Scenario: Black Brigade at Wysoka 9/39

[Brian61]

This is a small scenario designed to be played as Poland vs the computer as Germany. Its a short (length 27) delay/advance on a 40x60 map. Polish forces are a reinforced infantry company of the 10th Motorized Brigade (Black Brigade), German forces are a battalion sized kampfgruppe drawn from the 2nd Panzer Division.

Play note: the first few turns as Poland vs the computer should be uneventful so you have time to move units around to taste.

This is a semi-historical scenario. The larger battle is historical, the forces are historical, the map... well I cut and pasted part of a stock poland map and modified it a bit. The small segment of the larger battle represented by the scenario is towards the end of the Battle of Jordanow just hours prior to the arrival of the armoured train used to cover the Polish retreat.

I'm intending to use this scenario as the first scenario in a short user campaign covering some of the battles of the Black Brigade during September 1939. I'd appreciate feedback on the difficulty level and, of course, any bugs or errors. In my tests I've managed to get a marginal victory.

There really isn't alot of detailed information about the Black Brigade's TOE in certain specifics. My main sources for my portrayal are: http://niehorster.orbat.com/029_pola.../brig-mot.html and http://niehorster.orbat.com/029_pola...ns/co-inf.html. I added a fourth squad to each of the infantry platoons and changed the first three squads to the type having a BAR with the last squad being the type with 46mm mortar and ATR. Thanks to the latest update the standard Polish truck can now carry a 19 man squad so the provided truck platoon is able to move a reserve platoon around as needed

Hope this is of interest,
Brian

PS: the scenario files are in the attached zip, it is scenario 600.

[wulfir]

Very good, scenario - just played it through!

Originally Posted by Brian61

There really isn't alot of detailed information about the Black Brigade's TOE in certain specifics. My main sources for my portrayal are:

I did some research on Wysoka back in 2006. Posted some questions at Axis History Forum, here's a link:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...?f=55&t=108963

AHF is a useful place if you are looking for details - Polish members at that site probably have acess to better sources not yet translated to English etc...

[DRG]

Turn 17
Polish Decisive Victory 2015 / 155


HERO! Sgt Koszutsky and his 37mm AT gun crew with 8 Panzer kills

"Kapitan Kolasa knew he was in serious trouble when three Polish Tanks and a MC team were hunting his mortars and HQ while most of his Panzers burned and he had failed to even get close to the Railway line"


I agree with Ulf. Very good scenario. I like them that size.

Don

[Brian61]

Did either of you get any pressure at all in the north? I'm thinking perhaps along with minor error fixes (date/ATG transport vehicle type/support battery type) perhaps I should speed up the entry of the panzers a touch while routing the first one along a northern route. It sounds like the difficulty level is about where it should be so I'm hesitant to change much.

I'm going to follow up on Wulfir's lead and run a couple questions past the AH forum, though mostly for the followup scenarios. From Wulfir's 2006 AH thread it doesn't seem I'm too far off on general 'feel' although I did spot two errors in my scenario, the battle date should be September 2nd not 3rd and I probably should've used the 100mm battery instead of the 75mm.

At present I'm planning for this to be the first battle in a 6 to 8 battle long campaign covering the Black Brigade's journey from September 2nd through September 19th. This scenario will be the gateway 'steering' battle leading to (someday) hard/medium/easy versions of the following battles.

Thanks for the reviews,
Brian

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Brian61

Did either of you get any pressure at all in the north?

Yes, sort of - the AI pushed forward hard against the area defended by the 37mm AT/G platoon., but did not make it across the road (I did not move those 37mm guns more than a hex or two).

Although it made me a little nervous because I had blasted away all the AP from the gun tanks leaving me reliant on those very 37mm's...

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

Originally Posted by wulfir

Yes, sort of - the AI pushed forward hard against the area defended by the 37mm AT/G platoon., but did not make it across the road (I did not move those 37mm guns more than a hex or two).

Although it made me a little nervous because I had blasted away all the AP from the gun tanks leaving me reliant on those very 37mm's...

With your last line, i hid my tanks until i sppoted some armor, then i moved them in to draw fire and have my 37mm's to deal them some punishment, the tanks guns are useless at the range they engage enemy anyway... but the MG ones proved helpful in holding the lower flank for a little more, but my own arty misfired and broke my defense still got a marginal, shoulda have retreated into the railway using the tanks as cover

Perfect sized scen, i freak out trying to manage anything more than a battalion

[Brian61]

Thanks for the feedback

It is sounding like I should just fix the errors and leave the rest alone. In my tests, despite knowing what to expect I still got marginals two out of three times. Return fire from an angry Panzer IIc isn't fun at eight hexes when it hits the ATG! I'd also forgotten how fragile those Vickers tanks are. Don's results seem to indicate an aggressive approach works best.

I'm working on the next one in the series now, not sure how it will turn out with me doing a custom map and it being an ambush scenario. Just got an early decisive in my first test of it so more work needed!

Thanks again,
Brian

[DRG]

I had no pressure in the north and by the end had started to shift some of my northern infantry units onto the German Flank. In my case many units were repositioned right away thought not far from their original location with the exception of one AT gun I loaded onto a truck and brought into town thought it never lived up the potential of Sgt Koszutsky and his crew. I also shifted and concentrated all my armour along the south edge which gave me lot's of flank hits. All those armoured cars just increased my tank crews morale. All died within two turns of showing up

It ( always ) helps to be lucky like the first shot from a Vickers E Mk.B that immobilized a Pz II from 1000 metres and that I just happened to pick the sweet spot for my 75mm arty that the German AI kept pushing things into adding to their suppression and making them less effective


I've attached my last turn if you're interested. If you review the map at the end the point where the densest cluster of German Troops are is right where my arty's been plotted from the start


Don

[Brian61]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback Attached is the final version of the scenario, only minor tweaks and error corrections have been done. The pace should be slightly faster and the north flank should (sometimes) be reinforced a bit better.

Brian