Into Bessarabia...

Bill Peeck stopped by last evening for a game of Combat Commander. I decided to pick the scenario and have the pieces ready before he stopped by. I thought it would be fun to play one I hadn't experienced before, so I settled on Scenario 15 from the Med expansion. This scenario has hordes of Romanians approaching a lightly held Russian village in Bessarabia (Moldova?), on the road to Moghilev. The Romanians have 20 squads (6 decent ones, 14 poor ones), 4 leaders, 2 medium machine guns (MMG), 3 light machine guns (LMG), and 1 light mortar. The Soviets are a mixed bunch, with a smattering of squads ranging from quite good (Guards rifles) to pretty poor (Militia), 2 leaders, 2 MMGs, and 2 LMGs. This scenario postulates that the Romanians are approaching the town without having properly scouted it, for it's July 7, 1941, and Barbarossa has been going on for 2 weeks -- the Soviets are reeling and the Axis armies are confident. Due to this, the Soviets can withhold up to 6 units and their weapons, popping them up on Turn 1 (game start is Turn 0) in any hex they could originally set up on (which is 80% of the board), as long as they're in cover (which means one of the many buildings or wood hexes). The Romanians can withhold units as well (I believe 8 is the max), entering them later as normal reinforcements. An interesting puzzle, beginning with the set-up!

And I almost forgot to mention victory points... There is an open objective that makes all 5 board objectives worth 3 points. We each picked a secret objective, and mine made objective 5 worth an additional 5 VPs -- this would drive my mid-game strategy, as I really felt I'd need to control objective 5 (right smack in the middle of the village!) to win the game.

Well, Bill arrived, with a six-pack of Sam Adams in tow, and we headed down to the game room, Cheyenne, with rawhide, following. He had played 3 times before, all scenarios that pitted Americans against Germans. I offered him choice of sides, and he took the Soviets. Bill utilized a forward set up, giving the 2 MMGs as many fire lanes as he could. Other squads were scattered across the board (up forward), ready to met the Romanians who had dared enter their soil... Bill did hold off 5 squads, a leader, and 2 LMGs, ready to "pop them up" where needed on Turn 1.

I withheld 7 Romanian squads, a leader, and 2 LMGs myself, opting to enter them on Turn 2, once I had a turn to see/deal with the hidden Ruskies. I opted to send in all 6 of my "good" squads at this time. For initial set up, I could hide 5 squads in the woods (along with both MMGs), give some a tiny bit of help in a wheat field, while leaving several guys out in the open (no choice -- damn Romanians needed to scout this situation a little better...).

Then we were off!

I began by moving 5 squads on my right flank toward the building cover. A forward Soviet MMG opened fire and hit my guys pretty hard with sustained fire. A couple squads made the building line, while 3 cowered broken among the shattered wheat stalks. I fired (mostly ineffectively) my MMGs on the left flank, trying to get the Soviets there out of the woods, but to no avail. Luckily, I was able to rally 2 of the 3 broken squads before Bill could take his turn. He did hit me back hard, killing my broken squad, and I was thinking this might be a short game. But the Romanian surrender level is 17, so I had a ways to go...

I was able to move into the buildings on my right flank, and push his defenders back (not to mention get some cover against the MMG). Having several "Move" cards, I decided to rush 3 squads and a leader across open terrain, to try and exit them. No MMGs could see them, behind the buildings, so I was able to get them off the board, as they only had to withstand a few shots from Russian squads. No problem! I did make the mistake of having a close combat (CC) with a "4" strength Romanian -- we both had "Ambush" cards, and not only did I lose the CC by rolling poorly, I lost the Initiative, as well. D'oh!!! This mistake allowed Bill to send one of his squads toward my board edge, when we had our first "Time" event.

Bill was then able to prop up his defenses with the hidden Ruskies, and he created a nice fire lane on my right flank, which would make it tough for me to make another end run. He also beefed up his center (where most of the objective hexes were), and only put 1 extra unit on my left flank, as a blaze over on that side of the board was limiting my options somewhat (it would spread into a huge, 6-hex fire shortly!). The VPs were firmly "Pro-Soviet," and I didn't have a right flank anymore!

Lady Luck was with me, though, as I had a sniper attack which broke the Soviet squad trying to edge off the board, then we had another quick "Time" event, which let me enter my reinforcements, plus my exited units, and I went to the Wheatfield (as much as I could) to try and kill the broken Ruskie. But Bill had an advance card, so he did exit...

The Soviets began to fall back toward the center of town, as my once again strong right flank advanced through the buildings, heading to the town center. My left flank did clear some weak Russian militia out of the woods, and I advanced a MMG up to a woods hex which had excellent fire zones. Of course, the first time it opened fire, it jammed, then a sniper check eliminated it. Good idea, poor Romanian execution...

We had several more time checks, and VPs remained around Soviet 10-12. An event drew an additional objective chit that made all 5 objectives worth an additional 2 points -- I really had to take as many as I could... By Turn 6 (7 is Sudden Death), I was able to make a big advance into CC, with 2 Ambush cards as well as a Light Wounds. We both ambushed each other (my light wounds helping me), and I took the BIG objective hex in the village center. I raced another squad toward the board edge to take another objective, and with 3 of the 5 under my control, and several dead Soviets, VPs edged into my column. At this point, Bill conceded, though, if I had been in his shoes, I would have continued -- if he was able to win a CC against me, things would have quickly turned around, for VPs were only at about 5 Romanian.

All in all, this scenario showed how hard it is to advance less than stellar troops into defended (even lightly) terrain. And even harder when most of the Romanian units can't even drop some smoke to screen their movements! I really enjoyed the attack here, as frustrating as it was using the Axis Minor deck. The differentiation this game makes, using unit values combined with the specific card decks is brilliant. I hadn't played for a few months, and I was able to get right back in, with a quick skim of the rules. I really love Combat Commander, and will certainly play it whenever given the chance. I really need to start experiencing it on Vassal...