Red October Campaign Game II

Eagle4ty

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The KV and the FPP can set up up front where they are needed on day one.
Go for the MOL capability. 50% of the time effective, capability of starting fires (esp in wooden building/rubble areas), 4FP bump to units that effectively employ it and it's cheap (lots of them to buy too). You're going to be schmucked anyway, maybe make him pay a higher price and potentially take away some future attack positions. Can't see the KV Plt, they'll be easy to take out and lost or avoided.
 

'Ol Fezziwig

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The discussion about this CG has peaked my interest. On paper it certainly looks unbalanced in favour of the Germans. But they have a lot to do. They need to capture all but 10 stone locations in five CG dates. The Russians really need to slow the German assault as much as possible by digging in and throwing up as many speed bumps as possible. I think infantry and fortifications is the way to go. They both slow the enemy movement to a crawl. The German will eventually run out of time if he cannot move fast.
"PIQUED"
 

'Ol Fezziwig

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[QUOTE="Craig Benn, post: 1989731, member: 27303 ...Do know anyone who play tested it?
[/QUOTE]

Apart from anecdotal snippets, what would this do, really? The massive decision tree of a CG depends far more on the ability of the players to react on the fly to events on board. PMC is oft-times as much a factor as DR.
My own take on CGs has been to try to improve on the historical result of whichever side you play. You can dip your toes however deeply you wish into the experience, but looking for the (sorry) farcical 50/50 balance is just a forlorn hope.
 
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3 reserve companies (2 SMG, 1 infantry) 40 FPP and 80mm OBA to harrass the German advance. Deal with the dug-in tanks on Day 2 when you have an idea where the line will be.

Tanks that are dug-in are annoying but will just die to CC. The cost of 2 points is far too high when you have to get enough men on the map to hold terrain and prevent major breakthroughs.
 

Craig Benn

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[QUOTE="Craig Benn, post: 1989731, member: 27303 ...Do know anyone who play tested it?
Apart from anecdotal snippets, what would this do, really? The massive decision tree of a CG depends far more on the ability of the players to react on the fly to events on board. PMC is oft-times as much a factor as DR.
My own take on CGs has been to try to improve on the historical result of whichever side you play. You can dip your toes however deeply you wish into the experience, but looking for the (sorry) farcical 50/50 balance is just a forlorn hope.
[/QUOTE]

I don't expect Campaigns to be perfectly balanced. But some are obviously better than others. Its widely acknowledged the British in a Bridge Too Far can't win the big one as water and ammo shortage does them in. That could have been fixed by the VCs being tweaked for how long they had to hold out.

Playtesting should pick that kind of thing up. It should have picked up the Russian entry zone in the Festung Budapest CG was too small.

I acknowledge that you can't do as much as for a scenario but you can still deal with the rough edges. Otherwise you might as well play Critical Hit campaigns....

I'm looking at my setup as the Russians and thinking there aren't nearly enough squads for the area that has to be covered.
 

jrv

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It should have picked up the Russian entry zone in the Festung Budapest CG was too small.
I disagree with this. I think the entry zone is sufficient. And just by eyeball it looks to me like the suggested approach (three reserve infantry RGs) is a good approach. But of course it is a CG, so it's hard to predict how it will unfold.

JR
 

Honza

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3 reserve companies (2 SMG, 1 infantry) 40 FPP and 80mm OBA to harrass the German advance. Deal with the dug-in tanks on Day 2 when you have an idea where the line will be.

Tanks that are dug-in are annoying but will just die to CC. The cost of 2 points is far too high when you have to get enough men on the map to hold terrain and prevent major breakthroughs.
I see what you mean about the dug in tanks. In which case I would go for 2 rifle coy in reserve (because they have more SE, longer range, better leaders and a plethora of SW), 2x 40FPP and 2x 80mm OBA modules. I think that represents a decent force for 12 CPP.
 

aneil1234

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I disagree with this. I think the entry zone is sufficient. And just by eyeball it looks to me like the suggested approach (three reserve infantry RGs) is a good approach. But of course it is a CG, so it's hard to predict how it will unfold.

JR

Completely agree
Have played FB as the Soviets many times. And the entry is more than enough
Smoke
Smoke
Smoke
Get on-board
Build a base
Roll over the bad guys (Hopefully !! lol)
 

Craig Benn

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I disagree with this. I think the entry zone is sufficient. And just by eyeball it looks to me like the suggested approach (three reserve infantry RGs) is a good approach. But of course it is a CG, so it's hard to predict how it will unfold.

JR
To be fair I haven't played the Festung Budapest CG - I'm only going on the discussions on gamesquad.

