Grumble Jones May Scenario GJ045-Panzer Grenadier Schule

For the May Grumble Jones scenario, I found inspiration in some YouTube clips about German Panzer Grenadier Training. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBThvkdzW00  

There are four parts of this interesting training film on YouTube. I personally recommend watching them. They seem very well done and the scenes with the Russians are equally well done. Overall, I found it to better than many movies I have seen over the years. I can certainly see how a young Grenadier would take away some useful lessons in how to operate in the field.

For the location of the scenario, I selected the events surrounding the early days of Operation Bagration. The 1944 time-frame fit the time-frame depicted on the training film as well. Naturally, this scenario is purely hypothetical and does not depict an actual event. Certainly, similar events most likely occurred as the German army fell back and tried to re-establish their main line of resistance. 

The scenario victory conditions perplexed me a bit. At first, I had it built around the Germans seizing the level 2 hills and eliminating the Soviet artillery observers and then moving to destroy the mortar sections. 

But this didn't gel with the oncoming Soviet Tank Force. So I thought about victory conditions built on the Soviet Player taking control of the trench line...but again, historically, the Soviets were attempting to push through the German lines and create encirclement opportunities. Therefore, the trench line would not be the focus other than having to get around it without suffering any significant losses. Because, once the Soviet armor was moving in the rear, the Germans in the trench line would be mission killed and mopped up by advancing Soviet infantry formations. 

So...I settled on exiting the board for the victory conditions. The Soviet Player has 6 movement phases to exit at least 30 Victory Points of the west edge. This is roughly 4-5 tanks and some change. So, the Soviet player has to move fast with the knowledge that a hidden German force is going to smack him hard from either or both flanks. 

This scenario is also an opportunity to field the Panzerjaeger IV. The challenge for the German player will be to effectively place these in a way that allows him the maximum opportunity for shooting at moving T-34's. 

So hopefully, this month's scenario captures the flavor of the training video and is fun for both the Soviet and German player.

I will apologize for the poorer quality of my counter images. This scenario was produced from my Quincy, IL hotel room and I don't access to my normal scanning/computer equipment. So photography had to be utilized and the lighting just bedeviled me all night. So again, my apologies in advance.

As always these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.

 

Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 

And as always, the PDF for this scenario can be downloaded from The ASL Scenario Archive 

(just search on Grumble Jones).