Last weekend was the Joy of Six show in Sheffield. As regulars here will know, I was part of the Cold War Commanders team running two "Prague Summer 1948" games. This isn't much of a "report" as I was too busy to see much of the event.
I ended up umpiring the TacWWII game for Andy C and Ian and for a number of punters who stepped in to try the rules. Andy T and Neil played the CWC game, again making places available for punters to try out.
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| View of the two battlefields from the "CWC" end |
The situation across the two games was that a Soviet column was advancing from Wroclaw to Prague via Hradec Kralowe (the hometown of Škoda as it happens). Along the route they would pass through a chokepoint at Česke Skalice, where Andy and Neil's scenario saw Czechoslovak troops making a firm stand between hills and lakeside.
Further back up the road from Wroclaw, a collapsed bridge in the village of Kleny had caused a long traffic jam of Soviet supply vehicles and artillery. This was just the target for a Czechoslovak counterattack (shades of the Russians in Ukraine more recently).
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| View from the Soviet entry edge - Kleny in the distance. |
I was so busy running the game that I saw very little of Andy and Ian's game but fortunately Andy has an excellent report here.
The TacWWII game was a little slow at first. This was for a couple of reasons. Firstly Ian had never played the rules before and Andy only once many years ago. Secondly, the amount of space available to set up the game rather hypnotised me and I ended up spreading things out too much and starting the two armies off further apart then they needed to be.
The Soviet force consisted of a motor rifle battalion (in trucks with an attached company of T-44 tanks), a self-propelled gun regiment (realistically a small battalion-sized formation), and an artillery battalion. As a command challenge for Andy the last formation was part of the stalled column on the road and would only be released to Andy's command if requested via the proper (slow) channels or if the Czechoslovaks got too close.
The locals had a reduced-strength tank battalion in Cromwell IVs, a motor rifle battalion in OPp3Ns (you may know them as SdKfz 251/1s), an off-table artillery battalion, and some recce and light AA assets.
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| Soviet infantry advance on Vysokov, passing burning trucks destroyed in an earlier action |
Both sides had a low chance of getting air support. I should have increased the probability of aircraft appearing given the effort I'd put into acquiring suitable models!
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| A flight of Soviet Pe-2s attacks the Cromwells |
The TacWWII rules worked well enough that Andy and Ian plan to play some more at the Elton club and all the people who tried out the rules for a few die rolls went away with the link to skirmishcampaigns.com, where the rules will hopefully soon be hosted.
I didn't get to see much of the other games at the show and I came away not having bought anything from the traders (sorry guys). The day was not without cost, however, I got a £25 parking charge because I misread the small-print on the parking ticket dispenser at Sidney Street. Grrr!
I'd forgotten about the parking ticket! Damn! We had fun on the CWC table but with hindsight I think that the Soviet commander should have had a FAC too, as air support also played a minimal part. I was looking forward to seeing a PE2 dive bomber in action but alas we never got the chance.
ReplyDeleteI think your hindsight is correct Andy. In my initial design work on both scenarios I think I put too much emphasis on portraying the limits of Soviet-style command structures. I should have made the games more likely to include the fun stuff like aircraft.
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