Hostile Realms: Battle of Bone Pass

The Realm's pikemen march out of Bone Pass under the watchful eye of Archduke Gregor II.

 This is going to be a battle report of our most recent Hostile Realms game.  Hostile Realms is the fantasy miniature ruleset produced by Piquet.  It has many of the card-driven features of Piquet, but it uses the balanced impetus system of Field of Battle, Piquet's more recent rule system.

Each army list has a card deck of 28 different cards that reflect that army's capabilities .  3 optional cards are then added to the deck for a total of 31.  Examples of cards are Move, Melee, Army Morale, Courage!, Missile Reload, Move 1 Command, Leader Check, Manna Reload, etc.  The cards dictate the actions the player's army may perform.  The optional cards tend to represent unforeseen events or impetuous troop movements that can't be controlled by the player.

During the game, each player rolls for Initiative and each rolls the leadership die of their commander-in-chief.  This die varies from a D6 (Abysmal) to a d12+1 (Superior).  The difference in the die rolls is how many cards each side will play from their deck for the phase.  The die roll winner gets to choose which side goes first for the phase.  Once both sides have played their cards for the phase, the players roll for Initiative again.  This continues until the turn ends when a player runs out of cards in his deck or they tie on an Initiative roll.

I'm not going to write a lot of background fluff and fiction about how this battle came to occur.  Suffice it to say that Archduke Gregor of Ostmark decided to invade the borders of Gondor with an army of his medieval vassals and mercenaries.  He was met on the Gondorian side of Bone Pass by an army led by the local Gondorian governor.

Greg used the army list of The Realm to build his army.  I used the army list for the Kingdom of Gonfor.  My army card deck is a pretty reliable deck.  According to the list instructions, I had to add the Uncontrolled Charge card for the Rohan units and the Berzerk Action card for the Hillmen.  I then selected randomly for my third and final optional card.  It was an Undisciplined Advance card.  Hmmm.  It looked like my army was going to be a little hard to control.

My army consisted of:

• 4 spearman units
• 2 archer units
• 1 Ranger unit (elite border skirmishers)
• 1 Citadel Guard unit (elite polearm-armed infantry)
• 1 Gondorian Knights of the Swan unit (Mounted XH cavalry)
• 2 Rohan heavy cavalry lancer units
• 1 Rohan heavy cavalry archer unit
• 1 Axemen of Lossnatch unit (axe-armed hillmen prone to berzerker outbursts)

Hostile Realms rates each character for their leadership qualities and their abilities.  The values are determined randomly.  Players can spend their ability points on Strength (good for melee), Dexterity (good for missile attacks and spell casting), Constitution (harder to kill, better magic resistance), Charisma (better morale), Renown (fierce reputation causes fear and can scare enemies) and Magical Talent (Wizards only).  Abilities are rated as Impaired, Basic, Advanced and Expert.  All of my characters were rated as Average leaders, but I did poorly on their Ability rolls.

My characters were:

• Governor Davimor, an adequate general with mediocre combat skills.  His incredibly charming personality and good looks help to motivate his troops and obviously secured him the governorship.  UP2 to the Morale of a unit he is attached to.  Causes Fear.
• Commander Lux, a good handler of bowmen who is otherwise unremarkable.  UP1 to Fire and Morale of any unit he attaches to.  He also carries the Horn of Boromir which improves the morale of Gondorian troops when it is sounded.
• Earl Thresh, the Rohan leader commanding the Rohan horse.  While an excellent warrior and archer, Thresh is not well-known, was never mentioned in any Tolkien books, and he seeks to make a reputation for himself.  UP1 Fire and Melee to any unit he attaches to.
• Gandalf the Grey, a powerful Class IV wizard.  While not physically strong or interested in inspiring the units of the army, Gandalf's magical talent, dextrous spell casting, and fierce reputation make him formidable on the battle field.  UP 1 spell casting die, UP 2 on magical attacks, causes fear, and can challenge the morale of enemy units with a D4.

All the spells available in the game.  Level 1 (Lt green), Level 2 (yellow), Level 3 (purple), and Level 4 (orange).
The cards are not included in the game.

