Blitzkrieg Commander 4 in the "War Barn"

My friend John invited a bunch of us to his gaming space that he affectionately calls 'The War Barn'. It's a loft space in his post and beam barn from the 1600s. Some day I'd love to play an AWI game in a barn that was here during the AWI! It was a chilly day but John got the place nice and comfortable. I ended up taking my coat off and opting for just a sweatshirt. The game table was beautiful and the scenario was very interesting. 

 

This is the first in a series of 'Russian Front' games John is hosting. This game I played the Germans with Michael and John. Opposite us as the Russians, Paul, Earl, Byron and Charlie. 

Photo left: John Michael and Paul. Photo below Byron, Earl and GM John. Charlie hadn't arrived quite yet, but already knew the rules.

 

German left operational group. Michael followed our plan to descend on the town from the left in a sweeping flank, capturing the left-most objective. A bit later on Paul's T-34s showed up, threatening Michael's Panzer IIIs. I tossed a Nebelwerfer strike on top of Paul that took out one tank. Prospects for Michael's attack were good for the last couple of turns, but at four inches per move, his infantry was going to have a tough time getting to the town before dark. He did capture his objective though and was definitely going to keep it.

 

Left center kampfgrouppe was one of my commands. I was opposite Earl here. My turn 1 Nebelwerfer strike here put Earls troops into disarray and allowed me to run up to the center objective with a small group of SS panzergrenadiers supported by my three Stug III assault guns. Although I captured the objective, Earl's infantry was triple the size of mine and once he got his command recovered it looked like he was likely to get the center objective back as Michael's infantry didn't look like it would get to the town in time to help save me in the middle.

 

Right center Kampfgrouppe, also mine are left of the town. These guys initially had line of sight issues approaching the enemy KV-1 tanks that I couldn't work out acceptably to not get cut up piecemeal. Then my command blundered which forced the whole command forward costing me two trucks, two towed Pak-40 AT guns and a Stug.  On my right John didn't fare better. His infantry got hit by tank fire as he advanced, then his command got wiped out assaulting a town held by fresh defending infantry supported by half tracks. Again leg infantry just too slow to be where then needed when. 

This was a beautiful game with great friends. John runs a tight game and knows the rules very well which helped all of us have a better time. I'm still looking forward to more Blitzkrieg Commander 4. Hopefully the rule book re-print will be finished soon.