Koen,
I am reporting in from zee Eastern Front. Your Clash of Beasts 1 has left me exhausted, but victorious. Here is my report.
Lack of briefing left me a little confused as to where to set my minefields, but I guessed the main event would be coming from the south towards the flags. I set one minefield in the gap off the main road from the south, and another to the gap on the other side of the road. I also mined the area just east of the first flag, which actually hindered my troops more. Ooops. The two forward-most minefields were covered by a 7.5 cm AT gun and the 7.5 Inf gun. I also laid out several covering squads with panzerfausts, expecting the Soviet tanks to mire on the mines, and then get flank shots on them.
I gave the AI a +2 CEB, figuring that would make the Russians sufficiently aggressive. I pretty much left the infantry set in the town on default. I planned to flank out to the right and left for recon purposes - good thing I did. Then I fired up and waited for the mayhem.
The Russian Butcher Birds came in and wiped out all my in-town StuGIIIs but one. They also plastered my right flank column, even though I'd dashed them into a tree covered road section. Whammmo, flaming trucks, and halftracks. I was not looking forward to this event. I started getting reinforcements piecemeal, and rushed them down the roads, dodging from tree area to tree area. It was all I could do until I got some AA help. On the right flank, I unloaded my 3.7 cm AA gun, to protect the rest of the column. I rushed the 7.5 cm AT guns up and unloaded them, in case a Russian push came from the right flank.
On the far left, I got a platoon of troops and a Panther. Yeah, baby, now I've got some teeth. I rushed them into a wooded area, and hid them. They had a very good look at the wave of Soviet armor coming in from the left flank. In my haste to rush the Panther into some wooded cover, because of the Soviet Jabos, I accidentally pushed him too far forward. The T-34s opened up in hail fire, and my Panther was knocked out. A very inauspicious start.
My forward units were now popping purple flares, and screaming on the radio that a wall of Soviet armor was approaching. SLOWLY approaching. Almost as if to increase the drama and tank-fright. Among the sighted were several versions of T-34s, SU-85s and SU-100s, along with plenty of the 50cal four-barrel "choppers" the Americans were so fond of. Damn that lend lease. Not much in the way of infantry, so there was hope. I had everyone on hide, except for the HQ units, for sighting purposes. The SU-152 Zvierboi's came later. Nice.
The Red armor took it's time approaching, and I wasn't sure if the AI was having problems, but then the little red stars started showing up, which meant that the infantry was probing my forward postions. Damn them. My clever ambushes were flushed out, and my forward positions had to open up to save themselves, and were then promptly cut down by the tanks. They were run over like the speedbumps they truly were. So much for that. I opened up with my AT guns, and they had some hits, but then were knocked out.
The Red armor then moved forward, RIGHT INTO MY MINEFIELDS! Now, granted, they did send some AC and HT in first, but then tried to push through with the armor. There were several that suddenly came to a halt, and then were abandoned. I had guessed right, and the Soviets lost about 4 tanks/SU guns to each minefield, along with a few HT and AC. That was some measure of success, and I was happy at that, but the wave continued forward.
By this time I'd received a fair number of reinforcements, and was rushing them up the road, dodging from tree line to tree line. I moved the JadgPanzers to the left flank area, and set up for the slow Russian armor from the left. I also ran some SS men over to the wooded area where the tanks would have to drive through. I hustled them over there, and set up some nasty ambushes in the tree-lined roadway. I also managed to push a flamethrower team over there as well. My infantry on the far left flank hid for the most part, taking some shots from armor when they dispatched a MG team, but otherwise, no Red armor got close enough for them to fire their panzerfausts at.
I rushed the Nashorns to cover the long road through town, managed to get the King Tigers into positions to cover the left appoach, backing up the platoon of Panthers and the JagdPanzers, and ran some of the King Tigers to the right, along with all the Mark IVs. I held the two batteries of StuGIVs back for reinforcements. There was plenty of action in the air, as the Jabos were dropping bombs on almost everything they could find. I was pretty lucky though, only losing a tank here or there to bogging and immobilization. I had some tank crews and HT crews shocked, but no more tank losses to the air. The Wirbelwinds and the 3.7 cm AA guns were a blessing, and one of the 3.7 cm AA crews shot down 2 aircraft. All told, AA fire was pretty deadly, as both the AI and my side shot down 3 aircraft each. I also finally had my own "Beasts," as the JagdTigers slowly lumbered from tree line to tree line.
The Soviet advance was really quite slow and deliberate. This allowed me time to get my armor into some critical hull-down positions where they could see the wave of tanks approaching. The most immediate Soviet push was in the center area just to the right of the southern-most flag. I was really gasping by this time, as the IS2 behemoths were pushing forward. I wondered what I had to stop them, as my big guns were still rushing up the highway, being sniped at by Jabos. One IS2 arrogantly decided to leave the roadway, and presented a broadside to my hidden 7.5 cm AT gun. He was apparently flanking out to my right. The AT gunner couldn't resist, got a penetrating hit on the first shot, and the second was a catastrophic kill, with flames everywhere. TREFFER!!
After that, Soviet shells bombarded the wooded area, and everyone was getting blown to bits. The AT gun was out of action shortly thereafter, killed by T-70s, but not before killing two more T-34s. I tried to ease my Mark IVs out on the ridge covering this area, and even with shoot-and-scoot, they were all blasted by a wave of hail fire from the mass of Red tanks. Not good. I did have some success with my Stummel 7.5 cm HT, in a rather protected position, who was able to destroy an IS2 and a T-34 before taking a killing hit.
