First Axis scenario 4: Struggle and Flight

When Slovakia, buckling under Nazi pressure, declared independency on the 14th of March 1939, the Hungarian government saw an opportunity to regain formerly owned territories. The next day, they promptly moved troops into Carpatho-Ruthenia and not waiting for an official approvement of Hitler, they invaded Slovakia on the 23th of March. Slovakia was totally unprepared , most of their military units were vastly understaffed as most of the troops and heavy equipment was still positioned in Czechian parts of this now newly divided nation.

However, at Michalovce, a group of 4 infantry battalions, some artillery batteries and a platoon of armoured cars was assembled by the local politician Hassik, and it was decided that they were to counterattack the Hungarians which were at that time only a mere 8 km away. Major Kubicek took command of this Michalovce Group and in the morning of the 24th of March they rode out to try to retake the already fallen villages.

The Hungarians were not expecting them. They had reached the hamlet of Lucky, which they occupied in strength. In the woods just eastwards of Lucky, they positioned a mortar unit together with a protective infantry platoon, but otherwise, their troops were scattered along their invasion route.

The Slovaks attacked in 3 columns, the center one heading for the vanguard in Lucky, the largest one taking the road southwards towards Zavadka and its 2 little hamlets Ilnoyné and Fekisovec. The faster cyclists and the armoured cars took the scenic route, crosscountry towards Ubrez in an outflanking manoeuvre that might take the Hungarians by surprise. Major Kubicek had also another ace up his sleeve when he positioned an observer on the high ground overlooking the whole battlefield. This artillery threat combined with the constant buzz of Slovakian aircraft all around, could make any Hungarian troop movements a hellish ordeal.

But the invaders had artillery of their own and they claimed first blood by destroying a complete cyclist platoon with their first salvo. Kubicek’s first frustration, it wouldn’t be his last. While preparing the assault on Lucky, friendly OBA took another infantry unit out of the fight, 2 shots fired, 4 points for the Hungarians. At the same time, Hungarian troops were caught napping on the road just north of Zavadka by the Slovakian fighter planes. They dispersed the Hungarians so much that the Hungarian HQ decided on a leader change, forcing them to hop from wood to wood.

At 8.45 AM, Major Kubicek started to assault Lucky. They fought from house to house, taking tough morale tests, but it was not for nothing, one of the Hungarian platoons also had to surrender its position, halving the defense of this forward outpost. The Slovakian assailants however forgot to secure the surroundings of the village and as such, the infantry platoon that was protecting the mortars, could simply stroll into the buildings. First assault for no gain and Kubicek would rue this oversight dearly.

Meanwhile, the southern column got pummeled by the Hungarian artillery while rounding the large wood between Lucky and Zavadka. The Slovaks decided to head for Ilnojné and Fekisovec instead. Mainly because the latter was not defended and could be taken without any resistance. But the intended assault on Ilnojné was cut short due to further incoming artillery shells and accurate opportunity fire. The Slovaks were forced off the road into the safety of the woods.

And so, the Slovakian counterattacking force came to a halt, about 30% of their infantry disrupted or demoralized, and absolutely nothing achieved. At Lucky, the Major assaulted again with his second line, to no avail, the defenders wouldn’t budge while his own troops again failed their morale. As a last resort, Kubicek recalled the HMG platoons that were dispatching the pesky mortar unit in the woods.

Both sides were by now bitterly aware of the deadly effects of their OBA. The Slovaks by witnessing the devastion caused on their concentrated recovery points. And the Hungarians , even going so far as to send out the officer of Ilnojné to spot the cyclist column. Those cyclists and the AC platoon were already within range of Ubrez when OBA found them. They took a heavy blow, disrupting the leader and demoralizing the troop he was with. The defenders of Ubrez, a Hungarian Ornagy and 2 infantry platoons, took up defensive positions but couldn’t cover the whole town and as such, the Slovakian AC platoon was able to skirt around the enemy positions and enter from the south, cutting of the Hungarian line of communication. Thinking this lone platoon was an easy prey and assuming there was ample time to dispatch the ACs while the cyclists managed their morale, the Hungarian Major assaulted the ACs with both his infantry platoons. But assumption once again proved to be the mother of all fuck ups! First, the demoralized cyclists brushed away their morale status within seconds, and then the assault went sour as the Hungarian officer’s morale broke and he had to leave the fight. Next, the still disrupted cyclist leader ordered his reinvigorated troop to ‘overbike’ the Major’s position, taking the Ornagy prisoner. Moments later, Hungarian OBA killed the Slovak cyclist leader but damage was done, Slovakians now had control of half of Ubrez ,with both sides hanging on leaderless except for the recon leader of the ACs. When this leader started ordering OBA on his own position, the Hungarian HQ needed to stop this rot ASAP.

