D - THE HEDGEHOG OF PIEPSK

            KC wanted a small game to fill in some time before he goes on holiday and this old chestnut was the one he wanted to play. I have not played this since the old Squad Leader days, talk about a blast from the past - 20 years have passed since I last tried to defend this hedgehog!

Initial Thoughts

            On paper it looks pretty tough, an early war encounter between a poor quality Russian Horde (3 companies worth of 447s and 426s) and a very depleted company of Garrison Germans. The differences are in leadership: 4 Germans with -3 in total against 3 Russian with just -1, SW: Germans: HMG, MMG, 3x LMG. Russian: MMG, 3x LMG and most importantly of all, the Germans have 80mm Battalion MTR OBA though their ammo is Scarce. To win the attacking Russians must control all of the Stone Buildings on board 3. One more important fact is that the Germans may setup all HIP.

            As I said this does look to be a difficult situation for the Germans, if only due to numbers alone, but the Russians ELR of 2 means that the majority of breaks will end up ELR-ing and half of his force is just one ELR fail away from Disruption. His poor leadership situation will force him to keep the leaders out of the front line so that he will have someone to rally his troops. The very number of forces at his disposal will make them vulnerable to OBA (as long as it is available!)

            The most important building for the Germans is obviously the level 2 3M2 building; it dominates the battlefield due to it's LOS advantage and it also needs to be taken to fulfil the Russians VC. The other level 1 buildings (3R3, 3S3) are also important, 3S3 is probably more-so because from level 1 the approaches to the village for the Russians can be significantly interdicted. Also this village provides a defender plenty of opportunities to slow down his opponent. For that reason my defence will be centred around the 3N2(2) MG nest while my other defenders will be forward to slow his initial attack down and take the cheap shots. I shall slowly pull back through the village to make my final stand in the 3M2 building.

            Despite making my usual mistake of not reading the scenario card carefully enough to notice that my men could all setup HIP if in Concealment terrain, I did eventually finish my dispositions... thanks to KC for pointing out my error.

3M2         LMG 467, 9-1    -    Covering the Board 4 entry road

3N2(2)     2x 467, HMG, MMG, 9-1, Radio 8-0    -    This is the strongpoint and last-stand position

3T10        467    -    Watching over board 2

3U6(1)     LMG 467    -    Keeping an eye on Hill 522

3U8         LMG 467, 8-1    -    Watching over board 2

3X0         467    -    Watching over board 4

            I am well aware of the stacking problem in 3N2 but lets face it, with only a single MMG and -1 officer my only concern is Sniper activity and his SAN is 2. I have spread men over the flanks of the village to cover his likely attacks, even with CX helping him I shall have at least a turn, possibly 2, in which I can re-configure my defence to deal with any major threats. My general movements will be back into the village and from there to fight a delaying battle back to the 2M2 strong-point.

            I want to hit his men as soon as they come on-board, to disrupt his plans and put the fear of the ELR-Gods into him. Any defender (especially in this case) must attempt to wrest the initiative away from the attacker, to cause him to react to your men is half the battle won!

            My HMG is Boresighted on 3T1 and the MMG on 3R3

           The Russians enter the battle in a broad swathe crossing from the middle of board 4 to the middle of board 2. His initial entry to Board 4 is a Conscript who is broken and this cramps his style in the open terrain up here. Another Conscript is Disrupted when he moved to the peak of Hill 498 (3DD2) but crucially I lose ROF with my HMG in the process leaving me with no long-range fire opportunities. One of my flank LMG units (4M2) hits a pair of 447s hard and CRs and ELR Breaks one while pinning the other. I roll for OBA and manage to get it, the SR comes down adjacent to bd. 3's Hill 498 - this is to allow me the greatest latitude for correcting the mission.

            My turn starts off with the Radio maintaining contact, but there are no exposed targets and I am not going to risk Red-chitting with a second draw. I blast away at the only target I have in LOS (the 447 Pinned in the open) and am able to CR him to death with 3 separate effective shots

Russian:    447, 237

                     426 Disrupted (1 total)

           His men start to swarm ever closer but they also take more hits: a 447 is vaporised by an LMG 467 attack that gives me a SAN scare. I revealed one HIP 467 (3X0) to surprise and ELR break an adjacent moving 447 - this one defender slowed his march though the Board 4/3 wood's border dramatically. Other than that there are just a few ELR breaks of 447s and Pins. I am letting him get closer on Board 2, not revealing my HIPs; due to the cover he is getting from the woods I would rather he get closer so I can really hit him hard. I do call in the OBA though. I like the threat value of OBA generally, especially considering my poor chit situation, but I need to make his casualties mount up so dropping it on him is the best idea. I use Harassing Fire @ 4FP (3Z2) and end up Pinning and Breaking a few MMC as well as CRing 2 others... but I also block off the most direct attack route from his men (as long as the OBA lasts!)