Personally I'm thinking 3 Coys in reserve, sniper+1 (you get some extra on 3s as long as you hold the chimneys) and 80mm OBA. Due to historical DRMs you can only buy 11 Coys and you will lose most of your Day1 force so you need max infantry.
 

TopT

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Completely agree
Have played FB as the Soviets many times. And the entry is more than enough
Smoke
Smoke
Smoke
Get on-board
Build a base
Roll over the bad guys (Hopefully !! lol)
I am not arguing with anyone about this but I played this CG against a very, very experienced opponent. I am certainly not that. He took the Russians, I the Germans/ Hungarians.

At the end of T3 on CG day 3, every single on-board MMC Russian unit was broken (except for a couple of leaders). He had no where to rout except off board. He tried smoke but he only had so many weapons. He could never expand his base and neither of us were rolling tremendously well -maybe mine were a little better than my opponents.
 

Honza

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We are talking about FB CGII? The entry is problematic for the Russians. So much so that some of the CGs just can't get rolling.
 

TopT

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We are talking about FB CGII? The entry is problematic for the Russians. So much so that some of the CGs just can't get rolling.
Yes, that is the CG I am talking about.
 

stuh42asl

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Only the distance to be traversed would be a bit great for normal sewer movement but could be addressed by an SSR.
I think there should be an update for this rule. It is an important option for the Russian player allowing re-inforcements for Hall 4. Easy enough to do using tunnel rules, just that the tunnel will one hell of a long one :)
 

Honza

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How are the games of this CG going? Any feedback yet?

With the Russian having 12 CPP to spend on the first date how about spending 9 CPP on a rifle coy and smg coy and bring them on as reinforcements on the NE edge? You will have 3 CPP left over to purchase a reserve smg coy or anything else. The fact is that off board reinforcements are a lot more flexible than reserve coy. The Russian will have 5 coy of infantry (plus one reserve if he wants) to slow the tide of the German attack...until he gets 2 more coy on the next date.
 

stuh42asl

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Go for the MOL capability. 50% of the time effective, capability of starting fires (esp in wooden building/rubble areas), 4FP bump to units that effectively employ it and it's cheap (lots of them to buy too). You're going to be schmucked anyway, maybe make him pay a higher price and potentially take away some future attack positions. Can't see the KV Plt, they'll be easy to take out and lost or avoided.
My advice for the russians, 1) mol 2) boobytraps to level b 3) san to 6; so far the russian snipers are creating havoc and i have had three booby traps go off = 1 leader kia, 2 wounded, 4 squads broken, three squads cas reduced and a 6+1 leader being wounded 3 times and still is alive, and it is only turn 2
 

Honza

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I figured that the Russian bring 9CPP worth of infantry on as reinforcements (rifle and smg coy) and they then could spend 3 CPP on fortifications which would give them 205 FPP. They already have 18x fortified buildings...they could add 12x wire and another two fortified buildings. Which would be enough to slow down any attack. I still think that time is the key element here.
 

stuh42asl

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I bought a rifle coy, two KV-1's hidden and dug in, fortified the slag heap, HIP for 3 MMC + sw+ ldrs, MOL, SAN +1 and booby traps level B. The slag heap with a bunker, 6 trenches and 6 fox holes and 1 dug in KV makes a perfect anchor point for the north. Hall 4 has one guard rifle company, 1 guard smg company, the HMG and 50 cal, plus a 120mm OBA observer the buildings directly north of Hall four to support those troops. To the south the remaining guards smg and rifle coy and the second KV. There is a 76mm infantry gun in the bunker on the slag heap, a 76L in the north buildings to fight off the stugs. And the remaining 76 inf gun+ 76L to the south. The Inf coy I bought to put on the board. So far I have slowed the advance. The snipers and boobytraps are doing their job quite well. After one and a half turns =13 successful sniper attacks, 2 x KIA Leaders ( the 6+1 finally died after the fourth sniper wound, 2 x 8-3-8 squads broken, 2 x 5-4-8 broken and cas reduced(double tap from sniper), 2 x 5-4-8 pinned, 1 x 4-6-7 broken, and 1 x 1-2-7 crew broken. Booby traps have claimed a 4-6-7, and a 4-4-7, both cas reduced, and a 9-1. So far those two things are doing more damage than fir from my squads, though I am really liking the spray function of my 6-2-8. A hex with three 6-2-8, fired at two 5-4-8 in two adjacent hexes(wood rubble)using spray fire= 18 FP for each hex = two broken 5-4-8...nice. The slag heap, has the purchased rifle company, two 82mm mortars, two 50mm mortars a mmg + crew and the hidden dug in KV, plus the infantry gun, and 6 squads with 1 lmg and leader. The building to the north of the slag heap I placed 6 squads a lmg and the atr + crew. So far so good.
 
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