CSL Scenario #4: Hedgehog of Piepsk p.1

Classic Game, Classic Scenario = Classic Fun!

 

Having earned some gaming credits with my pal Ken, I chose to spend them on playing Scenario #4, "The Hedgehog of Piepsk" in preparation for upcoming classic Squad Leader [CSL] meets I'm organizing. We've played Scenarios #1 "The Guards Counterattack" and #2 "The Tractor Works" a few times, and skipped #3 "The Streets of Stalingrad" as I'm holding off on introducing armor for now.  #4 is another all-infantry scenario, with just a couple of new rules introduced - but they are doozies - Hidden Initial Placement [42] and Offboard Artillery [45]!

HiP boils down to you writing down all your troops, so there aren't even concealment markers on the board. They are revealed if they activate or if the enemy moves adjacent to them.

OA is the great equilizer, as stated in the rules.  A much smaller force with the right artillery can likely hold off an opponent on the defense.  On the attack, artillery can plaster known or likely enemy positions, mitigating threats before they even act.

Because I had been reading the rules, I took the Germans as they added OA to their forces, three 80mm mortar modules.  I brought my CSL stuff which I had cut and organized for the game, but Ken had dusted off his box and was largely ready when I got there, which was cool - we had some talk about how we acquired our replacement boxes [he sold his, I think, while mine were destroyed in a roof leak incident, along with most of my counters]. 

Not having played before, I tried to figure out two things that were most important in my mind - high ground for MG fire, and high ground for my observer to call in the arty.  With a bit of thinking, I identified the only level two woods hex on board 2 with a good view of the town and put the observer there using HiP.  Next, I identified and reminded us both that building N2-3 is the only 2-level building on the board. I put my HMG, 2 squads and the 9-2 leader there.  Uncertain about what else might happen, I figured I couldn't go wrong planting myself on the objectives, so I put the other three stacks of figs in the various stone buildings, figuring that the +3 will make up for a lot of bad dice and bad decisions on my part!

Ken divided his forces into two groups, one entering the East edge of board 3, the other onto board 4.  We had discussed the possibility that setup allowed Germans on the crest of Hill 522, and thought they could. Ken didn't want to walk directly into fire as soon as he entered the board, so too an oblique approach.

Boards from the North looking South, so East is on the left. Empty is intimidating!

Looking at the northern Soviet force, I realized that once he got into defilade behind the woods, it was mostly a concealed approach until just near N2! 16 squads would rip that area apart, so I had to start shooting immediately lest I lose the chance.

You can make out the red laser line showing the Line of Fire for my HMG.

But it is more obvious below.  I then rolled a '4' and KIA'd a stack. I thought it was 2, but remembered that MGs have no penetration firing to a lower elevation [2.8] so we put back that stack.  A lucky start for Jerry, either way!

Germans work on calling in arty. I overlooked the +2 to stay in radio contact, so lost it a few times when I shouldn't have - live and learn!  The threat was still viable. Sovs have no idea where my spotter is calling Fire from...

At midpoint, the northern Sovs have lost several squads and the force is down 30% or so. The main culprit being that as rusty players, Ken and I both like to move stacks around - it's more convenient and with a Leader is faster.  However, when you have 32 squads, spreading out seriously limits German capabilities. 

While it's not a complete solution to advancing under fire, it does help - I'll keep that in mind for next time.

The Southern Sovs have a concealed avenue of approach through trees and hills. They suffer few casualties and reach the South side of town relatively unscathed. Altho they run into a strongly defended stone building at R5-6, they discover a weak spot on the East edge of town, and start infiltrating from there!

This was met by a fortunate [and late] mortar barrage, which broke several squads in the Russian fire group U6-R9 that was putting heavy pressure on building R3-4.  At one point, it had 7-8 squads, and I was fortunate to break it into two groups by attacking the woods at T7 successfully, breaking it into two weaker shots.

On the North side, Sovs got 7-8 squads into buildings and are able to fire up to 20 factors against the Germans in S3-R3!  Both the N-building and S3 have to whittle these down while also trying to address the V3-T4 approach.

This was the high water mark of the Sov advance. They did get into the town, but they struggled to amass enough forces to get dangerous fire groups pounding on the Germans. I did lose some real estate, but didn't take enough casualties to seriously compromise my defense capabilities. Meanwhile, the Russians by Turn 8 were whittled down to less than 50% and it was spread around.

This was an interesting game - a great introduction to HiP and Arty. There was a lot learned by both of us, especially about really looking at line of sight and figuring out concealed avenues of approach that mitigate defensive fire power.

It is also a reminder to me that I have previously lost with the Germans when the Russians attack all spread out and I just can't shoot enough of them to prevent brutal advancing Fire and subsequent Close Combats. 

Working on some post-game analysis, I found two useful AARs for Scenario #4:

One is at BoardGameGeek: [click], the other a blog at Medium [click] by "ManoeuvreWarfare".  The latter has a nice diagram showing the likely avenues of approach for the Sovs. Ken used II and IV. I think III is the stronger than IV as it supports II closely. I seems unlikely as it is a long road march.

It was great to get thrown in and try out out. I think our game experience might have been a bit better if we'd done a bit of research. Unfortunately, the blogger fellow seems to have just done it as a plague thing in 2020, and there's not many posts.

The scenario was an interesting challenge for both sides, so I figured I better play it solo and see if I learned anything - which is the next post!