At this point, several Soviet tanks decided to push through my weak wall of conscripts and green infantry in the wooded road area, commanded by Hauptmann Reinhardt. The Hauptmann had cleverly located the troops, but I figured the conscripts and green infantry would not survive the tank fright. A T-34 pushed along the road, and the weakened conscripts fired their panzerfausts ( I was amazed), getting the kill. Their position was then pounded, they took some casualties, but held on. They really had faith in Hauptmann Reinhardt. Finally the IS2 commander had enough, and he decided to force his way down the road. He drove his giant beast past the destroyed T-34, and the green troops and conscripts opened up on him. He revolved the turret and fired at them, still moving at top speed. He was unaware when the Hauptmann personally hoisted a panzerfaust on his shoulder, and ordered his second in command to fire as well.
First Hit....Turret penetration
Moments later, Second Hit........."Sie explodiert," shouted the IA. Indeed, it
EXPLODED.
That ended the tank assault from the road. Hauptmann Reinhardt then extricated his men from the clutches of the angry Red infantrymen, and led them to safety. I was amazed.
On the far left, the Red tanks now started pushing their way up to the ambush spot, but leadership was not good enough there. The flamethrower team got off a first shot against an SU-85, and it was then hit with a demo charge, killing it. But, the rest of the tanks blasted everyone in the near vicinity, ending the ambush rather abruptly, with my troops breaking and being cut down. As the rest pushed forward, they were hit by a Stummel and a King Tiger, guarding the crossroads at the rearmost flag. They also took hits from the JagdPanzers in ambush, and were slowly eliminated.
There were some very clever LOS on this map, and it was both a blessing and a curse. I managed to hit many Red tanks/Assault guns in flank shots, and then in turn was hit by several tanks returning fire. In this way, I attrited quite a few of the advancing beasts, but lost many as well.
On the center road, the AI had managed to sort things out a bit, from a massive traffic jam, caused mainly by my minefields. The Red tanks started menacing down the center road. My Nashorns opened up with long shots, along with a King Tiger. Several Soviet tanks brewed up, and both of the Nashorns exploded. Suddenly I head the sound of a diving aircraft, and cringed, expecting the worst. Then I saw explosions where a IS2 had been, and realized it was blowing up. I replayed the event, and low and behold, I had Jabos too!! A FW190 dove down and landed two bombs, neat as you please, on the IS2, ending that threat. How cool.
I was able to place more heavy tanks on the ridge lines, and more and more Russian tanks brewed up. I was finally gaining the upper hand on the enemy armor, but not the infantry. Red infantry now swarmed the first flag, and that changed hands several times. My SS men in town were running low on ammo. Almost all my King Tigers were down to HE only, and I had to bring forth the Sturmgeschütz. I rushed the flag with infantry, but crossfire and Soviet advances across the nearby field kept them back. Only when I loaded a flamethrower team in a HT, rushed it and a second SS squad there, unloaded them fast, and then flamed the nearby Soviet infantry did I finally get the upper hand. There were no more advances by the Soviets there. It was nip and tuck for a while, but the Russians were spent.
On the far right flank, Soviet reinforcements were detected by my flank guard of 2 PSW 234s. They harassed the two SU-122s by dancing out and shooting, then dancing back. When one was sideways, way across the map, near town, a crack StuGIV, led by Leutnant Wurdig, decided to take a few shots at the giant assault gun. At 1,325 meters, Lt Wurdig started getting penetrating hits on the flank of the SU-122S, and after 6 or 7 side shots, the Soviet crew bailed. Pretty impressive shooting. I was quite amazed. Then the two PSWs got sloppy, and were blasted to bits by the angry remaining SU-122S.
We were now past the 85 turns, and after turn 87, the game ended. All 12 Soviet trucks along the south edge had not been brought forward, as well as two additional SU-122S and an SU-85. Only the one SU-122S was advancing, but would have fallen prey shortly to an ambush by two King Tigers and a JagdTiger. That would have ended badly for the Russian. I don't know if they were forgotten by the AI, or held back, due to the presence of enemy troops nearby.
I have some ending shots of the map after the game was over. I didn't know if they'd help you if you planned to tweak this scenario.
End of Game, left and center.
End of Game, right and center
Score at End - Major Victory for Axis
I had fun with this, but it was a bit too big for my computer. There was a lot of waiting for the "blue bar of slow death." That took a little away from the enjoyment, as I had to read a magazine in between turns, and this takes away a bit from the immersion. There was a lot of map, and I particularly liked it, as it felt right for the time and place. You really needed to fan out and recon your flanks. There were lots of beasts to employ and destroy. It was a giant battle, but it also had some moments of high drama. I tried to cover some of them for you. I think the AI was struggling with all the units, even with the CEB of +2. I wonder if a +3 might have made it more aggressive. I thought the AI did a credible job, but I was just quicker at getting to the ridge lines and picked up better LOS that gave me some critical shots when needed. If the AI had advanced faster, I would really have been in the soup. As it was, I still didn't have it easy until the end. All that unused infantry the AI left at the board edge would have caused me no end of headaches, but lucky for me, they were waiting orders to advance, orders that didn't come.
I'd mark this as definitely H2H, but wouldn't discount it as Axis versus AI. There is something inherently fun about handling whole platoons of JagdTigers and King Tigers. They can reach out and kill at amazing distances. I wasn't sure how to post the pictures, so I hope I did that right. I thought it was a good scenario, so congratulations on a job well done.
Heinrich505
