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

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 Z1 and a few more buildings near the Chemists house, a nice fire base to use to pour fire into the chemists house as well as some nice jumping off points to maybe roll his eastern flank.

There was no battle for day 6 as I elected to take an Idle day and rebuild my shattered infantry companies. So day 7 will be brutal and it will be interesting to see how the Russkies defend an extended front (the whole west edge is now opened up) A few notes to round out this AAR, yes there is a Pz III in no mans land and yes again, Bob is burning down buildings further south near the bread factory so as to give the Germans less cover.

Scottday 7 start.jpg
 

Bob Miller

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Howdy folks

Scott and I did play and finish Oct 23rd (date 7) in sunny dry Stalingrad. Sunny means Scotty had the Stuka back up flying (got three of them) and dry; I kept on burning potential cover the Germans could use for cover in the south. Holst thought the fires went out after an idle date but they keep on burning.

Some major losses in key territory for the Russians as I lost what was left of the 2 story building in K22 (Scott's 150 RCT landing perfectly and killed many Russians and rubbled the back two hexes of that building and I also lost the O18 2 story building. Russians lost big time infantry as well. I forget but something like 26 squads. Ouch. Germans lost 12. Two 838s cought trying to bypass and got taged by MGs. I still could not figure out how to defend in a multi hex building basement and many guys died for failure to rout. I guess I should have dug trenches next to them. Germans lost leaders however. Russian sniper finally showed up. Eight -1 German leaders died, his last -2, and two 0 leaders. That took some of the sting out of the beating Holst laid on me.

Audit of Russian infantry purchases after date 7 showed I'm using my cheap troops but will be in a stink when I have to buy the more expensive troops.
I1 Guards Rifle Coy 9pts / 6 max / 0 purchased
I2 Guards SMG Coy 7pts / 8 max / 0 purchased
I3 Rifle Coy 5pts / 14 max / 7 purchased
I4 SMG Coy 4 / 12 / 3
I5 Militia Coy 4 / 4 / 1
I6 Engineers 12 / 4 1
I7 HW Pltn 6 points / 6 max / 0 purchased
I8 MOL Pltn 2 points / 6 max / 0 purchased

This is a trend in this CG I would imagine. Early on folks load up on the cheap Rifles. Thus all the MMGs and HMGs that come with the Rifle Coys do proliferate on the board early due to this purchasing pattern. When Rifle Coys become almost double the cost I reckon the CG would see less of the MMGs and HMGs accumulating. This is just for the Russians as the Germans just have 14 Rifle Coys available. Melvin sees the end game more often than any living person. I wonder if he sees this played out. Then again he plays with the House rules that limit HMGs in those companies.

Still working on my set up for Oct 24 date 8. Russians took a counter attack to force the Germans to set up first but it went where the Ruskies have to set up first. Still a die roll to see how moves first after all set up. Trying to create uncertainty.
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Yes day 7 was very brutal for both sides but the Russians really took a hit on infantry where as the Germans the Germans took a major hit on leadership. Total casualties for the Russians were 60CVP (5 of those CVP were Russian leaders. ) The Germans took 29 CVP Infantry and 17 CVP in Leadership bring the death toll for the Germans to 48 CVP. Though the loss in German Leaders was painful, this was due not to running my guys out in the open or other sillyness, the loss of leaders was due to a very hot sniper streak by the Russians and this was also further agitated by alot of boxcars on Rally rolls. The heavy infantry losses on the other hand for the Russians was due mainly to the Germans cutting rout paths, be it flanking maneuvers or the Russian unfortunate to find themselves in cellers with no where to go.

With day, my intended goal was to take the chemists house, clear out the large factory's and secure buildings K22 and O18. All objectives were met but as pointed out earlier at a cost. I did purchase two rocket modules for day 7's attack but ended up saving one of those modules for day 8. The Rockets I did use, was primarely on building K22 area so as to root out any hipsters and possible mines as well as cause a bit of rubbling on the Russians. The rockets landed perfectly, I think my drift was one hex from the pre reg hex. So lots of Russkies got smashed by my rockets. So then I able to bring my flanking infantry up to cause further headaches for the Russians in the K22 area.

The fight for the flank building C23 was brutal as it changed hands twice, it almost fell to the Russians on day 7 but with a timely boxcars on wind change had cleared the dispersed FFE smoke round put down by the Russians and exposed their troops to withering German fire, this essentually broke the back of the Russian attempt to retake building C23 and caused further casualties to the Russians as they had to route into cellers due to my Armor flanking around them.

The game went I think 7 turns before ending and boy was I mentally exhausted after another CG day at Stalingrad. Will post about our Day 8 battle later on with that battle being a duel attack. Below is a map for the end of Day 7.

