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)
 |
| Scenario map I enclosed in both briefings (North to the top) |
 |
| "aerial reconnaissance" photo I enclosed in both briefings |
German briefing:
Leningrad front, May 1942
---------------------------------
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:
----------------------------
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 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
Leningrad front, May 1942
---------------------------------
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:
---------------------------
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.
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.
 |
| 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") |
 |
| 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. |
 |
| 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. |
 |
| 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. |
 | |
| 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. |
 |
| 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!
I read this and found it enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteHave tried myself to run a double blind, online game of Spearhead, but since I didn't have the miniatures I tried to draw everything on the computer. It turned out to be way too much work compared to moving miniatures and snapping photos.
With photos it might be difficult to communicate the situation without revealing too much. What I did was use the scenario map and send the players what I thought they would know about the positions of the enemy just by doing rough circles on the map with a text "infantry and anti-tank guns", "enemy light armor" and so on. It was quick to do and had the added benefit of keeping it vague how strong the enemy was. I think both players thought they were definitely losing by turn four so I think I succeeded in creating the fog of war
DeleteAh, that would make sense. I was going for every single base represented and using layers to mask various parts. It was less than optimal. Maybe I'll dare to give it a new try your way instead.
DeleteHeh! Wargamers are definitely not used to fog of war. There was a long discussion on the Wargamers FB group about what wargames have taught the members. Among other topics people were bashing Union general McClellan for his performance at Antietam. On guy then told a story of how he umpired a game of Antietam and gave the players the historical intelligence briefings. He then told them that he had made three different reinforcement schedules, on historical and two what ifs, and selected one at random. He also told the Union player that the reinforcement schedule selected was not the historical one. Apparently the Union player followed McClellan's actions closely.
Even this way you have the problem of players callously ordering their men to their deaths because there is little incentive in keeping your men alive beyond the scenario. I think a double blind system with a small campaign where you have to try and keep your forces intact for the next game would see the players become very cautious. You'd have to balance whether winning the scenario is worth a high risk of losing a battalion etc.
DeleteAh, the end of the world problem. Or coincidentally why RPG encounters where the PCs are supposed to realize that they're outclassed and need to retreat inevitably lead to a TPK or the rare trouncing of the big baddie at an inopportune moment.
DeleteAmusingly enough we have the opposite problem in our Warmaster tournaments. How do you keep a losing player engaged in a game when it is evident that there is nothing to play for anymore? There was a suggestion by one of the players to steal a rule from Flames of War where victory points for losses are only awarded based on the winner's losses. The Undead players did not like that suggestion one bit given their attrition based play style. A side note perhaps, but a reflection on how in tournaments you want players to give it everything and in scenarios you typically want them to at least consider conserving their forces.
Great looking game. I read it to the end. I am starting to paint up troops for the same battle but in 3mm. I hope to have as much fun as you did with the game. I might ask a few friends from my wargaming club to provide the higher HQ functions for the battle.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the AAR: