Firestorm: Battle for Minsk

Staff Campaign: The Battle for Minsk Mike Haught reporting... With the end of the campaign in sight we decided to hold off on assaulting Minsk until we could build up a few players for a big megabattle. The date was set and we had six players commit to the battle. The defenders of Minsk were: Andrew Haught, Wayne Turner and Kyran Henry (Commander of German Forces). Opposing them were Mike Haycock, myself and Chris Townley (Commander of Soviet Forces). Turn 4 Overview...

Field Reports: German Status Report - Generalfeldmarschall K. Henry ... Soviet Status Report - Marshal C. Townley ...

The battlefield was prepared the previous day. Historically, the fight for Minsk happened primarily on the outskirts of town as the Soviets attempted to encircle and then reduce the city. We decided to represent this manoeuvre by making the board a little more open, with a few buildings and with several important roads as well as a river bisecting the battlefield. We also deployed three objectives on the German side. The Soviet goal was to control any two of the German objectives to win. The Germans simply needed to hold off the Soviets for eight turns, provided they also controlled two objectives.

The supply situation was bad on both sides. In the previous week the Soviets managed to open a supply route, but a cunning German counterattack cut off the supplies again. Soviet advances north of Minsk cut the city off from German supplies as well. Both armies, it would appear, would be fighting without supply! This meant we had to roll on the Out of Supply chart to see what effect it was to have on our forces. We rolled once for each side. The Soviets rolled a 5, resulting in “No Effect” and the Germans rolled a 3, resulting in a reduction in points of 20%.

The German players deployed their fortifications (city fights get fortifications) and then manned the defences with their troops. Andrew’s Panzergrenadier company guarded the woods on the German right flank and Wayne’s Gebirgsjager took up the left. Kyran commanded the small Tiger and artillery element and set them up in the centre where he could support either force as needed.

Chris decided that a pincer movement was in order. Mike’s Tankovy deployed on the Soviet left and lined up against Andrew’s grenadiers. I deployed on the right and on the opposite side of the river to get my heavy Tankovy a bit closer. Chris deployed his Udarny with my IS-2s and took command of the full might of the Katyusha rocket battery.

There was no subtlety in the Soviet offensive at all. Once the game began the Soviets lurched forward, heedless of casualties. Mike’s Tankovy sped to the river and my IS-2s lumbered towards Wayne’s masterfully deployed defences. My main guns with heir ROF 1 couldn’t hit a thing versus Veterans, Gone-to-Ground and Concealed, to I popped the hatches and put down some .50” AAMG suppressing fire. The Germans reacted with artillery, Tigers and StuG assault guns. Andrew started the long process of whittling Mike’s tank horde down and Kyran decided to engage my IS-2 heavy tanks with the Tigers. They managed to inflict some damage on Mike’s T-34s.

The next few turns were largely the same as the first. Mike halted at the river and engaged in a long range duel with Andrew and Wayne’s StuGs. He managed to knock out Wayne’s assault guns, but Andrew’s fought on with a bit of luck and cunning manoeuvring. Unwilling or unable to assault Andrew’s “Thin White Line”, Mike held off for several turns attempting to clear Andrew’s anti-tank defences that simply refused to die.

On the other flank, the IS-2s crashed into the German lines, bouncing the first line of defence back into the second. The Tigers continued focusing on the IS-2s that mostly shrugged off their attempts. The Soviet tanks reached the main line of defence but paused as the infantry caught up. Once together they launched themselves into the line. Wayne’s cunning deployment anticipated where the line was going to be assaulted and he placed his command Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks accordingly. When the IS-2s launched their assault the hail of defensive fire killed one and bailed another. Fortunately, the Fearless tanks out lasted the mountain troops who retired from the assault. Chris’ infantry piled in next, forcing the line to break and Soviets poured into the German lines.

Meanwhile, German artillery was doing some damage. A 155mm bombardment broke up an IS-2 assault near the centre by killing the commander of the company. The battalion IS-2 had to rush over to appoint another commander to keep the attack moving. The remainder of the leaderless IS-2 company traded fire with the Tigers on the hill and managed to tag one as it failed to Stormtroop away to safety. The rest of the Tigers Stormtrooped away from the IS-2s but fell into the sights of Mike’s T-34/85 tanks. They got a few lucky shots in and managed to bail a few and kill another.

As the fight raged on the right, Andrew’s Panzergrenadiers started to feel left out, so they went on the attack. His StuG IV assault guns jumped a few hapless T-34s and destroyed several, including a company commander. Using cover, he pushed his line forward into the forests next to the river crossing. Mike immediately withdrew his T-34s, not wanting to get assaulted by infantry from the woods. The Tigers returned fire on Mike’s battered Tankovy, inflicting a vengeful amount of casualties. The assault had collapsed on that flank.

In the final turns, the IS-2s and Udarny mixed it up with the enemy infantry, causing the Gebirgsjager to crack and the well-planned defences to collapse. IS-2s poured over the hill previously used by the Tigers and inflicted some point-blank damage on the German heavy tanks. The line was broken and Soviet units were now threatening Andrew’s rear troops. Bolstered by these successes, Mike’s Tankovy gave one last concerted effort forward, forcing Andrew to decided to withdraw or face assaults on all fronts. He pulled back into his trenches and thought about his options.

The remnants of Wayne’s and Kyran’s battle groups struggled to reach Andrew’s last line of defence. However, by then it was quite clear that the Soviets were going to control two of the three objectives needed to win and the game was called. Minsk was successfully encircled and reduced.

We tallied up all the victory points on the campaign map to see who had won the campaign, and what sort of victory it was. In the end, the had Soviets won the staff campaign with a resounding Soviet Strategic Victory (Soviets: 380VP versus German 140VP)! The campaign was fierce and action-packed. Everyone got to play their favourite armies and we were rarely short on games each week. We all had fun, and we hope will too when your game club or store starts their own Firestorm—Bagration campaign! As with any campaign there are always lessons to be learned for the next time you organize and run a campaign. Chris and Kyran have shared a few thoughts on things they liked and things they would have done differently. We hope you will find our lessons learned helpful for your next campaign! Staff Campaign: Lessons Learned ...