Once characters were determined, I rolled for Gandalf's spell ability.  I discovered he was Average on this day.  Not great, but I'll take it.  Spells are rated from Level 1 to Level 4.  The more powerful Level 3 and 4 spells are more difficult to cast and many of them take preparation to cast successfully.  Gandalf selected the following spells:

• Call the Storm (Level 3) - Causes a blizzard to fall on the battlefield.  Missile fire is reduced, movement is halved, fliers are grounded, and gunpowder weapons can't fire.  Require preparation.
• Dimensional Travel (Level 3) - Teleport and character or unit 48".  Requires preparation.
• Firestorm (Level 2) - Targets units in a 6" radius with a D6 magic attack.
• Bless/Curse (Level 1) - Improves or reduces the abilities of a unit or character by 1.

My spells

Since this was only our second game, we decided to play without relics/magic items.  

Greg brought a typical Realm army that contained a lot of longbowmen and halberdiers.  Greg decided not to spend points on a wizard and purchased more units than me:

• 1 extra-heavy mounted knight unit
• 2 mounted heavy knight units
• 3 halberdier units
• 1 foot knight unit
• 3 lowland pike units (two of these formed a pike block)
• 3 longbow units
• 3 imperial longbow units (better quality)
• 1 bombard heavy cannon

Greg's characters were an archduke and 2 master yeomen to help the archers and cannon.  The Realm army also has the advantage of using Overhead Fire for its longbowmen.  This means the longbowmen can deploy behind the infantry and fire over them at the enemy.  Greg pulled 3 cards for his optional cards in his deck: Uncontrolled Charge, Pillage and Loot, and Look to the King!

Archduke Gregor II and his command staff

We decided the battle would be a meeting engagement in a medium terrain area.  We used Theater of War (another Piquet product) to lay out the battlefield, deploy the commands, and establish victory objectives.  The battlefield had several villages interspersed between a series of small hills.

Finally, we rolled for our morale chips.  Morale chips are a measure of your army's will to continue the fight.  You lose a morale chip every time one of your unit takes a wound or routs off the table.  Once you get to 0 morale chips, you can't rally your troops anymore and you have to take an Army Morale test every time you draw that card from your deck.  We both rolled a "1" on the morale chip table, so I received 12 chips and Greg received 15.  It looked like the game would be a quick one since neither army had the stomach for a prolonged struggle.

My plan for the game was simple.  I knew I had the advantage when it came to magic.  If the Realm's army closed with me before I could damage them, their greater numbers and excellent missile capability would overwhelm me.

I wanted to lead off the battle by casting my "Call the Storm" spell.  This spell would affect the entire battlefield, reduce the power of the enemy longbowmen, make their cannon ineffective, and slow down their movement.  While they were trudging along, I could then use my wizard to bombard them with Firestorm spells and soften them up.  Any units what got too close I could teleport away from my front lines.  Sounds great, right?

Unfortunately, the Piquet gods didn't see the game the same way I did.  Despite my best efforts to prepare "Call the Storm", I was never able to cast the spell.  You can only prepare a spell on a Leader Check card.  Once you've started your preparation, the spell is then cast on the following Manna Recharge card.

As I cycled through my deck, the Leader Check card refused to appear.  We then ended the turn early on a tied Initiative die roll and the deck had to be re-shuffled.  In Turn 2, I again couldn't flip a Leader Check card to save my life and once again the turn ended prematurely while I was only halfway through my deck.  Gandalf had to settle for using his lower level spells that required no preparation, so I bombarded the enemy longbowmen and halberdiers in the Realm's center with Firestorm spells from long range.

Gandalf is a Class IV wizard and is very skilled at casting a simpler Level 2 spell like Firestorm.  This did some damage to the enemy, but they were able to advance close enough that it was no longer worth it for me to continue attempting to cast my "battle-changing" spell.

While I was cursing at Gandalf and he was cursing at his spell book, there was some significant action on the battlefield.  Gandalf was unable to cast the big spell in both games we played.  Boo hoo!

