Overrun at Shellerten – A World War Three Team Yankee British Book Narrative Game

by Tom Burgess

My friend, Charles, and I continued on with our narrative gaming following the stories and scenarios from the World War Three Team Yankee British Book. In our last battle, A Squadron of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, the “Bays,” did little to thwart the Forward Detachment from the organic tank battalion of the 207th Motorized Rifle Division in a scenario we played a few weeks ago.

Following up on that success. the 207th Motorized Rifle Division has now committed the rest of its organic tank battalion against the mainline of the British 3rd Armoured Division.  This main attack is directed at the town of Shellerten defended by C Squadron of the 17th/21st Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys.”

Like our last game. the forces were pretty much set. The scenario is effectively a modified Hold the Line mission. Charles would continue to play his British while I play the Soviets.

In this battle, the Soviets would have to advance across very open fields towards the north end of Shellerten. Just to the north of the town, there is a factory. This would provide the British and advanced position to try to break up the Soviet assault. Further back,  the main town would prove a mainline position.  To the east and the west of Shellerten, there was a small copse of woods that could serve as a good ambush position into the flanks of the Soviet advance.

The British would have some hastily emplaced minefields and a one platoon size ambush.  However, they would be hampered by Deep Reserves requiring most of their heavy hitters to stay have board initially.

The Scenario

The scenario was basically a hold the line missions. Since the Soviets won the preceding scenario, this scenario called for a reduction of the defender’s minefields from four to two.  I offered Charles the opportunity to keep all four, but he elected to go with the recommended limitations. The scenario set up from World War Three Team Yankee British book follows.

 

 

The Defenders

British Forces called for by the scenario. This force is based on the C Squadron 17th/21st Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys.”

 

Charles’ C Squadron 17th/21st Lancers in all their glory.

 

We opted to replace the short troop of Chieftains with Challengers. Such lovely models.

 

The Attackers

The Soviet OOB for the battle. The Hind-D and SU-25 support would be critical.

 

Tom’s Soviet Tank Battalion ready for battle.

The Battlefield

I really enjoyed setting up this table. I love the use of terrain shown on these maps matching the terrain Battlefront offers. This makes setting tables for these battles very precise.

 

The battlefield map as called for by the scenario.

 

Our very accurate recreation of the above scenario map.

Deployments

 

The Chieftains of C Squadron took up positions on the north edge of Shellerten. They were concealed by walls, however these would provide little help from air attacks.

 

Charles positioned his Irish Guards Mechanized Infantry platoon forward in the factory. He placed his two minefields to the flanks of the factory.

 

The Soviets heavily weight their left.

 

Turn 1 Soviet

The basic Soviet plan was to advance with the tanks on the left, infantry on the right, with BMP-2s in overwatch using the elevated position on the hill in the Soviet deployment zone.

To support the advance, the Soviet 2S1 artillery laid down a smokescreen.  Note that the ranged in marker for the smoke bombardment is on the edge of the factory. This is a “tactic” that I often use with my Soviets with their low skill making ranging in difficult.

There is no modifier for tall terrain when using smoke and the ranged in marker stays in place afterward. So I will often lay a smokescreen with the starting target point set where I also later want to use a HE bombardment. This means in the next turn, I will switch from smoke to HE with the effect of a repeat bombardment.

Soviet Turn 1 Moves behind a smoke barrage.

 

With the walls providing no protection, the Soviet Hind-Ds and SU-25s combine to knock out the Chieftain platoon defending the town.

 

The Soviets actually manage to knock out a few British infantry teams in the factory.

Turn 1 British

Already down a Challenger platoon, the British situation did not improve when Charles’ roll for reserves failed. Charles decided to ambush is Striker platoon from the woods on the west of town (Soviet right flank).

British strikers knock out a T-72 and bail out two others with their ambushing Swingfire missile volley.

 

The British Abbot artillery bombards the Soviet BMP-2s in a support by fire position. One BMP-2 brewed up while one crew bailed out.

 

British machine guns ravage the Soviet infantry, destroying five teams and pinning the company.

 

Turn 2 Soviet 

With no British reserves on the board yet, one Chieftain platoon destroyed, and the SU-25s arriving again, turn 2 looked very promising for the Soviets. the only drawback was the failure of the Soviet Infantry Company to rally.

Soviet tanks mass against the factory, while the BMP-2’s Spandrel missiles knock out the British Swingfires. Throw enough missiles, and you’ll get enough “6’s.”

 

The Hind-Ds and SU-25s mass against the British Abbots in the town of Shellerten.

Turn 2 British

Again, the reserve rolls for the British fail. Under intense bombardment, Charles decides to have his infantry fall back from the factory. He sends his FV432 APCs out to cover the withdraw of their dismounted infantry. He also lays in smoke from his remaining Abbots.

 

The FV432s sacrifice themselves to allow their infantry to break off.

 

Turn 3 Soviet

The Soviet Motorized Infantry Company again fails to rally. The Soviet tanks break to the east and west of the now-abandoned factory. For a third straight turn, the SU-25s arrive again and go after the Chieftain Squadron command tank.

