Monday, January 10, 2011

Korsun Pocket AAR: Wiking Whiteout

Feb 13th, 1944. Eastern Front. 1st SS and 5th SS after action report. (10 turns)

Axis = Blue
Russians = Red


This is the original Korsun Pocket by SSG. The game is old, but I feel that if you can learn this it provides a basis for all their other games.

This scenario is called "Wiking Whiteout" and it is small and a good way to practice the game.




TURNS 1-3

I have been tasked with taking the town of Muni, and holding Annovka in the south.

A noticeable build up around the town of Muni. This will be tough. Against the vaunted USSR 5th Tank Guard Tank Corp and 18th Tank Corp.

I only have the 6th Infantry Division and a the 2nd Parachute Division of Fallschirmjager's to move south and try to take that town. The enemy is building up considerable forces here and this is way south of where my main attack is taking place



In the middle of the battlefield, I am going to make a bold dash toward Bek Bulasch with the 5 SS Viking Division. The town is virtually open and if the 6th Infantry and the 2nd parachute can hold south I may be able to cut the Russian forces in two. The 5th SS Panzer is a strong group of units, some with a 30 attack strength. Lets see what happens. I will bypass the simple local Russian security force and make for the town to grab extra victory points.





TURN 4

Disaster on the Southern Front. The 5th Guard Tank corps blows a whole through my line and splits right in between the 6th Infantry and 2nd Parachute, taking out my supply division and threatening the town of Annovka. This has forced me to fall back to solidify my lines and forget about ever taking Muni. Also now the 3rd Tank Guard is now moving in and adding to a huge Russian build up south. I must hurry up north to take Bek Bulasch and split the Russian forces. A russian cossack cavalry unit sits less than 10 KM away from the open city of Annovka. Not good. I fall back and try to regroup.



The Russians have only one Artillery regiment in the town of Bek Bulasch. Look at the map below you can see I plan to sprint for it! I will use the 10th Panzer Grenadier to cover the right flank of the 5th SS Wiking Division as it moves on the town. I have two recon units due north to put out any fires that may breakout behind the lines.



TURN 5

Advanced units of the 5th SS reach Bek Bulasch! I can attack the Russian artillery holding the town at 4-1 odds, so I decide to attack! I have 5-1 odds against a non military unit (horse drawn artillery) and I need to hit fast to wheel the 5th SS south to take on those Russians. As long as I don't roll a ONE, I am going to be ok. Lets hope I dont roll like I do in Warmachine. The combat table is on the right. A 1 will cause me to lose a step, or hit point, on my attacking unit. Anything else I roll, the defender takes a hit point loss and that will kill it since horse drawn artillery only has one hit point. I also have +1 to my roll because I am using a ELITE German unit. I have two tank shock values to his one anti tank. So that will not be a problem.



I roll a 5.. +1 = 6, result is Defender1, which means he takes a point of damage and the Russian unit is destroyed and Bek Bulasch lies open for the picking. Who said that Blitzkrieg was dead in 1944!



On the right flank the 10th Panzer Grenadier fans out and provides support. I have two recon units just north of Bek Bulasch in case any of those Russian Paratroopers try something sneaky.



Meanwhile, the 1st SS Liebenstarde Adolf Hitler Division (click the link to read more about this unit) is going to go into action and attack the town of Tschokmak. Holding that town is the Russian 136th Infantry Division. This should be a cake walk



I have only 2-1 odds, but no matter what I roll the defender will lose a hit point from one of his units. I send the 1st SS Panzer, the 1st SS Panzer Recon, and the 2nd SS Panzer Grenadiers of the LAH into battle. I have three tank shock factors and the defender only has one anti tank point, so this is gonna be nasty. The overall odds are 78-14 in my favor, but since the Russians are in the city the combat table is shifted over 3 rows in his favor, reducing me to rolling on the 2-1 table. I have +2 to the die roll also.



I roll a 6 and the Russians suffer a hit point loss, but its not enough to destroy the unit. It has 3 hit points. Further south, the 2nd Parachute Division decides to launch a strike on that Russian Cossack unit outside Annovka. I have 9-1 odds, so looking at the combat table, the defender will HAVE to retreat. If I roll real high he could take a hit point loss AND retreat. I really need to roll a 6 here to force him back and cause two points of damage.



Ugh, I roll a "4" and take a hit point of damage, BUT the Russian unit takes two hit points and has to retreat. Unfortunately, he retreats INTO Annovka and I lose the city. This is not good.

Here is a screenshot of the final movement after the battle. You can see the Russian unit now occupies the town. It will now be harder to force him out. I may have to write off that southern flank and focus on keeping the Russian armor out of my rear area.



