This was a little solo battle using the BricksKrieg simple rules to stretch the legs of all of the German Armour, To do this we needed a suitable opponent and when it comes to armour, the late war soviets are the only ones who can hold their own against the German armoured machine.
Battlefield
The battlefield is simple and involved a handful of buildings with a small settlement on the German left flank.
There was no objective just a fight to the death and a better understanding of whether the attributes of the tanks worked in the simple rules format.
Armies
Germans:
3x Panzer IV with additional armour (bazooka skirts)
2x units of infantry made up of 5 squads + command
6x Panxer III Medium Tanks
1 unit of 2x HMG’s
Unit of 3 Tiger I tanks including the battlefield commander
Unit of 5x StuG III’s
Soviets:
5x IS-2 Tanks
5x KV-2 Mobile artillery
4x T-34 Medium tanks
2x Units infantry with 5 squads + command
1x unit of 2 HMG’s
Deployment:
The earlier image shows deployment. The Germans deployed the Tigers, StuGs and infantry all to the left flank in and around the small settlement. They positioned the Panzer III’s, other infantry unit and the HMG’s in the centre behind the wood, and took a chance by positioning the Panzer IV’s on top of the hill to the right flank to protect the road junction.
The Soviets put their big guns (KV-2’s) in the centre with the T-34’s to the right and the IS-2’s to the left flank on the road. The infantry were split on both flanks with the HMG’s in the woods on the right.
Turn 1:
Soviets: The army all advanced with the infantry taking cover in the house on the left flank. There was relatively little shooting but the T-34s did manage to hit one of the tigers. Unfortunately it was not able to penetrate the Tigers heavy armour. The KV-2s managed to miss everything! The IS-2’s charged down the road to get into the wood. This gave them cover and opened a line of sight on the German centre but meant they could not fire this turn.
German: The Germans advanced with the Panzer IIIs and infantry taking cover in the woods in the centre and the infantry on the left flank taking up position in one of the houses. The Tigers moved centrally to bring the KV-2’s into their sights and the StuG III moved past the house to see the T-34s. The Tigers managed to hit one of the KV-2s and they bailed out.
The infantry and HMGs in the buildings opened fire at the Soviet infantry and destroyed 4 squads! They failed their bravery test and ran for the hills! The Panzers in the centre managed to hit and bail out one of the IS-2’s that had charged into the woods.
Turn 2:
Soviet: The HMG’s in the woods were over half range and shooting into cover against the German Infantry in the house. No surprise then that out of 12 shots, none found their target. The T-34’s managed to destroy one StuG and bail out another this was not quite half the unit so no bravery test was required.
The KV-2’s looked to be earning their place when they destroyed one of the Tigers on the edge of the village and bail another..The remaining vehicle held its ground even in the face of 5 monsterous KV-2s.
The infantry on the left flank moved out of the house and towards the Panzer IV’s. The IS-2’s put their heavy guns to good use splitting their fire and destroying 2 Panzer IV’s and 1 Panzer III.
Germans: Under pressure now from the Soviet armour the Germans started to take some risks. Their infantry advanced out of the building on their left flank to move into range of a charge against the Soviet T34s. The Tiger that was bailed climbed back into their tank and their bravery was rewareded as they destroyed on of the giant KV-2s in the centre. All of the remaining German army missed it’s targets.
The infantry charged the T-34s and managed to avoid the defensive fire. Once in combat, they managed to destroy 1 and bail out another. The Soviets failed their bravery test and headed for the hills. This meant the bailed tank was lost to the Germans and destroyed.
Turn 3:
Soviets: The infantry that have been retreating from turn one have been lost as they leave the table. The remaining 2 t-34’s manage to rally. The HMG’s in the woods loose on the German infantry that defeated the T-34’s and out of 12 shots only managed 1 unit destroyed. The KV-2s managed to bail both the remaining Tigers but once again they managed to pass their bravery test. Everyone else missed!
Germans: The last remaining Panzer IV on the right flank managed to destroy one of the Soviet IS-2’s on the edge of the woods. All of the Panzer III’s missed. The Tiger I’s both re-mounted and managed to destroy another KV-2. They are certainly proving to be as scarily efficient as their reputation suggests!
The remaining StuGs advanced down the left flank and the German infantry moved into position to charge the Soviet HMG’s in the woods. The StuGs destroyed and bailed the last two T-34’s with the final team fleeing the battlefield. The HMG’s caused two casualties in defensive fire but the Germans managed to destroy all HMG’s in the subsequent combat phase.
Turn 4:
Soviet: The IS-2s destroyed the remaining Panzer IV. The infantry then charged the Panzer III’s in the wood. Defensive fire killed done squad but the Soviets managed to destroy two tanks in combat and the remaining unit failed their bravery roll and retreated from the woods. With the T-34’s destroyed, the KV-2’s split their fire missing the Tigers and also missing the approaching infantry on their right flank.
German: The infantry on the left flank moved behind the Soviets and towards the side of the KV-2s. Event the heaviest armour is no match for determined infantry unit, or a hand grenade in the hatch! The Tigers successfully destroyed another KV-2 but they passed the test. The Panzer IIIs stopped their retreat and re,formed facing the infantry. The Infantry charged the KV-2s and managed to avoid their defensive fire. They then destroyed one and bailed the other who swiftly ran away.
With over half of the army destroyed. The Soviets took a bravery test which they failed. That meant battle over and somehow the Germans had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The stars of the show were undoubtedly the Tigers in the centre and the irrepressible Panzergrenediers on the left flank who added T-34’s, HMGs and KV-2’s to their tally!
This battle did lead to some tweaking of the individual tanks statistics as well as some minor improvements to the close combat rules.
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