Short Solo playtest of Guards Tank Brigade

Still keeping busy, my wife and I are trying to read some fo the classics and are currently halfway through The Picture of Dorian Gray.  Not exactly what I was expecting, the writing is superb.  Quite a bit of ennui sloshing around, though, but there are some deeper themes if you can get past that.  It helps that my wife was an English teacher. 

I am now down to ONE more class before I am done with my Master's degree, and it is my capstone project. I am taking a breather this weekend before diving in again, but I plan on buckling down and getting this thing done.

I did get a very quick playtest of my Guards Tank Brigade rules. They are designed to be a fast play set for conventions (if we ever get to have those again) to be used double-blind, with two identical tables separated by a divider with the players only able to see what their units can see / report.

I won't go into mechanics because they are still so fluid I changed some of the rules while in the middle of the game!  In a nutshell, each hex is ~500 meters across and each unit is company strength or an artillery battalion.  Units can be fresh, spent, or worn (0 ,1, or 2 hits respectively) before becoming combat ineffective aka knocked out.  It is very abstract, focused on being fast for multi-player games with me running between the tables. 

Click photos to enlarge

Here is the table, with some unpainted experimental 3d printed roads and buildings from Forward March Studios.  Lead elements of a Soviet Tank Corps are attacking town at a road junction circa 1944.  Two Tank Brigades are deployed with the general scheme of maneuver being each will attack the flanks in a pincer movement.

Each Tank Brigade has 4 x T-34/76 companies and 2 x SMG companies with 2 field artillery battalions in direct support.  They also have 2 x armored car platoons, for reconnaissance

The defending Kampgruppe from a Panzer division has 2 x companies of Panthers, 2 x Armored Panzer Grenadier companies, 2 x motorized Panzer Grenadier Companies, 1 x PaK-40 AT Company, and 1 battalion of field artillery along with 2 x heavy armored car platoons.

Panthers in hull-down positions await the onslaught

On the Soviet left Recon elements clash.  I am tweaking the recon rules, but in essence, the German armored cars were screening the main defensive positions and prevented them from being sussed out by Ivan.  I am still working on the exact mechanics.

On the Soviet right, the leading tank companies take damage from the Panthers at long range.  Units that are unspotted may not be targeted until they fire or are spotted, otherwise, all combat is considered simultaneous.  So, previous unspotted units firing basically get a free shot and are considered to have a tactical advantage, a catch-all I use to give attackers bonuses.  So, it is very important to use to your recon units to prevent this.

Later on the right, the Panthers are knocking out T-34's but taking damage in return by the weight fo fire coming from the Soviets.

The Panthers on the hill pack it in (combat ineffective), but the field is littered with burning T-34's.  An SMG company of tank riders tries to clear the wood of Germans but it taking damage.  

On the left the Soviets run into the Pak-40's dug in on their flank, and start taking damage on their way to do an end-run and cut off the town.  The rest of the Brigade gets bogged down by more Panzer Grenadiers.

Here is the end game.  The Soviets almost push into the town and the Germans are up against the wall, with effective use of artillery by the Soviets.  But they just don't quite have enough combat power left to finish the job.

I learned quite a lot, and am following the maxim (from Bob Cordery I think) to eliminate any rules you forget to use.  There were a few...  I am going to simplify recon, add simple close assault rules, tweak Infantry overall, and next game try my ideas for some simple logistics rules that allow units to halt an advance or pull back and regroup, 

Until next time, stay safe and good gaming!