Bolt Action Germans Vs Soviets AAR

Hi, thanks for visiting my blog. This post is a Bolt action AAR (after action report) about a recent game we played at my local club (west coast gamers). The scenario (as well as the models and terrain) were supplied By Newton, one of the other members of the club, you can find a link to his Blog here: Newts wargames blog

The Scenario is designed for the 28mm Wargame Bolt action (but could be played for any ruleset!) and is set on the eastern front in the early part of world war two (no specifics). A German attempt to break through the Soviet lines has met heavy resistance and forced the German army to retreat back to their own lines. Soviet forces are pursuing the retreating Germans and are making an attempt to cut them off before they can escape to safety.

German Mission statement:

An attempt to break through the Russian lines to the east met with heavy resistance and a ferocious counter attack with heavy tanks. The division commander called off the attack and you are now hastily making your way back to your own lines. You managed to elude close pursuit by heading into the thick forest the other side of which is a small river crossing. If you can get over the crossing safely you should be able to get back to your own lines easily. You have picked up straggling units on your retreat including a mortar squad and a couple of panzer III. It is of critical importance that the heave equipment gets back to your lines quickly for the counter attack. You can hear the pursuit behind you… but how far behind you can’t tell. At least they must be having as hard a time as you are negotiating this dense forest.

German Victory Conditions:
MMG, Mortar and x2 Panzer II exit over the bridge = Major Victory
Any 4 units over the bridge = Minor victory
Germans control the bridge at the end of the game, or have >1<4 units exited the table over the bridge = Draw

German player starts with 9 units and 15 order dice in the bag.

Download a pdf of this mission breifing here: germans

Russian Mission statement:

A German attack has just been scattered to the east, the remnants of their attacking force are pulling back through the forest to cross the river back to their own lines. they must not be allowed to escape. Two platoons of soviet infantry are racing to the crossing to close the trap. You must not allow any of the German units to cross the bridge. If you can hold them for long enough the counter attacking soviet division will catch up with them. You are the anvil upon which they will be broken…

Russian Victory Conditions:

Prevent any German units from crossing the bridge, and control the bridge at the end of the game = Major Victory
Destroy all german support units = Minor victory
Germans control the bridge at the end of the game, or have >1<4 units exited the table over the bridge = Draw

Soviet forces are split into two pools. Platoon 1: 5 units with 7 (brown) dice in the bag. Platoon 2: 5 units with 7 (red) dice in the bag

Soviet Special rules:

1x Black die in the orders bag. This represents a spotter from the pursuing soviet force getting sight on one of the escaping german units. A shot can be taken at any unit visible from any point on the eastern table edge. Counts as medium howitzer, with range measured along the line of sight from the table edge.
Soviet platoons use different coloured orders dice to represent lack of shared command control/radio.

Download a pdf of this mission breifing here: soviets

Map of the Ground layout:

Map of the Terrain

House rules:

Mission specific: Everything past the road is classed as forest, this forest gives no movement penalty to moving infantry (would slow the game too much), Vehicles move at -1D6″.
Dense Forest area is treated as impassible terrain, this is to show denser areas of woodland that neither vehicles or infantry will chance crossing while retreating at speed. These could be anything from rocky outcrops, escarpments, areas of marshland, densely populated tree type areas etc.
Extra order dice. These extra dice can, after a few turns turn the tide in favour of one army depending on how the dice come out of the bag. Once ALL units have been issued with an order die, ignore the next die to come out of the bag. After this one (i.e. the second spare of your colour) these will start to be permanently discarded. (for example, after all the germans units had been given an order, 3 more german dice were pulled out before the 2nd “dice of doom”, at the end of the turn, two of these dice are NOT returned to the bag with the rest)

Normal WCG’s house rules: The “Dice of doom!” two extra orders dice are put in the bag, the first one to be pulled out is the “warning” that the turn could end. The second dice of doom ends the turn at that point. This could mean that some units on the table do not get an order this turn.

