O-Group, Spring 1946, Soviet Invasion, Part Two - Devon Wargames Group

[carojon]

One of the games run at this month's meeting of the Devon Wargames Group was a continuation of a fictitious post WWII Soviet Invasion of Western Europe using O-Group.



If you would like to know more then just follow the link to the club blog.

https://devonwargames.blogspot.com/2024/05/o-group-spring-1946-soviet-invasion-of.html

JJ

[CapnJim]

Hmm.  Interesting,  That does seem like an inordinate amount of firepower...

[jon_1066]

The simplest way to cure that is have each tank as a platoon.  Needs more orders and throws less dice.

[frank xerox]

A Lot of firepower! But then the Soviets picked the 122mm over the 100mm partly because of its HE effect.
Maybe a rule on ammunition supply? Not a lot of room for ammo in those things & those big rounds aren’t easy to load.

[freerangeegg]

The Soviet player would need to have and use a lot of order chits on that one unit to do all those actions in one turn.

[DCRBrown]

Three points here I think:

First - Soviet Breakthrough AFVs were specifically designed to put down significant amounts of HE. If you expose you infantry too soon then these Soviet beasts are going to reduce your platoon very quickly! Once spotted by these beasties your infantry need to MOVE!

Second - Use SMOKE! The Soviet HE factor will go from 12 dice to zero in one move!

Third - From the blog itself - "Heavy Artillery mission is only 8 dice the fire laid down is immense." Actually it's 8 dice per unit hit, so that could potentially be 16 dice, 24 dice or even 32 dice or perhaps even 40 dice depending on how many individual units are under the barrage - plus the additional shock or Retreat rule all for just 2 orders!

DB

[carlos marighela]

IS-3s aren't quite the scary beasts people imagine them to be. The early ones had significant mechanical problems and they were poorly constructed, the weld lines on the hull would crack of their own accord, even without the application of an anti-tank projectile. The mechanical problems weren't fixed until they underwent an upgrade program in the 1950s (IS-3M). They also have a fairly slow rate of fire, averaging around 2.5 to 3 rounds  of aimed fire per minute.

Contemplate a breakdown roll, a better than ordinary likelihood of penetration and give them a slow rate of fire.

[jon_1066]

A turn in O Group is roughly 15 minutes so 30-45 shots.  More realistic to have them run out of ammo.

[carlos marighela]

A turn in O Group is roughly 15 minutes so 30-45 shots.  More realistic to have them run out of ammo.

Well there's your second and discrete issue, they only carried 28 rounds so they would only get one turn of fire at that rate. Not that it's likely they would achieve it. The ammo was a separate charge and projectile, which were spread out across the interior. Appalling Soviet tank ergonomics will do the rest.

In short: mechanically unreliable, iffy armour, limited ammo and a slow rate of fire.

[jon_1066]

Just to revive this, according to Too Fat Lardies Big Chain of Command soviet heavy tanks were in platoons of 2.  So under O Group a platoon of IS-3s should be only a single section (since each tank model represents 2-3).