Follow the Elefants! A Tigers at Minsk Battle Report

Friday night I had a little bit of steam left after the kiddos went to sleep so I tried a quick, game of "Tigers at Minsk", scenario #2 from the rules "Follow the Elefants!"

This scenario saw a German infantry force of 2 x platoons attempting to breakthrough a ring of Soviet infantry that closed the gap created by Ferdinand breakthrough on the northern shoulder of the Kursk battlefield.

Germans starting from the black baseline.  They must exit squads off of the red baseline.

This was a great scenario to learn the valuable lessons the game is trying to teach you about fire, suppression, and movement.  You're in a race against the game clock to get troops off the Soviet baseline but you've got to cross a very deadly open area to do it.  The Soviets, short on manpower but heavy on firepower have 2 x HMG sections, and 2 Rifle Squads with which to stop you!  I looked at this scenario thinking it would be a pushover for the Germans....

Starting positions.  The game is played between the yellow dice.

My Crossfire Germans.  6 x squads

Soviet HMG ready to cover the deadly open ground

Another Soviet squad in the rubble of a burned out farmhouse.

Soviet command marker

 First big decision to make as both players, is where to throw your emphasis behind.  Where is the main effort?  The "Schwerpunkt" if you will.

Soviet HMG section "out of command" on the German right.

And out of command on the German left.  This should be a cake walk for Fritz!  Right???

 German shooting on the first turn is outstanding and the Hauptmann throws his weight behind the Second Platoon on the German left as a Soviet HMG section is knocked out by good shooting!

Second platoon on the advance!  the distance to the orchard looks so close.  But so very far away!

Soviets start scoring some pins as the firefight builds in intensity.

 The Germans, flush with success from eliminating an HMG in the hamlet to their front, send a squad across the field.  The Soviet HMG on the other side opportunity fires against them and scores a nasty, nasty 3 hits, wiping out the whole squad.  The Germans grow a little more cautious....

ouch.

The Germans, eager for revenge, turn all their fire towards the orchard and KO a Soviet squad!

Aware of the HMG threat, the Germans throw smoke into the field to cover their Kamaraden's advance....

The gambit largely works...for now.

 Second platoon is back on the move after throwing smoke.  And the game clock is only crawling by with 2 turns only advancing 10 minutes into the 11am hour.

schnell schnell schnell!

 The Soviets, after losing a squad in the orchard, are at their morale breakpoint of 0 and now must test for each unit remaining, which is only a rifle squad and an HMG section.  The rifle squad passes, the HMG does not and retreats 1 hex.

My question here for Norm - is that 1 hex retreat all that happens for a squad that fails the breakpoint morale test?  So can they advance per normal in their next turn if they're in command?  That's how i played it, anyways.

Soviet HMG section on their left (German right) bugs out 1 hex from the scrub.

The Soviet squad issues some devastatingly accurate rifle fire on the lead squad from Germans second platoon.  And the HMG, back from bugging out, unleashes some nasty opportunity fire on the Germans and kills another squad.  That, and the German HMG and rifles can't seem to hit anything anymore.

German high water mark for the battle.  Barely reached the hamlet...

Germans reach their morale break but most squads pass the morale check as they're in cover.  Second platoon ceases to exist as a fighting force.

 Only in death does one's duty end.  The German Hauptmann orders the first platoon to concentrate on the Soviet HMG and they prepare for an advance.  Perhaps victory can salvage his honor?

into the jaws.  The first platoon moves out.  The HMG section from second platoon can't seem to get their act together and the clock is running out!

 More pins from the Soviet rifles and HMG.  Their tenacious defense is holding!

German CO is getting nervous.  Ivan just is not breaking here.

The game clock.  1106. 1110. 1114, 1118, 1124, 1136, 1146, and the game ends at 1154am.  Worth mentioning here that the "doubles" roll saw a Soviet sniper in the rifle squad pin the German HMG section, and the Soviets rolled a "command post hit" result, attriting both sides' CPs.  Bad news for an already attrited German force.

The Germans break off their attack.  But they'll be back!

Battle honors for this HMG section and the rifle squad!

Heroes of the Motherland!

Battle is over

A costly lesson for the German player to better concentrate firepower at the decisive point.  Timing is everything in this game.  So the order in which you activate your squads really matters, especially if the Soviets to your front are not pinned.  Remember, suppression is modeled by PIN markers, so if they're pinned they only fire with one die.  A huge difference when you've got all this open ground to cross.

What a game!  And played in a little under an hour.  I will play this game again to see how the Germans fare.  The Soviets didn't use their wire/obstacle either so it would be interesting to see how it would have played out with their mobility hampered.

Lots of lessons learned but again, our metal and plastic soldiers get to go home at the end of the day.