I played an enjoyable game of Iron Cross against Stuart from Great Escape Games this afternoon. Set somewhere on the Eastern Front in 1945, Stuart's Russian reinforced Rifle Brigade attacked my dug-in German company. We played the Capture scenario from the rulebook on my 8'x6' winter table. Stuart had 570 points on the table versus my 260 points. Neither of us had any models for Russian armour, so he borrowed some of my British Shermans and subbed them in as Russians (so ignore the vehicle insignia!) to reinforce his infantry.
I had also had the opportunity to try out the new Iron Cross tactical cards. In addition to the numerous decisions points, which are intrinsic to the mechanics of Iron Cross, the cards add a new dimension to how the game plays out. We both drew 7 cards from the deck, which we could then use at various points during the game to either enhance a particular situation, or play a card to thwart our opponent. I have added some photos of a handful of the cards in the AAR below to give a flavour of what the cards are like.
Here is the after action report...
I started the game with an HQ unit, three infantry platoons, a sniper team, a Marder II, a StuG III, a Pak40 and an HMG; all units were deployed using hidden markers during the first turn, plus some dummy markers. I don't know how many units that Stuart had, but it was a lot! He had a mixture of conscripts (lower point value) and experienced infantry, plus some "funnies" such as assault engineers and a flamethrower. Here's the view from my table edge; the little brown tokens are my hidden deployment markers.
In turn 1, Comrade McCorquodale advanced his first wave of infantry incautiously across a broad front. The opening shot of the battle was fired by the German sniper from the attic of the destroyed building on the German left flank, killing one member of the Russian HQ. This forced the Russian headquarters into an immediate retreat into the nearest stand of trees. Undeterred, the rest of the infantry pushed forwards. On the German right flank, an anti-tank gun, supported by infantry, deployed into cover in the grounds of the hotel.
The German sniper made a nuisance of himself for the remainder of the first turn putting down harassing fire onto the advancing Russian hordes. Towards the end of turn 1, a screening platoon of Germans moved forward into the rail yard and started to engage the nearest Russians. I managed to reactivate this unit several times and pour enough fire into the first wave of Stuart's infantry that they were wiped out. First blood to the Heer.
In retrospect, this was all part of Stuart's master plan: to exhaust my command tokens by soaking up my fire using his cheap conscripts, all the while moving inexorably forward.
The second turn continued to see a broad advance from the Russians. More units advanced into the centre of the battlefield using the cover of the sheds situated around the railhead.
Below is the right flank from the Russian viewpoint. There were originally four units of Russian infantry advancing upon this position, which was valiantly held for two turns by a single German platoon, with some supporting fire by the sniper, who remained undetected late into the game. I used up a lot of command tokens on Company Morale Tests to sustain this infantry unit, but with no other units actively deployed at this stage of the game, I wasn't too concerned about burning through my tokens.
As turn 3 progressed, I was forced to bring more units into the battle. A StuGIII was positioned further to the rear, but was able to give supporting fire to the beleaguered infantry on the front line. I also activated my reserves (a unit of infantry mounted on motorbikes) a lot earlier in the game than I had intended, which were needed to shore up my left flank, which was coming under sustained pressure. I had anticipated more action directed along the main road in the centre of the table, but this sector remained quiet until later on, so the 5 units positioned here had little do. That lack of pressure wasn't a problem because it allowed me to spend my command tokens on reactivating the single infantry unit to hold the left flank.
The motorcycle platoon raced into position and then dismounted in the trees to give themselves some cover.
Meanwhile, on the Russian's own left flank, the anti-tank gun and infantry moved forward into position to support the armour, which could be heard clanking somewhere to the rear of the battlefield.
Once the StuG had revealed its position, the Russians wasted no time in manouevring into position and firing AT rounds. It was at this point that Stuart played the first of his strategy cards ("Rapid Fire") to fire a couple of salvos at the StuG...with inevitable consequences.
This left me with a difficult choice: continue to burn through my command tokens to sustain the isolated infantry at the railhead or pull back under withering fire. With other sectors of the now "hotting up", I could not afford to waste precious tokens on keeping a single unit in the front line, so I had to withdraw towards the hard cover (and burning tank) to the rear. To protect the retreat, my HMG, which was positioned in the top floor of the ruined building in the centre of the battlefield, opened up on the Russians who started to swarm past the train depot.
The motorcycle platoon also moved forward towards the shed on the edge of the train yard, and into better cover, and helped cover the retreat by putting down some suppressing fire. Undeterred, the Russians swarmed over tracks, underneath the train and over the top of the flatcar. The German HMG rained down the lead, forcing a number of Russian units to a standstill before they pulled back into the safety behind the armoured train, before they were replaced by fresh units. Stuart kept up the pressure continually rotating, and resting (with a few judicious Company Morale Tests), the first and second wave of his attacking units.
As the game moved into turn 4, the anticipated Russian armour moved forward along the main road.
Waiting in ambush was a Marder II, which fired off several rounds before striking the leading Sherman. This only slowed the Russian advance slightly, as the next in line moved forward and returned fire, trading shots with the Marder. As the Russian armoured moved further forward, a Pak40 gained line of sight down the road and also opened up.
At this point, Stuart decided to play another tactical card and pulled out Tank Ace. Thinking that this would spell disaster for either my Marder or Pak40, I countered with the Intelligence card to negate the effect of Stuart's card.
Whilst the tank duel was taking place, I started to move infantry from my right flank to my left to attempt to stem the tide of red hordes flowing through the gap between the forest and the end of the train line. The Russians had been putting down a lot of intense fire, forcing me to keep falling back. The assault engineers, armed with body armour and sub-machine guns, were deadly in a close-up firefight, especially when strongly supported by several other units.
With both flanks under severe pressure, it was only a matter of time before the Germans suffered another casualty. The lead Sherman made short work of the lightly armoured Marder. The battle in the centre was infantry versus infantry, with some support on both sides by heavy machine guns (until the Russians put a couple of AT rounds into the building housing the German HMG).
With the Marder out of action, the Russian armour started up their engines and started to move forward until...
...an opportune use of a tactical card against the already maxed-out-on-morale-markers Sherman caused it to break down in a cloud of black smoke with the crew bailing out in panic.
Going into turn 5, Stuart won the initiative again and pressed forward his advantage using the assault engineers, with a flamethrower unit in support, to get stuck into my isolated left flank.
The experienced German commander instructed his veteran anti-tank gunners to keep laying down the fire on the advancing Russian armour, even whilst they were beginning to be threatened with the imminent arrival of the Ivans. A HEAT round punched through the turret of the advancing tanks brewing it up.
This late victory was in vain as the German left flank had started to completely collapse under the weight of sustained pressure.
One unit had occupied the house, killing the sniper team, and another unit had advanced to the hedge line which was concealing the Pak40 crew.
The Pak crew were soon dispatched and the German perimeter was contracting fast! The German command squad tried to place some suppressing fire from the top of the command post in the building at the centre of the battlefield, but it was too late.
Stuart played his "Pour it on 'em" card just to add insult to the many injuries suffered by the Heer.
The game ended at the start of turn 7, when the German commander surrendered. With most of his units destroyed, there was no way for the Germans to stem the tide.
So, another victory for Stuart. ;-) It was an enjoyable game, made more interesting by playing with the tactical cards, though to be honest, the cards that I drew form the pack weren't the best for playing as the defender in a Capture scenario, but that's the luck of the draw. Maybe next time?
