Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Campaign Game" Part 4, Conclusion

Game: Ukraine '43 (GMT)
Scenario: Campaign Game
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Sunday, Apr 3rd ~ 2.30PM - 6.00PM

At the end of our last sitting, my Germans had a large Counterattack SW of Kharkov against the 1TK go badly, Bob immediately hit back sending that portion of the front into chaos. As I sat down to do my turn prior to Bobs arrival I found that I was not as bad off as I thought I would be. I had Manstien nearby to lift some Disruptions and I still had a lot of mobile formations in the vicinity. Bobs lead formations were starting to separate from his trialing foot units and he was near the end of his supply line.

German Turn 8

SW of Kharkov, start of German Turn 8

I had a hole in my line from Paltava to Zenkov. I had this situation developing for the last couple of turns. It was like a funnel with the long end leading to this hole. I had strong mobile formations along the right hand side of it while my forces on the left were fairly well dug in. I didn't think Bob would ever try and exploit it as he would have supply troubles.

1TK, surrounded and eliminated

During Bobs last exploitation phase he moved his two Tank Armies forward, leaving a full strength German ID in his wake. I found that with Manstien removing a couple D's from my units I could make a strong counterattack against the 1TK. Better still I had the in-supply ID behind him to cut off his retreat. I spent a long time making sure I could get a 4-1 and pulled the trigger. The attack went well (DR1 + 1/1) and he lost 4 steps, the whole 1TK was eliminated.

The Mirgorod-Paltava Gap, end of German Turn 8

I left the hole in the line open, shortening my line on the left side to take advantage of terrain and ZOC bonds. Thus I had a nice three hex gap running from Mirgorod to Poltava. I had adjusted my line near Kharkov, continuing the get steps out of the noose there, ending with three steps in the city itself with Air support and strong ZOC Bonds into the city.

Bob's Comments:

I continue my attacks West of Kharkov and get good results but the weather has turned overcast limiting my use of air power.  I really feel that I'm on the brink of forcing Steve back everywhere because of the hole in the line west of Kharkov and push my lead Tank Armies ahead of the supporting infantry.  I note that he has some powerful formations in the area of the breakthrough but believe that with average die rolling I will be OK. 

Russian Turn 9

Progress in the South, RT9

This was a very Decisive turn, as we shall see. In the South a few hexes SE of Stalino Bob makes an sudden attack in hex 5627, catching me off guard (I failed to see his build up in this area). He gets a DR1 and I will have to pull a couple units back to reset my line after he's pushed my off this one.

Russian Secondary Attack takes Kharkov at a steep price (9 steps)

Kharkov sees a huge attack with Zhukov leading it. The attack in the Primary attack phase is a DR, I cancel the retreat with an additional step loss. Bob looses three in this attack. In the secondary attack phase Bob makes another 3-1 attack, getting an EX, re-rolls and gets another Ex. He looses 6 steps, I loose two and the city falls (as I am out of steps). He's paid dearly for it, loosing 9 steps to my three this turn. Bob add the three VP's to his total.

Russian Airborne Forces deploy in support of the Break through (RT9)

Normally this would have been the high point of the turn, but there we even more excitement just a dozen hexes to the SW. Bob decides to plunge through the Mirgorod-Poltava gap with his three Airborne Brigades covering his flank. Bob ends the turn with a Tank Corp in Kremenchua, which is on the banks of the Dnieper  River, a six hex penetration in my line along the Psel River. The Airborne Forces disappear as Bob rolls poorly and all three are eliminated on landing. During the supply phase, his entire penetration force (which includes the powerful 5TK) goes OOS. I'm not sure if this was part of Bobs plan, or if it caught him off guard. I do know that he was one unhappy player at the end of the turn with the loss of 9 steps taking Kharkov and then executing a glorious breakthrough only to see it get put OOS at the end of the turn, add in going three of three on his paratroopers dieing on landing and he was not happy.

End of Russian Turn 9

German Turn 9

While the breakthrough looks nice, there is no road network supporting it as long as Mirgorod and Poltava stay in German hands. With the staggering losses taken in Kharkov and the loss of the 1TK Bobs options are limited in how he can try and open the lines of supply to his OOS units. I don't want to even give him the chance to re-open the lines, thus I orchestrate an attack out of Poltava aimed at the Voronezh Front's jugular. My goal is to hit his still in supply follow on units and hopefully force him back, letting me set up a line of ZOC Bonds to further isolate his OOS Front.

48PK leads the strike into the base of the Russian penetration

 48PK leads the assault out of Poltava in the Primary Combat phase, pushing him back with losses on a 5-1 attack. In the subsequent combat phase I make another lunge and push him back even further with another 5-1 attack. Bob is forces to pull the Front HQ unit back out of danger in his reaction movement. In the South I pull back, shortening my line and thinning out the 2SS to fill the gaps. 

Southern Front, end of German Turn 9

Russian Turn 10

This are getting warmer in the South as Bob breaks open my newly established line. Here I have space on my side and Bob is short on mechanized units to exploit the breakthrough. But all eyes are further North watching the Russians try and get their isolated units back into supply before having to roll for isolation attrition.

Final Positions, End of Russian Turn 10

Bob opens with a strong attack on Poltava. He is forced to attack while OOS. The 5TK does manage to push me out of the important city on a low odds attack. He is still short of getting back into supply and is isolated. Bob just doesn't have much strength left to reopen the line with the heavy losses he's taken in Kharkov. The death knell sounds in the supply phase when Bob looses 5 steps to attrition. We agree to stop here for the day. Bobs pretty frustrated at this point having had a bad day with the dice, particularly the Airborne disaster and ending with loosing so many steps to attrition.

End of Russian Turn 10

While Bob has a small breakthrough going SE of Stalino, the looming disaster of loosing the rest of the OOS units to attrition and German attacks leads Bob to concede the next day. I can't argue with his decision as we are nearly halfway through the game and with these latest developments I couldn't see how he'd get back on track due to the losses he's taken to date as well as the impending isolation losses. Even at 4 steps a turn as replacements it'll be 4-5 turns again before he has anywhere near the strength he's need to start a large scale offensive. 

Southern Front, End of Russian Turn 10

When I sat down today, I had no idea that we'd see the game end today. I felt as though I was doing ok as Bob did as well. However you certainly can't as for more drama then we got these last few turns.

For those of you that don't have or haven't played U43, I can only hope that some day you'll have a chance. In my humble opinion it is one of Mr. Simonitch's finest works, right up there with Ardennes '44. Both of these games share a theme in that the defending player is very much engaged and is making nearly as many painful and important decisions as the attacker. Having recently played TCC and Normandy '44 I would easily place U43 above them, at least as far as having a much more engaging experience as the defender.

So I think Bob and I are going to take a detour to the ACW for some GCACW (Battle above the Clouds) prior to our planed trip to the Chickamauga Battlefield at the end of April.

Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Campaign Game" Part 3

Game: Ukraine '43 (GMT)
Scenario: Campaign Game
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Sunday, Mar 20th ~ 2.30PM - 5.45PM

One of the challenges we have in a game like this is knowing how we are doing against the victory conditions. The scenario (the CG) is 20 turns long. Each turn there is a min/max number of VP's needed (for the Russian player) in order to win or lose. We also have the historical record to compare against. Neither one of us has a real clear memory of the last time we played the CG so we are left with the above metrics to guide us in know how we are doing in the over all context of winning or loosing the game. When I sat down to do my turn prior to Bobs arrival, I found that I was starting to have doubts. When we finished for the day, I was pretty sure that the game is still in the air, however Bob is certainly doing better after this last session then in his prior two.

Turn 6

Kharkov Sector, start of RT6

The line West of Kharkov is turning into Bobs main effort as he's given up in the far North and will do the same at the end of this turn following a disastrous attack lead by Zhukov in the South. Lets start in the South. I had been able to extract the two Infantry Divisions from the Donets pocket at the end of the last session due to the 3PDs stubborn defense in a key hex. I pull the 3PD back into the main line and slip one of the withdrawing ID's into the hex to maintain the fortifications. Bobs attacks in the Primary combat phase are uneventful (EX & C), except that he's slowly grinding me down. The 3PD takes a hit and I am happy that I moved the two divisions that arrived on turn 5 as reinforcements into the area as I now need them to hold the line. Bobs attack on hex 5323 during the secondary combat phase was a disaster. Zhukov was leading it, thus we had a 1-1 / 2 attack. The first result was a EX + 1/1, the 2nd roll (Z allows re-rolls on EX and C results) yielded a AR + 1/-. Thus Bob lost 5 steps and was Disrupted with the rest of his attacking forces (those that were left at least).

