Last stand before Bashyna

A return to "I A'int Been Shot Mum".  This is the last battle in the "Bashyna or Bust" campaign by the Too Fat Lardies. The Germans have dug in on the road to Bashyna in an effort to stop the rot. 

As some of our club members wished to try out IABSM, I thought this scenario would be a good introduction. Bob and Mike played the part of the Germans with Steve C and Allan taking on the role of the Soviet commanders.

This is the direction the Soviets will be coming from. They have to approach by means of the straight road before deploying. 

This the view from the German end. They are dug in and hidden ready to receive the Soviet attack.

The game starts with a Soviet long range artillery "Super Stonk" covering a 24" square area.

Some German units were under this and casualties taken but not as bad as it could have been partly because two units are in fact "dummies" not actual - part of the subterfuge in IABSM !

With this over, heads pop up and here we see two German PaKs and tows waiting for targets

The crews seem to have got over the heavy bombardment !

Now the Soviets arrive on "Blinds" which have to be spotted to uncloak them - one or two have been as can be seen in this picture.

The Germans manage to get their mortars zoned in on these unfortunates.

and the gunners too in the absence of any armour to target

Did I say armour ? Here it comes (T34s having to represent IS-IIs in this case)

So the mortars & artillery target them too causing some damage and reducing their effectiveness.

and one PaK gets a line of sight on a tank too

The forward German infantry unit (which had taken some casualties during the Super Stonk) now come off Blinds and shoot down the road at the on-coming Soviet infantry

The Soviet tanks try to get to the tree line to get away from the enemy anti-tank guns.

Soviet infantry are unable to get under way due to the incessant mortaring and off-table artillery being rained down on them, causing casualties and shock too.

A Soviet sniper team manage to sneak into position ready to strike the foremost Germans.

As Soviet machine gunners drag their pieces into position amongst the trees.

The sniper is good - a kill straight away plus two shocks and the unit is pinned down.

Another German unit opens fire from the corn fields against advancing Soviet infantry

Their fire also serves to blunt the enemy advance.

Apart from two tanks and a sniper unit, the Soviets have not been able to make any progress due to the weight of fire against them.

The bogged down Russian commanders felt that they were getting nowhere and decided to call it a day, opting to withdraw rather than take any more punishment.

The well co-ordinated German defence had held the line and prevented the Soviets taking Bashyna, just down the road from here.

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We were quite rusty with the rules not having played them for some time and trying to remember how the indirect fire works was a challenge.  Probably not an impressive start for Mike, Allan and Bob as Steve Clarke and I really like IABSM.

Must have another go soon to persuade them they are onto a good thing !