Round 1 - The Battle is Joined - Turn 9
soviets versus Garni as axis; All options on; Stock scenario, NOT played blind; Soviet password = ^m[cWg^^ Axis password= r2d2
Download the Soviet replay of the Axis Turn9
Synopsis of the axis turn.
The axis desperately attempt to break up the soviet bulldozer grinding towards them. But neither of the enemy's split forces are strong enough to threaten our comrades encircling them. Having to face all directions at the same time simply makes them weak everywhere whereas we can choose which weak point to focus on turn after turn.
In the smoking hulks stakes we have lost about 60 AFVs and have destroyed about 80 enemy AFVs. We have also bagged 25 enemy SPW 251/1s. Given that we start out with twice as many as the enemy we are in good shape for the second half of the scenario.
Synopsis of the soviet turn.
Our artillery barrage has shaken up the enemy by disrupting the enemy engineer platoon in the smoked VP hex as shown below. This is great for the attackers as it will save us having to use a precious smoke (we have only three left) of our own. The idea is to overrun the enemy unit, and then probe the three hexes behind it. After we discover what is in those hexes (note the engineer will retreat into one of them, thereby thwarting our probe of that hex, but the others will be spotted), we will use the smoked hex to draw his opfire into a sub-optimal engagement Smoke and village reduces his attack to 40% of its original strength.
Phase 1 of the assault up the road into Arikamiai
After clearing the road of disrupted units so that it can be used later by our armour, the engineers assault up the road displacing the enemy engineer. After we discover what is in the hexes behind we will determine the next course of action. Note that there is no way to encourage the engineer to retreat forward without completely disorganising our setup. Thus, we will have to live with the fact that peering into one of those hexes marked by the end of a yellow arrow will be denied us.
On Slabada we will continue to bite small chunks out of the enemy - isolate a platoon or two, disrupt them, and then capture them. A couple more turns of this and the enemy will have no offensive capability left on Slabada Hill.
So what actually happened?
After the successful overrun by our engineers we discover the following:
It appears that the enemy is stacking an AT gun platoon with an infantry platoon in each hex, plus the retreated engineers (one by me, one on his own volition). The northern hex is thus likely to contain a 2SP AT gun platoon, a 6SP engineer platoon and the retreated 4SP engineer platoon. The hex to the NW contains a 2SP SPW 251/2, a 6SP motorised rifle platoon, a 5 SP engineer platoon and a 2SP AT gun platoon. Some of these units may be depleted further, I do not get to see their strength just because I ran into them!
The next phase is to draw his opfire from all these units in the smoked VP hex. The question is, which units should I use? The choice comes down to T34/40s or KV-1s. At first the choice seems clear, the KV-1s have frontal armour of 13 vs 11 for the T34/40. Nothing is quite so simple. We need our AFV platoon to enter the smoke thereby drawing opfire, and then fire, again drawing opfire, before withdrawing. However, a quick count of AP expenditures shows that if the KV-1 were to be disrupted while in the smoke hex it would not be able to withdraw. It would then be exposed to enemy action in the enemy's next turn, and would likely be depleted. The T34s are sufficiently mobile to enter, fire, be disrupted and still withdraw to safety. Thus, we end up choosing to use the T34s for this adventure.
We draw plenty of opfire which reveals an AT gun and rifle platoon in the hex protected from prying eyes by the retreated engineer. We end up losing a T34 to the barrage of fire as the enemy opens up from around every corner, window and rooftop. But they are all firing at disadvantage against a strong target, in smoke and hiding behind buildings. Remember, even the engineers, normally 18 against hard targets attack at only 7.2 vs 11. As a rule of thumb below 1:2 is great for us against his opfire. Higher that 2:1 is not so good. If we can keep his engineers to less than 1:1 we are doing very well.
The next job is to swing around the north end of this line to see if we cannot surround the guys in that northern hex and forces them to retreat into an overstack - thereby causing them to surrender en masse.
The coup de grace is about to be delivered.
As the guys prepare for the final assault, a previously unseen unit in the target hex opens up with opfire thereby giving away his position. A highly embarrassing failure is therefore averted. We disrupt the newly found platoon and then overrun the hex with our KVs, capturing the entire contents of the hex. Remember that AT guns are often destroyed in assaults and thus the above stack would be able to retreat into the 100VP hex if there was only one enemy unit in it if the total SPs were less than 24. As it turns out there are three units in that hex, the AT gun was not destroyed in the assault and the SPs would have been greater than 24. So we are safe on all counts.
All in all a good start to the capture of Arikamiai.
On the hills of Slabada we mop up the AFV platoons that were threatening our northern force and solidify our control of the 200VP hex. Our second company of T-28 reinforcements are charging up the road to help out as fast as possible. With BA-20s in their rear and a newly massed soviet strike force from the front the days are numbered for the enemy on the Slabada Hill. But, this remains a backwater, as the focus is on Arikamiai. We still have 10 turns left to crush the Arikamiai pocket, and though we will not have enough time to play out all those turns it is pretty clear that the town will fall.
Download the end of Soviet Turn9
Download the Axis replay of the Soviet Turn9
Combat Results Analysis
| LOSSES INFLICTED BY: | Expected | Result | Cumulative Expected | Cumulative Result |
| Axis Direct Fire | 23.95 | 24 | 112.6 | 142 |
| Axis Opfire | 2.47 | 1 | 19.3 | 12 |
| Soviet Direct Fire | 20.1 | 19 | 109.33 | 115 |
| Soviet Opfire | .58 | 0 | 8.65 |
5 |
See full graph Download full spreadsheet
VP Status (axis minor loss)
| Beginning of Axis Turn | End of Axis Turn | End of Soviet Turn | |
| Axis Unit Losses |
311 |
311 |
362 |
| Axis Unit VPs |
921 |
921 |
1108 |
| Soviet Unit Losses |
192 |
219 |
220 |
|
Soviet Unit VPs |
616 |
696 |
702 |
|
VP Hexes |
600 |
600 |
500 |
|
Total VPs |
295 |
375 |
94 |