Doug Leslie
Elder Member
J118 Elephants Unleashed
After breaking through in the Arctic (or the Artic if you try to record your result on ROAR and cannot understand why a scenario with so many recorded plays apparently doesn't exist) in my first Friday Fight Night game the previous week, it was time to head for the Eastern Front and unleash some Elephants against Eric Bongiovanni in our regular Monday night game.
This is a popular scenario which I had played solo back in the dim and distant past and which, as far as I could recall, resulted in a German victory. Now I had the Germans against a much tougher opponent than when playing against myself.
Basically, this is a scenario which revolves around an armoured battle. In the blue corner, the attacking Germans have a pretty decent infantry force including 2 838 assault engineers and an armoured force led by 3 Elephant assault gun/tank destroyers complete with massive frontal armour, 88LL guns and the mobility of a sloth. They are supported by a Mk IV and and two Pz IIINs. The Russians set up with four squads onboard which will be joined by 4 628s, 5 T34s and two SU152s within the first two turns.
The Germans have two ways to win. Option 1 is to try to exit 24 CVPs off the far side of the board which equates to three Elephants. Option 2 is to capture seven building hexes in the German set up area. Both options have their merits. I didn't have a clue which was better (not unusual for me) so decided to aim for the buildings while having a vague idea of keeping the exit option in reserve if the armour battle went well. Given the Elephants' glacial pace, that was possibly a bit over optimistic. Although I have been playing Eric regularly for over a year, I think that this was only the second time that we had played a scenario where an armour battle was the main event. The first one was Wintergewitter when my Russians got a hammering for the ages.
This armour battle is an interesting one. The Germans have the advantage of three AFVs which are impervious to frontal hits and which will destroy anything that they can hit with their monster guns. They have a 9-2 armour leader to add to the mix. On the downside, they are slow and have red MP numbers which mean that there is no guarantee that they will be able to move at all. They have no turret and are therefore vulnerable to enemy AFVs that approach from outside their CA. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that they have no MG armament which would allow free CA spins to present their frontal armour to aggressive T34 attacks. For this reason, they need to rely on cover from the other AFVs in the German OB. The other big danger to these monsters is their very large target size, which makes them very vulnerable to deliberate immobilisation shots.
The Mk IV is a good medium tank which can take on a T34 on roughly equal terms. Its MA TK of 17 has a decent chance of killing a T-34 with a frontal hit against its AF of 11. It has the possibility of APCR with a depletion number of 4.
Last and least are the two Pz IIINs. These are essentially infantry support vehicles. They are great for firing smoke and shelling infantry but have no AP ammunition. Instead, they have HEAT with a depletion number of 9 and a TK of 13. This is highly unlikely to penetrate a T-34 with a frontal hit but has a decent chance of causing damage with a side or rear shot.
The mainstays of the Russian armour are 5 T-34s. Barring a critical hit, they need a side/rear shot to kill an Elephant but, with a TK of 13 against side armour of 8/11, even this is no sure thing. Deliberate immobilisation is a better bet. They have a reasonable chance of taking down the Mk IV with a hit against its 8/6 frontal armour. A side hit is a probable but not guaranteed kill. The joker in the pack is that they have APCR with a depletion number of 5. This increases the TK number to 15 at normal range rising to 16/17 at a range of 2/1. At worst, it gives them two bites at the cherry when trying to take down enemy AFVs. The German tank crews have to hope that they forgot to pack it.
This was the opening set up.
Lurking beneath the Russian concealment counters are 4x447. There was an HMG covering the grainfield from 33R6 and an 8-0 leader with an ATR in 33R7. When I did my original l set up, I had planned to run the stack in 44B4 to 44V2. When the time came to do this, I couldn't understand how I had missed the obvious LOS from O4. How could I have been such an idiot, I asked myself before moving the units forward individually and far less efficiently. It was only when I later tried to fire upon V4 that I discovered that Eric had cunningly hidden a clump of woods beneath the wire counter in R3 and the LOS was easily blocked the whole time. So I was indeed an idiot but not for the reason I first assumed. I bet that these things never happen to Steve Pleva. Or indeed any sentient human being.
