Bolt Action Stalingrad

 Last night, Lisa, Sam and Gord came over to play the next scenario in Lisa's ambitious Bolt Action Stalingrad campaign.  The game was Scenario 16 - Lyudnikov's Island, defence of the Barrikady Factory, November 1942.  Arthur (with support from Gord) commanded the Red Army forces defending the factory against a German assault commanded by Sam, and I led the other German force tasked with holding off Lisa's Soviet relief force.

Here's the table - Arthur's force defended the upper left, while Lisa's reinforcements came in from the right.

German Shtrafbattalion deploys.

German pioneers.

Brand new Soviet conscripts hunker down in a ruined house as the German Panzer III passes on the other side of the wall.

German pioneers advance.

Maxim gun covers the approaches to the Barrikady factory.

The surprisingly effective Red Army anti-tank rifle team.

Flame-throwing T-34 comes on the table.  This beast wiped out a squad of my infantry in a single blast!

These were the green Russian conscripts that wiped out my other squad of German regular infantry, also in the first turn.  The first turn for me was unnerving, as all my regular forces were wiped out, leaving only my 'specialists' (pioneers, MMG, infantry gun, 2 cm mortar and a Panzer III).  I thought I was done!

Big yellow turn counting die on the roof of the building.  Heavy action at the far end of the table, but I was focussed on stopping the Red Army reinforcements.

Pioneers hold off the Soviet attackers inside the ruined warehouse.  They lost their flamethrower with a particularly effective shot early in the game, making it yet another game where the poor fellow was taken out before getting a shot off!

Here is one of my heroes of the game: having previously taken out the T-34, the Pz  III is about to gun down the Soviet squad.

A Russian squad attempted to flank my defenders, but ended up pinned by my MMG team.

Fierce action in front of the Barrikady factory!

Having taken out the Soviet MMG and one of the infantry squad, the PzIII attacked into the building.  The die shows that the Soviet medium mortar has zeroed in on it, so it is getting ready to move out of the line of fire.

Fierce firefight between Soviet airborne SMG squad and the German pioneers.

Soviet veterans defeat the German pioneers in desperate hand to hand combat.

German MMG provides covering fire for the attack on the Barrikady factory.

PzIII burst through the warehouse and was ready to attack the pinned Soviet rifle squad, but the game ended before this plan could be enacted!

At game end, the firefight between the Soviets and Germans at the warehouse was still unresolved. The German medic had turned out to be surprisingly effective, cancelling several casualties caused by the Soviets.

At the Barrikady factory, the Soviet veterans still held the building.  The German panzer has been immobilised by the Soviet ATR.  This photo looks bad for the Soviets, but...

the panzer has exposed it's weaker flank armour to the ATR team!

The game came to an end at this point.  It was a very bloody game, with significant casualties on both sides.  Although the reinforcements failed to break through the German lines, the Red army was deemed to be the winners as the defenders had held on to the Barrikady.