            I fail to maintain Radio contact and lose a great chance to drop it on some juicy stacks - it does drop in place and causes a few more breaks, including an ELR break on an LMG 447 MMC. I fire at the other exposed LMG 447 and the first shot HOBs the 447 to a 458 as well as creating a Hero... the subsequent shots ELR the Squad back down and then CRs them. In fact, by the end of this Turn his Northern attack across Board 4 is essentially neutralised. To add insult to injury even when I decide to flip a shot off (because the Russian SAN is so low) the effect is a NMC which Disrupts a Conscript!

Russian:    447, 3x 237

                     426 Disrupted (2 total)

           I am forced to expose a 467 on the Southern side of the village 3T10 when a Conscript gets too close... this conscript ends up CR and Pinned. My HMG again fails to score necessary ROF in Defensive First Fire when I take a shot at a pair of Conscripts moving as a stack and one of them ends up Berserk and the other is just Pinned! The Berserker charges to get to my HMG unit but then switches targets when he sees the 467 in 3T10 - he charges him and is cut down by a Fate DR when it takes a MC... Other than that the only highlight for me was another OBA mission (I have switched to the South of the village now) while the highlight for him this turn was the large amount of Conscripts who passes MCs!

            My turn starts to clean up some of the exposed units... and my MG nest Disrupts another conscript (2L8) but again misses out on ROF. I have dropped my SR right next to a mass of units in the 2V10 woods - that should give him a scare! But I do pay the price for getting cute with my 467 in 3V1 - KC's nearby 447 scores a lucky shot that breaks this guy

Russian:    2x 426, 237, 226

                     426 Disrupted (3 total)

           The poor Russians start off with a FATE roll CRing a Conscript. He starts to press in on my Southern Picket (467 in 3T10) but the initial Conscript is Disrupted. I score a great hit with my HMG on the Conscript lugging the MMG(!) leaving them disrupted too; I then KIA a 447 that attempts to enter this hex to grab the MMG thanks to the ROF. Another 447 is broken, but this forces the revealing of my LMG 467, 8-1 (3U8) - when this unit tries to Rout his interdiction roll comes up 6,6!

            On the other hand the Germans are doing well; my only broken guy, a 467 (3S1) rallies and can help to stem the resurgent red tide. My MG stack smashes the 447 in the MMG location (3Y4) leaving them as an ELRed HS. I do however start to pull back to the village perimeter... it is getting a little hairy out there now! By shortening my lines I have ensured that I can keep him from moving with concealment and he can only get Adjacent to me without AMing.

Russian:    2x 447, 237, 226

                     2x 426 Disrupted, 1 Rallies (4 total)

           The lack of leaders and the poor broken ML are taking their toll as his force is now half of what he started with thanks to KIA, CR and Disruption; there are so many men broken too. Another 447 is added to the KIA list when he walks into the HMG Bore Sighted 3T1 hex... snake-eyes eliminates him and gives me ROF, another snake-eyes later in the Defensive Fire Phase with a 16FP -4 shot cleans up a conscript as the Russians persist in trying for the MMG lying out in the open (3Y4)! This is a bad turn for the poor Russians, they are trying to push closer but this often means crossing open ground in front of multiple defensive positions, he ends up with another 3 units broken, one of them ELRed too. I Correct my OBA to 3S3 to make sure he knows what will happen if he exposes his units in the woods to my LOS! Another Conscript who is sneakily attempting to infiltrate the rear of the village is cut down by HMG and MMG fire.

            My shots are poor and his Conscripts almost manage to pass the few challenges is set them, but in this a SAN is called who CRs a broken Conscript. With no units left in LOS I am able to Conceal pretty much all my units. My men have done a nice job of slowly folding back the defence, forcing him to come to me without the benefit of AM or cover. I have drawn most of my men back to the village outskirts now with just a single 467 in the village proper (3S3).

The Germans pull back to condense the defence

Russian:    226, 2x 426, 447

           The Russians are getting close enough now for me to not be so flippant with my shots, but their low ELR and poor quality force still suffers. This is another disastrous turn for the attackers as they are still being caught either out in the open with -2 TEM or are forced to move adjacent for +0 (woods/FFNAM) - not that they had much in the way of options. My last HIP is exposed (3U8) and with that he has an 8-0 broken (but he did pass 4 MCs to stop himself being wounded only to finally fail due to interdiction) and another stack of units smashed. The Russians have been almost totally gutted.

