Second Kharkov Campaign - Scenario One

Once I finished the balka, I decided to go ahead and play the scenario. I had a great time with the scenario. The Germans are defending a balka and the Soviets are entering from the bottom.

The bottom of the picture shows the German part of the table with the jump off points after the patrol phase and the entrenchments that the Germans picked as support. The top part of the picture is the Soviet entry area. I added a few trees to give some character to an otherwise open table.

The Soviets had the higher force morale and went first. They brought on a squad into the trees. And managed to roll three sixes which ended the turn immediately. This neutralized the effect off the barrage that the Soviets had as support.

The Germans have a double move and deploy a squad to the entrenchments. The squad immediately opens fire on the Soviets in the trees. This squad would take so much punishment over the course of the game. They took seven killed and nine shock. They would deploy a senior leader to attempt to keep them functional. The squad became pinned multiple times.

The next unit deployed was a Matilda II by the Soviets. The Matilda II took one shot at the German squad in the entrenchments and missed. The Germans moved a squad into the trees at the top of the hill overlooking the Soviets. There they also opened fire on the beleaguered Soviet Squad.

this would be the only German squad to take any casualties. They would take one shock and one kill. The Russians then deployed two additional squads to attempt to put pressure on the Germans. Both of those squads ended up taking casualties. The first took two killed and the second five killed and one shock.

Then the Soviets moved their Matilda II forward. It sprinted forward and managed to bypass the German minefield. This caused some consternation for the Germans that had no anti-tank weapons at all. The German MG team from the first squad that was deployed fired repeatedly on the tank. They Germans deployed their last squad in the balka and also fired on the tank. Every time the tank with seven armor saved. On its next activation, it dashed off the table winning the scenario for the Soviets.

The Germans lost but gave the Soviets a serious kick in the teeth. I have worked on the next scenario and have the table set up. But I am lacking fences. I need a few more feet of the stuff. I did order some from Blotz so when that comes in, I will have another 46" of fences. That will work out well.

Finished Balka

A quick trip to Home Depot sorted out another pack of foam and some better cutting tools. It was pretty easy to finish it off.

Here is how I went about it. I started by trying a thin exercise mat. But there were only 3 pieces of it left. Not nearly enough.

That prompted the first trip to Home Depot. I picked up some insulation foam that was 14" x 48" x 1".

I laid this out over my base material (a thicker exercise mat) an drew out the shape of the hills and balka.

Then it was just the cutting to be done. The first layer was the hardest. One pack allowed me to do the first and most of the second layer. Another trip to Home Depot and another pack of foam with better blades allowed me to quickly knock out the rest of the cuts.

Once the cuts were done, I pinned the ground cloth in place. It came out rather well.

All in all, I am rather happy with the outcome. I managed to play through the game with an interesting outcome. More on that later.

Ukrainian Village

All of my Things From the Basement Buildings are now complete (chapel and well). I also finished off that Star Fort Miniatures Water Mill.

Things From the Basement has a few more items that I want to order. #1 - Their windmill. It looks great. #2 - Outhouses. I need many more. So far my village has to share a single one. I can see that being a health and safety issue that even the communists wouldn't go for. #3 - Their fence packs. this is my only complaint about TFTB. The fence packs do not have enough fences to be practical. I need a bunch of them. I plan on using theirs for interior fences for animal pens and the like. They are really nice but not enough.

Speaking of fences, I have ordered some 46" of fences from Blotz along with a pack of tombstones as I do not have a graveyard. In terms of terrain items that I need to do, I think I am done. I have a ruined Red Vectors village that is now glued together. It is a bit basic but should paint up well. They match their regular village pack and can be used to hot swap buildings as they take damage. So that is on the "want to do" next list. I also have 2 more tiny chicken coops from Things From the Basement. I also found some haystacks that I should paint up.

After that, it is laying out the terrain for the Second Kharkov campaign. I am starting with Scenario One. This is a big hill with a Balka (dry river bed - the Ukrainian version of a wadi I guess). To accomplish this, I had the idea of cutting up a thin exercise mat and layering it up. The problem was, someone had already chopped up the mat I intended to use. I want to blame someone else but no one else did.

Plan B involved Home Depot. I found some 14" x 48" x 1" foam sheets. it came in a pack of 6 of these for $15. I bought one pack (foolishly) and thought it would be enough. Well, it is not. I did the bottom of the hill and part of the second level. I need another pack. I should have that finished by Sunday.

The plan is to have a 1" thick exercise mat as the base. Then pin the hill structures to it. Then cover and pin a ground cloth to the under structure and decorate that. All in all, it should be workable.

Research Down Rabbit Holes

Near my house, there is an old family graveyard and the ruins of a chimney. I have driven by it a hundred times but the other day, I stopped and decided to take a look. There were two flat markers, a tombstone and an obelisk. Putting my head up to the bars of the fence, I found that the tombstone and obelisk were for the same individual. Noah Marion Harris - 10th Georgia Infantry. He died on May 22, 1862. That was interesting. On the tombstone he is listed as a Major and on the obelisk as a Colonel. Same date of death so that was odd.

Today, I decided to Google the guy and see what I can find on him. Other than he was dead and buried in Walton County, I could not find much. So I went on to look up his unit, the 10th Georgia Infantry. They were raised in 1861 and formed in Virginia. They participated in an action on the Black River on July 24th, 1861 and later in Williamsburg, VA in May 4th, 1862. But this was the closest battle I could find to the death of Col/Maj Harris. It is quite possible that if he was wounded at Williamsbug, he may have taken days to die.

So I started looking for any actions fought by the 10th Georgia in "The War of the Rebellion: AA Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies." This huge work is a fantastic resource to anyone interested in the American Civil War. While scrolling through things, a quote from General McClellan jumped off the page at me and I found it very funny. July 19, 1861, the general wrote a note to Colonel Townsend and had this to say about the actions of his subordinates in the West Virginia campaign.

"In Heaven's name give me some general officers who understand their profession. I give orders and find some who cannot execute them unless I stand by them. Unless I command every picket and lead every column I cannot be sure of success."

I was amused by this. Anyway, still looking for more info on the 10th GA. Who knows what I will dig up. I did find that a student wrote a history of the unit for their master's thesis. Will have to try to get a copy through interlibrary loan.

Progress on The Second Kharkov Campaign

I have finally finished the text and maps for my second Kharkov pint sized campaign book. I am ready to begin some serious work playtesting and getting editing done. I was so happy with it, I had to print it out and take a picture.

The cover will be replaced with some pictures. I am trying to decide if I like the fake Russian Font on the cover or not. I keep changing my mind about it. Any opinions out there?

I also got two more houses from Things From the Basement finished. One is a rather fancy house with a stone base and a tin roof. The picture came out much lighter than it actually is. The other is a smaller house with a thatched roof again. Very happy with how these turned out. I have since rusted up the tin roof some.

I have two more buildings to work on. The Things From the Basement Church and the Star Fort Miniatures water mill. I have thatched the roof of the water mill. Still waiting for the glue to dry on the thatch to continue on the roof. I need to prime both buildings and will take care of that today. I also have a things From the Basement Well. I will work on that today as well. Possibly by Sunday, I just might have everything painted that I need for the Second Kharkov Campaign.

What is frustrating is that I had some thin mats that i use for hills that go under my ground cloth. They have mostly disappeared. I can only find a couple of them. No idea what i did with them. Now I have to find plan B to accomplish the hills and Balkas that I need.

In unrelated news, the first Episode of LARD TV is out and they are playing a scenario from The Swamp Fox! I was really happy to see this and it is well worth the time investment. Check it out here.