Operational-level Wargame Design 10: Play-test 1

Having re-read the draft rules – and finding no obvious anomalies or typographical errors – I decided to play-test them today.

Scenario

A Russian Army is mounting an offensive against the German front-line. In this particular sector a German Luftwaffe Feld Divisione is defending a vital gap in the range of hills that cross the Russian main line of advance as well as the only asphalted roads in the area.

The battlefield

To capture it the Russian Army Commander has allotted:

• Two Rifle Divisions each with an Average General (CV = 2) and:
Three Rifle Regiments (CV = 2 each
A Field Artillery Regiment (CV = 3)
Divisional morale = 6
• Part of a Tank Corps commanded by an Average General (CV = 2):
A Tank Regiment (CV = 4)
A Motorised Rifle Regiment (CV = 3)
An Anti-tank Artillery Regiment (CV = 3)
Tank Corps morale = 6
• Army assets commanded by a Poor General (CV = 1):
Three Heavy Artillery Regiments (CV = 3 each)
Army asset morale = 5

The Russian Rifle Divisions

Part of the Russian Tank Corps and the Army assets

The German defenders are dug-in, are commanded by a Good General (CV = 3) and include:

Three under-strength Luftwaffe Rifle Regiments (CV = 2 each)
A Luftwaffe Mountain Artillery Regiment (CV = 3)
Divisional morale = 6

The Luftwaffe Feld Divisione awaits the attack

The Russian have a total CV of 23 and the Germans have a CV of 6, giving the Russians a superiority of almost 4:1.

The Play-Test

The activation cards did not favour the Germans as the first one turned over was for the Russian Army assets. They immediately opened fire on the left-hand German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment. The first Russian Heavy Artillery Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 12 (9 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 12) and the German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 13 (11 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 13); the Russian artillery fire had no effect.

The second Russian Heavy Artillery Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 9 (6 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 9) and the German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 10 (8 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 10); again the Russian artillery fire had no effect.

The third Russian Heavy Artillery Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 13 (10 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 13) and the German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 9 (7 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 9) and it lost one point from its CV. The Luftwaffe Feld Divisione lost one point from its divisional morale.

The second card that was turned over activated the right-hand Russian Rifle Division. Its Artillery Regiment opened fire on the right-hand German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment. The Artillery Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 12 (9 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 12) and the German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment achieved a Combat Power of 9 (5 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the defending unit]= 9) and it lost one point from its CV and the Luftwaffe Feld Divisione lost another point from its divisional morale.

Two of the Russian Division’s Rifle Regiments advanced into contact with the right-hand German Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment and initiated combat with it. The combat was decisive: the Russians achieved a Combat Power of 11 (9 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 11) and the Germans only achieved 6 (2 [dice score] + 1 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 3 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacked unit] = 6) thus forcing the German unit to reduce its CV by one – which destroyed the unit. The Luftwaffe Feld Divisione lost another point from its divisional morale, which was now reduced to three.

The Luftwaffe Feld Divisione was then activated. Its Mountain Artillery Regiment opened fire on the leading Rifle Regiment of the right-hand Russian Rifle Division, and achieved a Combat Power of 17 (11 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 3 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacking unit] = 17) as opposed to a Russian Combat Power of 6 (2 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacked unit] = 6). The result reduced the Russian Rifle Regiment’s CV by two – thus destroying the unit and reducing the Russian Rifle Regiment’s divisional morale by two.

The centre Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment engaged one of the leading Rifle Regiments from the as yet inactivated second Russian Rifle Division. Its Combat Power was 14 (9 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 3 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacking unit] = 14) as opposed to the Russian Rifle Regiment’s 4 (2 [dice score] + 2 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacked unit] = 4). The result reduced the Russian Rifle Regiment’s CV by two – thus destroying the unit and reducing the second Russian Rifle Regiment’s divisional morale by two.

Finally the left-hand Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment engaged the Russian Tank Regiment, but to no avail. The German unit’s Combat Power was 6 (4 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 6), and the Russian unit’s Combat Power was 8 (4 [dice score] + 4 [Tank Regiment’s CV] = 8).

It was then the turn of the Tank Corps to be activated. Only the Tank Regiment was in a position to engage the Germans, which it did. The combat was ineffective because its Combat Power was 3 (1 [dice score] + 4 [Tank Regiment’s CV] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 3) and the Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment’s Combat Power was 12 (10 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 12).

The final formation activated during the turn was the second Russian Rifle Division. Its Field Artillery regiment opened fire on the central Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment but with no effect because its Combat Power was 9 (6 [dice score] + 3 [Artillery Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in an adjacent hex to the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 9) and the German unit’s Combat Power was 7 (5 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 7).

The two remaining Russian Rifle Regiments rushed forward – accompanied by their Divisional General – and attacked the central Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment. The Russian Combat Power for this engagement was 8 (6 [dice score] + 2 Rifle Regiment’s CV] + 2 [for the presence of the General in the same hex as the attacking unit] – 2 [the defending unit is in defence works] = 8) whilst the German unit’s Combat Power was 3 (1 [dice score] + 2 [Rifle Regiment’s CV] = 3). This resulted in the central Luftwaffe Rifle Regiment losing both its CV points and being destroyed. It also reduced the Luftwaffe Feld Divisione’s morale to one.

The situation at the end of the play-test

At this point I ended the play-test. The mechanisms in the rules had been tested, and seemed to work quite well. There were some areas where a little bit if re-design might be necessary, but on the whole the play-test had been very satisfactory.