Scott
End of day 7.jpg
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Day 8 had commenced about two weeks ago where we played one turn during one of the week nights, due to the ASL Open we had to postpone playing Day 8 until yesterday (thursday). I think I cried and whinned more during our RB campaign than when I was at the ASL Open lol. With Day 8 it was a duel attack that had the Russians set up first by dr and then move first by dr. between last week and thursday we managed to play up to Russian turn 3 and will probably finish up day 8 on saturday. But the two turns we did play has been a real disaster for the Germans equipment wise, I lost my last 81mm MTR due to melfing, lost three HMG's due to melf's, two 50mm MTRs lost due to melfs, one abandoned tank destroyed in CC, I drew two red cards on my 80mm OBA, my Rockets drifted the max drift from its pre reg hex to away from any tangible forces it was supposed to hit and instead hit two squads in the southern part of the Bread Factory killing them but not doing much else. Lost a Stug IIIb to a CH ATR shot which was now making my blood boil just because I am really catching no breaks. But on the other hand, Bob is counter attacking into the middle factory (large ground level one) successfully but my reinforcements I think will be able to throw back his vaulting ambitions.

So far its been bloody and we only just ended on turn two, do not know what the casualties are right now, but Bob might chime in and let us know, we are playing at his place.Scott
 

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hi all-

Bob and I managed to complete day 8 of our RB campaign with this day ending on turn 7. The losses were probably the worst for both of us to date with this current CG. The butchers bill came out to the following: Russian losses were around 40 squads and a couple of AFV (t-70) and German losses were around 30 squads and a couple of Panzers. The Green line around factory L19 represents Isolated russian units, I think two squads that survived my counter attack. With Bob taking the counter attack for day 8, really messed me up, So my fear of possible rockets drove me to leave off a large amount of troops just in case he tried such a tactic. Plus then I could pick and choose where I wanted to try and punch a hole in his defense. That really did not work out too well and I ended up struggling to clear him out of territory I had previously gained the day before. Basically I wanted to try something different and I learned trying something different in RB does not work all that well, if ever. So lesson learned, pile on the troops and attack next time. What really pissed me off the most was the number of 5's Bob rolled and all I had to show for my sniper was just TWO activations out of a 7 turn game. And to add insult to injury my SAN went back to a 4 in the refit phase, disappointing!

The CG continues to be alot of fun, even though both Bob and I whine like little school girls every turn and we try to talk each other out of surrendering as we both discover we still have some fight left in both us and our cardboard troops. It truly is awesome to be playing the gold standard of CG's, I am also enjoying my Iwo Jima CG and still have to do the write up for that one in another thread, but I'll say that with RB, it is much more interactive as far as all arms is concerned compared to my Iwo Jima CG where it is mainly Japanese Arty and MG's ensconced in pillboxes trying to hold off the Marines.

Scottend of day 8.jpg
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi all-

Another day in the barricady ends with the Germans suffering 37 CVP (+27 AFV cvp's) bring the grand total to 64. The Russians suffered I think around 70 CVP with 48 or 50 being infantry and the rest being armor, leader and gun losses. So basically a very brutal day indeed for both sides. The game ended on Russian turn 6 with the Germans taking a good chunk of the Bread factory area and repelling numerous Russian counter attacks in the middle of the map. The Germans almost took all of factory T19 with only hex S20 remaining in Russian hands. The Russians did manage to burn down building M24, but thats ok, gives my FG's better fields of fire. Lots of bad things happened to both sides. The Russian rockets in the Bread factory area was bad but not terrible, but the killer here was on a self rally attempt by my 9-2 was boxcars and saw my already broken guys get further reduced. Basically I ended up losing 6 leaders, 4 of them to self rally boxcar rolls. Bob's CC with my tanks was amazing as he took out three of them with low odds rolls. I think like three or four times we had to talk each other off the edge of resigning. Ya it was bad, but there is the next day and more troops to throw into the frey. Basically you really need to nut up when you play this CG, it truly is a fantastic CG. Probably the best ever.


ScottRB day 9.jpg
 

Gunner Scott

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Howdy-

My RB campaign continues with our game going into the night of day 11. As can be seen I am pulling back my units to shorten the lines a bit. Ya I am taking a loss on real estate but I think I can make it up on the next day. I went Idle to purchase my last engineer company for October, which leaves me with 4 left for on/ after Nov 7th. So Bob decided to launch a night counter attack. I Have a bunch of HIP HS out there to bust up his cloaked guys when they move forward (you get 25% HIP in RB but not in VotG). Below are pics from our Thursday and Saturday night games, we plan to continue today with it being German turn 1.