Initial deployment.  Gondor is blue.  The Realm is red.  The villages from left to right: Gravewatch, Redsister, and Swamp Rim were all victory point objectives.  The ridge held by Gondor in the center was also an objective.  

My troops were deployed defensively and I tried to avoid closing with the enemy since I was waiting for my stupid super spell to win the game for me.  My army deployed as follows:

• Left flank command: 3 spearman units, the Citadel Guard unit, and the berzerker axemen commanded by the governor defended the village of Gravewatch.  

They were opposed by 2 longbow units, 1 halberd unit, a foot knight unit, and the cannon.

• Center command: 2 bowman units, the Ranger unit, a spearman unit, and the Knights of the Swan were posted on a ridge along my board edge.  

They were opposed by 4 longbow units, 2 halberd units, a pike unit, and a large pike block.

• Right flank command: 2 Rohan lancer cavalry units and a horse archer unit.  

They were opposed by the Realm's 3 heavy mounted knight units.

While the Gondorians eagerly awaited the effects of their mighty magic, the Realm's forces rolled a triple move for two of their commands.  The mounted knights and center infantry command charged across the battlefield.

Since the pike block can move at double speed until it gets into combat, it managed to race across and slam into one of my Rohan lancer units.  My troops were like the nearsighted castle wedding guards in Monty Python's "Quest for the Holy Grail".  They kept waiting and waiting until the enemy was on top of them.

On the left flank, Archduke Gregor's artillery piece hammered away at my units, but my infantry grimly held their positions.

Archduke Gregor joined the pike block and personally waded into combat.  My lancers were at a severe disadvantage versus the pike block, but after some bad die-rolling, my lancers were only disordered by the pikes.  Things looked good for the Realm, but Gregor had forgotten he pulled the "Look to the King" card from his deck a few flips before.  This card decreed that if the commander in chief was involved in a melee in the same phase, we had to test to see if he was slain in combat.

Gregor failed his roll and his helmet was cleft in two by a Rohirrim battle axe.  Seeing their liege and paymaster fall, the mercenaries and vassals of the Realm's army failed their Army Morale check and retreated from the field.  Thus was victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.

The Realmish center command and cavalry (purple/red) lunge forward.

The first battle ended after only an hour or so, so we ate lunch, set it up again and played a second game.

Game 2

The second battle began only after Greg carefully read the "Look to the King!" card and promised himself that he would not commit his general to melee again when that card was in play.

On my left flank, the Realm's artillery pulverized the Gondor-held village of Gravewatch into rubble.  An Uncontrolled Charge card sent the Realm's impetuous foot knights and halberdiers advancing down the hill without orders.  The Gondorian infantry advanced to meet them and routed the invaders after a few rounds of melee combat.  As the defeated Realmers fled back up the hill, the victorious Gondorians followed hard upon their heels.  The Axemen of Lossoch chased the fleeing infantry with bone-chilling battle cries.  Everything seemed to be going well on Gondor's left flank.

The same could not be said for the center.  Once again, the Realm advanced with great speed in the center of the battlefield.  My efforts to use magic and orders to advance my forces met with failure.  The Realm's knights collided with the Rohirrim cavalry and caught them off-balance.  One Rohirrim lancer unit was successful and routed its opponent but its heedless pursuit carried it into the middle of the enemy's infantry lines where it was eventually flanked and destroyed.  The other two squadrons of Rohirrim cavalry were overwhelmed by the heavy impact of the Realm's armored knights and they fled from the battlefield.

With their heavy cavalry poised on the flank of the Gondorian army and supported by the giant pike block of veteran mercenaries, the Realm clearly had the upper hand.  Gandalf finally was able to use his magic to cast a spell that blanketed the battlefield in a freezing blizzard.  Using the storm as cover, the Gondorians withdrew from the field and conserved their strength to fight another day.  Victory belonged to the Realm.

I made a few major mistakes during the game.  The first was putting my Knights of the Swan behind my center command.  They were my best cavalry unit and I should have positioned them closer to the Rohirrim cavalry where they could support them.  Instead, they waited patiently behind my infantry lines and didn't see a minute of combat.  I also forgot to blow the Horn of Gondor which raises the morale of my troops for an entire phase.

Missing out on the spell preparation was bad luck. That's just part of Piquet, but I let the bad luck paralyze me and take me out of my game.  The cannon on the left was able to pound me without the magic blizzard blanketing the battlefield, but next time I think I'll deploy my Rangers over there and let them shoot the crap out the cannon gunners.

In the future, I'll plan my strategy to include magic, but I'll be prepared to execute a strategy that doesn't rely on it so much for victory.

The pictures are of the medieval collection Greg and I have been painting for the past 2 years.  They look great in action as the Realm's troops.  Greg has done a brilliant job on the command bases and he's even adding flowers to the static grass.  Excellent job, buddy!

Mercenary pikemen (Old Glory) of the Realm

Realm pikemen (Perry) raised by the free cities.

Gregor's cousin reviews the cavalry (Perry) as they march through the village of Redsister.

The Realm had no wizards but they brought plenty of priests!

Realm knights and men-at-arms (Perry)

The Gondorian infantry

I've been painting Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Gondorians to field a Gondorian army for Piquet's Hostile Realms.  I've finally finished most of the basic infantry I needed.  Each unit is 4 stands (bases).  Now I have to move on to the Rohirrim cavalry, Aragorn, and Gandalf.

I had to rush the pictures a bit since the wife was bellowing for me to come to the table and eat dinner, but here they are.  I mixed some of the flags and leaders into the units.  The characters will be individually based and will serve as the heroes and commanders for this army.  The HR "Gonforian" army has decent infantry with strong leadership to bolster them, good magic, strong cavalry, and a good army command structure.  

Based in mass, these average men of Gondor do look like they mean business.  I'm quite pleased.  We'll see how well they fight when they face Undead Jed's unroutable skeleton legions and Greg's armored knights of the Realms.

Hostile Realms Gondor Army

Here are some pictures of the Gondorian (or Gonforian army) I'm painting for Hostile Realms, Piquet's fantasy rules.  One unit of Gondorian archers and a unit of Gondorian infantry.  The miniatures are from Games Workshop's LOTR range.

Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka Playtest 2 Optional Ending

Okay, if you're the German player and you've reached 0 morale points (out of 50) without capturing Prokhorovka , the gentleman with the eye patch in the photo is not happy with you.  That is Paul Hausser, the commander of II SS Panzer Corps.

In the original version of this scenario, the German player starts making Morale checks on the Morale card once the Germans reach 0 morale points.  Once the Germans fail a morale check, the game ends and the Soviets win.  Somehow, this left me a little underwhelmed.  It seemed like a real disappointment for the German players to battle through the entire operational campaign and then have the game end on a single die roll.

So, here is an alternate ending process that gives the German players a chance to still attempt to win the game while higher headquarters slowly pulls away resources and diverts them to the efforts to assist Army Detachment Kempf and Das Reich southeast of the battlefield.

First, the German players always have the opportunity to just end the game if the division fails its Morale check.  If they decide to continue because victory is just within their grasp, the following game end rules take effect:

• They immediately lose all 3 Air Support cards from the German deck.
• The two battalions from Das Reich Division are immediately removed from the table.
• On each of the subsequent Morale cards, the German player must select and remove from the table one of the following major formations in any order he chooses:  1st SS Recon Bn, 1st SS AT Bn, 1st SS PG Regiment, 2nd SS PG Regiment, and 1st SS Panzer Regiment.

I'll finish up the playtest with this optional ending and let you know how it goes!!

Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka Playtest 2.3

This will be an ongoing record of my second play test of my Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka  scenario using the Field of Battle: WW2 (FOBWW2) rules from Piquet.  The units are companies, the commands are battalions and brigades, and 3 turns (AM, PM, and Night) make up a complete day of fighting.

In FOBWW2, each side activates based on the cards in its deck.  To start a turn, each player rolls an initiative die (Germans D12, Soviets D10).  The difference is the number of face down cards each player draws from their deck for the upcoming phase.  The winner of the die roll decides who goes first.  The active player then flips his first card and acts on it.

This battle report is for Turns 7, 8 and 9: the PM turn of July 12, 1943, Night turn of July 12, 1943, and the AM turn of July 13, 1943.  If you want to get more information on this battle and the scenario, search this blog for other articles with the same tags.

Ignore the unit deployments.
  The purpose of this map is to just show the terrain.

PM Turn July 12, 1943

This turn ended immediately when I rolled a "10" for each side's initiative on the first die roll.  Tied initiative rolls immediately end a turn.  Presumably, poor weather or the general exhaustion of the troops in this sector meant that very little significant action occurred in the afternoon.

Night Turn July 12, 1943

A few Soviet cards allowed them to move formations around and rally a few units, but then the Germans ended the Night turn with a Morale card and we moved into the morning as the sun began to dawn over the battlefield.

AM Turn July 13, 1943

AM 13 July.  A view of the battlefield south of the railroad embankment.

AM 13 July.  A view of the central portion of the battlefield near the embankment.

German defenders hold on to Iamki in spite of the suppressions.

The Soviets pulled a Move card and I finally was able to bring in the 32nd Tank Brigade on the long south side of the table.  The Germans had prepared a nasty welcoming committee for the tanks on their side of the AT ditch, so I decided to have the reinforcements enter the battle on the Soviet side of the ditch. 

32nd Tank Brigade exploded onto the battlefield from the southern flank
and engaged the Germans in a hail of fire and flame.  German engineers are
working on filling in the AT ditch.

Wide view of the southern part of the battle after the Soviet
reinforcements charged into battle.  There was so much fighting that
I ran out of Soviet casualty markers and had to use red beads instead!

 Throughout the morning, the battle raged as the Soviets increased their pressure on the German defenders.  Both sides were suffering heavy casualties, but the Soviet leadership continued to force the issue and push its battered tank units into combat.

Midway through the AM 13 July turn, an 11 point initiative difference
promises a lot of action in the phase!

Soviet infantry from the 32nd Tank Brigade attempt to recapture Iamki.

Soviet airpower attacks a Marder AT company.
  The two strength points lost in this attack reduced the Germans
to zero morale points.

The Germans finally reached zero Army Morale Points. Basically, this means the operation has reached the point where heavy losses and resistance have forced the 1st SS PG Division and its higher HQ, 2nd SS Panzer Corps, to consider calling off the attack.  Each time the Morale card appears from the German deck, the Germans must now pass a Morale check (D12 vs. D8 (first time), D10 (second time) or a D12 (all other times)).  If the Germans ever fail a morale check, the attack is cancelled and the Soviets win.

Viewed from north of the embankment, the Soviet 18th Tank Corps
presses the attack versus the battered 2nd PG Regiment.
  South of them (above), the 1st SS Panzer Regiment attempts
to break through along the embankment.

The Soviets had great success on the northern side of the embankment.  Despite heavy casualties, the 18th Tank Corps managed to destroy the German armor and reduce the opposing 2nd PG regiment to a few infantry companies defending the Psel River villages.  Desperate to prevent a Soviet breakthrough that would endanger the German successes in the center,  the Germans rushed panzer grenadiers from the Das Reich Division behind their lines to plug the gap.

The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army commander surveyed the battlefield with satisfaction.  He had stymied the Germans in the south half of the battlefield and his troops were poised for a breakthough on the north side.   Suddenly, he pulled a Morale card from his deck.  One tank brigade routed, but the others stayed firm.  His next card was another Morale card!  A motorized rifle brigade and an airborne infantry brigade failed their Morale checks and fled the table, but the fearless Soviet armor formations fought on with grim resolve.  Ready to exploit the promising position in the north, the Soviet commander pulled his next card and stared as he was faced with a 3rd Morale card!

The Soviet brigades finally folded under the relentless pace and losses of the battle.  Four Soviet tank brigades, including the entire 18th Tank Corps, broke and the survivors came streaming back, desperate to escape the death and destruction of the battlefield.

Only two formations remained as Soviet reinforcements.  The 53rd Motorized Rifle Brigade was ordered to advance through Prokhorovka and defend the western approaches to the city against the advancing German panzers.  That left one rifle regiment in the Soviet reserve pool and they were earmarked for a desperate attempt to hold on to the city itself.

Battle view after devastating casualties caused the attacking Soviet
armor to withdraw.  The AT ditch has been filled in by engineers
and failed Morale checks have badly thinned the Soviet ranks.

Three Morale cards in a row!  By the 3rd set of Morale tests, all
of the 18th Tank Corps's brigades and all but one of the
29th Tank Corps' brigades collapsed and fled from the battlefield.
  The Soviet counterattack had failed.

53rd Motorized Rifle Brigade moves west through Prokhorovka
to try and stop the Germans short of the city.

The last reserves remaining to the Soviets.  One lone Guards Rifle regiment.

After the collapse of the Soviet counterattack, a single
Guards Airborne regiment defends the north side of Prokhorovka.
View from behind their positions.

The Germans began to press the attack as both sides struggled like punch-drunk boxers.  The Germans pulled a Morale card and passed their first Morale check to keep the game going.  The German tanks attempted to advance along the embankment road, but were thrown back by heavy fire from a Soviet SU-152 company.  The Germans geared up for an all-out effort to seize Prokhorovka from the north and the center.  The fanatical Germans fought without concern for their losses and threw themselves at the weary Soviet defenders.  (Once the Germans reach 0 morale points, it is time for them to make a desperate assault.  Their overall casualties are no longer important to them.)   

Before they could make much progress, the Germans pulled a second Morale card (D12 vs. D10) and rolled a "1" to end the game.  1st SS PG Division headquarters received a message from its corps commander, SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser, that instructed the division to halt immediately and consolidate in their current positions.  The axis of advance would be changed and the division's movement would be re-oriented to the South in an attempt to surround and pocket the Rifle Corps defending against the Das Reich Division.

Soviet Victory!!  Prokhorovka is saved.

Failed Morale check that ended the game.  German commanders talk it over.

It was a great battle and it was close at the end.  If the Germans could have had better luck on their morale results, it might have been a much closer affair.  

Tactical Notes

I should point out here a minor tactical mistake I think I made here with how I managed the Soviet tank brigades.

The typical Soviet tank corps has 3 tank brigades and 1 motorized infantry brigade.  If an infantry attack is required to seize a town or some other strong infantry-held position, the infantry brigade has the muscle and numbers to capture and seize rough terrain.

A 1943 Kursk Soviet tank brigade has 2 tank battalions and a motorized infantry battalion.  In this game, a Soviet tank brigade consists of two commands.  One is an armored command of approx 3-5 tank companies.  The other is an infantry command of 3 infantry companies which represents the motor rifle battalion.
 
In the Soviet tank brigade, the main striking power is the armor.  The infantry is intended to occupy captured objectives, support the armor in close assaults vs. infantry, clear lightly defended rough terrain, and sometimes screen and protect the flank of the armor.  The infantry is NOT intended to conduct attacks on its own without its armored support. 

Unfortunately, there were times when I was desperate to bring up infantry to attack German-held objectives that were virtually impregnable to armor.  I sometimes used the infantry from the tank brigades to do this and they took casualties during these attacks.  On one occasion, the motor infantry battalion of the 181st TB took such heavy losses that it drove its parent tank brigade into shattered status (0 morale points).  Then the 181st TB failed its morale check and routed off the table without its tank companies ever having fired a shot in anger!

A complete waste, but the lesson I've learned is to bring the brigade into the line of fire as a brigade and make sure that if any casualties are being suffered, the T-34 companies are dishing out damage at the same time.

On the German side,  it is important to keep the Marder AT units in cover or at long range.  Too often in the game, the Marder units were pushed forward to provide AT support and they ended up taking heavy damage from attacking Soviet armor.  As lightly armored, open top vehicles, the Marder companies are far more vulnerable than the other companies in the German OOB.  German players should be careful to keep the AT resources at long range and in the rear and avoid the temptation to use their "independent" command ability to push them forward with attacks.  The Marders are at their absolute best when used during phases where the German has 6+ cards and might be able to pull them back out of LOS after they fire.

Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka Playtest 2.2

 This will be an ongoing record of my second play test of my Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka  scenario using the Field of Battle: WW2 (FOBWW2) rules from Piquet.  The units are companies, the commands are battalions and brigades, and 3 turns (AM, PM, and Night) make up a complete day of fighting.

In FOBWW2, each side activates based on the cards in its deck.  To start a turn, each player rolls an initiative die (Germans D12, Soviets D10).  The difference is the number of face down cards each player draws from their deck for the upcoming phase.  The winner of the die roll decides who goes first.  The active player then flips his first card and acts on it.

Cards in this scenario are Move, Move 1 Command, Airpower, Command and Control, Indirect Fire, Close Assault, Morale, Firepower, Lull (other side gets a card), and Superior Firepower (German only).  The decks are set according to the quality of the armies.  The Germans have a good deck.  The Soviets have a poor deck.  The German deck allows them to move a bit more often, gives them better rallying and recovery, and allows them to seize the initiative more often from the Soviets.

For example, Move cards allow every command to move.  Each command rolls its command die vs an opposed D6.  For every multiple of 3 the command stands wins by, their subordinate units get an extra movement segment (max 3).  A "1" result means no movement. 

The rules are really great.  There is so much built into the game.

A great example of this is the EVEN die roll effect.  Whenever you roll a natural EVEN die roll, something positive happens.  If you roll EVEN during movement, you can ignore some terrain penalties, make a hasty close assault, or even call up the engineers and lay or clear minefields/cross obstacles/entrench.  If you roll EVEN during direct fire, you suppress the enemy and force them to fall back.  If you roll EVEN during Close Assault, you can bring reinforcing units into the close combat.

This battle report is for Turns 5 and 6, the Night turn of July 11, 1943 and the AM turn of July 12, 1943.  If you want to get more information on this battle and the scenario, search this blog for other articles with the same tags.
 
After we ended the playtest of my Kursk: Drive for Prokhorovka game a week ago, I decided to finish the playtest by myself.  The guys left at the end of the July 11 PM turn.  The July 11 Night turn saw the arrival of 5 Soviet tank brigades, a Guards Rifle regiment, and some assault gun units.  The Germans had to make do with the units they had on the table. The Soviets held a tank brigade, a separate tank regiment, and two motorized rifle brigades in reserve.  The Guards Rifle regiment garrisoned Prokhorovka.

11 July Night

The July 11 Night turn ended after only one card was flipped by each side.  On the second phase, a tied initiative die roll led to an early turn finish.  It's so hard to accomplish anything during the night turns.  A player is fortunate to achieve much and you definitely count yourself lucky if you get a few good cards.  The Germans were hoping to dig in with their infantry during the night, but the exhausted infantry just laid down and slept.

12 July AM

The July 12 AM turn began with a Soviet artillery prep bombardment of the Germans south of the railroad embankment.  Six D12 artillery templates with no drift!  Front level artillery support, but the Soviet artillery dice were terrible and only a few German infantry companies were damaged.

This is the beginning of the Soviet counterattack by 5th Guards Tank Army that made this battle famous.

At the start of the turn, the Soviets won initiative and flipped a Move card.  Despite some dismal movement rolls, the Soviet counterattack got underway.  As typically happens with poor commands in FOBWW2, it was difficult for the different commands to  stay together and coordinate their attacks.  The Soviet brigades began to separate as they advanced.  And they advanced into a hail of fire.

The Soviets thought the Germans were tough before, but the heavy German AT firepower was even more devastating when the SS were on the defensive.  South of the railroad embankment, the Tiger company and assault guns hammered away at the advancing Soviet T-34 companies.

The German panzergrenadiers had pushed across the minefields the day before and seized the town of Iamki on the Soviet side of the tank defenses.  This German strongpoint was destined to become a serious pain in the ass for the attacking Soviets.  The veteran German infantry were  dug into the town and the Soviet armor companies had to expose their flanks to the German infantry as they attempted to close the range with the German tanks across the tank barriers.

Once the Soviet movement was done, the Germans flipped the Firepower card (reloads all Germans), the Superior Firepower card (reloads all dismounted panzer grenadiers), and 2 Airpower cards!  After the valley exploded in flame and dust and the Stukas finished their dive runs, the lead Soviet 25th Tank Brigade had lost 8 strength points, was shattered and teetering on a Morale failure.

(ABOVE)  The town of Iamki and its German infantry defenders are in the top center.  A thorn in the side of the Soviets.  The anti-tank ditch and minefields bisect the picture.

(ABOVE) A close-up of the damaged tank companies of the 25th Tank Brigade.

(ABOVE)  South of the railroad embankment mid-way through the AM turn.  The fighting was vicious, but the Soviet tanks were having trouble getting close enough to the German tank companies to damage them.

 

(ABOVE) North of the railroad embankment, the lead Soviet 170th Tank Brigade ran into the German defenders in the Psel River villages.  The 170th's motorized rifle battalion then deployed into the unoccupied Oktiabrskii State Farm (top left).  The other tank brigades of the 18th Tank Corps are attempting to catch up with them.

(ABOVE) Near Prokhorovka, German artillery caught the 25th Tank Brigade's motorized infantry out in the open.

(ABOVE)  The Soviets eventually pulled a Morale card.  The shattered 58th Motor Rifle Brigade and 57th Guards Tank Regiment failed and routed off the table.  The 25th Tank Brigade passed its Morale check and continued to fight.  Concerned about the lack of progress south of the railroad embankment, the Soviets brought on the 53rd Guards Tank Regiment and declared that the 32nd Tank Brigade would conduct a flank attack on the south side of the table.  The 32nd TB would appear on the next Move card.

Bloggers note: This is one of those classic problems that epitomizes why I play Piquet-family rules.  My intent was: 

• to push the 31st Soviet Tank Brigade through the battered 25th TB and engage the unloaded Germans with fresh armor.  
• At the same time, my 32nd TB (5 tank companies and 3 infantry companies) would explode into their flank from off board and swamp the Germans with close assaults.  
• And then the 53rd GTR's 4 T-34 companies would move up and support the 31st Tank Brigade.  

The only thing I needed to do to make this cunning plan happen was to flip the Goddamned "Move" card (also known in my games as the GDM card) from the Soviet deck.

(ABOVE) Unfortunately, the next Soviet Move card never seemed to come.  Looking at the picture, the flanking Soviet tank brigade has to come in east (right) of the blue chip that marks the progress of the Das Reich Division south of the Germans.  Flanking with reinforcements can be a very effective tactic if the Soviets can get a quick second Move card to move them onto the flank and surprise the Germans.  This could really disrupt the German defenders while they were still dealing with the Soviet attackers to their front.  It would also catch the Germans between the flanking Soviet armor and the anti-tank ditch.

The Das Reich Division made unusually good progress moving its marker along the table edge ( it has a chance to advance one foot at the end of each turn.  Soviet reinforcements can't appear behind (west of) the marker).  The delay in pulling a Soviet Move card gave the German 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment a chance to flip their own Move card, pull back some infantry companies, and wait for the attackers.

Obviously German recon detected the flanking Soviet brigade as it moved into position.  Violet smoke was popped everywhere.  Achtung Panzer!  Anti-tank guns were wheeled to the right and camouflaged.

Once the Germans pulled back to defend the flank, the two sides tied on their initiative die rolls again.  A quick turn end midway through both decks and we're on to the July 12 PM turn!  The Germans are down to 12 morale points out of their starting 48.  Once they reach zero morale points, the 1st SS PG Division has to make Morale checks to avoid calling off the operation and losing the game.  This game will go down to the wire.

(ABOVE) Fighting around the Oktiabrskii State Farm at the end of the turn.

(ABOVE) View from behind the Soviet forces counterattacking north of the railroad embankment.

(ABOVE) View from behind the Soviet forces counterattacking south of the railroad embankment.  In the foreground is the 53rd Guards Tank Regiment.  They would be a real help to the counterattack in this sector if their command stand would stop rolling a "1" for movement!