The locations for the three shell holes were chosen by me by SSR and had the effect of removing any fortifications in those hexes and the adjacent ones. It turned out that there had been a wire counter in 33T10. 18 factors of mines escaped unscathed however.
For the Germans, I placed a 9-2 armour leader in one of the Elephants and they started to crawl towards the enemy positions. Russian infantry saw what was heading their way and checked the small print on their life insurance policies to see if there were any exclusions for trying to fight three Elephants with one anti-tank rifle. Two Elephants took up positions from which they could shell the defenders in the R6 building while also covering the hexes behind the hedge in 44N1 and N2. I didn't want any T-34s getting there. The PzIIINs were in support and one of them stripped concealment from the HMG position with a fortuitous bounding first fire shot with its MGs. The Russian sniper took exception to this and demonstrated its displeasure by shooting dead the 9-1 leader in 44W2. This in turn broke his escorting 467 with LMG. I believe that the German term for such occurrences is "scheisse" (with thanks to Von Marwitz for teaching me how to spell it).
To the south of the building, German infantry spread out with a view to capturing it while also having units cross the open ground to reach the buildings further back. The third Elephant stopped in 44V2 in order to shell the building in R3 only to discover the aforementioned woods underneath the wire in R3. I believe that Homer Simpson's term for such occurrences is "Doh"!
In the Russian turn, Eric brought on his T-34s and reinforcing infantry. Two Elephants and two Pz IIINs shelled enemy positions in and around the R6 building and flipped acquisition counters. The crew of the third Elephant stared at the woods beneath the wire counter and muttered that their commander should have gone to Specsavers. Other than that, nothing much happened.
End of Turn One
Turn Two
Things started to gather pace now. The concealed Russian leader and unconcealed HMG squad in 33R7 discovered that the blue target shaped thing that they were standing on had been placed there by Herr 9-2 in the Elephant in U8. I believe that the Russian expression that is commonly used when discovering such things is "der'mo!" An 88mm shell quickly took advantage of the acquisition counter to blow through the wall of the building and break everyone behind it. An LMG squad and leader took advantage of smoke to move to 33T8. The concealed 447 in S8 held fire. The Mk IV moved alongside to S9 and a bounding first fire MG burst broke it anyway. That ended the defence of the buildings around R7 for 3 out of the 7 needed. The Elephant in V6 managed to fire up its engine and trundle forward. It got as far as T7 before hitting an AT minefield. A dr of 1 followed to immobilise it. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was pointing towards the north west but, as it was, it was effectively out of the battle. This was the situation at the end of the German turn with the Russian SU 152s due to arrive on the next turn.
In their turn, the Russians started well when the T34 lurking behind the woods in Q2/Q3 spun its turret to break the assault engineer in R9. The SU 152s entered and took up positions to cover the open ground around 44S2. The T-34s positioned themselves defensively and this was the situation facing me at the start of turn three.
At this point, I wasn't feeling too optimistic. I was missing one Elephant and the T-34 in P2 was making it very difficult for the German infantry to get past the woods in front of it. I felt that I had to try to take the initiative and try to even up the armoured casualty count. I started off by running the Pz IIIN from W9 to 44R4 where it dodged a defensive first fire shot from the concealed T-34 in T2. It then moved to Q5 and stopped with its MA pointing towards the T-34 in P2. Eric decided to spin its VCA and fire the BMG. It now presented its frontal hull armour and its side turret armour. The IIIN took its bounding first fire shot and missed the target before going back into motion. The Elephant in U1 moved to S1 and stopped with its MA facing the SU152s. The 838 in R2 dropped a smoke grenade in its own hex and assault moved into Q2. The T-34 in 33O8 fired its MGs but could only muster a double 5 for no effect. German infantry advanced including a crucial move by a 468 into 33R8 where it was ADJACENT to the SU 152 in Q8. Needing a DR of 6 to hit, the SU2 could only manage a 7. The assault engineer in 33T10 moved to S10 and placed smoke in R9. This denied the SU152 in 33P7 a clear shot to R10. The second Pz III now moved to 44P1, stopped and put a HEAT round through the rear of the T-34 in P2. The final Elephant with the 9-2 leader moved to 33T5 from where it eyed up the T-34 in P6. Finally, the MkIV moved to 44Q1 and was lucky to discover that the T-34 in 33O8 had no APCR. When the AP shot missed, it could continue to 44P1. The T-34 tried an IF shot with APCR but this just malfunctioned its MA. The MkIV now rolled a CH in bounding first fire and the T-34 burst into flames. To add insult to injury, the German sniper was activated and broke the FT squad in 33O9. A hugely successful turn for the Germans ended when a 468 and 9-1 leader advanced into the SU152 hex in 33Q8 with street fighting advantage and flamed it.
