We are now in the final stage of playtesting and development for FAB Dubno ’41, and I want to illustrate how the game flows with a turn-by-turn AAR from an old playtest session.

This was played more than a year ago between an Asturian old Grognard called Pedro García (Pedrote) and myself. Some rules have changed, but the gameplay is the same, and I will note any changes we have made since this version of the game. The Scenario Rules are fixed, and I think it gives nice results and enjoyable plays.

Here in Spain, we were in lockdown, so the images will be from the Vassal playtesting module and from my perspective (the German player). Thus you will see the full deployment of German forces but only the block situation of Soviet troops. We will publish more examples of play and event effects in the future with everyone’s blocks displayed in full array.

Every turn, the narrative will be followed by an image of the turn’s end positions with color coded (Blue for the German, Red for the Soviets) arrows showing the main axis of advances, retreats, and attacks taken during the turn. Interspersed there will be some comments about the Series and Scenarios rules I designed. Enjoy!

Game Turn 1 – June 22nd

The FIRST TURN (June 22^nd) was very favorable for the German side as I managed to isolate the 124^th Soviet Rifle Division at Sokal, and I was able to deploy Luftwaffe missions to interdict three key areas to forbid Soviet mobile units from reaching the pocketed rifle division and rescuing it. In the FAB System, every “air mission” event you place on the map costs the enemy 1 extra ground Movement Point (MP) for entering the area where the air mission is placed and another extra MP for exiting that same area. So, the Soviet 15^th Mechanized Corps was unable to reach Radzekhov, adjacent to the isolated 124^th Rifle Division, or reestablish the supply line to that unit. If any Soviet unit would have been able to move adjacent to the pocketed infantry division, this one would be able to move (minimum movement, Series Rules 5.33) to connect that relieving unit in the adjacent area, reestablishing the supply line and avoiding the penalizations of being out of supply. Since my mobile units took control of Radzekhov deep inside the Soviet rear area and my “air missions” events forbade the Soviet units from regaining control of Radzekhov, the 124^th Soviet Rifle Division had to remain at Sokal, isolated, out of supply, and besieged, while one of my infantry divisions maintained contact by disputing the Sokal area.

In the northern axis of advance, I was able to break open the Soviet front line, and the other first line Soviet Rifle Division (87^th) yielded ground to the far side of the Turka River and opened the crossing over the western Bug River. Reserve elements of the 14^th Panzer Division moved in the Breakthrough Phase, took possession of Voynitsa, and prepared to encircle the retreating Soviet rifle division the following day. The remnants of Frontier Units and Fortified Regions (Ukreplennye Raiony) took refuge in Vladimir-Volinskiy, the first city that gives a Victory Point to the Soviet side.

The Soviet player sent every available unit to the Styr riverbanks trying to form a continuous line to stem the German tide. Nevertheless, there are not enough Soviet troops available on the first turn, so there are always some opportunities for the German side to exploit. In the opening stages of the battle, the German player’s Turn 2 moves are decisive—during playtesting we have already seen more than one cautious German player losing at the end of turn 4 by Automatic Victory conditions for not having been enough bold. Not this time!

Game Turn 2 – June 23rd

Fortuna audentes iuvat. Fortune favors the bold.

In my SECOND TURN, I reduced the Soviet pockets at Sokal and Vladimir Volinskiy and then sealed another one by swinging the 14^th Pz Motorized Kampfgruppe northeast behind the 87^th Soviet Rifle Division and then killing that division with the armored blocks of the recently arrived 13^th Panzer Division. At this point, I was safe from losing by auto victory at the end of turn 4 as I managed to obtain 2 VP for killing enemy units (one for each eliminated 3 pips Soviet infantry division) and grabbed another VP from Soviet hands by controlling Vladimir Volinskiy (in this game, 6 cities give 1 VP each ONLY to the Soviet side), lowering the Soviet total to 3, less than necessary to win an auto victory at the end of turns 4 through 6. In FAB games, defenders usually begin the game with high VP totals to encourage attackers to advance, conquer, and destroy defending units to avoid losing early in the game. During the first three turns, there is no possibility of a Sudden Death end, but beginning with the fourth turn, both sides can win at the end of any turn by fulfilling a given amount of VP.

I took advantage of the gap in the Soviet line at area number 29, and the 11^th Panzer Division cut the Soviet 6^th Army front in two while the reinforcing 16^th Panzer Division struck at Leshnev to cross the Styr River. It was not an opposed river crossing as I put some blocks in reserve during my Operational Move Phase—they didn’t move. During the Soviet player’s Reaction Phase, I raced forward to take advantage of the Soviet withdrawal towards the south and Brody, due to the rapid advance of the 11^th Pz Division on their left. So my reserves moved during the enemy turn and established a bridgehead that I would take advantage of during my next turn’s moves. In FAB, proper use of Reserve markers is vital for the success of any offensive (in this game there is no Strategic Movement Phase as the time/space scale rendered it unnecessary—all units present can move Operationally at historical rates without the need of Strategic Movement).

In the northern axis of advance, the 14^th Pz Division was the real hero of the day as its Aufklarung (Reconnaissance) block did such a bold move: during the Administrative Phase in the German half of the turn, Pedrote drew the “Command Staff” asset from the cup, allowing him to place one of his blocks in Reserve on my turn. So he placed his 35^th Tank Division, from the 9^th Mechanized Corps, in reserve and moved it into the only gap in his line, at area 63, Ostrozhetz hills. In my own Breakthrough Movement Phase, the Recon block from 11^th Pz Division tried to cross the Styr River into area 63 and found an unguarded bridge and crossed the river to establish a bridgehead. During the ensuing combat, I committed an engineer asset that was the only casualty I suffered as I battled the Soviet tanks to a standstill. A bridgehead was in my hands! I was very lucky as the Recon tried to cross the river—the Soviet player rolled to blow up the bridge (on a result of 1 to 5 on a d10) and failed. If he would have blown up the bridge, my block would not have been able to cross the river since it didn’t begin its movement adjacent to the river. But the fight for Ostrozehtz hills didn’t end there.

During his turn, Pedrote brought his 135^th Rifle Division into the fray to support his tanks and attacked my weak recon detachment, but I had a nasty surprise for him: in this game you can use some pretty counters and blocks called “Special Actions” to avoid or reinforce combat once it is declared. I put the Pz Regiment from the 14^th Pz Division in area 53, on the western bank of the river, adjacent to area 63, so it was able to reinforce its parent recon unit in the battle by using the Reusable Special Action. In FAB, you have ONE block per side that is not a unit but a Special Action you can use every turn and other Special Actions that are “events” you can draw from your events/assets cup and can be used only once per game. The Soviet attack was stopped cold by the concentrated Germans. In the FAB System, the defender fires his blocks BEFORE the attacker so if he inflicts a lot of damage the attacker can choose not to lose so many steps and abort the attack (in fact renouncing to fire his blocks), suffering only one casualty. Since the German armor did a lot of damage, Pedrote chose to abort the attack, suffering only one casualty and leaving his two divisions “Disrupted.”

All along the Styr river front, Pedrote maintained the northern portion of his line on the eastern bank; south of Ostrozhetz hills he was forced to shrink his line towards Brody with his 15^th Mechanized Corps, the only 6^th Army unit that still remained in contact with 5^th Army units. The rest of the Soviet 6^th Army was isolated at the southwestern corner of the game map. 

Next turn, I would try to break through the trembling Soviet line that was beginning to strengthen due to the continuous stream of reinforcements he was receiving.

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