The starting positions for each side's formations is as follows:
Germans
The weather for June is DRY, therefore each turn represents three days.
22nd to 24th June 1941
The Russians have been caught unawares by the German invasion, and other than to mobilise their formations, they are unable to react for six days.
The first card turned over is the Three of Hearts, but this is discarded as the Russians are still mobilising.
The next card turned over is the Four of Spades and the Germans can move one formation one grid square. In this instance, the 1st Panzer Division advances into E10 ... and then into F10 as they are moving along a road, which doubles their move.
25th to 27th June 1941
The next card turned over is the Queen of Spades and the Germans can move all its formations up to a total of three grid squares.
1st Infantry Division moves into E9. Because the 1st Rifle Division is in F8, 1st Infantry Division stops to reconnoitre. A D6 die throw of 1 means that it will advance into F8 next turn regardless of the presence of the enemy formation.
2nd Infantry Division moves into E11.
1st Panzer Division advances along the road to G10, intending to move into H10 and captures Vilno (G10). Because it is moving along a road it could move into H10, but because the 1st Tank Corps is in H10, 1st Panzer Division stops to reconnoitre. A D6 die throw of 6 discloses the information that the 1st Tank Corps has three Tank Brigades, a Regiment of Motorised Rifles, and an Armoured Car Reconnaissance unit, and has a strength of 22SPs.
28th June to 30th June 1941
The next card turned over is the King of Clubs and the Germans can move its formations up to a total of five grid squares.
1st Infantry Division moves into F8 and attacks the 2nd Rifle Division.
2nd Infantry Division moves into G10, and stops to reconnoitre as 1st Tank Corps is in H10.
1st Panzer Division moves into H10 and attacks the 1st Tank Corps.
The mini-campaign has reached a stage where two battles now need to be fought. In both cases the German formations are the attackers and the Russians will be defending.
Germans
- 1st Infantry Division (General von Tarlenheim [Average]): D9
- 2nd Infantry Division (General Sapt [Average]): D11
- 1st Panzer Division (General Hentzau [Above Average]): D10
- 1st Rifle Division (DivCom Renko [Average]): J10
- 2nd Rifle Division (DivCom Pribluda [Below Average]): F8
- 1st Tank Corps (DivCom Borodin [Below Average]): H10
The weather for June is DRY, therefore each turn represents three days.
22nd to 24th June 1941
The Russians have been caught unawares by the German invasion, and other than to mobilise their formations, they are unable to react for six days.
The first card turned over is the Three of Hearts, but this is discarded as the Russians are still mobilising.
The next card turned over is the Four of Spades and the Germans can move one formation one grid square. In this instance, the 1st Panzer Division advances into E10 ... and then into F10 as they are moving along a road, which doubles their move.
25th to 27th June 1941
The next card turned over is the Queen of Spades and the Germans can move all its formations up to a total of three grid squares.
1st Infantry Division moves into E9. Because the 1st Rifle Division is in F8, 1st Infantry Division stops to reconnoitre. A D6 die throw of 1 means that it will advance into F8 next turn regardless of the presence of the enemy formation.
2nd Infantry Division moves into E11.
1st Panzer Division advances along the road to G10, intending to move into H10 and captures Vilno (G10). Because it is moving along a road it could move into H10, but because the 1st Tank Corps is in H10, 1st Panzer Division stops to reconnoitre. A D6 die throw of 6 discloses the information that the 1st Tank Corps has three Tank Brigades, a Regiment of Motorised Rifles, and an Armoured Car Reconnaissance unit, and has a strength of 22SPs.
28th June to 30th June 1941
The next card turned over is the King of Clubs and the Germans can move its formations up to a total of five grid squares.
1st Infantry Division moves into F8 and attacks the 2nd Rifle Division.
2nd Infantry Division moves into G10, and stops to reconnoitre as 1st Tank Corps is in H10.
1st Panzer Division moves into H10 and attacks the 1st Tank Corps.
The mini-campaign has reached a stage where two battles now need to be fought. In both cases the German formations are the attackers and the Russians will be defending.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the battles work out Bob. The map looks very nice and clear by the way.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteCheers ... and thanks for your kind comment! The campaign system seems to be working, and I am very pleased with the way the map has turned out.
All the best,
Bob
All looking good Bob and await the AAR's with interest.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteWhatever else, the campaign system seems to have generated a couple of battles that will be interesting to fight.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteThe German Divisions have found the Russians - I look forward to seeing how your MAP moves translates into a Table Top Battle. I can tell that your enjoying your Mini-Campaign. Stay well there in London. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThat aspect of the mini-campaign seems to have worked well, and now all I have to do is to fight the battles!