Southern Russian Subsequent Combat phase, RT6

I see an opportunity to hit back here. I line up the 2SS along with some supporting units and make a 3-1/1 attack. It fails miserably with a C. However as we shall see next turn, Bob at least is done for now in the South.

The line breaks, West of Kharkov

Meanwhile in the North the situation is still very fluid. Bob has made penetrations 5-6 hexes in and I have holes in my line that I cannot fill, Bob is having a little trouble keeping his mechanized units in fuel. Bobs attacks in this region are good (DR + 1/1, DRX, EX, EX) bleeding me dry. My line looks good behind a river but Bob cracks that line and I am again forced to fall back. Near Kharkov Bob continues to grind me down getting a hex or two closer.

2SS fails to push Zhukov back

Counter-attack to keep the line open near Kharkov

Bob's Comments:

I continue my attacks in the South with Zhukov in an attempt to grind the Germans down, the initial attack goes well but the exploitation attack with Zhukov is a disaster with the loss of 5 steps.  I'm disappointed but low odds attacks using Zhukov will be bloody.  North West of Karkov the German line seems to be week and I decide to go all out.  I breakthrough in this area and get across the river line.  Unfortunately this area is devoid of rail lines and this will come back to haunt me but at the time i felt that a major breakout had been achieved.  I continue my attrition attacks North of Kharkov with some success.  In the South 3rd SS counter attacks but a poor roll limits there advance.  I was surprised at the ability of 3rd SS to get a 3-1 attack but with my sucess in the North it didn't register in my pea brain.


Turn 7

I now have one division isolated in the South. The sector quiets down this turn quite a bit as Bob pulls Zhukov out and gets him on the road to Kharkov. I shorten my line and lose a couple of VP cites while I too start to pull some mech units out of the line to send them North to help stem the mounting disaster West of Kharkov.

Start of RT7

Bob is able to put together an amazing string of attacks this turn. He makes six attacks over the course of the turn (4P, 2S) and all but one are either DR1s or DRXs, the one was an EX (a win for him). It's worth noting that only the first two were 3-1 or better, the rest of the attacks this turn are 2-1 to 1-1, all forcing me to yield ground, lose troops and at almost no cost to Bob. I lose 5 steps to Bobs 1 this turn (the dice gods are repaying me for turn 1).

Despite this I am able to move an impressive force into the Kharkov sector in my half of the turn. Bob has clearly lost interest in the South for now, instead focusing all of his replacements/reinforcements and artillery and air into the Kharkov front. I continue to fall back, shrinking my line and getting some units out of harms way (reducing the threat of them being cut off) around the city.

A big counter stroke by the Germans to keep Kharkov from encirclement

The 1TK is far in front of Bobs supporting troops and I think long and hard on counter attacking it. In the end I have no choice, I am down to a three hex depth in back of Kharkov, I can't let him cut the city off (yet at least) as I still have too many steps there that I cannot afford to lose. The attack is a failure, 4-1/2, I roll a 1 (EX & -/-), and we trade steps. At least I didn't lose more units as I am very thin now and need every step.

Turn 8

I'm sure Bobs mouth was watering as he did his turn 8. I had assembled a huge force of mechanized units to relieve Kharkov and they totally gacked the attack. Now Bob is able to set up his counter attack. The turns are not taking as long now as we both are really only fighting in this one sector and the rest of the map sees little action. The weather turns overcast, causing more drama in the air game. I might add that this is the first time we had to look up and use the weather rules and I really like what Mr. S has done here with us rolling for each air unit. A very snappy rules mechanic that feels very right.

