36 inch Battlefields: The Ponyri Station Assault!

As alluded to in previous posts, I've started looking at "different" options for my gaming.  Many of those options include gaming on a gridded hex mat.  Over the last month, I've accumulated some 36" square felt mats from Amazon in some temperate, desert, and snow motifs and have been (slowly) hand-drawing hexes on them.  The goal?  Fight huge battles using 2" hexes!  

First up is Ponyri Station from the northern pincer of the Kursk battles in 1943!  When you're done reading, you'll wonder how I fit all this WWII action into such a small area!

view from the north.  18th Panzer Division (elements of) are on your left and astride the railroad line, which is oriented diagonally from your bottom left to your upper right.  292nd Infantry Division, 184th Infantry Regiment in your lower right.  Ponyri is the built up area along the tracks. 

The rules I am using are the WWII rules from the excellent blog "Grid Based Wargaming" without too many modifications.  They are slightly based off Panzerblitz which I love and have been using to good effect for this massive battle.

Speaking of this battle, the scenario is from Frank Chadwick's "Blood & Thunder" WWII Eastern Front boardgame where stands are platoons and / or companies.  The count of units is roughly the same from the B&T Ponyri scenario.  Instead of giving the Soviets lots of artillery, each of their infantry commands have an attached "heavy weapons" section firing as mortars.

The Germans have 15 turns to seize Ponryi village.  All of it, without any Soviet units in the town.

So what changes to the rules did I make?  Well for starters, I played this battle twice.  The first time was completely as-written.  The second time around I added an activation mechanic inspired by the "Panzerblitz: Hill of Death" game whereby chits are drawn to see who and how many units activate.  Playing solo this added some really neat tension to the battle that I will review.  I also increased the movement for medium tanks to 3 hexes, and recce to 4 hexes.  Spotting distance was increased to 4 hexes for recce, 3 hexes for AFVs, and up to 2 hexes for infantry.

I also gave some infantry units a "heavy weapons" stand to accompany them, meaning they could engage enemy infantry at 2 hexes instead of 1 hex.  They can also engage tanks at 2 hexes.

The Battle

The Germans activated first and immediately moved their recce along the railroad line to spot for the big Corps guns behind them.  The Soviets see them immediately and call in a Katyusha strike to blind the Germans and their pesky reconnaissance, causing a disruption on them from the start.

explosion noises are mandatory!

The Germans have no problem coordinating their spearheads.  The Infantry move at only 1 hex, however, and it's slow going on the German right.  Meanwhile 18th Panzer Division approaches Hill 253 cautiously with an aim to hopefully bypass!

Elements of 18th Panzer Division on the western side of the RR tracks.  They are joined by 653rd heavy panzer jaegers. The reader will excuse the Tiger I's substituting for Elefants.  I have no micro armor Ferdinands!!  If you stop reading here I'll understand!

Staff car serving as dedicated observer for the heavy corps guns moving along with 184th IR.

Okay forget the whole bypass thing, let's attack the woods south of the hill!  18th Panzer attacks to isolate the Soviet infantry entrenched on HIll 253.  They'll regret not finishing the job later on in the fight.

The rules are fun but very unforgiving and infantry get gobbled up quickly unless in cover.  Mortars and artillery make short work of them in the open, and when you need to "Assault" a position, moving them into the adjacent hexes of multiple units is asking for them to be quickly destroyed, as happened here.  I'm finding I have to save my infantry for all but the most important ground assaults.  Hope 184th IR is having better luck to the west!

The wooden blocks are disruption markers.  2 hits destroys a unit.  The unpainted wooden hexes are hills.

German infantry pushing through the woods around Hill 271 and Ponyri 2.  There are plenty of Russians here still!

The Germans break through south of Hill 253 also but at some cost!  They're bypassing the actual hill though as they'll need those infantry units for the big push into Ponyri!

The spearheads from 18th Panzer and 653rd Schwere PzJg Abt are about to link up!

Meanwhile Hill 271 still has not been taken on the German right.  It's super slow going.  Made worse by reinforcing Soviet armor that's showed up!  The Russians are throwing them towards Hill 271 to slow down 184th IR.

to the west on turn 4, the Germans seize Ponyri 2, a small village to the north held by a Soviet company.  It's tough going and scarcely could be called "blitzkrieg!" (houses are monopoly houses)

Soviet Katyusha strike against 653rd panzer jaeger!

South of Ponyri a massive mobile battle breaks out with the linked-up spearheads from 18th Panzer Division and the reinforcing elements of a Soviet tank brigade!  The Germans are nursing alot of Disrupted markers!

The German 184th IR is reluctant to leave the cover of the woods around HIll 271 due to the threat of mortars from the east and the south.  18th Panzer's Armored Panzergrenadier battalion will have to punch a way into the town, then 184th can continue the advance!  

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers awaiting the order to advance on Ponyri.  Once the tanks do their work, the assault into the town can begin!

new masters of Hill 271.  The German artillery finally comes through! (rolled lots of 1s and 2s)

overall situation.  The German noose is closing in on Ponyri but their infantry resources are dwindling.  Can they take the town AND hold it?  It's turn 10!

