A little while ago I took some time off work and decided that I would revisit I Ain't Been Shot, Mum, as I have not played the game for a while. I also wanted to get some big German cats on the tabletop for the first time in ages. As good as Chain of Command is, the use of armour is quite low, but IABSM will allow for numerous vehicles. Also, I was playing this solo and controlling the Germans in an attack during the Kursk operations of 1943. I went with the scenario from the rule book: attack from a column.
Controlling the Germans meant that I deployed them on the tabletop immediately as there was no need for Blinds. Their forces consisted of 1 x Company HQ (2 x Big Men, 2 x MG34 teams), 2 x Platoons, (3 x 8 Man sections, 3 x Big Men), 1 x Platoon of Panthers (5 tanks), 1 x Platoon of Tigers (4 tanks), each with a Big Man.
The Soviets were deployed on Blinds, and consisted of 1 x Company HQ (2 x Big Men & 2 x Maxim MMG teams). 2 x Infantry Platoons (3 x 8 Man Sections & 3 x Big Men), 2 x 76mm AT Guns (attached to each Platoon), 1 x T-34 Platoon (3 tanks) & 1 x Big Man. I added two Blinds to the platoon Blinds for the Soviets and shuffled them all together. These were then laid out on the table in a reasonable defence position. I took the HQ Blind and a dummy, and shuffled these together separately and put these randomly towards the rear of the Soviet position so that the HQ wouldn't end up under the tracks of the German armour immediately.
In the first moves the Germans moved their Panthers forward, unfortunately one of them broke down. True to form for the Panthers at Kursk!
As they pushed forward they revealed one of the Soviet Platoons gathered around the edge of the village. The attached AT gun fired but caused no damage on the German tanks.
Meanwhile, the slower Tigers got moving forward, supported by a platoon of infantry.
It was taking a while to get the foot soldiers and the heavy tanks across the table, but they were slowly making progress.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were still duelling with the AT guns in the village.
Another Soviet Platoon appeared in the cornfields on the left flank of the village, with another AT gun, which began firing at the German armour.
On the other side of the village, three T-34s joined the defence.
German infantry attempted to flank the Soviet positions by heading down the train tracks.
Heavy fire was coming from the T-34s and the AT guns, so the Tiger commander moved his tank forward...
And BOOM! the 88mm gun shredded a Soviet tank! The vehicle exploded in a ball of flame and smoke!
Almost immediately a second T-34 was brewed up by a Panther and the third one damaged. The Soviet defence was getting battered!
At this point in the game the German advance had stalled slightly in the centre, but they were chewing up the Soviet tanks.
Then another T-34 blew up under fire from a Tiger! All the Soviet armour was out of action having barely fired a shot!
A Tiger was able to get forward and began laying fire down on the Soviet AT gun, whilst the German infantry fired on the Soviet infantry.
One AT gun was completely knocked out, whilst the second was abandoned due to loss of bottle of the crew. With the Soviets having no further anti-tank capabilities they decided to withdraw the remaining infantry off the table giving the Germans a win.
The attack had been incredibly successful, the Germans had lost about four casualties and a broken down Panther. I had added the AT guns thinking they may have balanced the Soviet defence up against the German tanks. I guess it was just bad dice rolls on the day! Using the blinds and having dummies works very well for solo IABSM, it adds a certain amount of unpredictability to the attack and makes you think about where to commit your forces. I also filmed this encounter and you can watch this AAR here:
Alex Sotheran