Russian Attacks, turn 8 (Primary)

Bobs troops are in fine form again this turn (he's rolled nothing but 5s or 6s) and he again pushes me back with losses I cannot afford to lose. All four attacks are either DR/DR1 or EX. I flee, loosing three steps to his two. We stopped here and for some reason I didn't take pictures, but I know that my line is a mess and I am gonna have a hard time keeping Kharkov open. Here are the results of the last two turns of combats:

An Impressive couple of turns for Bobs Russians

Bob's Comments:

Because of my success NW of Kharkov I move Zhukov North to reinforce what I believe to be a major breakthrough and because of the enormous losses suffered last turn I need to rebuild in this area.  I continue to attack North and West of Kharkov and get some very good die rolls, I believe that I am one or two turns from ripping the entire front open and racing to the Dneiper.  During his turn Steve sends most of his mobile forces to the North to deal with my two Tank armies.  He does counter attack 1st Tank Army with little effect, once again he is able to get good odds against my spearhead.

So now, getting back to the point I raised at the top of the post, how are we doing? Both of us would say that while these last two turns have seen some impressive advances for Bob, I'm not sure that I feel like I am totally out of it. According to the VP maker (and the sudden death VC's) Bob is right in the middle. We assume that this near historical performance. From what we know of the campaign we are at some point soon going to see me having to abandon this line and make a run for the Dnieper. Knowing this is helping me keep my spirits up along with not knowing if one side or the other is in the process of a blowout. Both of us are still very much engaged in the game and can't wait to sit down at the table again.

Current step losses are 64 lost for the Russians to 44 lost for the Germans.

Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Campaign Game" Part 2

Game: Ukraine '43 (GMT)
Scenario: Campaign Game
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Sunday, Mar 13th ~ 2.30PM - 5.00PM


The weather in St Louis decided to remind us that Winter still had one or two more swings left this past Sunday as Bob and I returned to U43. As I sat down to do my turn prior to Bob getting here I found that I wasn't entirely unhappy with how the first couple of turns had went. Bobs dice had been very bad throughout the entire first two turns and he had taken twice as many losses as I had. One thing that we had blown was that I failed to reduce 4 mechanized steps prior to play (this represents the Kursk losses yet made good). So as I took these now I found that there was a small up side, it took a couple of my Panzer Corps from 4 steps to three, thus getting me back on the magnitude 1 column. To date my Panzer Corps had not done much except plug lines and get in Bobs way when he tried to widen a hole in the exploitation phase.

Northern Shoulder, start of Turn 3

The Southern Front, start of Turn 3

Turn 3

Bob moved Zhukov in NE of Stalino to try and compress the bulge in his line. I had kept a corridor open here with heavy reinforcements and two of my three Panzer Corps. I wanted to make him pay the price in attacking the fortified line for as long as possible. The Donets River was also aiding me in this effort as it slowed Bobs reinforcement North of the little Bulge. Sure enough in his opening attack in this region he paid a heavy price for the hex, loosing four steps to my two.

Zhukov Opens the Turn in the South

Bob also had several attacks NE of Kharkov. These either bled my line units or forced them back off this initial line. This also triggered my pulling back the three Infantry Divisions holding the tri-angled River line directly East of Kharkov, somewhat shortening my line. Bob also made several attacks near Sumi. This sector was getting interesting as he was able to get the 5TK back into supply and in turn put my 327ID out of supply. Sumi fell yielding a VP to Bob, but the line North of Sumi sustained an attack and I was able to get some fortifications built.

Turn 3 Russian Attacks Around Kharkov

Bob's Comments:

I continue my attacks with Zhukov in the south.  Steve has sent reinforcements to this area which is fine with me as that means less in the more important area around Kharkov to the North. I take heavy casualties but steadily grind away.  To the North East of Kharkov I force Steve back and move ever closer to the City.  Because of the poor results last turn I am unable to exploit my success West of Kharkov.  A lucky die roll at Sumi results in its fall giving me needed VP's.  Steve is not voluntarily giving up any fortified zone hexes making attacks very bloody.


