Club Night - Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation

Following their success at the Battle of Kursk, the Soviets followed up with the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive, this is the report of an I Ain't Been Shot Mum scenario that I devised in a quick 'back of a fag packet' over lunch-time for playing this evening at Maelstrom Games.

This would be the biggest game of IABSM that we had tried so far and the first time that we had added both armour and artillery support.Quinton and I had played before, but this would be the first game if IABSM for both Steve and Kev.Quint and Steve would play the Germans while Kev and I would play the Soviets.

The figures were all from my collection, while the terrain was from the Maelstrom Games collection.

The Soviets would advance through the woodlands to take the German held crossroads while the Germans attempted to prevent them.

The forces were:

Soviet

Company HQ
Big Man #1 - Lvl 3
Big Man #2 - Lvl 2 
1 PTRD Anti-tank Rifle with 2 crew
1 50mm Mortar with 2 crew
Rifle Platoon
Big Man #3 - Level 3
3 Rifle sections each of 9 men
Rifle Platoon
Big Man #4 - Level 2
3 Rifle sections each of 9 men
Rifle Platoon
Big Man #5 - Level 2
3 Rifle sections each of 9 men
Machine-Gun Platoon
Big Man #6 - Level 3
3 MMG sections each of Maxim MMG with 5 crew
Tank Company
Big Man #7 - Level 2
5 T34 obr 1942

The Soviet forces

German

Company HQ
Big Man #1 - Lvl 3
Big Man #2 - Lvl 1 
1 Panzershrek with 2 crew
2 MG34 with 5 crew
Grenadier Platoon
Big Man #3 - Level 3
3 Grenadier sections each of 8 men with 1 PanzerFaust
Grenadier Platoon
Big Man #4 - Level 2
3 Grenadier sections each of 8 men with 1 PanzerFaust
Mortar Platoon
Forward Observer
4 sections each of  80mm mortar with 5 crew
Tank Platoon
Big Man #5 - Level 2
1 PzIVH
2 PzIIIL

The German forces

The German armour would start off table, these are reacting to the reports of the Soviet breakthrough, the remainder of the Germans were deployed within 6" of any building. Apart from the village and the roads, the entire table was open woodland. Troops in the woods were spotted on a slightly obstructed and would be subject to okay shots, the troops in the buildings would be spotted on badly obstructed and subject to poor shots, finally troops on the road were in the open for spotting and were shot at as good shots.

I had only done four blinds each, so the US Airborne markers that I made for last weeks game were pressed into service.

German initial positions

Soviet initial positions

The first four turns saw the Allied Blinds come up three times and the Axis Blinds not at all.

Soviet advance in turn one

 The unopposed Allied Blinds meant that the Soviets got very close to the village before any troops were revealed. Then all hell broke loose, a PanzerFaust from one of the hoses immediately accounted for a T34, but in retaliation a bit of superb Soviet shooting from another T-34 accounted for the PzIVH. The Soviet riflemen took four of the buildings at bayonet point dispersing the German defenders.

I counted that we played through ten Tea Breaks and by the end of the game each side had lost a single tank and the best part of a platoon of infantry each. The Soviets were holding one side of the crossroads and the Germans the other. If I am being honest I think we probably had rather too much stuff on the table for our level of experience with IABSM.

Here are a few shots of the game.

There they are.

The German defenders are revealed

Take them with the bayonet

Soviets take the first few buildings

L-R Kev, Steve, Quint