Indirect fire weapons. We use a typical scatter dice (D6, with 4 arrows and two hits) and 2D6 to determine if an indirect fire weapon hits. The template is moved from the aiming point to whereever the scatter dice indicates. the shot is always resolved. It could land on nothing, it could land on your own men! (which can be a lesson in why “danger close” got it’s name!)

Moral: when a unit is reduced to one man, he flees the table. He’s not considered an effective fighting unit and takes no furthur part in the game.

The Game!

Germans vs soviets.

Everything starts off table, turn 1 everything can freely move onto the table as a normal move.

If turn 1 ends before all units come onto the table, remaining units must roll a leadership test to come on that turn.

the table

Turn 1:
15 German dice
14 soviet dice (7 brown, 7 red)
1 black dice
2 end of turn.
First dice Russian brown, infantry section run up the road
German dice, infantry section run on from rear (head right)
German, infantry section runs on from rear (head left)
Russian gun moves on and unlimbers
Black dice. One pin on first infantry unit, kills 3
Panzer 3 moves on to support second unit.
Soviet dice (red) infantry unit moves on from other side (my right)
Red soviet light mortar moves on (my right)
German panzer 3 supports infantry on right
3rd German infantry unit moves on to left
Brown soviets, infantry comes on (my left), aims at the freshest Germans, only the lmg can fire. Misses.
Red soviets, infantry squad runs on from my right into the woods

Red soviets, t26 moves on from right.
German infantry section moves on and goes right
First dice of doom
German HQ moves on up the middle near the wounded German unit
Red soviets infantry moves on from the right.
Brown soviet, light mortar moves on from left. Moves behind unit that fired, shoots at unit at far side of board. Hits. One pin. One casualty.
German 80mm mortar moves on
Brown soviets move on infantry on and into woods.
3 German dice come out (2 get tossed)

Turn 2:
German 80mm mortar fires, misses
German panzer 3 runs forward.
Red soviet infantry on right move toward the bridge.
Germans who got shot, advance, shoot at the advancing soviets. Kill 3
Black dice. Aims at mortar. Misses.
Germans on left advance and shoot. Kill one soviet and one pin
Germans on far right run.
Browns advance infantry shoot at infantry who just shot. Hit and kill one.
Mg 34 runs up to meet the panzer 3
Reds advance infantry and shoot running Germans, one pin one dead.
Browns, light mortar fires at same squad. Misses.
German squad moves forward, shoots at forward soviets. Causes one pin.
German HQ runs to support Germans on far right.
Panzer 3 goes on ambush.
Browns on far left side with 2 pins decide to shoot. Pass their order, 7s to hit. Gets one hit. Kills him.
Browns ambush gun.
First dice of doom
First spare German.
Reds light mortar fires at far right Germans. One pin. 3 kills!!
Browns ambush last infantry squad
Reds t26 goes on ambush
German dice (wasted)
Extra brown
Red last inf move, 7s to hit, kills one.
German
Red
End of turn

Turn 3:
Mg34 runs onto road
Panzer 3 advances, gets ambushed by gun. Misses. It shoots at squad. Misses. (Squad goes down)
Brown mortar fires, misses.
Reds on far right shoot HQ unit. They go down. One pin one dead
Panzer 3 advances 3 inches.
Browns shoot far back Germans, one hit. One kill.
Herman unit in middle advances shoot and kill one.
Browns, infantry go on ambush.
Germans advnc on left flank and shoot down reds. Kill one.
Reds light mortar misses everything
German mortar lays smoke.
Reds at far squad advance, shoot, 3 hits, no kills.
Germans on far side run past smoke
Divce of doom
German squad with 4 pins shoot. Pass order dice, miss the squad.
Black dice. Shoots mortar. Hits. One pin. One crewman dead.
Reds try and shoot mg34. Fail order dice.
Red
Brown
Red (lost)
End of turn

