Stalingrad Campaign Phase 1 Day 1 Part 1 - Ok not THE Fallen Heroes Square - A Fallen Heroes Square

We finally kicked off our Chain of Command Stalingrad Campaign last week. It has been about 8 months in the preparation, building forces and terrain - and we are probably 4 months behind schedule and still not ready - which is not bad going considering the OCGCs (Old Codgers Gaming Club) previous efforts.

First crack went to Paul D commanding a German Panzer Pioneer Platoon, opposed by Andy P with his Soviet infantry.

We were playing the initial Patrol \ Encounter scenario, which will determine for now who has the campaign initiative.

The table was set us as a 4x4 at Asgard Wargames, which is convenient for us all and has plenty of space.

So here is the table after the Patrol Phase. As you can see, the front line has skewed slightly, running roughly across the diagonal of the table.

Before we go further I should explain a couple of points.

Firstly the pics are in monochrome. This is because my photography skills are challenged and I was using my phone rather than my proper camera. This helps disguise my pathetic lack of understanding of such things as lighting and exposure. I also like the effect, which looks "cool". Lastly it helps hide the fact we still have not finished all the terrain......

Secondly we are using the Haus \ Dom system to identify buildings. This is pretty authentic. Both sides in the battle adopted a quick code to identify buildings on maps of Stalingrad. On the Soviet side few of the defenders had local knowledge, so saying "the enemy is massing near 15 Lenin Prospect" was not going to help, and the Germans were resorting to trying to identify landmarks by interrogating prisoners in a foreign language, which lead to all sorts of confusion. Both sides therefore settled on a system of numbering buildings sequentially - the Germans using "Haus", the Soviets "Dom" (both meaning house) followed by a number. There is a great diagram of this in Jason D Mark's epic history of the battle in the Barrikady "Island of Fire" if you can get a copy - brilliant book, highly recommended!

This resulted in the Sovs placing their Jump Off Points (JOPs) in the trenches between Dom 3 & 4 and the corner house Dom 1.

The Germans had pushed forward with their JOPs in Haus 2 & 4 and the trenches next to the downed HE111 between Haus 4 and Dom 1.

  Deployment and first turns next