With SU-25s constantly in support overhead and British reserves failing to arrive, the Soviets really start to pick up momentum.

 

The British CO Chieftain goes down to KA-25 missiles screaming down from the skies.

 

Turn 3 British

For the third straight turn, Charles reserve rolls fail. So he only gets his automatic arrival and chooses his Harriers, which do roll to come in.  At this point the battle has gone horribly for the British and Charles really needs his Harriers to come in and hit hard with a cluster bomb salvo or all may be lost.

 

As the only British troops actually on the board, the Irish infantry digs in trying desperately to retain control of the forward objective.

 

It was not to be. Dismal turns to disaster as Charles’ last hope, his Harriers, are brought down by combined Soviet SA-13 Gophers and ZSU-25/4 AAA fire.

Turn 4 Soviet

The Soviets are facing virtually no resistance at this point. The eastern Soviet tank company swings around the oil storage tanks to assault the remaining British infantry. The western tank company pushes down the center of the map. The BMP-2s advance to a new firing potion.

 

The Turn 4 general Soviet Advance.

 

The one bright spot in Turn 4 for the British is that Charles’ Irish Tenantry repulse the Soviet eastern tank company’s assault. One tank is destroyed in the process.

Turn 4 British

Charles reserve rolls fail completely again, and he gets only his automatic unit.  He chooses to bring in his Challengers which attempt to assist the Irish infantry but fail to land a hit.

Turn 5 Soviet

The Hind-Ds and SU-25s combine to knock out the Challengers, even when partly obscured.

 

The second assault attempt eastern T-72 company mops up the rest of the dogged Irish infantry and wins the battle for the Soviets.

 

Conclusion

This was an inextricably difficult game for Charles’ British. The constant support from SU-25s and the late-arriving British reinforcements in an already difficult situation certainly impacted Charles’ enthusiasm. As this 8-1 Soviet win was so over the top, I did not really want to write this AAR.  I tried to convince Charles to give it another go where he’d benefit from hindsight and luck might be a little more average. I even offered to play the British on the rematch. but he just did not feel this scenario was winnable as the British.

In the book, the battle results were described as follows:

The remainder of the T-72 battalion that had clashed with the Queen’s Dragoon Guards at Steinbrück attacked late in the afternoon, backed by SU-25 Frogfoot strike aircraft, Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters, and artillery.  The Soviet infantry company pushed down the rail line, assaulting the factory on the outskirts of town under covering from their BMP fighting vehicles. Ably supported by the Royal Artillery, the Micks held despite heavy casualties, even resorting to a bayonet charge to regain positions overrun by the Soviet advance.

Meanwhile, the T-72 tanks advanced at speed into the fire of the Chieftains and Swingfire missile carriers. After losing a tank, Spencer’s troop fell back into the outskirts of Schellerten, losing another soon after to a Hind’s missile. The timely arrival of Lieutenant Turner’s 9 Troop and a f­ight of Lynx HELARM helicopters slowed the Soviet advance, while the Blowpipe section forced the Soviet Air Force to be more cautious in its attacks.

A renewed Soviet attack nearly overran the British position until a well-timed air strike by Harrier jump jets and a counterattack by Brown’s two surviving tanks restored the situation.

So what do you think? Can the British win this mission? What advice might you give aspiring British players facing this challenging scenario?

The good news is, though Charles does not want a rematch, he is on for scenario three, “A Bridge Too Far?” In this one, Charles will be the attacker for a change and he’ll have AA assets deployed from the start, and more importantly…the initiative.

3 thoughts on “Overrun at Shellerten – A World War Three Team Yankee British Book Narrative Game”

  1. Starting with only 50 points and with that forward objective so far out there, it is always going to be a tough slog for the British.

    I would try a couple of things differently –

    – Ambushing the Chieftains to keep them safe from air for the first turn and then putting them in the woods so that they at least get concealment from it
    – Deploying the infantry right on the edge of the deployment zone to keep the Soviets as far back as possible (it is only a little bit more, but it might buy one more turn)
    – Swap out the Scorpions and FOO for the Blowpipes. 2 Blowpipes is not a lot of AA defense, but at least it makes the Soviet player think. It also stops the British player from having to use their first successful reserves roll for AA instead of the tanks/Harriers that they need to stop the Soviets
    – Target the Soviet AA first. This means that when the Harriers show up, they have a chance of surviving to do something

    Overall, I find most of the scenarios in the army books are weighted to be a tougher time for one side or the other. So long as you go into them expecting a challenge (and you roll better reserve rolls than Charles did) then you are good. 😉

  2. Very nice table and report. I can sympathize with Charles. Last year I participated in a game where my opponent had 6 SU-25’s which successfully arrived for five consecutive turns. Very tough to deal with.

  3. Sad for the Brits! When things go bad right at the beginning, it is hard to recover. Charles needs to retire those dice and use Tom’s. Great game and thanks for the report!

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