Skirmishing at Stalingrad

Today, Andy brought down the ruined city terrain tiles he bought at the Gateshead show (Border Reiver)...so we decided to try a skirmish based on the battle of Stalingrad in 1942.

As we had 5 players, it was impractical to do a game as we normally do against the solo system, so Lawrence and I commanded the defending Germans, while Andy, Ian and Phil took the Russians. To make it a little more realistic, the Germans were initially placed as a mix of dummy and real unit markers, in likely positions to defend, then Lawrence and I would only be able to use German units when the counter was spotted or spotted a Russian unit.

The German half of the table.

The Russian half (They would advance from the right in this picture) 

The view down the road from the German end. 

The Russians entered on a broad front. 

 Andy, on the Russian left, attempted to push down the edge of the table.

Phil, in the centre, advanced more cautiously, not wanting to expose his men on the road unnecessarily. 

 Ian moved down the right of the road.

They were delayed spotting counters, but these initially were all dummies! 

Ian had a Maxim MMG in support, though this was not easy terrain for the little wheels to traverse! 

Finally, contact! - a small party of Germans opened up on Ian's flank. 

 The Russians fell back to cover before firing back.

 Their fire was sufficient only to keep the German's heads down!

 Phil, in the centre, brought a sniper forward.

 The German officer was shot through the throat.

The remaining Germans fell back, covered by their own sniper. 

 Andy's men were filtering forward on the left.

 Ian stopped his advance to bring his full force to bear...

...before probing forward again. 

Another group of Germans fired on them from the road. 

 The Russians took casualties.

More German units fired in support at Ian's men. 

 They were joined by the 2 men who had retreated from the park, and the sniper.

The sniper was particularly effective! 

Ian's men moved forward to close the range. 

One of the Germans in the road was soon killed. 

Another man was wounded. 

 The German sniper and MG34 were still shooting though...

...Another Russian fell. 

Andy, meanwhile, had cornered a retreating group of Germans in a ruined workshop. 

 He aggressively stormed the building.

 Ian, meanwhile, attempted to outflank my sniper and MG team.

Phil was now filtering up on Andy's right flank.  

My men were forming up behind the workshop, unable to help the occupants... 

 ...who were soon silenced.

The German line was now behind the workshop, across the road. 

Ian was still pushing forward. 

 The Germans here were soon suppressed and unable to react to the increasing numbers of Russians facing them.

 My sniper and MG were still shooting at Ian across the road.

Another of his men fell. 

At this point, as Andy's men outflanked my Sniper, and Lawrence's men were driven from their position, the surviving Germans retreated from the table.

A Russian victory. The Russian players used good tactics and real aggression, which the Germans could not counter.

We tried another run of the game with the same forces, but I didn't play, just running the completely solo Germans.

The solo run Germans still lost, but killed more Russians than when we were running them!!!!

Embarrassing much!