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AAR: "Blood & Guts," scenario RB2

German: me (Eric Henyey)
Russian: Mark Robbins


I chose the first Victory Condition, since I didn't relish the idea of
crossing the G21-N20 street, especially without Smoke (by SSR, it's
raining). Therefore, I set up the bulk of my forces in the Q14 factory,
with a secondary force in factory L18 to interdict Russians moving to the
east (and to prevent a surprise Russian win). I fortified some of the
salients in each building that I expected would be subjected to the most
punishing Russian fire. I considered SSR 3 to be an admonition to stack the
flamethrowers adjacent to Russian stacks, which turned out to be a good
idea. Mark spread his forces across the map, close to and directly opposite
mine. This is hard to avoid, but in retrospect he may have done better by
putting some room between us - the Russian needs to buy time while bringing
up the reserves.

I discovered that Mark had laid a line of mines from R17 to U16. This was a
rather effective use of them because it forced me to detour east and west
around them. On the other hand, their presence hindered the Russians as
well. After rapidly clearing out building O18 with flamethrowers and demo
charges, I was able to infiltrate the rubble and hold the Russians at bay
while I cleared factory S18. I was pleased that I did so with speed, since
over-cautiousness is one of my frequent weaknesses. By working quickly, I
was able to consolidate my position before Mark's reinforcements arrived on
the scene. I also spent considerable firepower early on neutralizing the
ART gun in K22. By the time Mark was able to put it to use, I already had
the game in hand.

I used R15 and L15 as rallying stations, manned by lower quality leaders.
These turned out to be good locations to effectively rally broken troops and
cycle them back into the front line. Mark chose not to have a Commissar, I
think was a mistake on his part - I was much more effective at rallying
broken units than he was.

My flamethrowers accounted for a large portion of the casualties I
inflicted. On a mapboard where the average IFT DRM is +2 or +3 (rubble,
debris hindrances, fortified stone buildings), 12+0 and 24+0 shots are
amazingly good. One stack of units from the 650th Rifle Regiment took two
FT attacks in one fire phase! The assault fire of the 8-3-8s and 5-2-8s was
also tremendously useful. On the other hand, the two DCs I used were only
moderately successful, while my three StuGs were of minimal use, partly
because the terrain limited their mobility and partly because two of them
(including the one with the 9-2 leader) malf'ed their guns before making any
effective shots. One of these subsequently rolled a 6 and was recalled
while the other got blasted by the Russian ART GUN. The third StuG was
moderately useful, though, by clearing out two or three squads and a MMG in
V15 and V16. Once that area was cleared, I was able to bring troops around
the side to assist in capturing the S18 building.

Along with the Russian 76mm gun and the German flamethrowers, the most
valuable support weapon award goes to the Russian HMG. Stacked with the
10-2 in P21, this was the biggest thorn in my side.

Both snipers were active throughout the scenario. Mine was much more active
(despite the lower SAN), but Mark's managed to eliminate several units as
well. Of course the high TEM doesn't discourage the snipers at all!

At one point in the scenario the rain intensity increased. Although we
forgot to apply the increased DRMs, I don't think they would have made much
difference. The rain didn't impact the game, but the image of it falling
through roofless, gutted factories definitely gave the scenario a certain
flavor.

At the beginning of the game, the dice favored me - I seemed to roll mostly
4s while Mark rolled mostly 11s - but after enlisting a 7-year-old friend to
help us with the dice, the numbers became more even. Although the dice
favored me, as did the pro-German nature of this scenario and some mistakes
that Mark made, I feel that some modicum of tactical ingenuity on my part
helped as well! This was an enjoyable scenario that I look forward to
playing again.

This is how I consider the scenario to stack up:

GERMAN ADVANTAGES
Leadership
Assault Fire
Flamethrowers

GERMAN DISADVANTAGES
No Smoke

RUSSIAN ADVANTAGES
Equipment (mines, .50 cal MG, 76mm ATG)
Fortified Buildings and other high TEM

RUSSIAN DISADVANTAGES
Long MLR to defend

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