Turn 4

With the fall of Sumi in the North I am now hard pressed to keep my line intact. Bob is able to push me out of Byelopoly, the site of some German heroics on turn 2. Bob is unable to eliminate the surrounded 327th though. Bob pushes out and I see my first chance to hit back in my turn. I attack with the 48Pz and force a reduced Russian Infantry Corps to flee. The 327 starts its breakout and in my subsequent combat phase I widen the hole in Bobs line. The Luftwaffe comes to the aid of the 327th and I am able to get them back in supply, avoiding an isolation roll and setting back Bobs offensive tempo in this sector of the front (I think at least).

The situation at the start of German Turn 4

Counter-Attack; the 48Pz opens the line allowing the 327th ID to escape

Meanwhile near Stalino we have some serious drama. Bob tries to cut off the remaining two Infantry Divisions in the Donets Bulge with a concerted attack on the 3rd PD. The attack fails and the 3rd is able to erect fortifications. Had this attack succeeded I would have been in trouble here, having two ID's cut off.

3rd PD keeps the pocket open under intense pressure

Bob's Comments:

Steve's counter attack around Sumi is effective and he is able to get the 327th Inf out of danger.  In the South I attempt to isolate two German infantry divisions with an attack on the 3rd Panzer, the dice fail me again.  Had this been successful I think things in the South would have opened up quite a bit.


Turn 5

Things finally start to loosen up for Bob in the North. My line North of Kharkov starts to fail and Bob makes some good progress here. I rush the GD in to help hold this key city. Bob is able to extract his revenge on the 327th ID, eliminating it in his primary combat phase

Turn 5 Russian Attacks

Kharkov Sector at the end of Russian Turn 5

Bob has completely kicked my off the starting line from Kharkov all the way North. Thus sector of the front is very fluid now. I do have some strong units in and around Kharkov at least.

Meanwhile in the South, the reduction of the Donets Pocket continues. I am able to pull the 46th and 333rd IDs back through the gap held open by the 3rd PD. Here it feels like I am hanging on by my fingernails.

The Donets Pocket being reduced

Bobs has caught up in the casualty department, currently he's lost 45 steps to my 27. I have lost then 17 steps in the last three turns, up dramatically over the first two turns where I had only lost 10 steps. The dice were fairly even this time around as well. Bob is clear of the line in the North and will soon be clear of it in parts of the South. He's given up on the extreme Southern front, moving the few mechanized units there up North where he's broken my line. We get together tomorrow night to continue.

Bob's Comments:


North of Kharkov I make some nice progress and send the Germans back toward the City.  I also make progress North West of Kharkov and feel that I am very close to a breakthrough.  In the Donets region i continue to close the bulge but my lack of success last turn will make any breakthrough difficult.  In the German phase Steve has sent some powerful units to the Kharkov area signaling that he will not give up the City without a hard fight.

Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Campaign Game" Part 1

Game: Ukraine '43 (GMT)
Scenario: Campaign Game
Participants: Bob H, Myself
Time: Sunday, Mar 6th ~ 2.30PM - 5.30PM

After our diversion to the American Revolution, Bob and I are re-starting U43. Two or three years ago Bob and I played this game a couple of times, when we were just starting to warm up to Simonich designed games. After playing all of his recent releases and liking them, we decided to try U43 in lieu of EFS. We are thus far getting mixed signals on the EFS series and so decided to wait on it, instead going for a proven winner in U43. Additionally I want to 'test' my attention span, that is to say, can I stay with a game that will likely take 15-20 hours to complete.

Recently Bob and I played scenario #4 (Crisis on the Dnieper) which I wrote about. We didn't finish that game as it was increasingly turning into a rout. Right after we stopped that game, both of us re-read the rules. We were surprised to find that we had gakked several minor rules and one huge rule. First the small ones:

• 9.10, Soviet attacks that role a '6' on the primary die roll have that re-rolled 
• 23.2, Air, artillery and high magnitude attacks can only take place w/in 7 hexes of a HQ
• 23.3 German Pz Corps get +2 on Defense (which we might have missed)

These are some pretty small rules to miss, but they certainly will have an effect on the game, primarily once the Russians break the river line, they are going to be more tethered to HQ's then what we experienced in our warm-up game.  The MAJOR rule that we missed was that for battle magnitude (8.4) where we were combining the number of steps involved instead of taking the single lowest number. This of course made a huge difference in that nearly every attack the Russians made was a magnitude 2 at least.

