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| The battlefield from the Russian side. |
After a bit of debate, myself and Ian took the Russians and Russ and Mark took the Italians. Ian and Mark were principally there to advise us novices and Ian (on our side) allowed my full scope for deployment and movement. Ian stated that the Russians were the weaker of the two sides and expected to lose (especially if caught in the open as the Italians would fight with +2 on a d6) so it was going to be tough.
The thing with Spearhead is that you have little tactical control - you act as a divisional commander so you mark on a map where you want to go and what you want to do and then set the wheels in motion. Until you spot or contact the enemy you cannot change orders and for some troops (like the Russians) this can only be acheived by rolling high on a d6. So its quite likely that opposing troops can pass by each other without being spotted or (as in our case) they move into direct contact immediatelty!
Looking at the battlefield I decided to hold three chunks of territory - two woods and a hill. In open ground I knew I'd get run over so I wanted to get under cover and shoot out at the enemy (and make myself hard to shoot at and get into close combat with as a result.
I therefore entrenched my First Battalion in the central wood (thereby automatically holding half the map), placing (with Ian's guidance) the mortars in the second wood but within command contact (not that it made much difference with some of my subsequent shooting!). Then I would move the other two battalions up when the need arose to claim the second wood (within 6" of the road) and the hill. All three were within easy contact of the other so I could move units (assuming I could make the dice roll to change orders) to support others if things looked sticky but each battalion was in a safe place if they couldn't make the order change.
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| The Russian 1st Battalion - entrenched in Ivan's Wood. The Italian gun and MG's can be seen between Mario's Hill and the road. |
The plan was therefore to let the Italians come on to me - let me shoot them up as much as possible and inflict damage and then move up the other units as required to hold the key wood.
The battle commences
The Italians had +1 on Initiative and so moved into range. Mark placed his heavy machine guns and Infantry gun near the road (and in sight of my troops) while his scout contacted the hill in front of the wood. We learned later that Mark and Russ expected me to go down the other side of the road (which I was originally thinking of!) and were looking to outflank me. As it was, they instead came right on in to where I had the bulk of my troops lying in wait.
Having come into view I was allowed to open up with the mortars. The fatal words 'You need anything but a 1' led to the inevitable 1 being thrown.
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| The 1st Squadron comes over the hill. Mark realises his gun is too exposed and moves it next turn. |
The Italians then came up and over the hill - as Ian commented "You've read their minds" - as they pretty much came in right where I wanted them to. But I could see his other unit going round the flank and so ordered my 3rd Battalion to occupy the hill before the Italian cavalry could get there and moved the 2nd Battalion into the second wood - thereby being in a position to cover the road and to provide support for the 1st Battalion.
It soon became apparent to Russ and Mark that they had to attack the entrenched position (Ivan's Wood) or lose the battle. But to do so meant running the gauntlet of mortar fire, MG's, the infantry gun and entrenched infantry - supported to the rear and on both flanks. A tall order.
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| 3rd Battalion beat the scout to Ivan's Hill as the 2nd Squadron round Mario's Hill |
So the Russians didn't move but continued to call down mortar fire (with a couple of suppressions caused but the Italians could easily remove these with anything more than a 1).
The Italians instead changed their orders to get stuck in (while the Russians jeered from their fox holes and essentially said 'Come and get us!').
Mark also recognised that his gun was in the wrong place - open to attack from mortar and MG fire - so he moved it back as soon as he could behind his hill (Mario's Hill). The mortars opened up at the receding dust cloud - but missed.
The 2nd Squadron moved around the back of Mario's Hill and the scout moved into contact with the troops on the hill. I opened up with everything to kill him before he could get word back as to our position - and got one hit from 6 dice (groan!) so he was merely suppressed.
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| Russians open up with everything - and suppress a horse. |
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| The Italian commanders - Mussolini making some grand strategic statement or other |
Given the importance of Ivan's Wood I decided to try for a change of order and got a 6! As a consequence the 2nd Battalion were ordered out of the wood to provide support for the beleagured 1st Battalion. It was a risky move (as Ian told me later) as they were all in the open but I felt the time was right. Ivan's Wood was the schwerpunkt of the battle and the place I needed to exert maxium force. Holding this position was key - if lost then I would lose more troops tryin to retake it - and be at a disadvantage.
