This time around, the Germans (a different player than in the first game) sent one company of grenadiers forward on the right to probe the farmhouse and to defend against any Soviet counter-attacks on that flank. The bulk of the German force advanced up the left, with a second grenadier company posted to the central hilltop to provide support where needed. The remaining grenadier company and the armored grenadier company (OK - with their morale they were armored mentally, even though they had no half-tracks!), supported by the tank company, advanced against the hamlet on the left. As soon as the tank company approached the minefield in front of the hamlet, the Soviet 57mm antitank gun section behind the hamlet opened fire on it, hitting (without penetrating) one Pz IVh and causing the rest of the company to fall back a full move, out of line-of-sight of the Soviet guns. Fortunately for the Germans, the tank company recovered its morale during the turn-end command control segment. At this point, both sides had visible targets (the Soviet ATGs were spotted by the German infantry when they fired) for indirect fire so they both passed and the game progressed to turn two. The Germans, suspecting that there might be Soviet troops in the hamlet, called all of their 8cm mortar support down on the rear-most building. The Soviet player, aware of the German infantry in the trees across the road from his antitank guns, called his 82mm mortars on that tree line. Neither side managed to contact their heavy artillery this turn so play progressed to the tactical interaction segment, which saw the tanks, the left-most grenadier company, and the armored grenadier company assault the hamlet and the surrounding woods. This turn, both sections of Soviet 57mm ATGs fired, the one behind the hamlet again hitting, and this time destroying, a Pz IVh but not affecting the tankers' morale, and the other section (between the hamlet and the farm) missing… German machine gun fire from the grenadier company on the hilltop did manage to kill the crews of the latter 57mm ATG section. A brisk firefight also began between the Soviet rifle company in the hamlet and the German armored grenadier company, several sections (including the 57mm ATG section) becoming pinned on both sides. Meanwhile on the right flank, the German grenadier company, having observed no Soviet activity around the farm, attempted to rush it. This prompted a minimum range attack by the Soviet company that was, in fact, in the farm, which drove back the Germans with stands killed in two platoons. Both players passed at this point, to attempt to rally troops; both sides rallied their pinned troops (again, including the 57mm ATGs) around the hamlet and the Germans managed to rally the grenadiers on their right flank by the farm. During turn 3, the mortar fire called by both sides the previous turn arrived. The German 8cm mortars completely destroyed the Soviet platoon in the hamlet (Note - the odds were against this, but it happened!) and the Soviet mortars pinned a German platoon on the hill. In new artillery contact attempts, the Soviets and Germans both retained contact with their mortars, the former calling more fire on the hilltop and the latter calling fire on the remaining Soviet 57mm ATG section. The Germans also managed to contact all three batteries in their artillery battalion, calling fire on the walled yard behind the farmhouse from which Soviet fire had come the previous turn. The firefight around the hamlet continued. The German armored grenadiers killed the remaining 57mm ATG sections' crews with MG fire, the ATG missing in its third shot against the German armor. The tanks, meanwhile, shot at everything in sight, hitting nothing, and discovering that one tank was down to a single turn's ammunition. The Soviets discovered the location of the German FO and blanketed that part of the hilltop with infantry fire, killing the FO (and the company HQ to which it was attached). A Soviet rifle section ran out of ammunition during that firefight. The Germans held back at the farm, awaiting resolution of one of the other firefights for reinforcements; the Soviets, for their part, held back as well and considered moving to the aid of their hard-pressed right flank. Turn 4 saw the arrival of the German artillery on the farmyard. This killed outright two thirds of the Soviet company grouped there and pinned the rest, which didn't prevent the German right-flank company from holding back yet another turn… The various mortar fires were ineffective this turn, and play progressed to the tactical interaction segment. The fight at the hamlet continued, with more losses inflicted on each side. The German tankers were relegated to providing fire support for the infantry, there being no clear un-mined ground for them to advance over. At turn's end, both the Soviet rifle company at the farm and the one in the hamlet failed their command checks by more than four (the two companies were each down to 3 or 4 effective stands; they'd suffered 50% casualties!), which drove them out of their positions. Due to the proximity of the Germans and some unfortunate lines of sight, this meant they would fall back either off-board, or to a point behind the main Soviet HQ. The Soviet player, his morale cracked, elected to fall back off-board and concede the game. Soviet forces left in play - and basically stranded - included the intact center rifle company, the SMG platoon, and the 76mm field gun battery on his left flank. The German player, blessed with much better command check rolls, had taken an