Tooth and Nail, 2013 World Boardgaming Championships Final Round AAR
Scott B
Tooth and Nail, 2013 World Boardgaming Championships Final Round AAR
Russian Player: Bill T
German Player: Scott B
‘Tooth and Nail’ takes us to the Yelnia Salient during August of 1941. We find the Germans denuded of Panzer support and fending off Zhukov's first sustained offensive. The salient held no purpose after the Moscow attack was postponed and was a continual source of German casualties. Guderian’s suggestion to Army Group & OKH that it be abandoned to save lives was turned down with the feeble comment ‘it is far more disadvantageous to the enemy than it is to us.’
‘Tooth and Nail’ and her sister ‘The Cost of Prestige’ are available at the Scenarios webpage, just scroll down the Scenario List to ‘SQLA webpage’ and its among them. Additionally, General Heinz Guderian’s book Panzer Leader offers several good maps and commentary on the overall situation.
This Scenario charges the Russians to occupy with a non-broken, non-berserk, melee free squad any six of nine victory hexes dotted across the board. They have a force of 24 squads, two leaders and four T-34s to accomplish this task. The Germans start with 3x leaders, 9x squads, 2x ATGs and are reinforced with a 9-1, 3x Assault Engineers toting FT and DCs plus a STG III and 2x armed Hts.
Strengths, Weaknesses and Rules
4x T-34 offer excellent mobility for passengers, LOS obstructions to open ground, and are moderately effective against infantry.
Russians only have two leaders to manage 24 squads, its 1941.
Russians must use 6 squads equalling twenty five percent of the OB to occupy the VC hexes which diminishes the number available for attack.
Germans have two Hts for possible counter-attacks.
German ATG guns are ineffective against the T-34’s Front. 50mm TK is 3/6/8 against Front/Side/Rear and 37mm TK is 2/3/4 against Front/Side/Rear.
German Artillery support is a single hex 50mm Company Mortar with 6 AF and no smoke.
Do Gun Shields protect through the Covered Arc (29.4) or the Target Facing (33.5)?
The Rulebook indicates +2 protection is received for shots that ‘cross the covered arc’ (48.2.) However, a little known Q&A changes this to Target Facing (COD 1st page 105 # 63.9)
Does a Bunker’s Covered Arc Defense Modification protect through the Covered Arc (56.1) or the Target Facing (33.5)?
The modifier applies to fire traced through the Covered Arc (29.4) and this wording agrees with fire from a bunker (56.3.)
Setup
The Germans decide to defend Victory Locations D2, G4, J1 and M1 as the woods provide excellent rout paths and force the Russians to travel far down the board to terrain with poor rout paths. Notice the 50mm ATG bunker is facing the German lines, allowing for a flank or rear shot against AFVs attempting PBF or blocking LOS to open ground (32.3, 32.7.) The Bunker’s ATG is also immune to overrun and offers NCA +5 protection against fire. The adjacent open ground hexes are covered by the 10-2/2x467/2xLMG and the second bunker’s 467/MMG.
The Russian player splits his forces and mounts a squad to each T-34.
Note all units are under entrenchment and bunker counters, they are shown above only for discussion.
Turns One and Two:
The first two turns are mostly positioning. The Russians advance to contact and damage from fire is minimal. Both sided attempt to entrench with only the Russians succeeding. Russians use AFVs to block LOS to open ground which allows infantry to move forward next turn.
Turn 3 and Russian Turn 4
The Russians have smoked the other bunker and try infiltrating the ATG bunker, its holding up the T-34s. They eventually get in and eliminate the crew in close combat. The cost was a few squads and valuable time.
A T-34 attempts to gain position on the arriving German reinforcements, overrunning the 37mm ATG to avoid a rear facing shot. The German 8-1/467 immobilize it on ‘5’ (‘4’ woods and ‘-1’ leader) and the crew fails their immobilization MC, abandoning the vehicle. Moderate losses are taken by the Russians.
Turns 4, 5 and 6
German turn 4 brings the reinforcements with a 9-1/838/DC supporting the STG and the rest deploying around the bunkers. The Half-tracks go hunting for infantry to overrun and live a short, glorious life as the T-34 put a quick end to them. The STG and T-34 engage in a long range gun duel over several turns before the dice decide in favor of the Germans. The 10-2 has advanced into the MMG bunker and makes short work of the Russians along the wall.
Despite all the set-back, the Russian has fought hard, advanced and finds himself in need of only one more Victory Location at the end of Russian Turn 6.
Turns 6 and 7
The Germans take advantage of their turn 6 to position for the eventual Russian assault on Victory Locations D2 and G4. The STG finds its way to cover one approach and the 838s the other. With the right side under control, Germans advance to the hedges and cover any movement across open ground. The brave Russians try firing to clear a path for the T-34 but it is stopped by an IM roll of ‘1,1’. The 9-1 and 2x447s find an untimely demise in another KIA from the STG. The Germans hold four Victory Locations for a win and First Place at the 2013 World Boardgaming Championships.
Conclusion
Bill T is the designer of ‘Tooth and Nail’ and we both have played this in the past therefore play was competent and neither made serious errors in deployment or execution. I think the reverse ATG Bunker offered the Russians a bit of a road bump and they spent valuable time and resources to neutralize it. However the biggest contributor to a German victory were the dice; German squads passed many 1MC and 2MC, the tank duel decided in their favor and no one ever immobilizes a tank on snakes once, never mind twice.
The scenario feels very 1941. The Russian’s must manage a hoard of squads with only two leaders and few support weapons. They have to huff it on foot the entire length of the board while the Germans have two Hts for mobility. The German ATGs are next to useless vs the T-34s’ frontal armor. The Germans must use the STG cautiously lest he be surrounded by 4 angry T-34s. Its a fun scenario and played with her sister ‘The Cost of Prestige’ offers a feel of what Yelnia in 1941 might have felt like.
References:
More WGA Scenarios designed by Bill
Squad Leader Tournament Scenarios
World Boardgaming Championship