On Thursday we did play a 1/2 turn with the following results: A few of my guys are freed up, got stupid (tired) and let a cloaked Russian units get into CC with my 8-1, he whacked two squads in factory U17. I should have broken them and routed my obligatory 1 hex. But in hex S17 my squads are freed up plus my leader has a DC, can I place a DC through the breech between S18/T18 and hopefully whack a few his units.

On Saturday My buddy and I managed to burn through 3 turns of our night CG day scenario. Boy, those starshells really add alot of time to each turn. The middle battle is becoming desperate for the Germans (I drew two red cards for that sectors OBA) but in the bread factory area, I am kicking some Russian butt and might even recover two abandoned Russian HMG's. Most notable thing, there were lots, was my sniper wounding a russian 9-2 led HMG group in the commissars house who then rolled a 6 on wound severity and of course died., good times.

Here are some of my thoughts on getting past day 10; I try to preserve my forces as best as possible while at the same time trying inflict maximum pain on old ivan. The Germans have alot of time to take the map, there is no need to rush your attack, if you do, you will lose to the russkies. A patient Krout players should win 9 times out of 10 thus my feeling is that this campaign really favors the Germans. if you are attacking across the whole front, then ya, most likely the Germans will lose. I pick an objective area and attack, for example, I picked the bread factory and put my best units in for the attack, where as every where else I had a more defensive nature for that day, perhaps, if the opportunity presents itself, I might move a few hexes in my more defense orientated units. But the main attack get all OBA assets, armor and MG's. if the day is clear, get stukas, they are great for smashing any Russian aspirations to retaking lost ground. Or fall back and let the russian over extend himself. then counter attack, HIP is great to mask how strong your defensive line is at night. Below are pics of my set up and the battle for the first three turns.day 11 night 001.JPGrb day 11 night 001.JPGrb day 11 night 002.JPGrb day 11 night 003.JPG
 

Gunner Scott

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howdy all

Bob and I finnally were able to get our RB CG III up and going this weekend. We are currently on day 12 with the Germans trying to push the Russians out of a couple of factories. Loses have been pretty bad for bothsides with the German rolling over a dozen boxcars during the first three game turns. one booby trap roll took out one squad. Bob tried to launch a counter attack in the middle but it was blunted by my timely shift of troops to stop his little adventure. Even though we are on day 12, I still have alot of ground to cover as the Germans but I am confident that can be accomplished. below are pics of our campaign with it being Russian turn 3 at start.rbgc iiii day 12 001.JPGrbgc iiii day 12 002.JPGrbgc iiii day 12 003.JPGrbgc iiii day 12 001.JPGrbgc iiii day 12 002.JPGrbgc iiii day 12 003.JPG
 

Gunner Scott

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Howdy-

Bob and I did manage to get in a couple of turns this week of our RB CG with us leaving it off on Russian turn 6. This campaign on one hand is great, on the other hand it can be more frustrating then say golfing. One moment your feeling good that maybe you can get some dudes back and back into battle but then you roll either 10's or more to rally those guys or you roll the dreaded boxcars. I think at this point I have rolled around 15 or more boxcars, Bob has rolled a few, but not as damaging as mine have been. As for our game and where it stands on turn 6, the Germans are making headway into the middle of the map and near the Volga (a costly CC for the Russians actually helped in stopping their little counter attack) The Bread factory area is another matter, I have come to the conclusion that I will give up some buildings so as not to face down his 150mm OBA and numerous squads he has in the area. I did have OBA to cover this situation but was only able to get one fire mission off before pulling to reds and losing my 80 OBA. I have had alot of bad luck with my OBA, where as Bob has had some extraordinary luck with his couple with guns that only on turn 5 began to run out of smoke rounds.

As of now, the casualty total is 40 German cvp's and for the Russians it is 60CVP's, the only question we seemed to have was the Berzerk unit in a gully and how it can charge forward if it cant see anybody at this point in the game. We both think the berzerk units will probably have to charge at the last point they saw enemy units. Aside from that, it is classic RB action all the way.

scottday 12 turn 6 001.JPGday 12 turn 6 002.JPGday 12 turn 6 003.JPGday 12 turn 6 004.JPG
 

Bob Miller

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Has anyone ever read a short story based on that scene on the cover of the 1st edition AD&D players handbook? That would be a good read. Perhaps Monkeys with Typewriters could go alternative on that.

Scott's boxcars were not as bad as he laments. I was tagged for quite a few as well. Including my only -2 leader. Or was that a CH from his baby Stug 75* into my HMG kill stack on T2?

Day 12 was a Russian win although a German attack. That now takes away the balance provision as the German wins are less than 2:1.

