Budapest Campaign - Hold the Ojtozi Pass

A while back I and my regular opponent decided to put some structure to our games and play through the Budapest campaign.  COVID delayed this but with relaxation of measures in the UK we got underway with the first scenario.  I've given Battle Chronicler a run out.

Scenario 1 - Ojtozi Pass.

Deployment.  The Soviet plan was simple.  Deploy my non-mounted troops in the village (the light howitzer is missing from the map but is just to the left of the Partisans) and use these troops to begin to pin the defenders.  Then, once some suppression was fixing the defence the mounted elements would rush the objective and go to ground.  If I could get the eight man veteran squad into the shell crater near the objective they ought to be hard to shift.  On the Hungarian side my opponent was seeking to conduct an encirclement with his reserves coming in on both sides of the table.

Turn 1.  Turn 1 saw initial firefights and the deployment of the defender's flanking forces. Both the Veteran Honved holding the bunker and the AT rifle engaged the Soviet Light Howitzer placing pins and killing a crew man. Return fire from the howitzer and the nearby Partisans was ineffective. On the Soviet left the Vet Honved on the hill used their LMG to kill a Conscript (Inexperienced Soviet Infantry). The squad failed its green check but only added two extra pins. The arrival of a Gebirgsjaeger squad on the Soviet left put more more pressure on the Conscripts although the mountain veterans fire was wide of the target. Steadied by the Soviet Platoon Commander the Conscripts passed their morale check but their fire was equally unimpressive. On the Soviet right the defenders put their flanking movement into action with the second Gebirgsjaeger squad and the Carpathian Border Guard squad with its flamethrower entering the field. The Border Guards ran for the village and just made it into the nearest house. The Soviets had the last pull of the order dice for the turn though, allowing the Vet Infantry held in the centre of the village to move to face the Border Guards and some highly optimistic SMG fire brought down one Hungarian.

This turn had a slight false start with the Soviets getting over-enthusiastic and bringing the mounted first wave piling onto the field before realising there was another turn to go...

Pinned down in the village the Soviets await their reinforcements.

Turn 2.  Turn 2 brought the arrival of the Soviet mechanised troops. However, things started with a bang as the Soviets drew first and the Vet Infantry in the centre of the village assaulted the newly arrived Border Guards and wiped them out (1-0). German shooting placed a pin on the partisans from the Gebirgsjaeger on the Soviet right with those on the Soviet left killing another Conscript. The Lt Howitzer took another pin from the Vet Honved and AT rifle. The Soviet Bren Carrier and White Scout Car (carrying 8x Vet SMG Inf) moved rapidly up the road halting in cover. The Tokarev rolled across country at the run to try and take the pressure off the conscripts in Turn 3.

Turn 3.  With the threat from the Hungarian Border Guards neutralised the Soviets consolidated in Turn 3 in preparation for the assault on the objective. The Axis defenders kept trying to chip away at the inexperienced partisans and conscripts with the Gebirgsjaegar killing one of each. The Veterans in the bunker and the AT rifle finished off the Soviet Lt Howitzer (1-1). In response the Tokarev and the Conscripts killed one of the Western mountain troops and stacked up two pins. Exploiting the dice pull advantage of having more dice the Soviet player held the first assault by his mechanised troops to the end of the turn. But, in readiness, the Hungarian AT Rifle placed himself into ambush as did the Veteran Honved in the bunker - ready to engage the Soviet advance. Sure enough the end of the turn brought the assault roaring down the road. The White Scout Car shrugged off the fire of Honved's small arms and rushed straight to the objective. The AT rifle missed the speeding transport as well.

The Conscripts boldly advance to close with the Gerbirgsjaeger supported by the Tokarev.  In the centre the light howitzer succumbs to the attention of the Veteran Honved.

The Soviet mechanised units form up in the village while the Partisans make a fairly inept attempt to provide covering fire.  From here the White Scout Car with its eight veterans on board makes a dash for the objective.

