We had a great 10mm IABSM game at Strategikon of Athens last Sunday.

The story so far; somewhere in Ukraine during summer of 1944, a German infantry company reinforced by a couple of PaK 40s and 2-3 Panzerschreck teams, holds a strong defensive position trying to stop the advance of the Soviets. The troops in the defence were dug in and there was a 18″ barbed wire to be used by the Germans. The Soviets relied on the firepower of their tank company (3xT-34/85s and the 6xT-34/76s) plus a company of mechanized infantry.

Three players for the Germans and equal number of players for the Soviets commanded about a platoon each. I kept the umpire’s role for myself.

The battle began with the Soviets entered in masse of the eastern side of the table.

Soon, the German units placed inside the woods and over the hill NE of the hamlet spotted an infantry platoon and a T-34 section as well. At first, the Soviets tried to run over the hill but soon withdrew with a lot of casualties. Paris (our new member for the IABSM games) found out in a nasty way that the game is really, as the rulebook states, the other WWII game! The remnants of the platoon after the MG42s’ fire tried to take some cover, but the unit had already lost its fighting capability.

The Germans with most of their units entrenched did not suffer great loses.

The Soviets desperate for support were pinned down by heavy machine gun fire. An artillery barrage was an emergency for the Soviets but did not arrive on time! It was that moment when Kapitan Nikolai Tsygardev (Nick) brought up a section of T34/ 85s to “clean up” the hill.

While the 85s did the job assigned to them, some flashes appeared from the hill beside the hamlet. A section of Pak 40s began to fire at the T34s from their well-prepared positions.

he crew of the T34 (#202) shocked because of their tank been targeted tried to manoeuver but an engine failure left their tank vulnerable in place.

It was a great opportunity for Jurgen’s (George) Schreck team to blew it up!

eanwhile the german platoon on the NE hill had serious problems from the HE fire into the woods. But the Germans were lucky. The badly shocked Soviet platoon couldn’t have any chance to move towards the enemy positions. It was now time for the Germans to withdraw to another position.

The Soviet's unwise approach to the hamlet cost them lives. A tank section was knocked out from the AT fire of the German company. Soviets had no courage to continue their advance. They withdrew from the battlefield and waited for reinforcements (maybe in a replay of this particular game on another day).

Our guests had already seen what an excellent game this is. I think a couple of players “recruited” in the Lardies fans from Sunday and beyond!

Vaggelis