The Boulevard – An Iron Cross City Fight AAR

by Tom Burgess

Our local Flames of War gaming group got in a second City Fight game. Last time we fought out “The Square” mission from So this time we turned out attention to Iron Cross with “The Boulevard” mission. “Battle Buddy” Ed would be playing his Soviets while Charles “6by9” would be rolling out the Germans. The point level was 55 points.

We played the game at Hard Knox Games when we could make great use of the in-store terrain collection. We used a 28mm city game mat as the base, which we thought looked much better than the plain black base we used last time. We the two halves of Miniature Building Authority (MBA) “Factory Building” to make the two main objective buildings.  To further subdivide these two buildings into four “rooms” we simply added some Battlefront Desert Walls.  We added some other MBA building halves to add to the boards generic “rubble” look. We also added some building around the perimeter edge of the board which were “off table” but helped with the visual back-drops.

Charles faces off against Ed with a Grenadier Company with three small platoons backed up by an HMG platoon, a PaK38 section, an HMG section, and a small 81mm mortar section. He took no sniper but he did have some support by a Heavy Armored Car section and a section of short-barreled STUG-IIIs. His infantry was beautifully painted Peter Pig Figures that were done by one of our local players Clay.

Ed’s Soviets were based on a Hero Rifle Battalion with one Hero Rifle Company, a full Storm Group, and a small Hero SMG Company. He also had an HMG platoon, a section of 45mm Anti-Tank Guns, some 82mm mortars, and a company of three BA-10 Armored Cars. Ed also has a sniper.

Both sides basically had their deployment areas in the “streets” of the game mat we used.

Charles, with fewer forces, deployed on his right to get out and secure the building closest to his deployment area. This meant that he had to leave his left objective initially unguarded.

Ed had more than enough Soviets to cover both objectives. He placed his large Hero Rifle Company on his right to get at the close building while his BA-10s and HMGs defended his left objective.

Ed had first turn and moved out on both flanks.

His armored cars flexed out to his extreme left to swing around one of the two objective buildings.

The BA-10s scored the first kill of the game hitting two and knocking out one Grenadier teams.

Ed’s Storm Group also came out of reserve on turn one, but they failed a Follow Me letting their Company commander rush onward on his own.

In his part of turn one, Charles got reserves and he chose to bring in his StuG section to support the advance of the Grenadiers.

Meanwhile, Charles continued to leave his left objective completely unguarded.

The StuGs only managed to bail out one BA-10. We decided that rubble also provided concealment for vehicles which kept the BA-10s from being blown away.

Charles’ HMG section starts to inflict damage on Ed’d Hero Rifle Company.

In turn two, Ed’s Storm Group moved in to assault Charles Grenadiers who passed a Blitz and then a Shoot and Scoot to occupy the front of the building.

The Storm Group flamethrowers pin the Grenadiers.

Hitting on 2+ in close combat, the Storm Group has no problem securing their side of the building. But Charles has a second Grenadier platoon and the HMGs sections in place to hold the German side of the building.

In his turn two, Charles sends in his second Grenadier platoon against Ed’s Storm Group. German infantry and HMG shooting kills two Storm Group teams and pins them. The StuGs continue to only get bailed out results against the BA-10s.

The German second platoon’s assault against the Storm Group goes well, with four Soviet teams KO’d.

The Soviets counterattack is nearly as good, destroying three German teams.

But with the German CO present, the German second platoon is able to counterattack and destroy the rest of the Storm Group in the building. The Germans, for the moment, have stabilized their right.

At the start of Turn Three, the remnant teams of the Storm Group break, but the Soviets have brought up more reserves in the form of a section of 45mm Antitank guns.

With the Soviet press on the German right blunted, the Soviet focus shifted to the German left where Charles got in his third Grenadier from reserves in the nick of time.

The massed fires of the Hero Rifle Company fail to pin the German third Grenadier platoon, making an assault unwise….until the Soviet sniper gets in his shot pinning the Germans allowing an assault.

Charles still has enough shots to pin Ed’s Hero Rifle Company, but Charles only rolls one hit out of six attempts!

The Soviets destroy three German teams in the initial assault.

The Germans counter and destroy four Soviet teams.

The Hero Rifle Company stoically absorbs the losses, and with the help of the Komissar, they counter to destroy the rest of the German third Grenadier platoon and securing the objective on the German left.

In Charles’ turn three he is able to roll up his Heavy Armored Car section which must drive off the Hero Rifle Company in order to stave off a defeat. Shooting fails to make a dent and the Armoured Cars are forced to assault.

One Armored Car is destroyed by PTRD Anti-tank rifle fire and the other Armored Car does not drive off the Soviets.

The remaining Armored Car just does not have the motivation to stay in the fight and without enough room to escape its captured.  The battle ends as an 8-1 Soviet win. Even though the loss of the Storm Group was a large blow to the Soviet formation, it was still just one unit.

This was a very enjoyable game for both players. We are really liking the small point level, small board city fights. I’d like to set up a city fight tournament at some point if we can get enough interest in our region. Next…we’ll break out of the city and move on to the Mid War East Front Tank battles!