By the end of the turn, the Russians were left with three T-34s (one of which was acquired by the Elephant with the 9-2 leader and therefore as good as dead and one SU152 which was acquired by the second Elephant but at least had some smoke cover from the burning SU152 in front of it.
In case you are wondering why there are no Russian AFVs in the lovely defensive hex in 33Q7, it turned out that Eric had placed two factors of AT mines there on the assumption that my guys would get there first!
The Russians had had no luck in this turn. Every APCR attempt failed and German bounding fire was deadly. Things didn't get any better in their turn. The T-34 in 33P6 did manage to immobilise the Elephant in T5. The return fire resulted in a dud but the Elephant retained ROF and toasted it at the second attempt. The FT squad rallied, moved forward and fired its FT at an assault engineer squad at long range. It promptly ran out of fuel. The T-34 in 44M4 malfunctioned its MA shooting at the tank in O1. The SU152 in 33P7 went into motion but was destroyed by the Elephant in S1.
At this point, Eric decided to call it quits. He only had one T-34 with functioning MA remaining and the Germans had plenty of time to capture the final two buildings that they needed.
Final Position
This is a fun scenario that would be a good one to use for anyone that wants to practise armoured engagement tactics. Eric consistently missed crucial DRs when he needed them whereas the Germans seemed to destroy a target with every decent shot. One APCR round when it was needed for the Russians and it could have been a different outcome.
After breaking through in the Arctic (or the Artic if you try to record your result on ROAR and cannot understand why a scenario with so many recorded plays apparently doesn't exist) in my first Friday Fight Night game the previous week, it was time to head for the Eastern Front and unleash some Elephants against Eric Bongiovanni in our regular Monday night game.
This is a popular scenario which I had played solo back in the dim and distant past and which, as far as I could recall, resulted in a German victory. Now I had the Germans against a much tougher opponent than when playing against myself.
Basically, this is a scenario which revolves around an armoured battle. In the blue corner, the attacking Germans have a pretty decent infantry force including 2 838 assault engineers and an armoured force led by 3 Elephant assault gun/tank destroyers complete with massive frontal armour, 88LL guns and the mobility of a sloth. They are supported by a Mk IV and and two Pz IIINs. The Russians set up with four squads onboard which will be joined by 4 628s, 5 T34s and two SU152s within the first two turns.
The Germans have two ways to win. Option 1 is to try to exit 24 CVPs off the far side of the board which equates to three Elephants. Option 2 is to capture seven building hexes in the German set up area. Both options have their merits. I didn't have a clue which was better (not unusual for me) so decided to aim for the buildings while having a vague idea of keeping the exit option in reserve if the armour battle went well. Given the Elephants' glacial pace, that was possibly a bit over optimistic. Although I have been playing Eric regularly for over a year, I think that this was only the second time that we had played a scenario where an armour battle was the main event. The first one was Wintergewitter when my Russians got a hammering for the ages.
This armour battle is an interesting one. The Germans have the advantage of three AFVs which are impervious to frontal hits and which will destroy anything that they can hit with their monster guns. They have a 9-2 armour leader to add to the mix. On the downside, they are slow and have red MP numbers which mean that there is no guarantee that they will be able to move at all. They have no turret and are therefore vulnerable to enemy AFVs that approach from outside their CA. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that they have no MG armament which would allow free CA spins to present their frontal armour to aggressive T34 attacks. For this reason, they need to rely on cover from the other AFVs in the German OB. The other big danger to these monsters is their very large target size, which makes them very vulnerable to deliberate immobilisation shots.