184th IR awaiting the order to advance on Ponyri.  Note the round stand with an HMG on it.  This denotes a "heavy weapon" upgrade.  This stand can fire at 2 x hexes.  They have been trading fire with Ponyri for the last few turns now. 

single remaining Panzer IV from 18th Panzer's spearhead!  That huge battle with the T34s really did them in.  This hero stand destroyed the final T34 gaggle in a crazy shootout south of Ponryi

The rest of the fight was very much up in the air with the remaining Soviets from atop Hill 253 moving out towards Ponyri with no one to stop them, in order to counter attack the town.  The German panzer grenadiers finally made it into the town and 184th had finished closing their ring around teh town as well, entering Ponryi from the vicinity of the train station and railroad tracks from the northwest.  The Soviets destroyed another German infantry unit during their counter attack in the town, but were themselves destroyed on turn 15.  The order of chit pulls meant the difference betweeen a draw and German victory here by reinforcing the town sectors where ifnantry units were destroyed, they successfully kept the Soviets out of Ponyri.  Had a red counter been drawn, the Soviets would have entered Ponyri and this battle would have been drawn.  Those Soviets were destroyed in the open - this was a German victory - but just barely!

This was a LOT of fun.  So much tension, reversals of fortune and missed die rolls and opportunities.  My hats off to Peter at GBW for coming up with a rules that seamlessly captures the flavor of Panzerblitz and uses combined arms to full effect.  I thought my changes were simple enough that the system did not "Break" but to be honest the game played wonderfully as-written.  I have been a bit obsessed with unravelling the CRT from Panzerblitz lately and was trying to make the die roll based on ratios, using multiple dice for bigger attack ratios (IE 3D6 when the odds are 3:1) but haven't figured it out yet.  It (my way) plays way too bloody for my liking.  Using a single D6 is fine but I am tempted to bump it up to 2D6 with 6+ , 7+, etc To Hit numbers instead because I like rolling multiple dice.

LESSONS LEARNED

For these rules, your infantry are vulnerable in the open and away from cover, especially when on the attack.  Going into the jaws of multiple units' adjacent hexes is asking to be gobbled up.  It's best to soften up targets first with ranged fires and artillery before going in, and attack down a flank when only 1 unit has LOS to you.  Gang up on these flanks.

Rules on dedicated observers and spotting units - I think in the "new" Panzerblitz (ca. 2011) a unit calling in artillery fire can *only* call in artillery fire and I was confusing myself with this rule a few times in the heat of battle.  Having a dedicated observer was good but I want to codify these rules for myself for next time I play in terms of units doing "other things" like moving or shooting, and also calling in artillery fire.

Rules for support stands -  the  heavy weapon "upgrade" worked out well here.  About 1 in 3 or 4 infantry units can really put the hurt on tanks who stray too close to your positions or infantry in the open.  I allowed heavy weapons a +1 to-hit for their firepower (BN and CO mortars, as well as HMGs) in addition to their range.  However when the unit is destroyed, they lose the heavy weapons as well.  This rule worked out great but I want to codify it for my next WWII game.

Firing Ranges - I assumed that the firing ranges in Peter's game matched the moving ranges.  I cant remember why I assumed this.  With increasing the tank movement ranges to 3, I increased their engagement range to 3 hexes, also.

Heavy Tanks / Light Tanks - Everyone loves playing with the heavy metal.  Who wouldnt???  For this battle, a medium tank/gun firing against a heavy tank received a -1 as if the tank was in cover.  A heavy gun received a +1 to firing and this made them feel lethal, but taking 2 hits they were still easily destroyed, and so still vulnerable to adjacent infantry and of course other tanks.  I just realized there are already rules for Heavy Tanks in the optional section of the rule I used.  Need to try those out.

Terrain - one of my goals for this year is to improve/standardize my terrain.  While on this table, Ponyri looks like a town on the eastern front, I want a more convincing look to these hexes where it is practical.  For hills, I'm going to spray paint level 1 hill hexes tan, level 2 hill hexes brown, and level 3 hills dark brown a la Panzerblitz.  For buildings, I want to play around with card and see if I can build things like the Aspern Church, the Ponyri train station, and other famous landmarks to these battles.  I also want to paint my disrupted markers white so they look like "proper" wargaming markers on the tabletop!

Much more to ponder, but all in all what a wonderful game and a wonderful way to end 2023 - with a "huge" battle fought in a tiny space.  If you liked this battle, stay tuned as there are LOTS of great battles in small spaces coming up here.  I'll throw some teasers out below of what I have in store for my 36 inch battles in 2024:

may or may not be in the mail.

ditto

may or may not already be on my shelf!

ditto

you didn't think I forgot about Eylau did you? 

last but certainly not least - if there ever was a game screaming out for the miniatures treatment!

So that's it!  I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years and a great 2024.  I plan on gaming the night away with more 36" battles!  Get them ready to fight against a live human!