            Again my OBA has no targets worth hitting; after one OBA attack KC has quickly learned to not allow his men to be seen! He does suffer an Encirclement result against the only unit he has managed to get into a stone building (3T4) and the luck continues to flow my way with one of the shots being a NMC to ELR break this 447 - he is then CRed immediately by my MG stack. I make a few more tweaks in my Defence, pulling a 467 back into the village from the South to assist in re-taking the Russian Building and moving the LMG 467, 9-1 back to cover the Northern route into 3N2. I fire in Advancing to make a few broken units re-gain their DM, but unfortunately I Gak the DR and suffer a malfunction with one of my LMGs. The brave ELRed 426 who had made it to the village is forced to rout away and suffers an interdiction roll for another HS death.

Russian:    2x 226, 3x 426

           There are few Russian troops moving now, but those that are have mastered the use of LOS shadows to get them through the 4O1 woods, they are creeping forward slowly using whatever cover they can find. I have started to go onto the counter attack though and have begun hunting down his broken units. I am able to CR a broken conscript with a shot at his 8-0(wnd) but again the officer survives! I also use my MG nest to smash a stack of broken units.

            In my Turn I continue to hit the broken units and take out another 2x Conscripts HS but again miss out on a ROF tear to really finish the job. Movement is to just consolidate my position though I do send a LMG (repaired in Rally) 467, 8-1 out on a little run in his back lines to cause some chaos - they end up climbing Hill 522 and thus getting behind his lines.

Russian:    5x 226, 237

           It was here that we decided to let the game go. Obviously the Russians were in no shape to seriously challenge the Germans for victory and also KC had a number of engagements which dramatically slowed the game down from our usual pattern of a logfile a day. 

The Russians do not control all the Stone building locations

 GERMAN VICTORY

Conclusion

           Firstly I would like to point out that KC is really climbing a steep learning curve at the moment, it is hard to keep your Personal ELR high in the early days of ASL play especially when you play much more experienced opponents. I did offer him the Germans but he thought that the high numbers of squads allocated to the Russians gave him a chance. While I feel that it would have made for a closer game if the sides were swapped in the end this might not have been the better option; he has had a chance to learn a lot in this game and if the roles were reversed I am not so sure the lessons would have been as clear.

            I have to salute KC for playing through to the Bitter End as his force melted around him - this was a massacre from about Turn 4 and yet he had the courage to keep going! Well done KC... it is never fun to play on when it is falling apart around you, but often there are tactical opportunities and new rules that can be explored... and there is always the chance, no matter how slim, that something will cause a quick swing in the game.

            There are a number of factors that make the Russian's position in this game quite difficult:

1.     The low ELR. MCs on the Russian units really start to take a toll. The poor quality men are hard to rally and since even a single break on a 447 is often enough to ELR it into a 436 the broken Conscripts build up quickly. There are just 3 Russian leaders at the start of the game and these leaders have too much to do. The conscripts very easily Disrupt and that essentially puts them out of the game.

2.     The terrain is tough for the Russians to cross and once their cohesion starts to fail then it is hard to move enough units to swamp the German defenders. They have little cover apart from woods and this makes for prime OBA targets. A canny German defender should be able to constantly keep the enemy at more than AM distance and usually force the -2 TEM as well. Another big problem is that the terrain's cover is often narrow, thus stopping the Soviets from building up a broad attack or causing difficulties due to the slower moving Conscripts.

3.    The poor range and FP options. With 4FP being the most powerful single Russian attack and such limited options as far as SW are concerned there is always going to be the question of how to focus enough FP on a German position. As we saw in this game, the MMG is slow to move and is obviously going to be hit first before it can fire back (though it's being stranded in a location that eventually claimed 4x KIA/Disruptions was particularly harsh). The LMGs can be handy but they too suffer range problems... they have the same range as a German MMC!

4.    The lack of leaders. The Russian commander is going to be faced with a simple question. "Do I use the leaders to rally or to attack?" I am of the opinion that a leader might be of more value directing a Human Wave than sitting back being swamped by units needing to be rallied, often those units will be Disrupted anyway. A moderately successful Human Wave might get into the village and force the Germans to focus their FP closer to home thus freeing up movement options for the remaining troops.

            Just as an edit to this, Pete Shelling reminded me of the Commissar rules (A25.22)! The Russians MUST take a Commissar if they are going to have any chance to rally the masses of troops left in the wake of the German's MGs

            For the Germans the defence needs to be built around the MMG & HMG... though you might not choose to place them in a single nest as I did (this was as much for SAN protection as anything else). A German defender should build his defence to collapse inwards, so that his men can fall back towards the village or the vital 3M2 building.

            This is a great scenario, well worth the time taken to play it. It gives both the attacker and defender a series of important tactical decisions to be made as soon as the first pieces are on the board. Unlike our playing though the more experienced player should take the Russians to give this scenario a chance to balance out. 

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