The Mk IV is a good medium tank which can take on a T34 on roughly equal terms. Its MA TK of 17 has a decent chance of killing a T-34 with a frontal hit against its AF of 11. It has the possibility of APCR with a depletion number of 4.
Last and least are the two Pz IIINs. These are essentially infantry support vehicles. They are great for firing smoke and shelling infantry but have no AP ammunition. Instead, they have HEAT with a depletion number of 9 and a TK of 13. This is highly unlikely to penetrate a T-34 with a frontal hit but has a decent chance of causing damage with a side or rear shot.
The mainstays of the Russian armour are 5 T-34s. Barring a critical hit, they need a side/rear shot to kill an Elephant but, with a TK of 13 against side armour of 8/11, even this is no sure thing. Deliberate immobilisation is a better bet. They have a reasonable chance of taking down the Mk IV with a hit against its 8/6 frontal armour. A side hit is a probable but not guaranteed kill. The joker in the pack is that they have APCR with a depletion number of 5. This increases the TK number to 15 at normal range rising to 16/17 at a range of 2/1. At worst, it gives them two bites at the cherry when trying to take down enemy AFVs. The German tank crews have to hope that they forgot to pack it.
This was the opening set up.
Lurking beneath the Russian concealment counters are 4x447. There was an HMG covering the grainfield from 33R6 and an 8-0 leader with an ATR in 33R7. When I did my original l set up, I had planned to run the stack in 44B4 to 44V2. When the time came to do this, I couldn't understand how I had missed the obvious LOS from O4. How could I have been such an idiot, I asked myself before moving the units forward individually and far less efficiently. It was only when I later tried to fire upon V4 that I discovered that Eric had cunningly hidden a clump of woods beneath the wire counter in R3 and the LOS was easily blocked the whole time. So I was indeed an idiot but not for the reason I first assumed. I bet that these things never happen to Steve Pleva. Or indeed any sentient human being.
The locations for the three shell holes were chosen by me by SSR and had the effect of removing any fortifications in those hexes and the adjacent ones. It turned out that there had been a wire counter in 33T10. 18 factors of mines escaped unscathed however.
For the Germans, I placed a 9-2 armour leader in one of the Elephants and they started to crawl towards the enemy positions. Russian infantry saw what was heading their way and checked the small print on their life insurance policies to see if there were any exclusions for trying to fight three Elephants with one anti-tank rifle. Two Elephants took up positions from which they could shell the defenders in the R6 building while also covering the hexes behind the hedge in 44N1 and N2. I didn't want any T-34s getting there. The PzIIINs were in support and one of them stripped concealment from the HMG position with a fortuitous bounding first fire shot with its MGs. The Russian sniper took exception to this and demonstrated its displeasure by shooting dead the 9-1 leader in 44W2. This in turn broke his escorting 467 with LMG. I believe that the German term for such occurrences is "scheisse" (with thanks to Von Marwitz for teaching me how to spell it).
To the south of the building, German infantry spread out with a view to capturing it while also having units cross the open ground to reach the buildings further back. The third Elephant stopped in 44V2 in order to shell the building in R3 only to discover the aforementioned woods underneath the wire in R3. I believe that Homer Simpson's term for such occurrences is "Doh"!
In the Russian turn, Eric brought on his T-34s and reinforcing infantry. Two Elephants and two Pz IIINs shelled enemy positions in and around the R6 building and flipped acquisition counters. The crew of the third Elephant stared at the woods beneath the wire counter and muttered that their commander should have gone to Specsavers. Other than that, nothing much happened.
