VOTG - CG4 (Anchorage, Alaska)

[quintanius]

Yup - but neither did they do well in the attack, such as they were. The russian players are / were clearly to entrenched in the idea of not giving up ground in their defense. Asside from the 3 NKVD squads I destroyed at once with a Stuka, then another 5 Stack of Russian Squads, and a few crushed by falling rubble, most should have fallen back when the Germans came within striking distance, and cause the german to throw units at them as they arrive at the front. Instead, they allowed (by sitting still and trading shots) the german (me) to steam-roll them. But then again, the terrain was tough to fight in, and I used my OPA, my Stuka, and my tactics quite well to get these casualties. Proper use of combined arms, knowing when to strike and in what order, and how to manouver in a combat environment (and a few good dice) all add up to ... something. There is also a good reason why the Assault Engineers suffered such severe casulaties (3.5 dead out of 6 squads). They took the brunt of the heavy fighting and gave well in return. My Flame Throwers did quite good too, never a KIA but enough 2MC's to cause all sorts of trouble for the Russ in the Railstations. I had both of those in T3. Considering it took 2 turns to get there, I essentially took both within a single turn. Thats the power of a well organized attack.

One must also mention that I played with only the OB given forces for 5 turns! Except for an Offboard Observer and a Pre-Reg hex, and 3 additional Bombardments that did little to nothing, I faced everything the Russ started and bought, AND their reinforcements from the south on T4 with ONLY the OB given units. Now, in T6 I finally got the 1 Extra Company I bought and the company that comes on from the North. The south is still offboard. If I had bought and deployed 2 additional Infantry Companies and 2 platoons and used them from the start on, wow...I think there should be nothing left at this stage of the game.

Thomas

 

[quintanius]

I managed to receive my southern reinforcements in T7. Both the company and the Sturm platoon are full size. The company has a 10-2 leader! Also 2 more Stuka. Killed a few more Russians and took some more turf. Destroyed a 82mm Mortar and its crew with a critical hit from my 20mm AA Ht's, and caught a few routers as well. The Russ finally broke 2 of his squad with MOL...about time. The Russian reinforcements in the south are getting caught right in the flank/rear. Now I have 2 turns to do the most damage. More fires (High Winds) and a few German cassualties from very good russian dice rolls was about all the rest that happened, but nothing too significant. Except for the 1 beach/water hex, I now have the entire north side of the board edge captured as well. AAR and pics on our site.

Thomas

 

[quintanius]

MOL do break Russians on rare occasions: here is proof!

1: Broken Russ near Volga.

2: Lost Russians...?

3: The aftermath of the fierce battle for the control of the road next to the nail factory: 4 destroyed Russian tanks and plenty of new buildings captured.

Thomas

 

[Morbii]

That gutted building with the broken Russian in it should not have a flame - it's not burnable terrain.

 

[quintanius]

That gutted building with the broken Russian in it should not have a flame - it's not burnable terrain.

Did we miss something? The rules for MOL said to drop a flame into the Russians hex if they roll a colored 6 dr. Need to double check the gutted rules. Thanks.

Thomas

 

[Morbii]

Yes, but you're only going to have a flame if it's Burnable Terrain.

 

[Eagle02]

Yes, but you're only going to have a flame if it's Burnable Terrain.

'zactly. See V7.5 that states that gutted buildings are not burnable terrain.

 

[quintanius]

Ok - thanks. We'll remove that Flame. Now, the exceptiont o the exception is that if a gutted building is rubbled, then the rubble is burnable terrain, right? Such in a case when a HE KIA rubbles a building and on a certain roll also causes flame in it or some such.

We had the wind shift on us (its now blowing from the SE to the NW) and its still a Heavy Breeze/Wind. No smoke. Its anoying. I have all these nice 8-3-8 with a 5 smoke exponent. Never used them yet. Nor vehicular smoke. Some of the burning buildings (non gutted in the south) and some of the rubble we created with OBA that burst into blazes are now starting to catch the railcars on fire. Thats gona be one HUGE inferno. Since the fire spreads automatically, and a 8 is pretty easy to roll for flame to blaze spread. And this next night scenario is gona be fun, with a sea of flaming railcars behind me...yikes.

Thomas

Picture 1: The northern Railstation. With the wind now shifted toward the viewer, the whole northern railyard area can catch fire. Most of those fires are in stone or wooden rubble from HE/Bombardments/Stuka.

Picture 2: Bypassing Stugs that were destroyed caught these buildings on fire. The ones on the left side are now catching the railcars on fire...

 

[quintanius]

I was just thinking about the big patch in our living room: when I was growing up in Germany, our appartment complex was one of the ones that was refurbished after the war. An American bomb had fallen through our 2nd floor living room and did not detonate in the basement.

European buildings have wooden staircases. Thats extreemly predominant. Still is. I remember how each family had to scrub and wax their section each week.

