On Wednesday we played a WWII game of Jadepanzer featuring a Polish force's attempt to halt a German advance. Outnumbered, out gunned, out armored the Polish players thought this was going to be a daunting task. The thing they had going for them was position. The Poles could deploy their entire force in concealment and ambush which they did. The first line of defense was just behind the woods you see in the upper center of the picture above. The second line was in the town. The Germans key vulnerability was their fuel. They have five trucks that if destroyed would possibly leave an entire platoon of tanks out of the game. This weakness was what the Poles planned to exploit to the best of their ability. How did this work out? Read on.
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| The German Tank Column has Advanced into the First Ambush Zone. Polish Fire was Very Accurate, Scoring Numerous Hits, but Their Weak Armor Penetration Left Them with Only One Knocked out Panzer Which is Hidden Behind the Building. |
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| The German Response Was Serious and Devastating. They Knocked Out Four Polish Vehicles. Due to the Terrain, They are Unable to Bring Their Numbers to Bear, Which Prevented Even Further Losses. |
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| To Their Good Fortune, The Poles Cause a Catastrophic Kill to the Lead German Tank Nearest the Town. This Caused the First German Platoon to Rout Buying the Polish More Time. The Cost so far was Extremely High. The Poles Have Lost Three Full Platoons to the Germans One, But it was Here the Germans Made Their Crucial Mistake of Having Their Lead Elements Attacking the Ambush Rather Than Advancing and Letting Their Follow Up Forces Deal with it. |
As the Germans turned to attack the ambush they exposed their flanks to the Polish main armor waiting in ambush in the town. Capitalizing on this the Poles knocked out a number of the Panzer IIs. and at the same time the fuel trucks entered the board and that is when the Polish railroad tanks appeared. Of little use against the armor, they were a terror against the trucks and destroyed two of the five on the first attack.
The Germans response was to turn their Panzerjagers I and rear tanks to deal with them. They knocked out one and effectively suppressed the second. The Polish took this opportunity to send a platoon of their heavy machinegun tanks to attack both the remaining trucks and the exposed crew of the Panzerjager Is. All of the trucks and two of the three Panzerjager Is were destroyed. This made for a clear victory as the Poles still had about a third of their total forces intact, while the fuel crisses caused the loss of four additional German platoons.
We found a number of things needed to be tweaked. The range of the MGs needed to be seriously cut back. The system for MGs engaging the trucks and the exposed crew needed to be rethought to conform more to the standard rules. Terrain needed to be made clearer as all hills you see on the table are in fact representing very dense, impenetrable woods. Overall the game went smoothly and was fun for both sides to play.