Turn 4.  Turn 4 saw the assault get serious. With the first pull of the dice the five man Veteran SMG squad mounted up on the Bren Carrier ready to move up in armour. On the left flank the Western Gebirgsjaeger put another pin on the partisans but were unable to keep them from responding by advancing on their position killing another. The squad was finally overwhelmed by the whirlwind of fire from the Tokarev (2-1 to the Soviets). The Soviet Lt chose to skulk in cover rather than expose himself following the Conscripts out into the open. The veteran Honved on the hill engage the Conscripts but their poor shooting continued and no significant damage was done. The Bren Carrier advanced more slowly bringing the smaller Veteran squad to a position from which they could try and clear out the Hungarian Pl Comd's team. Mindfully of the empty transport rule and the amount of fire the 8-man veteran squad was starting to receive the White Scout car backed up while unsuccessfully trying to engage the Honved in the bunker.

The Veterans near the objective start to take a hammering and the Soviets try to get more bodies onto the objective as the Bren Carrier brings the small veteran squad forward to assist.

Turn 5.  Turn 5 found a tension between both sides trying to keep posession of the objective while seeking to increase the number of squad kills they had under their belts. For the Hungarians and Germans this saw them pouring fire at the Veteran squad which was too large to take effective cover in the shell crater near the objective with both the Eastern Gerbirgsjaeger and Veterans in the bunker engaging them. Seeing the way the wind was blowing and being within 3" of the objectives the squad went down immediately. Despite this they lost three of their number and were heavily pinned. With the smaller Soviet Veteran squad bearing down on him the Hungarian Lt made a break for the rocky ground to the East but lost one of his runners to SMG fire. The Partisans were relieved at no longer being the focus of the Gebirgsjaeger's fire but failed to exploit this relief by achieving any retribution placing a single pin. In the West the Veteran Honved on the hill tried to take out the Tokarev with their LMG but only achieved a pin. This glass cannon supported by the Conscripts returned fire but only achieved pins on the Veterans. Both the Bren Carrier and the White Scout Car pulled back to the village.

Turn 6.  Crunch time as both sides try to maximise their victory points for squad destruction and dominate the objective. The Soviets through bodies onto the objective with the Partisans running to mount up and park on the objective. The Soviet Lt followed suit and jumped in the Bren Carrier to run up behind the Scout Car although he could not reach close enough to capture it this turn he would provide a back up option if the game ran into the seventh turn. For now the White and its Partisan crew would win the objective for the Soviets unless the defenders could root them out. The exchanges of fire between the Tokarev, Conscripts and Veteran Honved on the hill continued with the Tokarev taking a pin but surviving LMG fire. Yet again despite unleashing four MMGs and the Conscripts rifles the Veteran held with only a single casualty. On the East flank the 2Lt and Gebirgsjaegar failed to wipe out the small Veteran squad on the road which in return failed its order test and stayed down as did the reduced veteran squad near the objective. The final pull of the turn went to the defenders and Veteran Honved in the bunker. With the objective in Soviet hands the defenders knew they had to take the White Scout car down in order to contest the objective. The Honved assaulted the transport leading the plucky partisans to bail out in defence. Five Hungarian veterans against the six surviving inexperienced Partisans with odds the firmly in the Hungarian favour. In a heroic combat the Partisans dug deep killing all five veterans and losing five of their own number. At the end of Turn 6 a single Partisan was left in possession of his relieved Scout Car and the Soviets had the objective.

The Soviets hurl all available men onto the objective with the White Scout Car bringing up the partisans and Bren Carrier bringing up the Soviet Platoon Commander.  The Veteran Honved pile out the bunker to assault the Scout Car whose Partisan passenger de-bus to defend.

 

Challenging the laws of probability the six inexperienced Partisans best the Veteran Honved to clinch the game for the Soviets.

The dust settles.  This was a cracking scrap.  The scenario worked really well and was thoroughly enjoyable.  It could have gone either way and only some true heroics from the Soviet Partisans delivered the objective and the win to the Soviets.  Had they failed not only would the objective have been contested but the Axis would have racked up the kill points to win the game.

Next up: Into the Valley of Death...