River Of Heroes Battlereport Soviet Inzhenerno-Saperniy Batalon vs. IV. SS-Panzer Corps Kampfgruppe Wayne When Chris suggested it was time to play a battlereport for River Of Heroes I jumped at the opportunity to try out the new Engineer-Sapper Battalion. I’d designed the intelligence briefing for River Of Heroes, but during playtesting I’d been away on holiday (not great timing, but I had a wedding to go to in Australia), so I had only been involved in a couple games using them. These troops are tough, but expensive, so my force was relatively compact. As we were playing Encounter I decided to start with my Engineer-Sapper Companies on the table. Each one was positioned next to an objective with the view to advance on whichever flank looks most vulnerable as the game develops. The rest of the force was in reserve.

Inzhenerno-Saperniy Batalon Battalion HQ 60 points Combat Companies   Engineer-Sapper Company 3 Assault Sapper Platoons For the game I used two Maksim HMGs and two Pioneer Faustnika teams. 530 points Engineer-Sapper Company 2 Assault Sapper Platoons For the game I used two Maksim HMGs and two Pioneer Faustnika teams. 360 points Weapons Companes   Flame-thrower Company 2 Flame-thrower Sections 180 points Support Companies   Spetsnaz Platoon 1 Spetsnaz Squad 130 points Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company 3 ISU-122 with .50 cal AA MG for 375 points +15 points Guards Rocket Mortar Battalion 1 Rocket Mortar Platoon With 5 or more crew 85 points +10 points Total 1745 points

Chris Looking through River Of Heroes there are so many options I enjoyed using during the playtesting I found it hard to select a list. Wayne had already beaten me to the punch with the claim that since he wrote much of the Soviet lists he should get a chance to play them in the battle report. Looking through the SS lists I thought I could not go past the Sturmtigers for a bit of fun, so that meant I was taking a Totenkopf list.

After a bit of planning I settled on a Panzer heavy force with some Panzergrenadiers, Sturmtigers and recon in support. Seemed like a balanced list an assuming I played it sensibly I would be able to have a good crack at Wayne. The key word in that sentence was sensibly.

IV. SS-Panzer Corps Kampfgruppe Panzer HQ 2 Panzer IV H 215 points Combat Companies   Biermeyer’s 3. SS Panzer Platoon 5 Panzer IV H        325 points SS Panzer Platoon 3 Panther A 640 points SS Panzergrenadier Platoon 3 Panzergrenadier Squads          250 points Support Companies   Heavy Assault Howitzer Platoon 2 Sturmtigers 220 points SS-Armoured Car Platoon 2 Sd Kfz 231        90 points Total 1740 points

We opted to play an Encounter (and I secretly thought that my more mobile troops would benefit from this) and Wayne won the dice off to pick table sides, choosing the side with a small village.

Deployment Wayne chose to attach his flamethrowers out to both companies to ensure that they both had some extra punch. Opting to put both Engineer-Sapper companies on the table, he spread his full strength Engineer-Sapper Company through the village and small woods.

The smaller Engineer-Sapper Company deployed by the objective, behind a small wood. I chose to have my panthers on the table in case Wayne decided to use his ISU-122 assault guns and added the panzergrenadiers to my initial deployment. Of course this meant a few of my wonder weapons would not initially be on the table… But that would not be a problem, as I was not planning on doing anything rash…

Turn 1 Soviets (Wayne) The first task of my Engineer-Sapper Companies is to take up positions to the available cover. The smaller Engineer-Sapper Company moved into the wood directly in front of them to take advantage of the Concealment. The other, larger, Engineer-Sapper Company advance into the right-hand wood and the village and began taking up positions in the village houses. Now it was just a matter of waiting to see what the Germans will do…

Germans (Chris) Wayne was looking as though he was going to play very conservatively and wait until he got his Assault Guns on the table. I chose to push my Panthers forward to dominate the dead ground between the hill and forest.

My panzergrenadiers surged forward in an attempt to use their superior firepower to whittle down the sappers.  The half-tracks supporting the infantry managed to knock out two teams including the company command team of the smaller Engineer-Sapper Company with a few lucky shots. Fortunately for Wayne his battalion commander was on hand to take over.

Turn 2 Soviets (Wayne) The Engineer-Sapper companies continued to establish their positions in the left and right-hand woods as well as the village. By the end of their movement the smaller Engineer-Sapper Company had all of its teams in Concealment and the larger Engineer-Sapper Company had only a small number of teams left in the open at the back of the village. And the sappers wait…

Germans (Chris) Confident in the fact that Wayne would not get reinforcements (he is known far and wide for being continually stabbed in the back by his dice!) I decided to continue my aggressive streak. The panzergrenadiers pushed forward again to use their superior range and try to get Wayne out of the forest. The panthers also moved up to spray the woods, with the plan of doing a Stormtrooper move out of Assault range. The combined fire from both platoons managed to knock off 3 stands. I was beginning to regret my aggressive behaviour.

