Test game: Battlegroup rules by PSC

Test Battle: Battlegroup (Kursk supplement)

Ted and I gave the Battlegroup rules a test today (Sunday 27 January, 2019).  These W.W.II rules are designed for 15mm to 28m scale and to represent combat anywhere from the Squad  to the Company level on a scale of 1 to 1.  A good review and more details about the rules can be found here:
 https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/part-one-introduction-overview/

Our game was a meeting engagement set on the Eastern front in late 1942 near Stalingrad. We played on a 5' x 6' table, and each side had 500 points worth of equipment and troops.  Ted played the Soviets.

overview

overview looking down the road

The main objective was the 4 buildings in the town at the centre of the board.

One of the objectives.

The Forces involved:

 The Soviet  (501 points, break point 37, 5 officers)

1 HQ in GAZ jeep
1 platoon of 3  T-34/76
1 Battery of 3 SU-76s, 
1 battery of 2 SU-122,
1 platoon of infantry with supporting weapons
1 sniper. 

The Germans (500 points, break point 41, 5 officers)

1 HQ Panzer III J
1 platoon of 3 Panzer IV G
1 platoon of 3 StuG III F/8
1 Panzer grenadier platoon with light mortar

1 Recon platoon: 1 Sd.Kfz 250/10, 2 Sd.Kfz 222 AC

No artillery or aircraft were selected as this was our first game and we wanted to keep it simple.

Turn 1

Recon elements pre-deploy then advance followed by the main forces, with the Soviets moving first.

German Sd.KfZ 222

German recon elements

Soviet T-34/76 and SU-76 followed by SU-122 advance

Russian infantry moves up

German Panzer IV G and Stug III F cautiously advance with infantry

German recon elements take cover

German Sd.Kfz 222 moves to over.

Turn 2

Soviets advance take a long range pot shot that with no effect.

Soviet advance

German long range return fire, it misses.

 The light green marker signifies a  Panzer IVG reaction order (over-watch).

A Stug III fires and misses.

 Turn 3

 

German 222 armoured car is brewed up by a T-34.

A Panzer IV returns fire but misses.

Later turns.

Soviet infantry close assault a Stug III and are killed.

 The German Sd.Kfz 250/10 fires two rounds at the T-24 but misses due to poor rolls.

A T-34 returns fire at the Stug III  and misses.

SU-76 advances, fires on Stug III and misses

Soviet 45mm ATG covers the infantry as they advance.

The Sd.Kfz 222 fires on the Soviet 45mm gun but misses.  Russian mortar fire fails to damage the 222.

At this point we had to call the game, at this point it was a draw.

Conclusions

We were more concerned with learning the rules than finishing the game so we spent a fair bit of time on prep and trying out different aspects of the rules.   While it is too early to reach any final conclusions other than we want to try another game I did come away with some impressions.

1. I thought the tracking of ammunition would slow things down but it did not.  However it does make you carefully consider when you shoot, as some AFV don't carry a lot of ammunition, the Stug III  and Soviet SU-122 only has 4 rounds compared to a Panzer IV G with 10. (each round represents a salvo of shots in real life). 

2. I thought the observations roles for each vehicle would slow things down but once we got the hang of it it did not.

3. I liked the way the presence of officers influences the number of commands you can give.

4. The use of reaction orders allows pass through fire or call back fire.  Units can be left on over-watch  preventing the other side from racing from one area of cover to another and being safe from enemy fire as its "not their turn to shoot" (a big problem with FoW).

5. The morale rules seemed very seamless and did not slow the game. Negative results cost you break point chits (1-5 value)  and if you reach your limit then your morale is broken and it is game over.

6. I found that having to issue each tank or squad of troops individual order did slow the game, on one turn there were 17 orders (Soviet player rolled double 6).. No doubt this will take less time as we become more accustomed to the rules.  However this will likely limit the size of game that can be completed in 4 hours and this is my main concern with these rules so far.  I wish orders could be given by platoon, but such a change would likely mean a major re-write of the rules.

7. Stylistically this is a big hardcover book with lots of pretty pictures chatty text with over 70 pages of rules t that tends to be a bit too long winded for my taste.  This is much like many current rules such as Black Powder II.  While this does not mean there is anything wrong with the rules (so far I like them) but it can make it hard to find the exact rule you want quickly and make it more time consuming to learn the rules.  I prefer the more concise writing style of authors like Frank Chadwick or John Fernandez or Phil Barkers original W.W.II rules.  Thankfully the Facebook page has an index for the Battlegroup rules which helped immensely. 

We made some mistakes in the rules that we will learn from for the next game which we look forward to.