Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario J118 Elephants Unleashed

It's been a while since Dan Best and I were able to play back to back Saturdays...but fair winds prevailed and we were once again battling in the cardboard universe of ASL!!! It was my turn to pick and I felt like a Kursk scenario...and Elephants!!! You just don't get to play with the Elefants/Ferdinands enough. So when I saw the title to J118....well yeah....that's the one alright!!

Scenario J118 Elephants Unleashed (designed by Martin Svard) deals with the fighting on the Northern German pincer, which had Ponyri as its objective. The German forces engaged in the north were primarily Wehrmacht units. When most of us think of the Battle for Kursk, more often than not, we are thinking primarily of the fighting with the southern pincer. In the south the SS Panzer formations as well as the Grossdeutschland Division were engaged in some of the largest tank battles in history. The fighting in the north made about as much progress as the southern assault and with similar losses in men and material. It would be the presence of 90 German Ferdinands/Elefants, which would stand out in the northern assault. This would be the first use of such a large formation of these massive beasts. The Elefants would ultimately suffer heavy losses, but they would leave an indelible mark on the history of the Battle for Kursk.

After rolling for sides, Dan would be the attacking Germans and I the defending Russians.

ROAR shows this scenario with 48 German Wins and 49 Russian Wins, while the ASL Archive shows 4 German Wins to 11 Russian Wins. 

So, right off the bat, it would appear to me that this scenario was a bit Pro-Russian. We know historically that the Elefants fared poorly, but ASL and historical results don't always go hand in hand. 

The victory conditions called for the Germans to win immediately if they exited 22 or more VP off the south edge. But they could also win if at game end, they controlled 7 or more building/rubble hexes in the Russian set up zone, which was 6 hexes from 33N9. Now...long time readers of Grumble Jones will note that I have an "attention to detail" problem. It has plagued me in all aspects of my life...and it would bite me again as we began playing the scenario. You see...I stopped reading the victory conditions after seeing the "exit 22 VP" for the immediate win. So I would set up mines, etc. based on keeping Dan's Germans from exiting the board. So...it was not until the middle of Turn 1...that I would realize my error. Fortunately I realized it in time to recover...but it was another one of those embarrassing moments for me. So if you look at my initial setup and wonder to yourself..."What was he thinking?"...just know that I was in fact not thinking at all.

As the Germans, Dan would command elements of the 18th Panzer Division and 86th Infantry Division with Elefants from Schwere Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 654. Dan's force would consist of 2 x 8-3-8's, 3 x 4-6-8's and 4 x 4-6-7's led by a 9-1 and 2 x 8-1's, with an HMG and 2 x LMG's.  The armor support would consist of  1 x MKIV, 2 x MIII's, and 3 x Ferdinands with a 9-2 Armor Leader. 

Both the 18th Panzer Division and 86th Infantry Division would be disbanded before 1943 ended. Kursk would be the last major action for both formations.

The schwere Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 654 would suffer heavy losses at Kursk and in the immediate actions which followed. It would transfer it's remaining Ferdinands to the 653rd and be transferred to the Western Front, where it would fight during the Normandy Campaign with Jagdpanthers as it's principal combat vehicle.

As the defending Russians, I would command the men of the 81st Rifle Division, 275th Engineering Battalion, 27th Guards Tank Regiment and 14442nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment. My force would consist of 4 x 4-4-7's, 4 x 6-2-8's, led by a 9-1, 8-0 with an HMG, ATR, 2 x DC's, a Flamethrower and with 2 x Barb Wire counters, and 18 factors of mines, which I would exchange for 6 x AT Mines. My armor support would consist of 6 x T-34 M43's and 2 x SU-152's. Not too shabby on the armor side, but I was pretty sure I couldn't take on the Elefants in a frontal assault..

And now for Dan's Pre-Game Commentary:

This scenario has two different victory conditions.  First you can capture 7 of 8 victory buildings.  Or you can exit 22 EVP off the south edge as the Germans.  The Germans will need vehicles to complete either VC.  The elephants are each worth 8 EVP with crews and they are general invulnerable from attacks to their front armor.  The trick with the red movements is getting them off the board.  The Russians can exchange the AP mines for AT mines and get six factors.  These can be tank stoppers since tanks are always immobilized at a minimum by an AT mine attack.  

The attack plan is to keep open both VC options for as long as possible while avoiding the Russian set up area with elephants.  Because the Germans have few infantry they will need the tanks to support the clearing of the main building complex.  The 9-1 will lead a kill stack with the HMG and set up in the upper level of the building.  The shellhole mine clearing area will be used to clear an tank path to the main building complex for the tanks while the elephants provide over watch for the Russian tank counterattack.  Two elephants will go around the orchard and watch the open area of board 33.  Avoiding the AT mine area.  The third will attack with an engineer escort along the road on board 33 stopping just before the mines.  Then capture the buildings with infantry.  The vehicles will then engage the Russian tanks and win the tank battle then exit while the infantry capture the remaining buildings with the 9-1 kill stack closing from one flank and the engineers from another.  The Russian infantry reinforcements have very short range the Germans can out shoot them in the open ground.

The Russians set up in the center village with 4 x 4-4-7's, while the remainder of the Russian force enters on Turns 1 and 2 from the south. the 2 x SU-152 would enter last. My strategy in the beginning was to have my boys in the village occupy and delay the Germans for as long as possible, while I sent my reinforcements into position near the south board edge to prevent the Germans from exiting. Remember at this point, I still didn't realize that I couldn't let Dan just take all the buildings.