The Northern Shoulder, after Set Up

Set Up


We used the free set up as I had forgotten that the historical one was on the back of one of the cards, instead of in the rulebook which was where I looked. I think all our previous CG's were played using the historical set ups. Thus I was a little surprised by Bob's set up and where he decided to make his two main offensives. However I am also very interested to see where this leads as he obviously made his set up decisions based on my set up. The Russians set up all of their non-mechanized units first, then the Germans set up their whole order of battle, THEN the Russian player sits down and sets up his mech units as well as his artillery and other support units.

The Center, after Set Up

The Southern Front, after Set Up

Bob's Comments:
I really like U43 and have always had a good time with it so it was great to try the campaign after we both have a firm grip on the rules.  My strategy will be to attack were the strong Panzer Divisions are not in the hopes of establishing a firm bridgehead across the German fortified line for a push to the Dnieper.  It is also my hope to draw some of the larger formations away from Kharkov as it has to be taken because all the major rail lines on the northern portion of the board go through there and without rail lines my mech spearheads will stall out.


Turn 1: Opening Blows

Bob surprised me a bit in his choice of the Northern Sector of the Front as one of his main sites for his Offensive. This area is lightly held and without an motorized reserve for the Germans, however it sits next to the top of the map and thus is a bit easier for me to maintain a line. Also, its not an area that is rich in VP hexes and its easy for me to move my reinforcements into the line on the turn of entry without having to use rail movement, which disrupts them (if they used rail movement).

Bob did manage to do well in a couple of these attacks and broke my line. He was able to advance into a ZOC bond and this caused me some problems, eventually leading to my decision to pull back rather quickly in this area. A surprisingly strong resistance by the Hungarian 1st Division bought me some valuable time while costing Bob three steps to my two heroic Hungarian steps.

The Northern Shoulder, after the first Russian combat phase

Bobs attacks with the Voronezh Front also lead to a break out. Here though Bob got the first of several AR results as the 167ID fought off the initial Russian attempts and displacing them. Manstien was also available to un-disrupt the 57ID and push them back into the line, reinforce them and thus cut off the 5TK. This frontage was where Zhukov lead the historical attacks that lead the Kharkov falling.

Manstien helps cut off the 5TK while the 167th holds the line (end Russian 1st turn)

Bob's dice got colder the further South he went in his opening combat phase. But he did manage a couple of nice attacks alone the Northern Donets River and Marshal Zhukov was able to convince the units in his area to advance. Bob is firmly across the Donets in this section and is making progress in the rough terrain. The price has been steep though and I have most of my armored units in this area.

Progress in the South, end of Russian turn 1

Bob's Comments:

I decided to attack on the north edge of the map because it appeared it was lightly held and Steve made a mistake in his initial set up letting me slip around one of his divisions.  I really did not have much hope of a wide open breakthrough in the area because it so close to the map edge and there really was not much there.  I just wanted to get across the fortified line and force his left flank out into the open area.  I was successful in getting across the line and would have made more progress if not for the  1^st Hungarian Division with stopped me cold in the breakthrough segment.

 

West of Kharkov the 5^th TK Army broke through the defensive line giving me a nice foothold in that area.  Further South on the Donets Front not much progress was made but Zhukov with the Shock Army got across the difficult terrain and defensive line.  Steve had strong Panzer reserves in the area so I knew I would not get far but it was my hope to keep them in the area not further North.  A note on my use of Zhukov in the South on the Donets.  My thought was that because of the increased attrition associated with his use it would be to my advantage to use him with infantry attacks and not with the armor around Kharkov to preserve my mechanized forces.  In hindsight I was wrong.

Turn 2: Adjustment

During my first turn I am able to get a couple of panzer divisions started in the direction of Kharkov, but I hold the 3PZ and 2SS corps in the South to help me deal with the Russians advances in this area. I am able to keep several divisions in position on the Donets (and thus in their fortifications) by moving the Pz Corps in the help hold the supply lines open. Also, Bob is having trouble quickly reinforcing the penetration across the Donets with mechanized units (because of the river).

