Simple Wargame #5: Tigers at Minsk

The Simple Wargaming experiment marches on with a quick game of Norm's excellent "Tigers at Minsk" rules.  Admittedly this was played with Squad Leader counters on a Squad Leader board but I think it highlights the versatility of the system quite well and could easily be played with minis if I had taken the time to set it up!

I labeled TaM as "least simple" since it has many rules and functions but the main elements of the rules are very easy to pick up.  Elements (squads or vehicles) can carry out 1 action per turn, assuming they are in command, or pass a command roll.  

I found some terrain boards that loosely resembled the infantry-only "Follow the Elefants" scenario from the TaM rule book and took out the counters that matched the OOB and presto!  I was fighting in 5 minutes.  I ended up playing 2 x games with alternating approaches to see which was more successful.  I think I might have added 15 minutes to the overall clock since there are more hexes to cover in this game than in the original scenario.

The attackers have the challenge of crossing open ground to their front, with cover on the left and right.  That cover is suspiciously inviting but the attacker must cognizant of the fact that the cover is also observed by the machine guns of the defending Soviets.

Game 1 - the Germans go left with a platoon-sized element of 3 squads.  The leader serves as a marker.

The Soviets must defend the large wooden structure in the lower right.  They have covered the approaches with 2 x medium machine guns in cover along with 2 x rifle squads.  The Germans have placed their HMG in a central position to do the most damage and cover the approach.  Will it work?

The markers from the board game "Squad Leader" are literally perfect for TaM - here is an "opportunity fire" marker put on the Soviet MMG so I can remember.  Note a German squad pinned (Broke) in the upper right!

The Germans make smoke on their left to shield the squads as they cross a linear danger area that is swept by Russian MG fire.  Rolling after the smoke, the Germans have lost their ability to make smoke for the rest of the game!  That's gonna hurt!  The Germans spend an inordinate amount of time trying to suppress Russian defenses and every time they attempt to exit cover they are fire at by Russians, who come up with an alternating approach of rifle fire one turn, and MG fire another.  The German commander wishes he'd tried going right instead of left for this game.  The first game ends in a solid German defeat as the time runs out with the loss of only 1 German squad and no Soviets lost!

For game 2, Hauptman Weitzel attempts a different approach and sends the maneuver elements over to the right with the base of fire a bit more controlled.

Starting game 2 - Germans moving into position!

                                          

Soviet squad on the left flank fails command test!  They cannot remove their opportunity fire marker!

Soviets move a squad up to the stone wall to bolster the defense of the...church?  Sure - it's a big wooden Russian church.

German shooting pins the Soviet squad at the stone wall!

After intense shooting, the Germans pin the flank guarding squad on the Soviet left, throw smoke, and move into the assault!  They had another excellent round of shooting as well and pin the Soviet MMG, and a squad.  Can the Landsers knock out this stubborn Soviet squad in melee?

With the MMG pinned, there won't be a better time to assault!

11:34am - The Soviets successfully defend their position and the German squad is knocked out!

Amazingly, the Soviets failed to unpin their MMG and there are more German squads stacked up to assault.  They would go on to lose the melee!  The MMG unpins and the Soviets hold.  The Germans reached their morale breakpoint and fall back.  The second game ended after an amazing number of rounds of cut & thrust knife fights around the woods outside the village.  The Germans made it much closer than they did in the first round, but still could not bring the victory home! 

The Questions!

The moment you've all been waiting for!  The simplicity questions.

How long did the game last?

I played 2 games, coming in at about one hour and fifteen minutes of play for 2 games.  Bear in mind there are about 6 or less units on a side.

What was the scenario?

Follow the Elefants July, 1943 from the Tigers at Minsk rulebook - but on a different map using Squad Leader and the original SL counters.

What happened?

The Germans attempt to seize a large wooden church in a nameless Russian village.  After a failed attempt to flank the position from the left, they launch a more determined attack along their right.  The Soviets put up a very stubborn and dogged resistance.  Fate, which seemed to stack against the Russians, couldn't match excellent Russian hand to hand fighting which saw off the Germans.  This read just like a world war 2 history with determined German army attacks, and desperate and hard-fought Soviet defenses winning out.  Undoubtedly, the Germans will bring in tanks or more firepower next as this was too tough a nut to crack!

Extraordinary Events

There were many!  After a round of outstanding preparatory suppressive fires in game 2, the Germans were able to pin the Soviet target squad guarding the Russian flank in game 2, along with their big and scary MMG.  It's textbook and worked out exactly the way the field manuals say it's supposed to.  I'm thinking "this is it! Go Go Go!" and launch the attack against the pinned Soviet squad who, as Von Mellenthin remarks in his seminal book "Panzer Battles" surprises me with dogged and determined resistance.  The German attacking squad is knocked out.  The Germans shoot their bolt after the unsuccessful melee and after sending in 2 x more squads, they fail to knock out the Russian squad or take the position.  

Who Won?  Why?

The Soviets won both games.  The first game saw the Germans run out of time completely and that was the result of "going left" instead of right.  Now that I think about it, that was an incredibly stupid maneuver since they'd have to traverse not only the east-west axis of the battlefield, but then turn and fight their way south.  Going up the right in game 2 was a smarter call.  The Soviet victory in game 2 was not as easily gained.  This is a very difficult scenario for the Germans to win in the TaM rulebook and this battle was no different.  

Did you enjoy the game?

Absolutely.  I hope you can infer that from reading that I love these rules and heartily recommend you try them out.  Tigers at Minsk is an excellent recreation of World War II tactical combat and realistically ties in solving company-level problems, resource management, and the relationship of fire and maneuver perfectly and in an elegant way.  It's one of my absolute favorite WWII games.

Advanced Questions

How many consultations occurred with the rules?  

Many - I dont play enough TaM, even with infantry-only forces, to have them completely memorized.  So I had to re-orient myself to a few key rules in order to ensure I was playing correctly.  I will note that game 2 played much more quickly than game 1.

Details and chrome that's missing

None.  I mean that sincerely.  TaM is the full package and gives you everything you need to play hex-based, company-level battles (maneuver is 2 levels down and you are ordering squads) and solve tactical challenges like a World War 2 Company Commander.  This is also one of the reasons I graded them "least simple" due to the chrome and extra rules.  Make NO mistake about it though, TaM are simple rules to learn and very easy to pick up and play!  

Final Thoughts

A very enjoyable game with a solid and simple system that earns high marks on this blog.  If you have not played Tigers at Minsk, do yourself a favor, check my links on the right of the blog and surf over to them and download.