Per SSR the Germans get to drop a cluster of three shell holes which would eliminate any wire and/or mines in the selected hex. Fortunately for me, Dan didn't hit any of my mine locations.

Dan would send his Armor Schwerpunkt compete with Panzergrenadier Riders from the wheatfield in the northwest sector. A lone Elefant with and 8-3-8 would come down the central road. In the northeast, his 9-1 would have the HMG and an LMG with 2 x 4-6-8's and create the base of fire from a level one hex to support the attack. Their PREP Fire would break my 4-4-7 with the ATR. My first roll of the game would be a '12', which would reduce my 4-4-7 to a 2-2-6. Yippee...always a great way to start a game...NOT.

With no mine upfront and no other anti-tank weapons, I could only watch as Dan's tanks moved forward and adjacent to my boys. I did manage to break some riders and Dan broke a couple more as they were forced to bail due to turrets turning and MA's firing away. I did try a reaction CC attack on one of the German tanks, but failed my PAATC.

 Dan made great progress on Turn 1. My entire force in the village was nearly encircled and facing long odds against the German panzers.

In my part of Turn 1, I sent my 5 x T-34's forward with their riders to secure the remaining 3 building locations in my set up area and to set up a blocking effort on board 33 to hinder any early exits by the Germans. The good news was that the Ferdinands had only 8 MF and both had stopped. The bad news...they would be firing at my boys.

Turn 2, Dan's Elefants in the northwest would both fire, but fail to get any hits. The rest of his efforts would be focused on taking out my boys in the village. One of his MKIII's would get a KIA on my boys and set the building hex on fire. By game end the entire 4 hexes of that building would be burning.

As Turn 2 ended for the Germans, Dan had managed to get 6 building hexes. He would only need 1 more by game end to win. 

In my part of Turn 2, I moved with a purpose and would secure the remaining 3 building locations in my set up area. I also moved one SU-152 onto the level 1 hill along the south board edge, while the other moved to assist in defending the remaining building locations.

 Going into Turn 3, I had my boys positioned in the south to stop the exit. Meanwhile in Turn 2, I had managed to destroy the German MKIV. This would be a huge momentum shift for me in the game thus far.

 In Defensive Fire I would manage to take out one of the MIII's. But the Elefants were beginning to zero in on me.

Dan's Germans had taken out the first village and captured all my survivors...but I was in good position to hold on to the second village.

 Up until Turn 3, I had been relatively lucky. But now...Dan's Elefants would finally be heard from. His single Elefant in the villages would succeed in destroying two of my T-34's. And each kill from an Elefant would without fail create a burning wreck.

Show off...

 Back on the western sector, I would lose yet another T-34 to an Elefant. There was simply no way to survive any hits from the 88LL's.

 No, up until this point, Dan had not hit any of my mines...but in Turn 4, the single Elefant began to move up along the road.

And lo and behold...Dan's Elefant would hit a mine. I would roll a '12' on the effect roll, but according to the rules, the Elefant would still be immobilized. Another huge momentum shift towards the Russians. 

 It was a this point in the game that I sensed that Dan was beginning to explore the board exit strategy.  The armor battles in the villages had gone to the Russians and with my tanks in that location, it looked increasingly that Dan would have to go for the exit VP to win the game. So the remaining two Elefants began to move south.

The Elefant express was heading for the exits!!

 In the next Defensive Fire Phase, Dan's Elefants would knock out still more of my tanks including my SU-152 on the hill. My remaining SU-152 had moved out of the village to try and stop the Germans Elefants from exiting. Dan would intensive fire against it and MALF his MA. Little things like this would have big implications.

Turn 5 - Dan would send his armor forward. His last MKIII would move adjacent to my western T-34, while the two Elefants would trundle ahead. My SU-152 would get a side shot and destroy one of the Elefants.

Back on the eastern edge, Dan's 9-1 would make a desperate rush to head south. They wouldn't make it.

 As the game wound down, I would destroy the last MKIII, stop the 9-1 in the east, maintain control of the building locations and keep my SU-152 intact, when Dan's 8-3-8 missed it PAATC and didn't go into close combat with it.

After doing the necessary math, Dan conceded defeat as he didn't have the VP left to exit the board and didn't have the forces necessary to take the remaining buildings. My Russians had won by the skin of their teeth. What a game. Both Dan and I were mentally drained.

My Russians had managed to squeak out an improbable victory. There were many moments during this scenario that I was certain that Dan's forces would crush me outright. But little things kept my boys in the game and would ultimately swing the momentum once and for all to the Russians.

And now for Dan's Post-Game Commentary:

Everything went according to plan until the tank battle.  The 9-1 was able to zap the ATR squad and the tanks assaulted the buildings and infantry followed up to capture the broken Russians.  The Russians reinforcements moved into the other buildings and then things went wrong.  Two German tanks were killed with no answering kills by the Germans.  Then when the Germans started to kill Russian tanks, the mines struck, immobilizing the elephant with the 9-2 armored leader.  Good Russian use of tanks to slow movement and prevent attacking on the remaining buildings prevented pressure on both VC.  Then a second elephant broke its main gun on an intensive fire.  This led to the elephants being targets during the exit run and one being killed.  When the last tank went down it was game over as the Russians successfully held two buildings.  Well played by Scott and his Russians!  A fun scenario and good representation of the elephants in combat at Kursk.

As always, my thanks to Dan for another great Saturday of ASL. It was a great game that challenged us both from beginning to end.

Dan and I will return next Saturday for a playing of ASL Scenario 132 - Hill 253.5 Yep...right back to Kursk for a rematch....but this time, there will be OBA, Bombers, and brutal hill fighting on Board 2. I can't wait!!!

See you then!