Totenkopf Assault at Gremuchhi: Division-Sized One Hour Wargames

I recently read a battle report from Martin R entitled "Escape from Tula" on his "The Games We Play" blog which featured a nail biter Eastern Front battle taking place during the massive Soviet counter offensive in 1941.  He's put on a number of games like this one for his kamaraden and I really liked the look of his games and the narrative the rules produced.  The rules in question?  Why One Hour Wargames, of course, but Martin's scaled up version to represent Battalions, Regiments, and Brigades.  We're talking entire Divisions or even Corps on the table!  

This instantly appealed to the wargamer-megalomaniac in me.  I had to give them a go.  I fished around the Battle of Kursk - specifically the southern prong of the offensive for some dramatic Division-sized actions and you will find some great wargaming scenario fodder reading about the exploits of the German XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, and the II SS Panzer Corps.

The Soviets have not been patrolling and missed the critical ford.  An "unfortunate oversight" indeed!

The action here takes place in the opening phases of the battle of Kursk on 4-5 July.  3rd SS Panzer is protecting the flank of 1st SS Panzer and assaulting to seize Gremuchhi as a jumping off point for further assaults.  The axis of advance is bisected by a river and the Totenkopf must attack across to seize the hill beyond the town.  

A large Kampfgruppe, consisting of 3rd SS PanzerGrenadier Regiment (+) (2 Armored Infantry Battalions and 2 Leg Infantry Battalions), and a Company of the Divisional Anti Tank Company, Marder II/IIIs, are making the critical assault - the Panzer Battalions are tied down elsewhere and awaiting a red flare from Hill 212.2 - their signal to exploit a breakthrough and move across the river.

1st and 2nd Battalion of the 3rd SS PanzerGrenadier Regiment are marshalled and awaiting the order to cross. They're taking the Marders with them.

The Soviets, elements of the 155th Guards Rifle Regiment, 52nd Guards Rifle Division, 23rd Guards Rifle Corps are defending the crossing(s) and Hill 212.2  The 155th Guards Rifle Regiment consists of 3 Rifle Battalions, a Battalion of T-34s in support chopped from the Army's reserve, and 2 Battalions of 122mm towed artillery!  The Soviets don't know the river is shallow enough to wade tanks through further upstream.  They're garrisoned around Gremuchhi and Hill 212.2.  The Death's Head must seize Hill 212.2 by Turn 15.

Heavy Nebelwerfers land in support, rocking Gremuchhi and bolstering morale among the Germans.

Armored PanzerGrenadiers and Marders cross in force and move straight towards Hill 212 - Note the T34s awaiting the enemy onslaught

The Soviets, even though Guards, are plagued by HORRIBLE rolling the entire game, even when the maths say they "should" be rolling well.  BTW I used the shooting mechanisms from Alex's "Up the Blue" OHW WW2 ideas using 3D6 with situational-based "To Hit" scores (Armor Vrs Armor hits on 3+, Inf vrs In hit on 4+, Artillery Vrs Armor hit on 5+ etc).  All of these regular battalions take 7 hits to be rendered combat ineffective.  You lose dice depending on the situation so attacking a dug-in unit within cover would see you firing with 1D6 at the target.

The Soviet artillery is an incredible advantage hitting the almost purely German infantry force at 3+ against the Leg Battalions, and 4+ against the open-topped Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers.  The Germans Marders have an extra shooting die as they are PanzerJaeger Specialists.  Also the Nebelwerfer rocket artillery get 4 dice but only shoot every other turn to represent slow reload time.

Soviet Artillery Battalions - alot of guns!

The Germans are pounded going across the river on foot.  They go into action clearing out Gremuchhi and take high casualties.  Another special rule I ripped from Alex (sort of....I'll explain) is disorder or disrupted units.  If a unit takes 3 hits in a single volley, it goes disordered and loses a firing die until it passes a rally roll. (Alex keeps that permanently for the rest of the game as a permanent hit - I am allowing units to use a rally action to rally off the disruption). 

This forces units to rally at certain moments when they start to become combat ineffective.  If the unit passes its rally roll, it loses its disorder and replaces 1 or 2 hits (2 if it rolls a "6")

Alex keeps these hits on permanently to represent casualties.  

Germans unit 122mm shelling

Another difference from Martin R's game is I allowed units to dig in on a single bound, provided they gave up their movement, like these Soviets below on Hill 212.

  

The halftrack borne infantry move out of range of Hill 212 and whatever infantry weapons it is bristling with.  The Marders, with a yellow hit die, are "disrupted" and will rally or lose a firing die.  Same with one of the leg infantry battalions.

After sustained combat with 1st Battalion, 155th Guards Rifle Regiment, 2 German Battalions cross the river and move into Gremuchhi.  They'll instantly come under horrendous shellfire.

The lead Battalion is punished immediately after the crossing

The Soviet gunners next lift and shift fires to the open-topped Marders.  It's not good!

Angry nest of Soviet tanks and infantry atop Hill 212.  

Next turn I attempt a rally action for the leg battalions - amazing!  2 x 6s!  Both units can lose 2 hits and the lead battalion goes from a yellow "disrupted" die to a green "normal" die.  

The German armored infantry edge closer to the hilltop - spotting targets for the nebelwerfers.  meanwhile teh infantry are preparing to leave Gremuchhi to push the attack northward.

Armored Infantry attacking hill 212 while the nebelwerfers work over the Russian infantry.

Heavy fighting atop Hill 212 as the PanzerGrenadiers fight the tenacious Soviet infantry

Nebelwerfers firing in support of the attack

The last Soviet units pulled out and the Germans took the hill by Turn 13.

Thoughts

This was a great game.  Simple, fun, tense, and I really liked the decisions to be made, and the fact that I could put some toys on the table.  There are a few things I want to chew on moving forward, but I thought this was a great way to get some seriously large engagements on the table and fight entire battles out.  This battle had a feeling as if I was reading Von Mellenthin or Glantz and was very much fun.  I played this game a total of 4 times experimenting with different deployments and the Germans were 2-2 - this last game being the culmination of everything I learned about deployments.

Additions & Changes

I liked the 3 x hits = Disrupted rule which encourages units to "pull back" and reoganize themselves.  that feels normal and reasonable.  Going to keep that and allow units to rally Disrupted off if they roll a 4 or better.

Speaking of "hits" I like the more "shooty" 3D6 firing (sorry but I like rolling 3 dice).  Going to keep that but I need to figure out a way to give mechanized infantry a slight edge over leg infantry.  Perhaps their edge lies in their 12" mobility and the fact that they're hit on 5+ in their halftracks but assault as 4+ as infantry.

I liked adding small "advantages" and thought that was fun.  The Germans had their Marder AT unit which got a lethal extra firing die, and their Nebelwerfers which had 4 dice when shooting.  The Soviets had a big advantage with their big guns and it was fun to get them on the table.

Anyways this was a small "break" from ACW month so far but a fun one at that.  I'll be putting more One Hour Wargames Division Scale on the table in the future!  Stay tuned!  More ACW coming soon.