On May 2nd, 1998, we completed Day 1 of CG III.

To echo the words of the Duke of Wellington after the battle of Waterloo, "It was a near run thing."

Look here for the Russian Purchases and Fortification placement (no fair peeking JR!)

German Purchases (that we know of):

1x Sturm Company (apparently full)

1x Stuka (two planes)

(possibly one OBA with pre-registered hex and off-board observer, or they may already be saving for one of those nasty Pioneer Companies).

Jim and I discussed our strategy for many hours and batted around many ideas. We considered that the Germans may try the Armored Blitz on us but decided it wasn't likely. Early on, we decided we could not win Day 1, there are just too many stone locations in easy reach of the Germans. Our feeling was that the German's would try to push hard down our left flank and cut in behind our line to grab the F5 building and heading for the L12 and L15 factories to set up to grab the prize in Q15 on Day 2. With this in mind, I took the left flank and Jim took the right flank. I took one of the Rifle companies, the SMG company, one ATG and the reserve SMG company and set up an "L" shaped line starting around B11, moving across the rubble to E10 and F9, then up to the building in F5 and straight across to the O6 factory. The reserves were set up as far forward as possible with heavy reserve stacks in H8, I8 and G10. I anticipated a heavy push to F5 so I wasn't planning on defending it to the last man. Instead my plan was to put up a pretense of a fight then pull everyone back to the reserve hexes (which were hiding a 9-2 and 9-1, our best leaders on the whole map) and fight from there. My MMG and HMG were placed in F11 and F13 respectively to support the troops defending B12 and the ATG was in E16 to fire down the length of the tracks if any tanks come to on my side. Observed fortifications are: trenches in J11 and J12.

On Jim's side, he had half of his Rifle company in the area from the V hexrow east. Their job was to try to burn that whole area if possible. The rest of his men filled in the line from V to the O6 factory with the reserve Militia backing him up. The Volga bank was thinly held. His defense against a possible armored attack was: roadblock in Y7 facing Y6, trench in V5, ATG in W8, HMG in the Chemist's Shop and the burning buildings (we hope). We weren't really expecting a heavy push on this side though so that's why the defense was lighter.

Opening Moves

Ok, we were wrong. Our German opponents sat down at the table, JR on Jim's side and Rob on mine. Hmm, uh JR, aren't you on the wrong side? No? Uh oh.

German Turn 1

First a pre-reg'd OBA SR starts bouncing around but isn't on target, no OBA yet. The Germans came on board, the Sturm Company (with some Rifle squads) enter around the shellholes west of V, they are accompanied by all three PzIII's. The Rifle company (with a Sturm squad or two) enter between A5 and A9 and creep through the wooden buildings and rubble toward F5.

The Germans are worried about HIP units up front as well as our host of concealment counters so they send HS's ahead to search. Thank God for Boobytraps. The first two HS that search get blown to kingdom come. Little is revealed and the Defenders hold their fire, no good targets yet.

Russian Turn 1

Again, we hold our fire. Jim's pyro leader lights up a hex of wooden rubble (first note to remember: Always fire buildings! No EC mod's) and he takes a few shots at exposed German's then falls back to let the fire get going. I shift a few units around and my 9-0 commissar runs back to I9 to provide a rally point. The German's correct their OBA but its still not wonderfully placed.

German Turn 2

The OBA corrects near the trench and comes down as SMOKE. The German's start moving and get into the wooden buildings west of V. The Rifle's on my flank move through the rubble and start making serious moves directly toward F5. My defensive fire breaks some units. The Germans bring in a second Sturm Company through the debris field between J0 and N0. My defenders can spot them so they move slowly to retain concealment. Our rooftop mounted mortars begin shelling the new arrivals and score some breaks. Another German HS bites the dust from a boobytrap found while searching.

Our fire doesn't blaze, bloody EC.

Russian Turn 2

The mortars continue to rain down on the Germans in the debris field, breaking and DM'ing several squads and leaders. Jim's pyro leader tries to fire building but fails and his troops continue to edge away from the large force of Germans coming after him. As the German's main thrust is becoming apparent, I begin sidestepping some units from the far left towards the middle and some central defenders start edging toward Jim. German return fire breaks a squad or two.

The flame still doesn't blaze.

German Turn 3

Comrade Commissar does his job and rallies back my defenders that got broken. The SMOKE OBA ends. JR pushes hard into the wooden buildings and captures part of the Z1 building while breaking several of Jim's defenders. The roadblock is spotted as two PzIII's make their way east and the third goes down the gully to the Volga. The good order troops in the debris field move up to the stone wall and my defenders in the M6 and O6 buildings open up in earnest, breaking more squads. Rob's troops push into the F5 building, my return fire is largely ineffective, even with the support of the HMG. They clear Z1 by the end of the turn.

