Why Did the Germans Cross the Road? - One Hour Skirmish Wargames

This is game one of my Escaping an Encirclement OHSW campaign.

A ragtag unit of men, the survivors of various squads in his platoon, assembled under Feldwebel Frege and moved southward with the intention of crossing the road running east to west, and then advancing on the Russian village south-west of there.

Frege split his group and using the fields for cover, he would take the left with Husserl (the MG gunner), Heidegger (sniper) and Schopenhauer (rifle), to set up a base of fire to cover the remainder of the unit advancing under command of Unteroffizier Hegel to their right.

German setup on the North edge of the table.

Husserl reached the edge of the field first and spotted some Soviet scouts in the center woods. He opened fire with his MG but it was ineffectual as the scouts made excellent use of the cover the thick trees afforded them.

Heidegger had advanced to the edge as well and spotted a Soviet sniper in the copse of trees to the left. He fired and was fairly certain he had hit her. However, the Soviet scouts evened the score, felling Husserl with their return fire.

On the right, the Germans advanced their assault team under Hegel with Carnap and Schiller, each armed with grenades as well as their rifles, leading the way.

[Turn 1 ended with the draw of a Joker during Soviet defense to more shooting by the Germans.

The Soviet sniper recovered. 

Husserl (mg) drew a red card and was out - however, according the campaign rules, I'd have a chance to make an additional draw for him after the game was over to see if he was really KIA or not.  In addition, I decided that there's no way someone else wouldn't grap the MG-42. So i left him on the table with a "wounded" marker. And allowed that someone else could move into contact and take the gun (which would also count as a move action) ]

Germans have begun to move up. Heidegger the MG is out (red card) but is left so someone can pick up the MG..

Schopenhauer raced over and picked up the MG, and while he wrestled with that, Heidegger fired another shot at the Soviet sniper but missed.

[Turn 2 was short, Heidegger (sniper) draws three cards to shoot - because he is a rifle (1) + deadshot (2) and one of those was a Joker.

No one was downed so nothing really changed. 

I switched the tape with the names on it for Schopenhauer and Husserl and removed the Husserl labeled figure. Schopenhauer now had the MG.]

The German assault team advanced into the woods.

Assault team in woods.

The Soviets had begun to move in that direction as well and a firefight erupted. At the same time a sniper's duel was well underway on the German left / Soviet right.

The female Soviet sniper is one of my favorite figures.

The Soviets managed to knock Fichte out of the fight and a Soviet scout advanced into the woods to join the fray.

Battle in the woods.

However, Carnap and Schiller charged into close combat and brought down both the Soviet jr NCO and the scout.

German assault team rolls onward.

 The Soviet NCO unloaded his SMG into Schiller in revenge.

 [Here my notes are illegible and I didn't get any pictures of the Soviet NCO in action,  but turn 3 ended with Fichte down. He drew a black card and was back in it.

Somewhere in this turn or the next, the other Soviet scout was killed.

Schiller drew a red card and was out as well.]

A stalwart defender of the Motherland, the Soviet leader then charged Carnap in close combat and dropped him in place. He was then cut down by Schopenhauer's MG.

[Again, no pictures of the Soviet NCO. The turn ended and Carnap drew a red card]

[Turn 5, the Soviets had the high draw for initiative (Queen of Diamonds vs Queen of Clubs), but then drew a Joker for their phase points and the turn ended]

With the commissar's threats echoing in her head, retreat was not an option, and so the lone Soviet sniper kept to her task.

She brought down Schopenhauer (MG), but then Heidegger managed to gain the upper hand in their tete a tete, while the German assault team advanced into the woods on the southern edge of the table

Fichte finished off the sniper and with no Soviet patrol left, the Feldwebel ordered the men to tend to the wounded and then get moving before another patrol showed up.

End of Game.

Aftermath:

In the end, only Schiller was KIA, the rest returned to the fight (they drew black cards on their post-battle draw). His grenades were picked up and so i will assign them to another figure, but they won't have his Tough(2) ability.. Of course, that didn't save him, anyway.

The table is 3' x 3' and was sketched out in a notebook.. I liked the way it looked on paper, but as a game table it might not have been ideal.  For the next scenario, assuming the Germans encounter a patrol in the village, I may use a randomized layout.

To determine which of the Soviet patrols were encountered, I had my son choose a number out of a hat. I was elated it was a 2/3 point patrol but seeing as how I'm down a man now (Schiller), I may have been better off with a matched opponent, just to get that out of the way while I still have the soldiers to handle it.

Soviet Patrol 3

Army motivation:3		3
NCO	NCO - Leader(3), smg(2), tough(2)	10
Jr Nco	Jr Nco - Leader(1), smg(2)	4
Sniper	Deadshot(2) rifle	3
Scout 1	Scout(2), Rifle 1	3
Scout 2	Scout(2), Rifle 1	3

Finally, the campaign rules note that the games end at 6 turns (or until the Germans exit the table,or one of the armies breaks) but doesn't say what happens if a game just ends at turn 6 with no clear resolution. I'm thinking if the Germans break they have surrendered, but if they reach turn 6 with no clear victory, then I may have to dice for it or just have them move back along the campaign path and try the other route.