Game: Hube's Pocket

Soviets: Bob Thorne, John Mehrholz
Germans: Rick DeGrolami, Gordon Dainty

At right: The German-American team takes on the American-South African Team in Hubes.

War Story: Four turns of learning experience for guys unfamiliar with either Hube's or OCS. We quickly relearned the importance of garrisoning everything of value in the rear areas as German panzers rolled through a Russian air base, taking potshots at the grounded planes.

Fun, friendly game with four relatively inexperienced OCS players makes for a wild ride of four game turns. Russians in sought (Bob) attack with mob tactics and attrit German line, but are unable to seal the pocket after four turns. Germans counterattack in North (Rick) and manage to drive the Soviets (John) back about 10 hexes using 1 and 2 SS Panzer divisions. Experience counts a lot, and he who does not garrison loses. The Germans need to fight on, no matter how bad things look; the Russians must attack methodically but with elan.

At right: Homer Choa (left rear) and Morris Hadley (left front) take on Ken Spuda (right rear) and Marty Schaubel in Hubes.

In one notable episode, Bob (Russians in the south) attacked 2 German werfer units in clear terrain with the Soviet Guard Motorized corps and, at 12:1 odds, rolled defender surprise of 5 shifts to the left! To add to this disaster, Bob rolled a 3 on the attack and had to take losses while Gordon's German units retreated without loss. All German units involved received the Knight's Cross with oak leaf clusters.

Other Remarks: Fun game, but in retrospect, we should have started with a DAK or Tunisia scenario to get reacquainted with the rules before tackling this one.

More HomerCon

Introduction and Participants
DAK
April's Harvest
Marengo
A Raging Storm
Air Combat Maneuver
This Hallowed Ground
Stalingrad Pocket II
Ardennes
Yom Kippur
Hube's Pocket
Crusader
Tunisia
Circus Maximus