Turn 3 Soviets (Wayne) Turn 3 and my Delayed Reserves will start to arrive, I hope! I grabbed my single dice and tossed it on to the table. It was a 6 and that was a little unexpected. I choose to bring my Guards Assault Gun Company of ISU-122 assault guns on. I then have to roll another dice to see where they arrive (Scattered Reserves rule). Once again my luck held and they arrive on my left flank where the panthers are threatening my smaller Engineer-Sapper Company.

In my Movement Step I push the ISU-122 company right up the flank so them arrive 16”/40cm up my left flank then move another 8”/20cm to threaten the flanks of the panther tanks. The smaller Engineer-Sapper Company bravely advances out of the wood towards the panthers with Faustnika and Flame-thrower teams leading the way. The large Engineer-Sapper Company completes its consolidation into the wood and village. The ISU-122 assault gun then open fire on the panthers. One gets a flank shot and the other two fire on the panthers’ front armour. All three shoots hit their mark and two panthers are destroyed and the last in Bailed Out.

A Flame-thrower team from the small Engineer-Sapper Company fires at the command panther and bails it out. Now bailed out twice Chris is forced to take a Motivation test for the tank or its crew will retire from the field. He rolls a 2, so much for being Fearless! The Engineer-Sapper Company who had planned to Assault the panthers now stay where they are as their shooting was too successful and they don’t want to move too far away from the wood and its lush green protections.

Germans (Chris) Okay… that did not go according to my plan! I don’t think I have seen Wayne roll dice like that ever and definitely not at a time when it could be so decisive! Needless to say I failed to get any reserves and given the now desperate nature of the situation I decided to keep pushing my left flank in the hopes of putting Wayne under some pressure. I could not count on Reserves showing up, or even showing up on the correct flank so whilst I felt it was the risky option; it would also be the most fun.

The panzergrenadiers and 2iC (who had been lurking in the area) sprayed the forest on Wayne’s right with a hail of gunfire, hitting almost every stand in the trees. Other than pinning the platoon, they only managed to kill one stand! No guts, no glory, in we go for the assault. The sappers defensive fire killed one of the SS teams and a flurry of 1’s and 2’s on the dice meant that only 2 stands were hit and one of them managed to pass its 6+ save for having Body Armour. The Engineer- Sappers, after some additional motivation from the Battalion Commander surged back killing 4 stands, leaving the single remaining stand to retreat.

On the other flank the company commander fired a single shot at the ISU-122 assault guns (which of course bounced), and then did a Stormtrooper move behind the woods hoping that Wayne would fail to have another decent round of shooting.

Turn 4 Soviets (Wayne) With the Germans in retreat I thought I’d better finish him off before he could bring on some more troops from reserve. For my reserves I was back on form and nothing arrived. The smaller Engineer-Sapper Company bravely advance out of the wood pass the burning panthers. The ISU-122 moved around the small wood on my left where the German Company Command Panzer IV H tank had hidden.

On my right the large Engineer-Sapper Company advance from the wood and village towards the remnants of the Panzergrenadier Platoon and the accompanying 2iC Command Panzer IV H tank. This left them exposed in the open, but if things went well we had another wood in which to take cover. During the Shooting Step the ISU-122 assault guns fire on the German commanders tank. It is soon a smoking wreck and the Germans are left leaderless.

On the other flank the large Engineer-Sapper Company fired on the remnants of the Panzergrenadier Platoon and kill the last infantry, the Command SMG team. The four half-tracks are forces to take a Motivation test to hang around. The crews fail and quit the field of battle. Others teams of the Engineer-Sapper Company fire on the 2iC tank, but there is little they can really do. To complete the victory the large Engineer-Sapper Company assaults the 2iC Command Panzer IV H tank. Defensive Fire is not enough to halt the onslaught and four teams Assault the tank. The sappers bailout the tank and quickly capture the crew.

Germans (Chris) Yeah…. So much for that plan! At the beginning of my turn I’m forced to make a Company Morale check because I have lost over half my on-table platoons. However, because my Company Command team has been destroyed I automatically fail and the game is over.

Chris’s Post Match Comments They say a plan does not survive contact with the enemy, it also does not survive Wayne’s dice, or even being a bad plan right from the start! However Wayne did have a great idea, which was to base a couple of companies around the forces that did not arrive on the table in an attempt to let me win back some honour! So we will have round two up on the site in the next couple of weeks and this time I will let the impetuous Biermeyer lead my charge. Wayne’s Post Match Comments Well that went rather well. With the Delayed and Scattered Reserves I think the Encounter Mission can be a bit random. I had to big companies to put down to start, which were over 1/2 of my points, and of those off the table the ISU-122 were the most important in the context of the game and to get them in the very first Reserve turn really gave me some punch. Chris’s Panzergrenadier attack on the left right could of gone a lot better, but I still had confidence that the sappers, just by shear weight of numbers, had more staying power if it came to a prolonged Assault. The next game will be interesting.  P.S. It seems Chris may have cheated! He paid for a motorised SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon, but used a Gepanzerte SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon. Oh well, it didn't help him much.