The Outskirts of Lemberg (CH 78) by Dan Owsen (Played 2/28/98)

After long deliberation, Will Fleming and I finally decided to give CH78, The Outskirts of Lemberg, a try. Just back from a tour under the sea, Will was up for anything. I felt like playing an early war scenario, so I brought CH78, ASL43 (Into the Fray) and AP8 (Bloody Harvest). After pulling all the pieces, we almost put them all back and tried something else.

First of all, the scenario card for CH78 has some typographical errors, which as much as I hate to say it, are typical of many of Critical Hit's products. If you take a look at the sceanrio, which came with Critical Hit vol 4, 1 (the one with Gembloux on the cover but nowhere else in the mag), you'll notice that the Poles are given German machine gun counters. We played that they got their proper Allied Minor SW. The Polish reinforcements that enter on turn three are supposed to enter mounted, but they are not given enough horse counters. We added the extra horses. Finally, the Germans are given two 9-1 armor leaders. This seems a bit excessive, and looking at the German balance provision, it says "Replace the 9-1 armor leader with a 9-2." I thought this meant that the Germans should only get one armor leader, so that's the way we played.

Another reason we almost didn't play it is because of the restrictive entry conditions for the Germans. The action takes place on boards 5 and 43. The Poles get a small force to set-up on board, but that force includes a 9-2 and two MMGs, along with a LtMtr and 20L AT gun. The Germans have to enter all of their forces on one hex (5Y10) on turn one. All the German infantry must enter as Passengers on trucks or motorcycles. We discussed the fact that the Poles could boresight everything on the entry hex and let it rip. Some of us felt that this would be a hose job for the Germans. Although I admitted it was a possibility, I still wanted to play it, and I took the Germans. I had heard that this was a fun scenario, and I think both sides have great options. In addition, we figured if it was over quick, we could play something else. As it turns out, our game went into Turn 6.

The most appealing thing to me about this scenario is the choice of multiple victory conditions. This always adds an additional guessing game to the action. Invisible Foes, from the AH Action Pak, is another scenario that I really enjoyed that has this feature. The other thing I liked about this one is that both forces have some interesting options.

The Germans Gebirgsjagers have a powerful, mobile force, even though their transportation is thin-skinned. In addition to two 548 Assault Engineers, they have nine 468's, a 9-1, two 8-1s, 2 MMG, 3LMG, 2DC, a 50mm mortar and a 81mm mortar. Most importantly, though, they have four armored cars; three PSW 231(8rad) and one PSW222. In analyzing this situation, I thought that these would be the key to not only getting on the board, but winning the game.

Unlike many situations during this time period in the war, these Poles have some teeth. Although their intial on-board force is small, consisting of 4 squads, they have the 2 MMGs mentioned above and the way cool 18-1100 AT gun (a 20L with ROF 2). They also have two road blocks, a few foxholes 8 factors of AP mines and a wire counter. During the game, the Poles are reinforced by 10 squads, four green, two first line and four elite. The last reinforcements enter the game as cavalry, which allows them to quickly move to the area where they are most needed. With the addition of the reinfocements, the Poles will actually outnumber the Germans, which is not a good situation for the attacker.

The two victory conditions that the Germans have to choose from are, A) Secure the building complex surrounding 43n8 by end of game, or B) Exit 18 CVP at 43Y1, 6 of which must be infantry. The Poles win by preventing the Germans from achieving their victory conditions, or inflicting 31 CVP. I chose victory condition B and hoped to make a mad dash across the northern part of the board.

Will set up his two MMGs and the 9-2 in foxholes covered with wire in 5y5 and a mortar team in 5gg5 to cover the German entrance hex, 5y10. Some other forces were scattered in the woods on board 5. I set up my forces to have the armored cars come in first, planning to take out any machine guns by overrun. Hopefully I would be able to at least neutralize the threats so my trucks and motorcycle riding forces could make it on the board unmolested.

My first AC, the PSW222, drove straight for the Polish machine gun nest in 5y5, and declared an overrun. Will's Poles made their task check to stay concealed, and I bogged in the wire. My overrun attack, made at way reduced firepower, of course had no effect, but the AC was in the hex. To remedy this situation, Will exposed his AT rifle toting HS in 5x4 and popped that AC with his first shot (the Poles get HIP for two squad equivalents). I sent a second AC into the hex and that one survived to neutralize the threat, at least for one turn. The other ACs went after the mortar crew in 5gg5, but when the mortar fired to no effect, it wasn't much of a threat. The rest of my forces drove onto the board at top speed. Some of my trucks actually made it across the gully. Others unloaded some of their infantry around the mortar crew to take them out. In fact, I unloaded almost all of my infantry on this turn, which was in retrospect, probably a huge mistake. However, I was afraid for some reason of leaving them on the trucks, thinking it was too risky.

I think in order to win this scenario if they pick victory condition B, the Germans have to drive like hell towards the exit hex, even at the risk of driving through residual fire power and firelanes. In addition, you have to remember that half of the initial Polish forces are dummies-- something that slipped my mind. Once I stopped to deal with the perceived threat of the intial Polish forces, my attack completely bogged down. While I was able to continue advancing towards the exit hex (which by the way has three wooden buildings near it courtesy of overlays X10 and X13), by the time I got into striking distance, I had lost all of my armored cars (two died after being stunned by machine guns), and the Poles had totally reinforced the buildings and woods surrounding the exit hex. I had more than enough infantry CVP in striking distance of the exit hex, but the Poles just had too much for them to fight their way through, even though the 81 mm mortar had smoked some of the defender's hexes.

Despite our initial uncertainties about this scenario, it turned out to be very interesting, and the outcome went down to almost the last turn. I would love to play this one again, and would take either side. Will admitted that he made some mistakes in his set-up, but it was probably more my poor play that resulted in the loss. I would hazard to recommend the following tactics:

Germans
Use your mobility to your advantage. If you're going for exit, stay on your trucks for as long as possible and go, go, go! You should be able to bypass any intial Polish forces that are set up to contest your entry onto the board.
Don't be afraid of infantry fire attacks on your trucks. Sure you may lose a few but if you make it through, you can drive out of range.
You might consider a feint towards the exit hex, and then change your assault towards the building complex (victory condition A). If I had in fact done that, I would have probably won, since Will basically left it undefended once he thought I was going for exit.
You'll probably have to waste a couple of your AC in order to even get onto the board. Treat the survivors like gold. They are worth 5 CVP each, and their weaponry is potent.
Kill the Pole AT rifle and machine guns with swarming, truck borne, Infantry after they final fire.

Poles
Don't concentrate your intial forces in one hex. You'll want to contest the German entry, but not reveal your MMG and AT rifle locations to the AC, otherwise you won't be able to fire at the trucks and motorcycles. Another key point to perhaps defend is the bridge over the gully in 5ee2. Open ground, and gullies, will slow down the German forces considerably.
Keep your 9-2 alive and out of harms way. He may be more useful rallying broken dudes than in the front lines.
Obviously, you'll have to guess which victory condition the German is going to try for. Watch out for a feint at one, and a mid game switch at the other.

Either way, I think this one is tough for the Germans. It can also get a bit dicey, especially if you lose a few trucks to low firepower shots. However, it's good to see the German juggernaut face a challenge!