In a gutted building, there ought to be no stairs to the upper floors at all. Using steel and concrete is a modern invention for staicases.

Thomas

 

[Eagle02]

I saw you figured out that perimeter issue. Damn the Germans made some serious headway on 14D! Looks like the Russkies held a little better in the south but losing the Univermag was not good for them.

Your drive to the Volga in the north could be vulnerable. The Russkies can enter from that edge up to U8 even though you own it. The good news for you is I don't think they'll have enough people to attack you everywhere they have a good opportunity b/c you killed so many of them.

I've found that Russians need to focus on one spot b/c otherwise they won't have enough combat power to sustain an attack for longer than 2-3 turns. Once the Russians lose cloaking it slows down momentum and they lose critical advantages (like not having to pay +1 MF to enter concealment terrain).

It'd be nice to see the Russians get back in the game. Otherwise your CG is going to end very soon.

 

[quintanius]

Thanks. Its been a very tough road. We managed to finalise the perimeter last night. All teh pockets got cleared up. The traded some territory on the fringes and managed to get a very comfortable perimeter going. The VASAL map helped a ton - we coordinated over the phone, and while we spoke, I asjusted the map. I printed one out, but have not posted that yet. The final version looks cool as hell.

To recap, here are some handicaps and highlights for the Initial Scenario of 14D.

I bought only 1 Rifle Company and 1 Ht Platoon, which did not come on board until T6.

The Barrages I bought were a wate of time and caused more trouble with rubble and fires than was necessary.

The 100mm OBA with OB observer and 1 pre-reg hex adjacent to the South Railstation was key. I lost it with 5 black and 3 red still in the cup, but it did good damage.

High winds prevented me from using smoke or SD's the entire game.

The Russians received their South Boardedge reinforcements on T5, and I received the ones in the south on T7. Thats why the South has a huge Russian Bulge toward the Southern Railstation. The remnants of the southern assault force got a bit mauled during the fighting. Not many squads left. the reserves came in just as the Russ was making an assault on the station. My 10-2 leader and a full company + Sturm helped to crush that offensive and managed to turn the tide.

Stuka's were amazingly effective. Bombing a 5 stack of full size squads and another 3 stack with a 10-0 commissar was nice. All russian tanks are destroyed, as well as the 2 dug-in tanks they bought. Thats about 9 tanks or so.

For the new night scenario, I witheld a full company and the 2 platoons. I might not have enough points to buy them all, but the key is, that these forces will have "Freedom of Movement". Highly critical in the night I think. I will use the Green Entry Code for the North to bring some infantry up and around to capture piers, while the rest of the German Army is holding the line. My armor (if I keep any) will accompany them in the north. Make a nice armor assault with Ht's all along the north shoreline, and capture Piers. My goal is to interdict all of them in the night. If the Russ does not backpedal and back up to save his piers, they will be doomed. With the north edge captured, and the piers captured or interdicted, it will be pretty much over. I'll also pressure them at the south. The center I will just hold, and fold it in. If they do not retreat, they will be isolated into large pockets. I like the idea of bagging lots of Russians and having them all on Low Amo in the morning. Let them come...If I have the points, I'll even throw in some OBA during the night. For starshells and all that.

Thomas

 

[WBRP]

Any word from Tom on this? The rule book seems pretty clear that this does not apply to VotG since the acquisition rule is G13.46 (Overlay Entry) and that G13 section only applies if an OCEAN Overlay is in play (G13.12). However, all the verbiage therein makes it sound like there should be an erratum to make G13.46 applicable because, as you point out, the Volga at this point certainly seems to fit the spirit of the law, if not the letter.

Well, considering the width of the River Volga being about what, 2 miles across? I can see where the last 160 yards the German gunners have had time to see and aim at them. And the definition on OCEAN even contains the meaning of a POND...so if a pond, not even a lake, covers the entire board edge...I think Rivers, having another shore, are not included for certain like in the river boards, because they do not cover the board edge with water obstacles, unless its some weired river like in VOTG where only a small portion is shown, edge to edge.

We'll play it like that since we think the rules are pretty clear about the "entire board edge" and boats are also included in these rules, not just landing craft, and because it makes sense. One must remember that those watercraft are small tagets, moving, and such, so a +3 to hit and on top of it as if they are HD. So its still a bear to hit them. (I think that means one must not only hit them, but also hit the "turret" as if shooting at a tank? But be nice to hear from the folks who wrote VOTG and see if they thought about that or not.

Thomas

 

[quintanius]

I do not have direct contact to the folks who created VOTG. Having a great time with it though, except a few gripes about the night, such as no boresighting for MG's, but thats fine. I'll work with it.