TURN 6

The Russian cavalry is really starting to piss me off. The Soviet player moves two cavalry units straight north and disrupts my rear pocket. I move the two recon units down to deal with these pesky Ivans. Further south I totally surround the town of Annovka and cut off the Russian Cavalry in there. Up north I encircle Tschokmak, hoping to create a pocket. The 10 Panzer Grenadier starts to encircle it and the 1st SS fans out. The Russian player moves the 3rd parachute over toward the east. Far south the 5th Tank Guard pulls back. I think he may move this unit north to counter attack the 5th SS.



I attack Annovka at 10-1 odds and retake the town. I don't know how long that Parachute and Infantry division can hold though once the Russian tanks come rumbling in.



Now to focus up north and try to take Tschokmak.

I am not able to take the town, but just west the 10th Panzer Grenadier forces the Russian 236th to retreat, and I get one hex closer to closing my noose



Back south Stukas drop air raid attacks on the roads hoping to slow down the Russian 5th Tank Guard if it tries to move north. I also blow a bridge over the river.



TURN 8

Not a bad start to this turn. I make some advances around Tschokmak, but the Russians have reinforced it with the 3rd Parachute Guards and I cannot take the city. They are heavily dug in. However, the 236th Russian continues to get pounded. While the Russians have succeeded in stopping me from encircling them, they have not been able to stop me from cutting them off from all Russian forces to the south and allowing me to split the battlefield in two. We now have a north and south front with a huge 80KM gap in the middle. I am taking the 5th SS Wiking Division south to stop the 5th Tank Guard from rolling all over me. There is a Svoiet supply convoy that is still lose in the gap. I am taking two recon units to finish it off.

The game is still a draw, I need more points!



TURN 9

Ouch, the 18 Soviet Tank Guard reached out and smacked down the 5th SS Panzer Recon and destroyed it. Then the entire 18th Tank Guard moved east to aid in the recapture of Annovka. A major battle is developing here and my south front is in serious danger of being shredded if I am not careful. The Russians are building up all their forces to retake the town before the end of the game at turn 10. The 5th, 3rd and 18th Tank Corp are massing south of Annovka. One unit of the 5th SS is in the town and dug in, the rest are now moving down.



Up north, the 1st SS LAH FINALLY takes the town of Tschokmak after circling around and getting more favorable attack odds. The 10th Grenadier also destroys a Soviet Artillery unit and effectively cuts off a Russian unit of the 236th Infantry. Thr Russians are now contained in a small 20 KM pocket. They are not surrounded but it is close. With the town that will give me more victory points.

Further south near Annovka, I dig in and await my fate. I am sure the Russians will throw everything they have at me in turn 10. No matter, the 5th SS is dug in and ready to defend the town!



TURN 10

I crush all resistance up north, and reduce the Soviet forces to two units up there. I drive them further away from Tschokmak and then plan to wheel all those units south of I have to to drive on the town of Muni

However, time is up and it is turn 10. I have about 101 points of defense guarding the hexes in front of Annovka, and the Russians cannot take that. He has no choice but to NOT attack and hold back. I am winning by 48 points. 51 points are needed to get a marginal victory. So it looks like I will not be able to get any better than a draw in this game. I cannot attack him in the south and he cannot attack me, looks like Eastern Front attrition. Looking at the final map, I really did stick it to him though. I hold every major city but Muni and have his forces split in two. I really should have take out the static Soviet rearguard, that would have given me at least two more points but I didn't want to waste the manpower doing it.

FINAL MAP: you can see how bad I mauled him up north. He has two units left, a beat up 236th Infantry Division, and a unit of 3rd Guard Airborne. The 1st SS LAH performed a tough job taking Tschokmak. The 5th SS Wiking Division was awesome as well taking Bek Bulasch and then driving south in time to reinforce the town of Annovka.



FINAL POINT BREAKDOWN

2 comments:

  1. I had a quick 'go' at this scenario, just to see if I could remember much about what I'd learned about the SSG games, and to just see how I fared against your AAR. I lost abysmally. Major Allied Victory. It seems I was concentrating too much on getting units to the Objective City points, and then holding them as best I could. Meanwhile the Russians where encircling my straggling troops and slaughtering them with overwhelming numbers.

    I underestimated the amount of points you get for kills in the game. Their kill points outranked my objective capture & hold points easily. I still struggle with the interface, even though its very visual and I should take to it, I think everything seems a little too "thrown into an empty space" to fit it on the screen. Having said that I'm sure if they managed to update their engine to this century, what they have could be massaged into something very playable and easier on the eye.

    If you have Battles in Normandy, and fancy doing an AAR on the Bloody Omaha beach scenario, I'd be really interested to see how you tackled it. I've played that scenario many times, mainly to try and learn the mechanics, but I've never got anywhere near a win in it. I am an award winning amateur at SSG games it has to be said. :)

    Thanks for posting the AAR, and forcing my hand back to an SSG game.

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  2. Well my original plan was to move on to Disaster on the Donets but they have added a lot to the game and I am going to have to really study to learn this one. It may take more than I am willing to chew off at the moment

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