In the North, Bob finds the 5TK out of supply and several of his attacking units from the prior turn disrupted, allowing me some breathing room to bring in a panzer corps and a couple of panzer divisions to help shore up this line. The 75ID repulses the attack on Byelopolye (3206) which really helps stem this side of the front.

The Northern Shoulder at the end of the Russian 2nd turn

In the South Bob continues to advance across the Donets and Zhukov again attacks at great expense to both of us (3 steps lost to Bob, while I lost 2). But again I have several strong mobile formations in the area as well as some air units on defensive support, so his progress has been slow and costly. I have yet to counter attack with any Panzer Corps as I am deathly afraid of loosing steps in a magnitude two or three attack at low odds.

The Southern Front at the end of the Russian Turn

Aside from these two areas Bob has not pushed me off the initial German line. We paused at the start of the German 2nd turn and will resume this coming Thursday.

I have started tracking all the combats in the game as well, bellow is a view of them thus far. I think we can all agree that Bob needs some new dice. Three AR's, two C's and three EX's results are not to be expected and I fear that the dice gods will turn this around in the near future. Bob has lost 22 steps, while he's getting four replacement steps per turn, I have lost 10 steps and am only getting one a turn as replacements. Thus far Zhukov is doing fairly well in costing Bob 5 steps while he's inflicted three on me, just the kind of return you need from the Marshal.

Bob's Comments:

I attack with 5^th Tank and other mechanized forces west and north ok Kharkov with poor results.  A substantial number of my attacking forces ended up disrupted witch would hamper any future attacks for a least a turn.  I can’t do much up north but hold on to my breach of his line with infantry units.  In the south I continue to attrite his forces with Zhukov steadily pushing West.  As I mentioned earlier this was not intended to be the major push but rather a diversion to keep stronger forces in the South.  I was partially successful but some strong units have been moved North.  The series of A1 results I goy around Kharkov have really slowed me down and will allow that area to be reinforced next turn so it appears that it will be a slug fest to take the City.

A looks at the Combat results from the first two turns

Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Crisis on the Dnieper", Part 2

Game: Ukraine '43
Scenario: #4 "Crisis on the Dnieper"
Participants: Bob "The Marshal" H, Myself
Time: Thursday, Feb 10th ~ 7.15PM - 9.00PM

Tonight we only had time for one complete turn of U43. Bob had four attacks, one in the Bukrin Bridge head, two around Dnepropetrovsk and one North of Melitopol. The one near Bukrin went well, I believe he killed two or three steps against loosing one of his own. He took the hex, but I still am strong in that area. Further south he was able to put enough pressure on the city with the Damn in it that I decided to blow the damn, giving him the two VP's. I elected to still defend the city while running another Division in to reinforce it. He's taken some heavy losses here and I hope to delay him a turn or two longer here. 

In the South he had Marshal Zhukov attack again and this time it cost him. I think I took one step while he had to attack twice loosing something like 4-5 steps in the process. I pulled the line back after killing two steps in a local counterattack. Meanwhile he is off to the races further south. I don't know how I'm gonna slow him down there, all I can hope is that his supply line doesn't reach out far enough to continue the pursuit.

 The above three pictures show the line as it stands at the start of his next turn.

Ukraine '43 (GMT) ~ "Crisis on the Dnieper", Part 1

Game: Ukraine '43
Scenario: Scenario #4 "Crisis on the Dnieper"
Participants: Bob "The Marshal" H, Myself
Time: Sunday, Feb 6th ~ 2.00PM - 4.30PM

After completing our excellent game of Ardennes '44, we decided to travel to the Eastern Front to finally play a complete game of U43. One of my goals this year is to 'complete' games, that is to play them to the end, not just to the point where I or both of us think one side or the other is going to win. The games I play with Bob are typically these sorts of games, i.e. longer more involved games that can take 10-30 hours to finish as opposed to some of the games I play with HeavyD and YJ. One thing I noticed was that I was starting to get the bad habit of deciding I was done with a game long before we finished. Often this was because I thought one side or the other had an advantage, sometime so much of an advantage that I didn't see the point of finishing. But the main reason for my wanting to finish was that I wanted to get a hold of my 'attention span' issue in games where we will have it set up on the table for a month. Thus our just finished game of A44 went down to the last turn, took about 10+ hours and was very satisfying, so I feel like I am getting some good returns on my goal for this year already.

