The Battle of Verkhopneye 8 July 1943: A Rapid Fire Solo AAR

Last weekend was VE Day and due to lockdown still being enforced I decided to play another solo wargame. I turned to Rapid Fire and the Battle of Verkhopneye, which was fought on the 8th July 1943 between elements of the German Großdeutschland Division and the Soviet 200th Armoured Brigade. I also filmed the game and this video can be seen below and below this are the photos of the game which I took as I played and posted on Twitter. 

This post is part of the Partizan in the Cloud event, the virtual wargaming event that has taken the place of the normal Partizan show due to the lockdown. Not only have I put out this video and photo report, but I will also be playing another solo game with a live report over on Twitter and the SoS Facebook page. I'm doing this for charity as well, Breaking Ground Heritage is a company who do important work in helping recovery for veterans through archaeology. A Just Giving account has been set up for them to help them weather the storm during the UK lockdown. Please give what you can here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bgh 

I set the board up as in the Rapid Fire scenario book for games set on the Eastern Front. It is supposed to be played on a 8 foot by 5 foot board, but I was able to get it on my 6 by 4 foot table.

The Soviets are armour heavy and begin the game attacking down the central road towards Verkhopneye. Whilst the German defenders were spread across the table in cover, waiting their chance to fire at the advancing tanks!

The Soviet T-34s begin their advance, supported by the motorised rifle units. 

Immediately the Soviets take fire and a T-34 is brewed up immediately! 

But the StuGs come under fire themselves and one is knocked out.

The Soviets bring in their big guns and open fire with the Katyusha rocket launcher with no results.

Meanwhile on the right flank the tank destroyers move forward.

As the Soviet tanks advance they are able to fire at the German defences in the woods.

Two T-34s duel with StuGs

Two StuGs are taken out causing the rest to panic and rout off the table!

The Katyusha fires again and wipes out the defending PAK 40.

The Germans push forward their Wespes with the morale collapse of the StuGs. 

Meanwhile the Soviets are making ground and exploiting the gap in the line caused by the StuG retreat.

The motorised rifle infantry get onto the road to move closer to the enemy.

As the T-34s round the woodland they take fire from the Wespes and Stummel.

The infantry debus from their transports and head towards the cover of the woodland.

On the right flank, the German light armour is destroyed by Soviet fire.

Heavy fighting starts in the centre of the field with German guns firing on the Soviet tanks and infantry.

The Germans commit their mobile reserve.

The fighting gets confusing in the centre

Other German vehicles gather together at the rear of their line.

Despite taking casualties the Soviets keep moving forward in their attack.

The SUs also knock out more light armour and press on the right flank.

Soviet air support arrives over the field and attacks the German armour.

The situation in the centre of the table.

The Airacobra destroys a Wespe, whilst the tanks take out more German armour.

As the Soviet air support hunts for new targets the Germans fall back to their final defence line.

More and more German vehicles are destroyed by Soviet gunfire. 

The battlefield is littered with burning hulks.

Game over with a Soviet victory!

I called the game over, with the remaining German units falling back and most of their vehicles either burning or damaged in someway there was no way they could have pulled the game back. I've played this scenario several times and always had a different result, which shows it's a nicely balanced game. If you want to see the German and Soviet units, then here is a video of the models I used: