Battle of Grave Crossing

This was a Hostile Realms battle we fought at my place on Saturday.  Jed brought his Undead and Greg and I matched him up against a Middle Kingdoms army.  The Middle Kingdoms are a Hundred Years War-based fantasy army.

Like most Piquet -based games, the actions of the armies are driven by card decks which are created from their army lists.  The Middle Kingdom army had 3 Optional cards: Look to the King, Uncontrolled Charge, and an extra Courage! card because they were fighting the fearsome Undead.  The Undead had an Uncontrolled Advance, an Ineffective Missilery, and a Brilliant Leader card because Jed rolled up the Necromancer King as a Skilled Commander-in-Chief during army generation.

We created the battlefield terrain and deployed the commands using Piquet's excellent "Theater of War" campaign rules.  1750 points of Middle Kingdom attacking 1600 points of defending Undead.

The Undead are an interesting army since many of their troops cause Fear, they don't take morale checks, don't pursue, and they never rout.  We did play that they could be disordered, but they never retreated from melee.   We weren't sure if they could be routed from a "double disorder".  In retrospect, they probably can't.  So the skeletons tend to fight grimly in battle to the last bone, stopping the momentum of their attackers with sheer weight of Undead numbers.

The Middle Kingdoms army was led by King Jean himself, mounted on a pegasus.  The King was a very capable warrior, but an average commander (he was also only half-painted).  His army consisted of 2 commands: a large left flank command of mounted, heavily armored knights led by a warrior priest and a center infantry command of pike-armed commoners, royal archers, crossbowmen, handgunners, foot knights and a cannon.  The infantry was commanded by Johne of Orc.  Maybe her enthusiasm could stiffen the resolve of this hodge-podge of social classes.

King Jean led off the battle by challenging the evil Necromancer General to a personal combat between the two front lines.  The Undead overlord was smart enough to turn down Jean's chivalrous challenge, even though his refusal boosted the morale of the Kingdom knights as they began to taunt the Undead forces as cowards.

Frustrated that he wasn't able to end the battle with a single swing of his sword, Jean ordered the infantry to capture the village of Grave Crossing in the center of the battlefield while he rode the skeletons down under the thundering hooves of his heavy knights.

The hills were Class II hills.  The villages were Class II terrain capable of holding up to 3 units each.  Since the Undead were the defenders, they could deploy on the right half of the table.  The Kingdom troops deployed on the left table edge (picture below).  The strip of table in between was the combat area.

Western end of the table at game start.
  Undead left flank faces off against the Kingdom's right flank

Skeleton cavalry and monsters on the Undead left flank.

Pike blocks from the common ranks backed up by missile troops,
guard archers, and dismounted foot knights from the poorer noble families

Kingdom mounted knights wait for the signal to charge.

Undead right flank at game start.

The Kingdom pike blocks attempt to close with the Undead.

The mounted knights of the Kingdom left flank advance across
the battlefield.

Close up of the Undead archers waiting for them.

Chariots back up the Undead center.

Close-up of the Undead center front lines.

Skeletal giant smashes into a unit of foot knights.

The giant routed the knights next to Grave Crossing, but was
shot by handgunners and routed during its pursuit,
because it was double disordered.  We later determined it
probably shouldn't have pursued.  Oh well.

It took the Kingdom knights quite a while to charge across the battlefield and attack the Undead right flank.  In the meantime, Johne of Orc pushed her infantry toward Grave Crossing.  The powerful blocks of pike men marched toward the skeleton cavalry and made contact with them.  Unable to draw a Melee card, the Kingdom pike men hesitated to fight the frightening skeletons.  The tightly packed infantry were ravaged by ludicrously effective Undead bow fire.  After the pikemen were disordered by the missile fire, the flip of a Courage card forced them to take a Courage check because the skeletons caused Fear.  The units failed the check and routed from the battle line.

The Undead rolled well for their sub-commanders and had several Undead lords who must have commanded troops in their previous "living" lives.  The Undead infantry in the center lurched forward and occupied the village of Grave Crossing in the middle of the combat area.  The skeletons would hold this village the entire game, grimly driving off all attackers from its narrow, muddy streets.

Pike blocks rout away from the Undead lines after receiving
missile fire and rolling poorly on a few Courage checks.
 Those Undead skeletons are scary!

After Johne's unsuccessful efforts to rally the pikemen with her Blessed Banner (she rolled a 1!), the mounted knights finally made contact with the undead on the other side of the battlefield.  An Uncontrolled Charge card sent even more impetuous knights charging into combat and two units of foot knights lunged forward to assault the skeletal defenders of Grave Crossing.

Kingdom mounted knights charge into combat led by their
King mounted on a pegasus.

A timely Uncontrolled Charge sends the knights into a headlong
charge against the skeleton infantry.

While the foot knights were repulsed from the village objective, the heavy mounted knights carved a path through the Undead ranks.  King Jean's pegasus soared into the air and carried the King out from underneath a giant pile of shattered bones.  The Necromancer King cackled as he cast a Crush spell to destroy King Jean and his feudal knights.  I explained to Jed that the only way the spell could be a miscast would be if he rolled a "1" on a d4 to cast it and Greg rolled a "6" on a d6 to resist it.....and then that's exactly what happened.  The sun came out from behind the clouds, the sunlight reflected off the golden armor of King Jean and momentarily blinded the necromancer during his preparation of the spell, some arcane verse was spoken incorrectly, and the Necromancer King's head promptly exploded.  A common occurrence in our games.

The loss of the Necromancer King sent a detectable wave of shock through the animated corpses of the undead army.  The army lost 7 morale chips out of its beginning total of 20 and the tide began to turn against the Undead.

The melees on the north end of the table continue as the
skeletal chariots attempt to reinforce and turn back the armored
knights.

The chariots ended up on the losing end of this 2 on 1 melee.

The mounted Kingdom knights have destroyed their opponents.
and are looking for new victims.  Just at the top of the picture
 behind the catapult, you can see the smoke remaining from
where the Necromancer General blew himself up trying to
cast a spell.

On the Kingdom right flank, the skeletons hold on to the
village of Grave Crossing and refuse to give it up.
The skeleton cavalry have started flanking the Kingdom infantry,
but it's probably too late.   They're facing a disordered unit of
Kingdom foot knights, a cannon, and some hand-gunner skirmishers

By the end of the battle, the Undead were completely out of morale chips and their right flank was practically gone.  While the Undead cavalry was making progress near the village of Grave Crossing, the Kingdom still possessed almost 16 morale chips and their mounted knights were poised to attack down the Undead lines and gather even more.

The Undead started off the battle well and good tactics combined with hot dice did early damage to the Kingdom's army.  In the end, the Undead had trouble handling the strong melee power and extra-heavy armor of the mounted knights.  The Undead monsters that could have handled them were deployed too far away on the battlefield.  The Necromancer King won't make that same mistake again. And it didn't help that he exploded.

We all had a great time.  These rules continue to amaze me with how much fun they are to play.  Jed had a great time running his Warhammer Undead army during the game and after the battle, we talked for an hour about different ways the Undead could be played and deployed.  Great, great fun.

Prokhorovka at Gateway 2012 Battle Report

Greg and I ran the Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka scenario at our local gaming convention this past weekend.  It really is a huge scenario and even with an early ending, it took us at least 9 hours to play it through.  When we play, the game goes much more quickly, but newer players always play a bit more slowly than experienced ones.

The Field of Battle : WW2 (FOBWW2) rules aren't that complicated, but it did take a few of the players a bit of time to get the hang of them.  

The battle started off very badly for the attacking Germans.  An early end to the first two turns meant that on the morning of 11 July 1943, the Germans had not yet seized any of their first turn objectives and even Hill 241.6 was still in Soviet hands. 

German starting positions.  Hill 241.6 is just ahead in front of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment.
Prokhorovka is on the distant horizon.  

Soviet defenders dug in around Hill 241.6 prepared to endure the onslaught.
26th Tank Brigade on the hill.  99th Tank Brigade in the village.
11th Motorized Battalion in the village behind them.

3/285th Rifle Battalion guards the Oktiabrski State Farm.
A brigade from the 9th Guards Airborne Division is dug in
around them.

On the morning of 11 July 1943, the Germans threw their forces into the attack.  Both panzer grenadier regiments moved up the right flank and became embroiled in a vicious fire fight around the town of Storozhevoe.  Meanwhile the panzer regiment advanced up the left flank, encountering heavy minefields as they went.

Heavy fighting on the German right flank around the town.

German panzer regiment approaches the farm complex.

The Soviet players were very happy with their progress so far, so they decided to order one of the airborne brigades to move out of its defensive positions and move into the woods surrounding Storozhevoe on the German left flank.  These airborne troops would make it much more difficult fr the German panzer grenadiers to capture the town.  The 58th Motorized Rifle Brigade was tasked with filling the gap left by the airborne troops.

Unfortunately, the 58th MRB suffered heavy casualties soon after it entered combat.  It wasn't able to dig in and the German armored forces chewed up the lightly-equipped Soviet infantry.  The brigade broke and ran.

The KV-1's of the Soviet 57th Heavy Tank Regiment were destroyed by the Panzer IV's of the 1st SS Pz Regiment and soon the Soviets were left without any armor support on the table.  The Soviets began to wish they had left the airborne regiment back in its defensive positions.

Soviet infantry and heavy tank reinforcements entering from the
left as they attempt to stiffen the defences.

Where are the defenders for this side of the battlefield?!?!
They are in the woods off camera to the left.

After vicious fighting and several unsuccessful attempts to close assault Storozhevoe, the German panzer grenadiers finally managed to blast the Soviets out of the town.  Even the airborne troops in the woods had suffered heavy casualties, and with the flip of a Soviet Morale card, both units defending the area failed their morale tests and surrendered.  The Germans entered the ruined town and then prepared to swing further along the right flank toward Prokhorovka, the final objective.

Luckily, a few cards earlier, we had ordered an infantry battalion to move back into Prokhorovka and help defend it.  Otherwise, the objective would have been completely unprotected.

Iamski.  A critical town to anchor the Soviet left flank.
The German panzergrenadier battalions shot the bejeezus out
of the Soviet defenders,. They died to the last man.

Prokhorovka defended by one lone Soviet infantry battalion.
The white stuff i supposed to be rubble, but I think next time,
I'll make it a little darker.

As the night turn arrived, we took a break and I set up the massive reinforcements the Soviets would receive during the night.  These armored units represented the main strength of the 5th Guards Tank Army.  I just needed to pull a Move card for them to arrive in Prokhorovka and pound the Germans.

The Soviet 18th Tank Corps waits off table to rescue the day.

Soviet 29th Tank Corps waits next to it.  They're ready to do some damage.,

The night ended quickly and we started off the 12 July AM turn with a massive artillery bombardment of the Germans.  This bombardment took 9 strength points off of the German forces and left them with only 6 morale points to finish the battle.  The Soviet players felt pretty confident they could claim those morale points when their large reserves entered the table.  

The Germans won the initiative and moved closer to Prokhorovka, dishing out heavy casualties to the few Soviet infantry units remaining on the table.  The 1st SS Panzer Regiment was stopped in front of the Brick Factory by grim infantrymen and attached AT guns.  The 2nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment began rapidly pushing up the right flank and was nearing the defenders of Prokhorovka.  Would 3 infantry companies be able to hold them off?

......

Apparently not.  When the Soviets took their turn with initiative, they were unable to get a Move card to bring their reserves onto the table.  Even worse, they pulled a Morale card and failed every morale check on the table.  The defenders of Prokhorovka saw the panzer grenadiers coming and headed for the rear.

With 5 more cards to flip, the Soviets flipped through their deck, looking for that precious Move card.  With 2 cards to go, they pulled a Lull card!!!  The Germans seized the initiative and had one chance to play a card.  Greg flipped a card and it was the one card the Germans needed: Move 1 Command.  There was much high-fiving, screaming and cursing.

One of the German panzer grenadier battalions rolled an Even Triple Move roll, raced into Prokhorovka and occupied all 4 town sections.  Game over.  The next Soviet card in the deck?  You guessed it.  The Move card........

So it was an exciting finish.  Greg almost called the game after the disastrous start for the Germans, but the Germans played a great middle game and inflicted some tremendous casualties on the Soviet infantry.  I doubt the Germans would have survived the Soviet counterattack, but the Soviets just couldn't hold on long enough to find out.

Prokhorovka is a giant scenario and as I studied the battle, it turned out to be much larger than I thought it would be.  For my future plans, I intend to design a few smaller scenarios based around the Soviet operations at Kharkov in 1942.  These scenarios should be considerably smaller than Prokhorovka.  I'm also painting up some winter boards so I can run games that recreate Operation Mars and the Korsun Pocket.

I've also decided to just use 1 stand units for FOBWW2.  The 2 stand units look better, but the footprint of the units is smaller when there is only 1 stand and it allows more room for maneuver  Also, players became confused when told the unit has 2 stands, but 3 strength points.  It will also allow me to repaint some of my existing armor units as winter units.

Drive on Prokhorovka at Gateway 2012 Convention!

On September 1, 2012, I will run the complete Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka operational campaign scenario at our local Los Angeles gaming convention, Gateway 2012.  I'll be using Piquet's Field of Battle :WW2 rules.

I posted the following on the event description:

"Ever wanted to try out an epic miniatures wargame before? This is your chance! Simple rules, complex decisions. Players can feel free to join or leave as their schedule permits. Wipe out your Soviet tank brigade in a desperate assault and then go grab a hot dog to celebrate. This battle featuring hundreds of 10mm miniatures pits 1st SS PG Division against the 5th Gds Tank Army in July 1943."

I thought I'd post some pictures of the elements of the game in an effort to tempt and lure players into joining.  Pictures of SU-152's and Churchill tanks are coming also!

Scenario description is here.

Some additional pictures of the ruined buildings of Prokhorovka are here.

If you want to review some of he Kursk articles, check the Kursk, WW2 tags.

If anyone is interested in participating in this experience, feel free to email me or post a comment to reserve a spot.

The battlefield from west to east.
Prokhorovka is on the distant horizon.

Quiet town of Storozhevoe surrounded by thick woods.

The entire Soviet force for the game.

9th Guards Airborne Division.  The circles are BN command stands.
  The hex stands are heavy weapon support markers.

Artillery spotting round markers.  Hexes are D10 artillery.
Circles are D12 artillery.  The HE template is self-explanatory.

The 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division.  

1st SS PG Regiment's three battalions.

2nd SS PG Regiment's two battalions.  It has a Tiger company.
It's halftrack-mounted battalion is with the tank regiment.

1st SS Panzer Regiment's two battalions.

1st SS AT battalion and recon battalion.
Engineer stands in front.

Casualty markers mark strength point losses.

AT gun bunkers.

More Soviet infantry.

Soviet armor ready for the counterattack on 12 July, 1943.

Soviet tank command stands using flags.
"Green, no Red..just attack dammit!!!"

These SU-76's are on the painting table,
but they'll be ready for the game.

These are being painted, but will serve as more
motorized infantry command stands for the Soviets.

Some more Soviet command stands.
  Leg and airborne infantry battalion command stands are all on foot.
Motorized units have jeeps or trucks on their command stands.

Soviet KV-1 and assault guns ready for action.

Lots of armor ready to flood onto the table!

This marker represents a suppression result.

The railroad embankment and railyard at Prokhorovka Station.

Close-up of Storozhevoe.

Soviet airborne companies defend the Brick Factory.

German engineers deploy to clear the minefield for the tanks.