Yes, I realize I've made the same title pun three times now.
This past weekend I attended a game of Rapid Fire Reloaded at Kelly's place.
It was my first experience with the rules, which are intended for playing brigade-scale engagements (a base of infantry and a single tank representing a platoon each).
Kelly had adapted a scenario from Warning Order, a free online wargames journal, for the game, representing Soviet forces pushing towards Berlin.
The scenario sees the Red forces (in this game, late-war Soviets), having two crossings across a rivers; one damaged bridge that only carry infantry, and a natural ford that vehicles can cross. The Grey forces (late-war Germans) are scattered across the battlefield.
The Soviets want to score 15 victory points by either capturing critical terrain pieces (a center hill and two villages) for 5 points each, or bypassing the German defenders and moving off the table for 1 point for each company equivalent formations (4 infantry bases or 2 tanks).
The Germans just need to hold for 15 turns without allowing the Germans to score 15 points.
For the first six turns of the game, both sides would receive reinforcements. The Soviets would have to pick which crossing their additional troops would cross over at, while the Germans would have to roll randomly to see which road their support came on from to represent their ad-hoc nature.
Mike and I played the Soviets, while Kelly and Alex played as the Germans.
The Soviets started with a T-34 tank battalion surging forward across the ford.
Mike focused on removing the two German companies that were contesting the infantry crossing.
Mike infantry continued to push forward, but the stubborn German defenders held the line. I sent a couple platoons of tanks over to assist in the attack.
My own attack against the hill stagnated. I managed to knock out one of Alex's Panzer IV platoons before it could scoot back into cover, but had two tank platoons damaged in return.
A company of Panthers with accompanying Panzergrenadiers rolled onto the table, aiming to blunt the Soviet armor's advance.
You can see multiple companies of StuGs moving into position. I also had another battalion of T-34s move to reinforce the first.
Here you can see my hesitancy; I was hoping to exchange long-range fire with Alex's defenders. But between the worse AT value of the Soviet guns, the range, and the German's cover, it wasn't going to work in my favor.
Alex's lone infantry company was fighting a rear action, delaying Alex's advancing Soviet battalions.
And more German armor arrived in the form of a King Tiger platoon!
Alex's infantry continued to lead Mike's battalions on a merry chase. Kelly was busy fortifying the hill with a pair of Panthers platoons, to the tune of several lost T-34 units (including one of the two I had sent to aid Alex).
It was at this point that I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere trying to engage in a long-range duel with Kelly's armor and decided to do what every wargamer does in such situations: CHARGE!
Luckily my losses so far made for convenient cover as the rest of my T-34 swarm advanced. I also brought on some of the last Soviet reinforcements; a heavy tank battalion consisting of T-34/85s and ISU-122s, with some accompanying infantry.
Alex's assault guns moved into position to fire into Mike's infantry.
I attempted to knock out Alex's Panzer IV platoon defending the hill, or at least force it to retreat.
Finally, Alex's pesky German infantry company was wiped out. Mike consolidated his infantry into cover.
Finally, my T-34s were getting into knife-fighting range, having managed to survive a round of German fire.
Rather unexpectedly, my ad-hoc company of damaged T-34 platoons was doing remarkably well. They had blunted one prong of Kelly's armored attack, knocking out one Panther platoon and forcing another to retreat without any losses in return.
I ended up losing the T-34 unit I had sent against Kelly's Panzer IV platoon up on the hill. On the bright side, it further blocked the tank unit's line of sight.
Tanks were being knocked out left and right (mostly the T-34s). I attempted to assault the German infantry on the hill with my SMG-armed infantry platoons, but was forced back. Luckily, Mike's concentrated artillery barrage cleared the hill after my failure to take it.
Unfortunately, I had to leave early and didn't se how the game ended. Here's the table at my departure, with a lot of burning tank hulls.
I was informed that the Soviets managed to take the hill after the Germans fell back and were in the process of shelling the town on the far edge of the table with good results. However the time it took to wrest control of the hill from the Germans ate into the scenario's limit, and the Soviets were unlikely to control all three towns or push enough troops off the table by the game's end.
I think that if I had rushed the hill with a dozen T-34 platoons right from the outset, that might have made a difference!
I enjoyed both the rules and scenario. Rapid Fire Reloaded falls on the lighter side of rules writing and definitely requires some in-game fudging in certain situations, but a friendly group of gamers shouldn't have any trouble with that. It makes playing larger battles like this fairly easy. I wouldn't mind revisiting the scenario in the future or playing RFR again.