitagate possible CHs.
 

Bob Miller

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If I had 120s I would at least have a 9-1 on the phone or a 10-0 commissar if I had one to spare. I’d also have an extra MMC with him to mitagate possible CHs.
Yeah, a little extra grist for the mill to potentially soak up a CH would have been smart. Can't accuse me of that when diagnosing my set-up for this day 4 battle.
 

Gunner Scott

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Howdy-

Bob and I finally were able to get together wed night and hammer out our refit phase for our day 5 CG date. The casualties for the Germans infantry wise was not bad, I ended up losing 20 CVP's in squads and 6 CVP's in leaders along with two tanks, so with the combined losses the total came to 42 odd cvp's. The armor losses were expected but I am more happy about the minimal losses in squads. For the Russians, they took around 42 or so CVP's in infantry and maybe 5 or 6 more in leaders. So the Germans are basically doing good in keeping their infantry losses down and the Russian infantry losses up. For refit, I decided I was going to add another Engineer company, Pz IIIH platoon and up my sniper and take an idle day. On the other hand, I did not expect Bob to attack, but thats what he did, so luckily I still have my 80mm OBA retained from day 1 believe it or not, either it was too late in the game to justify using it or the radio melfed or I drew two red card during the course of the last four days. Thankfully in RB the Germans do get 25% HIP where as in VotG they have to pay for everything. Posted below is the current map situation for your perusal.

Scott
start of day 5.jpg
 

Bob Miller

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Nothing says ASL RB Stalingrad as well as a "1" SAN result plugging a German 9-2 leader right in the noggin.
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi ya-

Yes that was a nice head shot to my 9-2 leader, I guess it makes up for the failed FT attack on my tank that is for sure. As for out=r night scenario game, we did get together tuesday to bang out another turn. The battle is all over the place as the Germans push east towards the Volga towards building Z1. My HIP Germans in open ground (yes you can HIP units in open ground at night) finally reveal themselves and are going to attempt to try and take building W10 (the chemists house?) with the help of a smoke FFE. In the Middle, Bob's 120mm OBA has been pounding my guys, so I have decided to fall back from the big factory to avoid further casualties. On my west flank, the battle for building C23 has been back and forth, but even with a couple of key losses, I think I can make the Russians really bleed for their attempt in trying to take building C23, I have my Pz III's ready to roll and hopefully overrun a his guys stuck in the middle of the street, he does a have a few ATR's lurking about but I can not resist the opportunity to cause further Russian casualties.

All in all, fantastic game and it truly has been a back and forth affair. here are some pics of outr game.
rb day 5 night 1 v2.jpgrb day 5 night 2 v2.jpgrb day 5 night 3 v2.jpg
 

Gunner Scott

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Well, another CG day comes to an end with the Russian night attack causing casualties but coming up short on winning the CG date. Total casualties for the Germans was 31 CVP infantry plus 12 CVP in armor. The Russian losses were 29 CVP infantry only. The Russians ended up losing I think two engineer squads and the Germans lost an Engineer full squad and HS. The Armor losses were due more to really bad luck with ESB rolls then Bob exploiting that fact in our game, the funny thing though is when my immobilized Pz III melfed its CMG in CC, the Russian HS had to keep rolling to either kill my tank or roll boxcars, the Russian HS ended up killing my tank with a 3DR. As for the VC and this really goes to show how well balanced this CG is, I ended up taking 10 stone locations, where as Bob ended up taking 21 stone lactions, so 10 - 21= 11, the Russians came up short 1 stone location to win. Amazing.

Bob really really tried to push me out of building C25 and almost did it, but when gusts blew his smoke away, he was then exposed to some mighty German firepower that threw his attack back. All in all, he managed to regain only one hex of building C23. In the middle, I pretty much gave up on the big factory to avoid the Russian 120's and his slowly creeping forward units, there were a few losses for the Germans in the big factory, being that it was gutted, his guys can peer right into it from higher levels. To the east, my boys managed to secure building
 
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