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteHow do you transfer from the map to the tabletop?
Is the wargames table completely random?
regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow (Paul),
DeleteI intend to use the terrain generation system I developed and published in THE PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME.
All the best,
Bob
It’s looking good. I can see the point of having a recon rule in a game vs an opponent, but what about when we are playing with our invisible ‘friends’? You probably will have thought of this but it seems like this might be an opportunity for a ‘mechanism’? The recon ought to give an advantage to any side (as long as the general is not incompetent). I will give this thought Comrade Cordery before waffling one. But once again, this is exciting to see all that work start to come to fruition. Stay cool and healthy.
ReplyDeleteSteve8,
DeleteYou make a very good point, and it is something I need to give some thought to. This is one of the reasons why play-testing systems is so important.
All the best,
Bob
Looking forward to reading about the battles and the maps are splendid and practical.
ReplyDeletePeter,
DeleteThanks for you kind comment about the map. I am pleased that the work I put into making it has paid off so well.
I am hoping to fight the first of the battles over the forthcoming weekend.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the opening moves - looking forward to the action!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteThe opening moves of this mini-campaign seem to show that the campaign system works fairly well, and it has certainly done what I hope and generated some battles for me to fight.
All the best,
Bob
Looking forward to the battles now! wrt a recce advantage for solo play (or any play) why not just make the side which is 'outscouted' deploy first - it is the mechanism used in De Bellis Navalis and it works very well.
ReplyDeleteMartin Rapier,
DeleteI was considering doing something along the lines you suggest, and may well try it out in one or other of these first battles.
All the best,
Bob
Excellent map Bob, and nice to see a progress report on the campaign, like the rest of your readers I'm looking forward to the battle reports. I for one would like to see the orders of battle for the opposing forces.
ReplyDeleteTake Care,
Tony Jones.
Unknown (Tony Jones),
DeleteCheers! The map took me some time to get right, but the effort was worth it.
The ORBATs have been covered in previous blog posts, but will be covered again in the battle reports.
All the best,
Bob
Sorry Bob, I didn't read those posts, I'll have to wait for the Battle reports.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Tony Jones.
Unknown (Tony Jones),
DeleteNo problems!
All the best,
Bob
Aha ! I've found them !
ReplyDeleteTake Care,
Tony Jones.
Unknown (Tony Jones),
DeleteGreat! I hope that you found them useful.
All the best,
Bob
Your campaign here has led me to ask myself some questions and how I could do something similar. I notice that you're using a very small number of units here and if I'm understanding what you've written you're playing against yourself. I also really like the recon elements you've added in.
ReplyDeleteSo while I'm cooking up the food for Taco Tuesday I asked myself, "What if I did something similar with a short campaign but I added hidden movement for the enemy?"
I could do hidden movement a few ways. The old color coded chits with the unit composition face down with a few fakes thrown in OR I could make up an engagement chart where when I move a unit into a new space I get a 'reconnaissance report' that gives me the makeup of the enemy and I choose to engage or avoid.
Thanks for the ideas, I have some charts to draw up.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteDon't forget that this is a play-test of both the campaign system and the tabletop rules, which is why there are only a few units involved. The actual campaign that I want to fight will involve far more. This was intended to show me what worked and what didn't work ... and so far, I think that it is working reasonably well.
I did think about hidden movement, but for a solo mini-campaign I could not come up with something that was simple, hence the use of the limiting factor of a card-driven campaign movement mechanism. I'd be very interested to see what you can come up with, as it may well be better than my current mechanism.
Exchanging ideas at a speed which makes developing them quicker is one of the great joys of the Internet.
All the best,
Bob
I'm looking at Wargames World issue #4 for ideas. They had a refereed scenario called "Dustoff" where a player was in control of a US Army platoon in Vietnam with their goal being to seek and destroy the VC. The VC were tasked with killing or at least embarrassing the US. Its all played on a tabletop (of course) with the referee using a map with all the secret info (of course) to control the game.
DeleteThe trick is making it work on a PWG board without being too obvious but nor completely random.
You've inspired a fun little project here, thanks!
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteI remember that article, which I think might have been written by Ian and/or Nigel Drury ... or used their rules.
Good luck converting it for use with the PW.
All the best,
Bob