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| The entire Italian force convere on Ivan's Wood - send reinforcements, comrade! |
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| The 2nd Battalion rush in at the nick of time - but the 1st seem to be holding their own. |
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| The 1st Squadron remnants take on the 2nd Battalion as the 2nd Squadron try again to break into Ivan's Wood |
So the 2nd swung in and broke into 2 flanking support units. And the extra firepower paid off. The next shooting phase saw the Italians lose another 2 units, 2 more suppressed and the infantry gun polished off another unit! Even worse, the Italians lost a close combat (Russ throwing another of his many 1's this game) and another Italian unit was lost - despite the Russian battalion being Green (i.e. garbage). They made the morale roll but the 1st squadron was decimated - essentially down to 1 unit. There was much swigging of vodka and talk of the Order of Lenin for the 1st Battalion commander.
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| The outcome - dead and suppressed Italians. Time for a change of tactics. |
This led to a change in tactics for the Italians (prompted by Ian suggesting that they didn't need to batter themselves againt the prepared positions). Another factor of Spearhead is that units can only shoot the way they are facing - and it takes time for units to move to face attacks from different flanks. So the mobility of the Italians could still be used to their advantage. They therefore bounced off Ivan's Wood (pursued by mortar fire) and decided to crack the lesser nut that was 3rd Battallion on Ivan's Hill.
As they moved in a mortar round caused a suppression and the 2nd Battalion placed themselves between Ivan's Wood and Ivan's Hill to act as a buffer to prevent the wood falling.
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| All quiet on the Northern Front. Where did they all go? |
The 2nd Squadron moved in looking for an easy victory. Russian shooting was poor though - as was the indirect fire on the Italian MG's (which had been moved to the top of Mario's Hill). Communication with the mortars was poor as they failed to shoot on a number of occasions.
As the Italians moved into the position for launching the charge the 3rd Battalion turned to face them. Then a mistake from the Italians - they won initiative but allowed the Russians to move first. This allowed me to align the Russian to meet the charge head on (otherwise it would have been in the flank and we wouldn't have got our shots in). As it was, the shooting suppresed one unit. However, in the close combat the Italians overran the MG but lost a base in combat with the Command base.
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| There they are - attacking Ivan's Hill |
It was here that I managed to throw another crappy number for the rating of the 3rd Battalion - they too were Green and so are fragile to the point of wafer-thin. The next Italian charge saw the brave Russian commander lost (we threw a 5 for a draw but the Italians being better quality won the combat as the Russians were Green. A higher status would have meant a win).
However the Russians passed a morale test and stayed in the fight - for now.
Just before the Italians mopped up the remnants of the 3rd Battalion, communicatiions with the mortar battery were finally established and (in conjunction with the infantry gun) brought down a rain of fire on the Italian MG's - throwin 3 6's on 3 d6! One unit wiped out and the other suppressed.
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| Finally the mortars and infantry gun get the correct firing solution - and plaster the Italian MG's. |
Meanwhile the 3rd Battalion killed another Italian unit and suppressed another (Russ managing to throw a succession of 1's and therefore failing to remove Suppression markers). But in the close combat another Russian unit was lost - despite rolling a 6 for combat!!! As a result the Russians routed away from the Italians - leaving them in charge of the hill but another couple of units down.
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| The Italians take Ivan's Hill - but are weakened as a result. They now face going through half of the 2nd Battalion and an MG before even getting near an unscathed Ivan's Wood. Good luck with that, Guiseppe! |
The remnants of the 3rd Battalion retired 6" (and would retire another 6") but they were still alive and able to fight again. Meanwhile, the Italians had only a few units left on the table - and although they held Ivan's Hill, they now had virtually no strength to try and take Ivan's Wood. Having failed with two squadrons, two units were not going to succeed and having now to fight through the 2nd Battalion before even contacting the wood, it was likely that the Italians would be gunned down before getting to grips with the enemy. This would then leave only the infantry gun and an MG on Mario's Hill to engage in a duel with 2 mortars, an MG and an infantry gun which were more likely to deal out punishment than take it.
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| Mortars get another ranging shot into the depleted Italians. |
Aftermath
I really enjoyed my first WW2 battle. Given that this was a relatively small skirmish compared to larger Spearhead battles (Tarawa is going to be fun, as will the fighting in the Bocage with tanks and aircraft) but it was a great introduction to the rules.
The key to victory was having a plan and sticking to it (as well as deciding to chuck in the 2nd Battalion when I did - that 6 was vital). The placement of the 1st battalion and having the other two in safe but supporting roles was key.
The Italians were unlucky on the dice rolls - but then so was I (rolling for two Green Battalions was awful, the mortars often didn't fire and I had a few bad shooting rolls as well). The Russians inability to change orders makes them tough to play - and Mark / Russ found out too late that the Italian mobility and ability to change orders could (and in Ian's view should) have led to a very different battle and probable outcome.
But it was Ivan's day today.