Below you will find the second article in a three part after action report from Francisco Ronco covering a playtest session of Dubno 41. Enjoy!

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Game Turn 3. June 24th.

At the beginning of the turn, I realized my armor had outpaced my infantry, so I needed to hurry the infantry to the front. In FAB, infantry class blocks have 3 MP and armor class blocks 6 MP, so a successful armor advance necessarily leaves behind its foot infantry. I left one infantry division as a garrison at Vladimir-Volinskiy (given Soviets Remnants could appear anywhere till turn 7), so I need to secure the city and the VP. In FAB Dubno’41, I have added some counters as single step green infantry units to reflect the remnants of Soviet front line units that roamed the German rear area for a week after the beginning of operations; they can appear at any area on the map—except German controlled Poland—and are placed by the Soviet player during each Reinforcements Phase of turns 2 through 7.

In the south, I decided to put the 11^th Pz Division and some elements from the 16^th Pz Division in Reserve to see what developed in that part of the front before committing my troops. I already decided my Schwerpunkt (Point of maximum effort) would be in the north, where I saw a fruitful opportunity. I added an event to the German cup called “Auftragstaktiks” to reflect the high efficiency, low-level initiative of German tactics and leadership in order to reflect the German ability to create gaps and exploit opportunities on the battlefield below the level of resolution of the game system (divisional scale). With that event, the German side can move units already engaged with the enemy into enemy controlled areas—totally forbidden by FAB Series Rules—even creating a new contested area and initiating combat. So, I used one of those events in area 63—Ostrozhetz hills—and both armor & recon blocks could move JUST ONE AREA into enemy controlled territory. The armored block moved into Lutsk, and the armored recon into area 72, east of Lutsk, to engage an enemy block there. The recon block from the 16^th Pz Division and the 44^th Infantry Division—recruited in Austria—relieved the bridgehead in the much disputed Ostrozhetz hills. At Lutsk, the Panzer Regiment from the 13^th Pz Division took advantage of the armored move from the bridgehead to cross the river, and both armored units began the battle for Lutsk. The initial assault was a total fiasco, and the battle dragged on. The armored recon from the 14^th Pz Division found that the Soviet block east of Lutsk was the full 216^th Motorized Infantry Division from the Soviet 22^nd Mechanized Corps!!! The Recon was destroyed in the Soviet half of the turn after having killed two steps from the Soviet division… In the far north of the line, both motorized infantry brigades from the Pz Divisions cross the Styr River—one in the Operational Movement Phase and another in the Breakthrough Phase as a Reserve—to pin down the enemy forces north of Lutsk that turned out to be the 19^th Tank Division from the Soviet 22^nd Mech Corps. This attack and the sacrifice from the 14^th Pz Recon were aimed to block Soviet reinforcements to Lutsk while my two Panzer regiments struck hard at the city, but in the end, both were useless; Lutsk would resist 7 turns in the future…

The defenders of the Ostrozhetz bridgehead rebuked again a half-hearted Soviet attack with ease.

The Soviet player brought more reinforcements to the front and extracted the 15^th Mech Corps from its perilous position west of Brody towards Kremenets—aided by the timely commandeering of school buses and lorries to transport the 212^th Motorized Infantry Division to the new defensive line to the east. Historically, this was done for Konstantin Rokossovsky to move his 313^th Motorized Infantry Division ahead, but in FAB Dubno’41, I have designed an event for the Soviet player that recreates that enterprising move and allows him to move as motorized ANY ONE, only one, motorized infantry division ONCE per game. Soviet Motorized Infantry was not motorized; they lacked transport and moved on foot into battle. My armor reserves followed the Soviet retreat and entered Brody (in the image we forgot to count the VP Pedrote lost due to Brody being occupied by German units).

On the southwestern corner of the map, the German 6^th Army consolidated the ring around the trapped Soviet 6^th Army units, and nothing memorable happened in that sector.

Game Turn 4. June 25.

The main success in this turn was the successful breakout from the Ostrozhetz bridgehead. Using another “Auftragstaktiks” event—there are three in total in the game—the 44^th Infantry Division and the Recon from the 16^th Pz Division struck the Soviet 215^th Mot Infantry and killed it east of Lutsk—the final strike was done by the Recon alone chasing the weak and Disrupted Soviet and fortunately killing them with good dice rolls. The use of assets and one Special Action in the Breakthrough Phase were decisive in this victory that jeopardized the whole Soviet line of resistance in and around Lutsk. In FAB, units check their supply status at the end of each player turn, so the infiltrating Germans are in supply and can receive the support of assets and events til the end of the German turn, when they would become OOS—as you can see in the picture.

Lutsk remained in Soviet hands. I prepared the assault spending one precious Special Action to strengthen the 36^th Pz Regiment that lacked one step. In vain, Soviet 5^th Army assets continued sacrificing themselves to preserve the 1^st AT Brigade that defended Lutsk. In FAB, the use of assets is one of the most important mechanics as you can add them to your combat—as attacker or defender—and they add strength to your fire but also can absorb casualties, protecting your valuable blocks from suffering losses.

I sealed the Soviet Reinforcements’ entry areas on the south edge of the map (around Brody) and assembled armor units—mainly 16^th Pz Division to be able to respond to any Soviet move between the river Styr & Ivkra.

Pedrote entrenched his troops along the Ivkra banks—in FAB, if you don’t move a block, it can construct “Fieldworks” in the area it occupies. In the north, he launched an armored counterattack against the unsupplied 44th Infantry Division that got stalled. The 44^th Infantry Division was already Disrupted as Out of Supply troops have to make a morale check (veteran strength has to roll 5 or less in 1d10) to avoid getting Disrupted, and the 44^th failed. In following occasions, the unit will lose strength each time it fails the morale check or even surrender. So, Germans have to go to the rescue…

More and more Soviet reinforcements were arriving to the battlefield…

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