Turn 4:
Smoke
Far reds shoot HQ. Go down. Kills two. HQ fails moral. Gone.
Browns field gun shoots mg34, 2 pins, kills all of them.
Panzer 3 advances onto road, shoots field gun, kills one and one pin
Reds infantry shoot the hammered Germans. Now on 4 pins, one dead.
Browns, fire, fail moral. Go down.
Browns advance into smoke.
Panzer 3 advances. Kills 3 soviets!!
Browns light mortar direct hit. One pin, one kill.
Reds t26 advances. Slowly.
Reds light mortar fire at remaining lmg team. Direct hit. Kills all of them. Dice of doom
Black. Hits panzer 3. No damage, butv2 pins.
Germans in middle fire. One hit. One kill.
Soviets on far side advance round cover. Shoot, one pin.
Germans fire. 3 kills
Other German unit tries to charge. Fails.
End of turn.

Turn 5
“Newt: want to leave any down orders on?”
Rick: ‘down orders are for girls’
Smoke stays.
Panzer 3 fires. Splits 2 mmgs over the unit and the field gun. Pins the gun and kills three from the squad.
Brown light mortar advances, shoots, misses.
German unit fires, kills 3, fail moral.
Seconds German unit advances. Kills one from far squad, now on 3 pins.
Soviets run out the smoke. Charge the Germans. 3 Germans die. 5 soviets fall!! Passes moral, fall back
Dice of doom
End of turn

Turn 6
Smoke stays
Reds t26: moves 3 inches
Panzer 3 shoots field gun kills one, and kills all of them.
German squad runs into combat with light mortar and commander. Kills them all, loses one man. Consolidate into position next to the field gun.
Panzer 3 on right splits fire, kills 3 in far squad, they fail moral and run away. Shoots at far squad, killed 2.
Reds, lihjht mortar shoots squad, kills one and gives one pin.
Reds squad that just got shot by panzer 3 advances round cover and shoot at Germans in the woods. No hits.
Germans return fire. One hit. One pin. One dead.
Browns, field gun tries to fire at tank. Fails order. Down.
Browns, squad in smoke tries to rally. Fails. Down.
Reds infantry tries to fire. Fluffs it (double 6), friendly fire, turn round and shoots the light mortar, kills it!
German mortar runs
German squad runs
3 German dice
3 brown
Black dice – misses panzer 3
Double dice of doom

Turn 7
Smoke stays
Reds t26 advances and shoots the panzer 3, shoots, rolls a 1
Panzer 3 returns fire. Also rolls a 1
Germans charge field gun. Kills it
Germans on right fire at biggest squad, kill one
German squad gets to the bridge!
Mortar runs onto the road.
Reds small unit shoots squad on bridge, one pin.
Black dice. Hits panzer 3, one pin. No damage
Reds squad shoots Germans in the woods. Passes roll. One pin. No damage
2 brown dice
Reds commander advances
Panzer 3 advances, shoots infantry, kills one.
End of turn.

Turn 8
Smoke stays
Reds t26 hits the panzer 3! Penetrates! Gets 3 higher. Rolls a 2 and a 1. Ends up with 4 pins, imobilized.
Reds infantry try to attack. Fluff it! Friendly fire! Shoot the lmg team, kill 1, which forces off the remaining man.
Reds commander advances to shoot German unit with his pistol. Hits, pins but no kills.
Brown spare
German mortar runs over the bridge
German unit runs to bridge
Panzer 3 advances parallel to bridge shoots squad, wipes them out.
Germans try to run at the reds commander. Fluff it. Run directly away!! Dice of doom
Few dice cane out spare.
End of turn.

At the end of the game (ran out of time to play) the Germans held the bridge, and had three units on or near it, with a lot of the soviet forces destroyed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please feel comment below if you liked it.

Thanks for reading.

Chris