End of Turn One
Turn Two
Things started to gather pace now. The concealed Russian leader and unconcealed HMG squad in 33R7 discovered that the blue target shaped thing that they were standing on had been placed there by Herr 9-2 in the Elephant in U8. I believe that the Russian expression that is commonly used when discovering such things is "der'mo!" An 88mm shell quickly took advantage of the acquisition counter to blow through the wall of the building and break everyone behind it. An LMG squad and leader took advantage of smoke to move to 33T8. The concealed 447 in S8 held fire. The Mk IV moved alongside to S9 and a bounding first fire MG burst broke it anyway. That ended the defence of the buildings around R7 for 3 out of the 7 needed. The Elephant in V6 managed to fire up its engine and trundle forward. It got as far as T7 before hitting an AT minefield. A dr of 1 followed to immobilise it. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was pointing towards the north west but, as it was, it was effectively out of the battle. This was the situation at the end of the German turn with the Russian SU 152s due to arrive on the next turn.
In their turn, the Russians started well when the T34 lurking behind the woods in Q2/Q3 spun its turret to break the assault engineer in R9. The SU 152s entered and took up positions to cover the open ground around 44S2. The T-34s positioned themselves defensively and this was the situation facing me at the start of turn three.
At this point, I wasn't feeling too optimistic. I was missing one Elephant and the T-34 in P2 was making it very difficult for the German infantry to get past the woods in front of it. I felt that I had to try to take the initiative and try to even up the armoured casualty count. I started off by running the Pz IIIN from W9 to 44R4 where it dodged a defensive first fire shot from the concealed T-34 in T2. It then moved to Q5 and stopped with its MA pointing towards the T-34 in P2. Eric decided to spin its VCA and fire the BMG. It now presented its frontal hull armour and its side turret armour. The IIIN took its bounding first fire shot and missed the target before going back into motion. The Elephant in U1 moved to S1 and stopped with its MA facing the SU152s. The 838 in R2 dropped a smoke grenade in its own hex and assault moved into Q2. The T-34 in 33O8 fired its MGs but could only muster a double 5 for no effect. German infantry advanced including a crucial move by a 468 into 33R8 where it was ADJACENT to the SU 152 in Q8. Needing a DR of 6 to hit, the SU2 could only manage a 7. The assault engineer in 33T10 moved to S10 and placed smoke in R9. This denied the SU152 in 33P7 a clear shot to R10. The second Pz III now moved to 44P1, stopped and put a HEAT round through the rear of the T-34 in P2. The final Elephant with the 9-2 leader moved to 33T5 from where it eyed up the T-34 in P6. Finally, the MkIV moved to 44Q1 and was lucky to discover that the T-34 in 33O8 had no APCR. When the AP shot missed, it could continue to 44P1. The T-34 tried an IF shot with APCR but this just malfunctioned its MA. The MkIV now rolled a CH in bounding first fire and the T-34 burst into flames. To add insult to injury, the German sniper was activated and broke the FT squad in 33O9. A hugely successful turn for the Germans ended when a 468 and 9-1 leader advanced into the SU152 hex in 33Q8 with street fighting advantage and flamed it.
By the end of the turn, the Russians were left with three T-34s (one of which was acquired by the Elephant with the 9-2 leader and therefore as good as dead and one SU152 which was acquired by the second Elephant but at least had some smoke cover from the burning SU152 in front of it.
In case you are wondering why there are no Russian AFVs in the lovely defensive hex in 33Q7, it turned out that Eric had placed two factors of AT mines there on the assumption that my guys would get there first!
The Russians had had no luck in this turn. Every APCR attempt failed and German bounding fire was deadly. Things didn't get any better in their turn. The T-34 in 33P6 did manage to immobilise the Elephant in T5. The return fire resulted in a dud but the Elephant retained ROF and toasted it at the second attempt. The FT squad rallied, moved forward and fired its FT at an assault engineer squad at long range. It promptly ran out of fuel. The T-34 in 44M4 malfunctioned its MA shooting at the tank in O1. The SU152 in 33P7 went into motion but was destroyed by the Elephant in S1.
At this point, Eric decided to call it quits. He only had one T-34 with functioning MA remaining and the Germans had plenty of time to capture the final two buildings that they needed.
Final Position
This is a fun scenario that would be a good one to use for anyone that wants to practise armoured engagement tactics. Eric consistently missed crucial DRs when he needed them whereas the Germans seemed to destroy a target with every decent shot. One APCR round when it was needed for the Russians and it could have been a different outcome.
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