average of 30% losses in each of his companies and 20% losses in the tank company. Recalling the note from the Battlefront replay about the desperate nature of the attack, these losses seemed quite reasonable (well - no losses are reasonable, but in the context of the game, you know what I mean…) Once again, the crossroads, and the road north, belonged to the Germans! Notes Tacfire's play sequence took some getting used to, as a considerable amount of movement can take place during an initiative phase, as long as the moving units don't get stuck into combat. What'd taken two turns to accomplish in Battlefront only took a few initiative phases during the first turn in Tacfire. Movement during a turn seemed to rush along until brought to a grinding halt by enemy fire. The Tacfire restriction on attacks during a single initiative phase didn't preclude crossfires onto single defensive points. This was demonstrated against the farmhouse as the rightmost two German grenadier companies combined their fires against the Soviet company ensconced therein. When the German forward observer was killed in turn 3, we ruled that, as the spotting rounds had already arrived for the artillery battalion, the artillery would still arrive on schedule during turn 4. In hindsight, this was probably a mistake. Under the rules, it was arguable that the artillery would still arrive but perhaps a die roll to see whether final adjustments to the artillery had been completed before the FO was killed might have been in order. As it was, the artillery's arrival proved fatal to the Soviets. As with Battlefront, artillery is devastating. Conveniently for this demonstration, both Soviet players placed a large target (an infantry company) in the farmyard for the Germans to fire on. Tacfire incorporates ammunition rules in an entertaining and simple way. If one rolls a "9" during fire combat, there's a chance, determined by a second die roll, that the firer may be out of - or almost out of - ammunition. This happened twice during the game, once to a German tank section and once to a Soviet rifle section, and added some flavor without complexity - a nice touch! Tacfire places more command control constraints on the troops than did Battlefront - more explicit, anyway. Players were continually aware of their platoon components, as, by rule, platoon members aren't allowed to stray more than 4" or so away from one another. The one exception to this was that the Soviet player was allowed to split up his 57mm ATGs, though they had to support the same general position. The importance of company-level command control was apparent in this game, as the game ended when two thirds of the Soviet infantry made bad morale rolls and abandoned their positions! The TF replay flowed as smoothly as the BF replay. The forces involved again seemed appropriate for a one-on-one game and neither player seemed outnumbered by the number of troops he controlled. Orders of Battle Scenario length: 8 turns German OOB 1 Kampfgruppe with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 7) in kubelwagen 1 Forward Observer for divisional light artillery battalion with: 2 batteries of 3 sections each of 105mm field guns, with ADR = 3 1 battery of 2 sections of 150mm howitzers, with ADR = 1 1 Panzergrenadier Battalion, with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 6) 1 Panzergrenadier Company (Regular, Morale = 6)with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 6) 4 Rifle Sections 2 MMG sections 1 80mm mortar section (ADR = 8) 1 Panzergrenadier Company (Veteran, Morale = 5) with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 5) 4 Rifle Sections 2 MMG sections 1 80mm mortar section (ADR = 8) 1 Panzergrenadier Company (Regular, Morale = 5)with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 6 4 Rifle Sections 2 MMG sections 1 80mm mortar section (ADR = 8) 1 Gepanzert Panzergrenadier Company (Vet, Morale = 7) with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 7) in SdKfz 251/10 (treat as SdKfz 251/1 with Pak 35aboard…) 4 Rifle Sections 2 MMG sections 1 80mm mortar section (ADR = 8) 1 Panzer Company with 5 Pz IVh (Regular, HQ Cmd rating = 6) The companies are the maneuver elements. Soviet OOB Battalion Battlegroup, with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 6) 1 MMG platoon with two HMG sections (Reg, Morale = 6) 1 SMG platoon with 2 SMG sections (Veteran, Morale = 6) 1 FO for an off-board regimental mortar battery of 3 sections of 120mm mortars, ADR = 1 1 antitank battery with two 57mm antitank guns (Vet., Morale = 7) 1 divisional gun battery with two 76.2mm field guns (Reg., Morale = 6) 1 Rifle Battalion with: 1 HQ (Command rating = 5) 1 FO for mortar battery with 3 sections of 82mm mortars, ADR = 8 2 Rifle Companies (Regr, Morale = 6), each with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 4) 2 SMG sections 4 Rifle sections 1 MMG section 1 Rifle Company (Veteran, Morale = 7) with: 1 HQ (Command Rating = 5) 2 SMG sections 4 Rifle sections 1 MMG section Each unit not in a building starts play dug-in. The gun batteries, the rifle companies, and the platoons are the maneuver elements. All Soviet units are dug-in. Their terrain class is one class better than the surrounding ground. To the Vistula! WWII Rule Sets Reviewed Introduction Battlefront Tacfire Point of Attack Scenario: 5 August 1944 Overview Scenario Replay: Battlefront Scenario Replay: Tacfire Scenario Replay: Point of Attack Comparisons and Conclusions Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #82 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com