Progress Report 12/8/12 The Red Barricades Project

We had four members in attendance for the December edition of The Red Barricades Project in Anaheim. Dan Plachta and Geoff Coward assumed command of the Germans, with me and Jim Cotugno once again in command of the Russians.

Play resumed with German player turn 2. The powerful German attack on the west board edge continued forward, crossing the railroad tracks and into the multi-hex buildings along the rail line, just north of the Bread Factory. My SMG squads put up a fight, but were overwhelmed by the combined power of a Sturm Company lead by a 10-3 leader, a Rifle Company, an 80mm OBA, a platoon of half tracks, and a platoon of Panzer IV’s. By the end of German player turn 3 the Germans had cleared these buildings, but were getting hammered in their flank by the strong Russian position in the Bread Factory just to the south.

Along the western board edge further to the north, a couple of HIP Russian squads cost the Germans two squads and an 8-1 trying to clean up what appeared to be abandoned buildings along the railroad tracks.

Meanwhile, on the east flank, the Germans gathered a secondary attack in the rubble of the Commissar’s House. But Jim’s well-placed 80mm OBA all but wiped out this force in the Russian half of the turn. Russians MG’s inflicted still more damage along the river. The Germans made good some of these losses in the factories, where they defeated a brief, violent attack in this sector during Russian player turn 2.

We finished German player turn 3 and called it a day at 5:00 PM. Total losses for both sides have been very heavy. With only five player turns played, the Russians have lost 21 squads and 2 leaders. The Germans have lost 12.5 squads and 5 leaders. The “0” ELR for both sides has been particularly hard on the German Sturm squads; they have lost at least another half dozen 5-4-8’s reduced to 4-4-7’s by ELR failure.

It was another bloody day in the Barricades, and a good time was had by all.