Bob and I had played U43 two or three times in the past couple of years. We had one or two trainer games, where we would play perhaps 4-5 turns, or even one of the shorter scenarios. Then we took a shot at the Campaign game, which is 21 turns long. I believe that we called that CG around a third of the way into it, again thinking that one side was steamrolling the other. So the plan for our second go round with U43 is to play this scenario (7 turns) as a refresher and then play the CG, keeping the same sides. As I was the Germans attacking in A44 we thought that it was Bobs turn to attack, so he is playing the Russians this time around and I am the hard pressed Germans.

This game was my first Simonich game and one that I happened to get in my early days as a rabid GMT customer/fan. It is long out of print, having been published in 2001 I think. It is certainly one of my prized possessions as I have become a big fan of Mr. Simonitch's designs over the years. The mechanics of the game display some of the same things he's done in his later designs, thus we have things like ZOC bonds. The game though has many unique mechanics that feel very right for this setting. The game is a division level game for the Germans and usually two divisions or a Corps (similar in strength to a German Division) of mechanized units for the Russians. 

One of the rules I really like are the German Armored Corps and their Russian equivalent, Tank/Shock Armies. These units represent a corps sized unit and allow each player to legally overstack. Additionaly they provide a bonus to each side when they are attacking. The Germans get a column shift while the Russians get a raw addition to their combat strength. Having read a lot of Eastern Front History (Col. David Glantz is a favorite) we both really like how these rules capture the nature of combat at this scale and the importance of these units to the success or failure of a campaign.

The scenario we are playing starts in October of 43 when the Germans have been pushed off the Donnets River and have lost Kharkov. Now they are sheltered behind the Dnieper River and hanging on with a much depleted force. The Russians start with three bridgeheads across the Dnieper, one North of Kiev (the Lyutezh bridgehead) and the other two South of that city. The scenario gives us some very nice historical details around the importance of these bridgeheads and the efforts both sides exerted to contain (or eliminate) them. The Russian player has to gain 13 Victory points worth of cities in order to win. Its clear from the map that I need to get used to getting beat up and losing a lot of territory, just not enough to give Bob the win.

Setting up for this one was tough. I have to set up first, then Bob sets up, then I can deploy four motorized units after I see his set up. Nearly all of my units have to start within three hexes of the front line, which is printed on the map. Since nearly 80% of the line is behind a river, sans the bridgeheads, I paid close attention to the rules on river assaults and ZOC Bonds. That being said I'm sure both of us would have set up differently (better) were we to play this one again. As we were going to watch the Super Bowl soon we only got a turn in this afternoon, this didn't prevent the one turn from being exciting however.

Here are some pictures of our starting set up:

My Left and Center

My Southern Flank

A look at most of the map, while Bob does his first turn

Bobs opening attacks went well, especially near Melitopol in the South. He had one attack at each of the middle bridgeheads, pushing me back. In the South though, he killed three steps with of units in Melitopol with the help of Marshal Zhukov and took that city. I had poorly placed my mobile units at set up and I was in trouble with this breakthrough, as he used his Exploitation Movement phase to trap two more of my Divisions in the South. The next three photos show the situation after his turn.

Breakout from the Bukrin Bridgehead

Bob expands the Kremenchug Bridgehead

Here you can see my two units that he has cut off

In the South I was able to use the 2SS to counter attack and relieve my two surrounded units, killing both of Bobs Tank Corps. In the Middle bridgehead I counterattacked but we only traded step losses with Bob hanging on to the hex.

Counter Attack North of Melitopol

GD fails to reduce the Kremenchug Bridgehead

So we stopped after my first turn and will resume again with Bobs second turn. Things will get ugly in the South as I am short of units to form a line there and he is already moving more mechanized units in to the area. Here is a final shot of the entire map at the end of turn 1.

End of the first turn