I built enough forces to play the introductory scenario "Attack This" from the Spearhead rulebook. It's a small one with just a battalion worth of troops per side and a 30" table representing a three kilometer square of actual terrain. I decided to play it solitaire to teach myself the rules. I've played the cold war variant a few times, but I have to admit that my opponent has handled most of the rules.
A simple solitaire game would have been a bit dull, so I invited a couple of voluteer generals from a wargaming Facebook group I hang out in to form the battle plan for their respective sides and do all the tough decisions during the battle without seeing all the action. With limited knowledge of the battleground and the mechanics, I hoped to create a kriegspiel-like experience.
I sent them both a quick brief of the situation and some technical notes on the rules which would affect their deployment. Here's the material (translated from Finnish)
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| Scenario map I enclosed in both briefings (North to the top) |
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| "aerial reconnaissance" photo I enclosed in both briefings |
German briefing:
Leningrad front, May 1942
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The winter has been relatively quiet once the siege of Leningrad began in 1941. Come May, things have become more lively however, and the Soviets are on the move. The first battalion of the 124th infantry regiment has been assigned on a three kilometer stretch on the front. Intel suggests the Soviets are massing armored units in this area so an attack on your sector seems likely. Division has sent additional AT guns to you, but no armored support is available. The Soviets must not be allowed to break through!
Troops available:
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124th infantry regiment, first battalion.
The battalion consists of the HQ, three infantry companies, a machine gun company, a mortar platoon and a reinforced AT company. Offboard artillery is available.
The German player enclosed this very cool battle plan (It's only in Finnish, sorry!)
link to pdf
Soviet briefing:
Leningrad front, May 1942
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The Soviet Union has achieved the impossible and stopped the fascist warmachine at the brink of ruin. The grand German offensive lost momentum late in 1941 and now it is our turn to show them that socialists know how to blitzkrieg as well! The main attack is planned in Kharkov to retake the city from the Nazis, but besieged Leningrad is also in need of relief. The 92nd armored brigade is to punch a hole in the German line and cause enough casualties for the Germans so that the breakthrough can be exploited.
Troops available:
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32. Tank Corps, 92. Tank Brigade
The Tank Brigade consists of the brigade HQ and two armored battalions.
The Soviet player enclosed this plan:
"The red line marks the route of the brigade HQ.
The first armored battalion reinforced with the recon platoon advances on the eastern side of the line so that the KV-1 platoon with the T-34's operate closest to the HQ along the line Hill 301 and the field -> The forest east of Hill 302 -> the Pass between Hills 303 and 304. The two T-26's of the battalion and the other T-34 platoon will circle around the wood with the field (to distract and draw fire).
The second armored battalion reinforced with the engineers will advance directly via hills 301, 302 and 303 and aim for a quick breakthrough attack. If necessary, any fascists hiding in the woods next to hill 302 will be driven out by the engineers and the tanks of the 2nd armored battalion."
The battle:
Now I had what I needed to run the game without "playing against myself". The only adjustment I needed to make was shift the position of both players' HQ units so that their entire OOB was in command range. The German HQ was moved from the forest to hill 304 and the Soviet HQ had to start moving a bit more to the east from the initial plan.
Throughout the game I would give the commanders updates on their situation. I gave them good information on things happening in the vicinity of their HQ, but was vague on things happening further out. This is a small scenario so there wasn't much for them to do mid-battle (I handled all movement and combat for the forces according to the plan) but they did do small adjustments to the plan based on how they perceived the events.
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| Turn 1 (south at the top of image): The Soviets advance according to plan, but no visual contact is yet made with the enemy. The Germans spot the Soviet armor (armor moving in the open is seen 18" out while infantry in woods only to 3") |
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| Turn 2: The soviet "feint" to the east comes under fire by Pak35's. They fail to damage the tanks,but a German infantry company reaches the soviet T-26's with their panzerfausts with predictable results. The Soviet recon platoon spots the German company in the.. lets call it "Half acre wood" and the tanks close in to fire at them. |
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| Turn 3: The Soviets on the eastern flank suffer losses and retreat towards the main group. A firefight breaks out at the half acre wood, but with no results. At this point, the Soviet player decides to commit forces from this breakthrough force to flank the half acre wood. One of the T-34's destroy a Pak35 platoon at hill 303. |
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| Turn 4: The engineers and tanks roll into the half acre wood, making good progress. Those flamethrowers the engineers have sure come in handy when fighting in cover! The German infantry company moves from the woods in the east towards Hill 305 according to the pre made plan, but come under fire by the tanks, also retreating. |
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| Turn 5: The battle for the half acre wood looks bad for the Germans, but they are also causing casualties to the Soviet tanks. The Germans consolidate their position along hills 304-305. | |
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| Turn 6 (end): The German forces hang on in the half acre wood, and the Soviets have an unobstructed path to go for the breakthrough, but their morale fails them. Soviets roll their grade during the battle and they came out Green. That means that they roll whether they retreat at 33% casualties, and failed that roll. |
The communication between me and the generals was nice and atmospheric during the game, but I cannot be arsed to translate it (If anyone actually reads this far, give me a shout. I think few people read battle reports but rather just skim the pictures). I think with a bigger game there's lots of potential for some double blind action but I need to paint a big bunch of figures for that. As for this game, it was surprisingly entertaining with just the single battalion per side. Sort of a microarmor skirmish game!