Tarrawa used that rule if I remember, or at least WE used the rule about the AQ and Guns as it fit, and it did not use an "Overlay" per say. Since CG's are the sort of the animal that breaks all the rules anyway, anything could and does happen.

Thomas

 

[WBRP]

Here's what I just e-mailed to Tom:
Tom,

Here’s another one for you (you do know that death is the only release from a lifetime of VotG questions, yes?). Buried in the Gamesquad VotG CG-IV AAR of ‘quintanius’ there is a discussion of the applicability of rule G13.46 to assault boats in VotG. If you are not aware of it, this is the rule that states that non-DD water craft entering from off-map onto the OCEAN overlay get dinged by an automatic -1 acquisition the first time a gun shoots at them. G13.12 states that this only applies if an OCEAN Overlay is in play, which it clearly is not, but all of the accompanying verbiage certainly sounds like it should apply to a river as wide as the Volga. Does rule G13.46 apply to VotG?

Brent

 

[quintanius]

Thanks for checking up on that Brent.

Thomas

 

[quintanius]

The Russians threw in the towel: the game breaker (after the devastatig defeat) was that they had bought 3 (THREE) additional Companies, instead of the 2 they should have...they bought 2 NKVD and 1 SMG Company. I'm now stunned more then ever that I defeated them. Without those pesky (?) Cloaking Markers in the NE I could have taken a heck of a lot more territory and been in a better position overall. But thats water in the Volga now...

We're re-starting CG-4. Fresh begining. Loads of experience. Less Russians!!! More Germans, since I think its probably wise to buy some extra. Less Bombardments, more OBA (?) more squads (Pioneer be nice). Such fun. Better planning...hopefully somewhat simmilar Stuka attacks. Itching to get back into the ruins already. Tons of phone calls and coordinating today. All part of the fun: chat and plan for the game we love to play.

Thomas

 

[WBRP]

Here's Tom's reply. I'll also tag it onto the VotG Q&A thread.
Brent,
No, only E5. applies, no chapter G rules.
I do recall the 'til death do us part' portion of the contract, might have to fake my death......
Regards,
Tom (actually don't mind the questions at all)

 

[janusz.maxe]

14 day can realy break the back of the Soviet force. Keep those tanks alive at any cost, as well as any mortars and every MMG/HMG. Those will be key come night and 15 day.
What setup restrictions did you use for the mortars?
Janusz

 

[quintanius]

14 day can realy break the back of the Soviet force. Keep those tanks alive at any cost, as well as any mortars and every MMG/HMG. Those will be key come night and 15 day.
What setup restrictions did you use for the mortars?
Janusz

Not sure what you mean by setup restrictions for the mortars. In the last game I captured (and lost in the RePhase) one Russian 82mm Mortar, and destroyed the other with a Critical Hit from a 20mm Cannon from one of my 10/5's. That was neat. Rolled a 3 to hit, it hit, and since it was half the...etc.

My 81mm mortars were on fire the entire game. I had every weapon DM, rushed the forward, and I set up the 2 big mortars north of the Northern Railstation to cover the factories up by the road, and to fire spotted fire into the Railstation. Everything that got within sight was blasted by the pair of them. Flank protection so to speak. Worked great. Those two Mungos (Finish word for Mortars) accounted for at least 6-8 squads all by themselves. With little infantry support, the pair of them were a formidable obstacle that the Russian could not overtake. Got close once, but a 10/5 put a stop to that foolishness, and then I received my reinforcements. But thats the old game...

Ohh. I had a question: those 10/5's are armored (at least in the front). Do they qualify for the definition of Armor for the purpose of doing Armored Assaults?

Also, does the crew of the 10/5 receive a gunshield mod? or is it the normal +2 for CE status? What if they button up? Can they still fire the thing? Can they even Button Up? Dont look like it. I'm looking at the model Sd Kfz 10/4 (they dont have the 10/5 in Doyle/Chaimberlein/Jentz) but they did say that the cab was later armored and some of the have a gunshield, while other pictures do not.

And lastly, is there a chance that a failed MOL by 1 point hits the Amunition Wagon similar to a near miss that missed by 1 point or some such?


Thomas

 

[Morbii]

Not sure what you mean by setup restrictions for the mortars. In the last game I captured (and lost in the RePhase) one Russian 82mm Mortar, and destroyed the other with a Critical Hit from a 20mm Cannon from one of my 10/5's. That was neat. Rolled a 3 to hit, it hit, and since it was half the...etc.

I'm pretty sure he's talking about the Russian mortars and how they are required to be up close (on/west of L).

As far as your CH, you do realize that it's a CH only if the FINAL TH DR is < half, right? e.g., if the mortar was in a stone building the only possible roll for a CH on ITT in VotG is a 1,1 . My guess is that you didn't apply the modifiers before determining whether or not it was a CH. In many cases, it's actually harder to get a CH in ITT (becomes easier once you have net negative modifiers).