The flame STILL doesn't go up and now a German is trying to stomp it out!

Around this time the Russian sniper started on a tear, consistently hitting JR's troops and causing several CR's. The German sniper got us back though and wounded my Commissar.

Russian Turn 3

Things are starting to look bad on Jim's side as his men are falling back in disarray. My remaining troops in F5 pull out except for one squad who hides out in the cellar of F6. With only a handful of German squads still in B8 area, my troops in B12 stage a local counterattack. The highlight was a concealed 527 sneaking into HtH CC with a 548 and wiping them out. My defenders around M5 and the mortars continue to hammer the Germans in the debris field but cause no more casualties. The German OBA SR drops on M6, not good. The Germans get tired of the mortars and start firing at them, breaking one squad. We continue to sidestep squads towards Jim but it may be too late to help.

We've about given up on getting that fire going.

German Turn 4

The Germans roll for their Stuka's finally succeeds. The OBA comes down on M5, breaking all but two of the squads in the building, big uh oh. F5 gets swarmed and activates some of my reserves, unfortunately their short range means they can't help a whole lot. Rob pulls back his survivors from my counterattack in B9 but the Germans in the debris field move up behind their barrage, ready to grab L5 and the rubble west of it. On Jim's side, one PzIII starts gobbling up Volga hexsides while the rest of JR's troops push towards the Chemist shop, exposing the ATG which manages to score a CH on a German squad. The V5 trench finally gets overrun by Germans and some of the militia reserves are activated. The Germans have 12 stone locations now, casualties favor us for the moment but several of Jim's squads are close to being trapped against Z7-CC7 cliffs and one of his squads goes berserk.

The German squad puts out the fire. Curses, foiled again!

Russian Turn 4

Everyone in M6 takes cover in the cellar as the OBA continues to come down. Several squads continue their slow way east but two Stuka's come out to play. One squad is pinned but a strafing run and a second is blown to bits by a 200 lb bomb, after it battle hardened to a 628 due to the MG attack. The only image we could think of to describe this was 12 Russians, bravely standing in the open, giving the bird to the Stuka pilot. Goodbye to our first Guardsmen. Jim's berserker charges a PzIII and amazingly survived for 3 player turns. More of Jim's defenders are broken and rout to the cliff's edge with the leader. Rob finally breaks my squad hiding in the F6 cellar, crap, I had hoped he could hold out till the end of the game.

German Turn 5

The OBA lifts and Germans snap up J5, K6 and L5. A berserk German attacks my squad in I6 and wins the HtH CC, I hate that no ambush rule when 'zerkers get into CC during the MPh. Rob continues to pull back from my local counterattack which has halted (it was only 3 squads). JR traps Jim's broken units against the cliff and kills the berserk Russian. The Germans try to get to the ATG but some accurate fire keeps them away. Jim's broken units die and the leader goes down in CC. Rob cleans out F6 and the Germans have 20 stone locations. Things are looking desperate on Jim's side as only 4 squads stand between JR and the Chemist shop.

Russian Turn 5

Not much happened this turn. Jim fired everything in site at JR's troops and broke a few units, the ATG crew was broken and finally died but the German's couldn't capture it. My broken squads in M6 rallied and crept forward to try to kill some Germans if the game continued another turn. More attempts to get squads to Jim's support are shot up by the Stuka's, what I wouldn't give for a 37L AA gun. The German return fire is ineffective but the OBA SR drops on my big cluster of defenders around H8, uh oh.

Now the moment of truth. We NEED this turn to end, NOW. If it doesn't, the Chemist Shop could fall and the OBA will reek havoc on my side. Jim wants to roll the die and slams it into the glass. The red die spins and spins, 4 pair of eyes fix on the twirling dots. It finally comes to a rest... its a 1 !!!

The full import of this took a moment to sink into our opponents as they realized how much damage they could have done in the next turn. After the requisite cursing period was over, we started the refit phase. The Germans captured 20 stone locations and won the scenario.

Click here to see the full size picture of the perimeter. (There are a couple errors but they aren't serious and you get the idea anyway.)

I had one squad get encircled and escaped by rolling snakes. Nasty thing this is, you roll HoB and if its berserk of higher, he dies! I rolled just low enough to have him battle harden. The final CVP tally was 9 for the the Russians (4.5 squads) and 18 for the Germans (7.5 squads, a crew and a 7-0 leader). This result actually favors the Russians, as the Germans need to average a 2-to-1 ratio of dead squads. Also, most of the German dead were Sturm squads and HS's, while ours were Rifle and SMG squads.