I gained back a lot of territory in the Bread Factory area which caused the battle date VC to go Russian. Pushed back the Jerrys a good amount. I felt that if the Germans were able to "turn the corner" in that area then they could approach the large factory from the north and that would be the beginning of the end of the CG for the Russians. They were very close at the start of this battle date in doing that. So I set up a strong defense for a big German attack in this area including my 150mm OBA but it never came. Last 2 turns I was able to advance and take back 4 buildings and some stone rubble in this area.

Russians will fight the Germans all day in the middle factories. Russians are fanatic and on defense.

I'll give an update on the purchases so far after 12 days in. 40% of the CG. I have always been interested in how the CG plays out once all the cheap infantry has been purchased. We are getting close and it's not even 1/2 done.
 

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Another brutal day in the Barrikady comes to an end with the Russians suffer around 65+ CVP's in infantry and the Germans suffering around 40+ CVP's in infantry. Alot of stuff has not gone well for the Germans no matter how good your tactics might be, alot of territory was lost due to failure to rally guys who needed 9 or less on average as well as numerous and I mean numerous boxcars on many MC rolls. Around the bread factory I was manly in a defensive position but my 80mm crapping out after one fire mission, melfing my stugs MA's and failing NMC's on many occasions forced me to fall back so as to avoid further casualties. In the middle, once more what should have been a tough fight but one that I could have won was hampered by guys that would not rally for 4 turns and alot of boxcar rolls that further hindered my attacks. I mean, when the Russians are counter attacking successfully everywhere you know as the Germans your in trouble. Bob did roll a few boxcars, which saw the loss of 1 HMG and 2 guns, but he rarely took casualties from boxcars on his infantry and he made just as many or more rolls as me.

The game ended on turn 6 with the gaining a foot in the long skinny factory and the factory near the commissars house but the Germans could not achieve a victory as far as locations are concerned due to the loss of a lot of territory around the bread factory. During refit my ELR went down to a 3 where as the Russian ELR remained at a 4, this in itself does not bode well for the Germans. For day 13 I did once more take the attack even though I now have a +1 on my historical DRM, I need to keep the russians from fortifying their positions too extensively in my mind. Below is a pic of the battle lines for the day 13 battle.

I think what the Germans might start doing is just losing their games so as to get the balance DRMs to offeset the positive historical drms they will be suffering soon. But with KGS in da house, Bob and I will take a little break from RB and start playing some of the KGS scenarios for a bit. We both are after all eastfront fanatics lol.

Scottday 12 2018.jpg
 
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Gunner Scott

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Howdy all-

Bob came by last night to do his set up for our 13th day of our RB campaign with lots of crucial decisions to make during the set up. Where will the main German attack fall? Well as can be seen from the set of my Germans, the attack looks like it is falling on the Bread factory, Factory L27 and factory S10. My two main HMG FG's are in hex G43 and C33 with a reinforcing Sturm company entering along the west edge at the Bread Factory area. We did knock out both my Rocket attacks since that can be time consuming and then Saturday start the CG proper. The Rockets did not do as well as I wanted but it did reveal and break his field phone guy and did reveal his plunger dude.

Scottrb day 13 start 001.JPGrb day 13 start 002.JPGrb day 13 start 003.JPGrb day 13 start 004.JPG
 

Bob Miller

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Rockets did pretty much miss any larger infantry concentrations. The Pre-Reg hexes were pretty much in my backfield so if they drifted one way they would cause no harm which that one did. I believe these were number 3 & 4 for the Gerry Rockets. Maybe even more. His last Rocket did blow off half of Bldg J22 with a good amount of Ruskie casualties.
 

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hi-

Bob and I managed to get a couple of turns in today with us ending our game on German turn 4 and we will resume our game this Saturday. In the south and in the middle the Germans are continuing to push the Russians back but at a high cost, Bob managed to bring his plunger DC guy back into play and set off a DC in one of the buildings where I had an 8-1, 548 and 467, they died. In the north my guys are getting crushed bu the commissars house firepower, ya I know, I should have gotten assets over there to smoke it in or something, but I figured I can try to hold what I have, which is not really working. The positive thing at the very least is that I am crushing the bread factory area and might even be able to strike into the heart of the barricady but attrition is starting to get annoying. Anyway here pics of the battle.
EDIT: I totaled the casualties for both sides and thus far the Russians are at 45 CVP and the Germans at 37CVP.
rb day 13 pics 006.JPGrb day 13 pics 007.JPGrb day 13 pics 010.JPGrb day 13 pics 011.JPG
 
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Gunner Scott

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We are on day 13 and most likely going into the day 14 refit phase today. I might have to go Idle for a couple of days to build up enough strength for the final push, but that would give the russians a couple of days of night attacks, which is ok, I'll do my best to handle those situations.

Scott
 
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