Back to the west, at Lucky, Major Kubicek made short work of the Hungarian OBA threat. First the observer still in the woods near Lucky got arrested and moments later the Szazados that spotted the cyclists was put out of action by the Slovak airforce. The Hungarians were now down to just 3 leaders on the field. One in Lucky, another in Zavadka and the last one in Gajdos, the small town south of Ubrez. This last leader’s position was not in any danger whatsoever, so Hungarian HQ decided to send him with an infantry platoon to Ubrez, to restore some order there. Braving onslaughts of Slovakian OBA and aircraft, they miraculously made it across but then decided to not assist in the fight with the ACs. Instead they ducked into the buildings just north of the fight, smack into the opportunity fire of the cyclists. They didn’t miss! Demoralized, the Hungarian leader fled back to the trees along with his now decimated platoon. They would be of no consequence anymore for the rest of the battle.

Meanwhile, the ACs kept ordering OBA on their own heads, often demoralizing the Hungarian infantry but those troops always refused to flee the scene, being true sons of Carpathia. During one of these bombardments, the cyclists outside of the assault got hit by friendly fire and had to flee from Ubrez. Little did we know how significant this small fait divers would prove to be.

At Lucky, Major Kubicek was now assaulting the ruins for the 6th or 7th time. But as always, his troops were unable ‘to even put a dent in a pack of butter’. All around Lucky, the fields and woods were littered with demoralized troops trying desperately to recover and being sent back to the fight by their officers. Kubicek had enough, clearly Lucky was not going to happen and he ordered his subordinate leaders on other missions. The one at the northern fields was send to take the same track as the cyclists to get a leader into Ubrez. Another one was send back to Zavadka along with about all the decent troops still available. The Hungarian leader in this town recognized the potential fate of Ubrez and left the safety of the town to get to a spotting position to try to stop the lone leader. Hungarian shells found the Slovak leader first, disabling him from crossing over to Ubrez in time to be of any use.

By now it was already past noon (t19) and the Slovakian counterattack had not much to show for itself. They had taken control of half of Ubrez and the hamlet of Fekisovec but that was it. So they really needed to step up a gear or two. But things didn’t improve much for the next hour. Slovakian artillery was still harassing the, by now lone, Hungarian platoon in the AC assault, but they still stubbornly refused to flee. Slovakian fighter planes honed in on the Zavadkian leader that left its safety, but being a strappingly fine Carpathian hunk made of steel nerves (11-1-1), he swatted off all bullets like flies, ran back to his troops in true ‘Lt Spears’ style and ordered them all on the road towards Fekisovec. From his vantage point he had noticed that the Slovakian column headed for Zavadka wouldn’t be able to reach it’s destination in time, so he decided to retake the poorly defended position of Fekisovec. Bold move indeed. The Slovaks immediately peppered this Hungarian bunch with every available OBA, airplane and mortars they had, but they couldn’t stop them from taking up assaulting positions. As a sort of retaliation, the Slovaks took up positions themselves to get a last ditch assault going on at Ilnojné. One turn to go.

Last turn. The score is by now 16-17 in favor of the Hungarians. Winning conditions being 3 points more than the opposition. Slovaks win the initiative. They target the AC location for the last time, doing a step loss on the Hungarian unit, but only disrupting them, 17-17. Hungarians try to recover them but fail. Next the Slovaks attack Ilnojné but nothing changes, except that it is now contested (17-16). So the Hungarians assault Fekisovec in turn, demoralizing all Slovaks there. The defenders all miss their ensuing recovery tests and Fekisovec changes hands (15-17). In an act of desperation, the AC platoon attacks the disrupted half platoon of infantry. Both roll on the lowest column and the ACs miraculously roll a morale check result, demoralizing the Hungarians. As they can’t recover anymore, control goes to the Slovaks (17-17). By now, both players are up from their chairs from excitement. We calm down a bit, smiling at each other. The Hungarian player thinks his opponent reaches out to shake hands. Instead the Slovak Major takes up the dice and claims that he will attack Lucky for the 8th and final time. For the first time in all those attempts, he rolls a decent result, doing a step loss and thus a morale check on all defenders (18-17). Both units fail miserably and get demoralized losing control of the ruin (20-17!) If there had been a crowd, they would have gone bonkers, just like we did! A Slovak win pulled out of nothing!

Well, actually not. Next day, after a sleep-deprived night, when our heartbeats had calmed down, I realized that the Hungarians were still able to recover in Lucky. So a video call later, both units made their roll and the final score returned back to 18-17, a hard fought draw. Over the weekend we kept discussing this awkward but amazing scenario and when I mentioned that I was unable to ride my cyclist in the unoccupied Ubrez hex, Filip asked why I didn’t do that. Turns out I actually could have made a legal move there, winning the game with hindsight. Oh well, spilled milk and all that stuff… Both sides found the whole scenario a frustrating affair. With 7/5 morale stats for all sides, units simply couldn’t take any kind of punishment and recovering proved a bitch. During these discussions we always ask each other what their main game changer was. The Hungarians were adament that the Slovak OBA observer was key, he pretty much controlled all Hungarian movements of troops. The Slovak Major had his hair turn grey from all those recovering rolls that his opponent seemed to make and he himself always seemed to fail. But both Generals agreed that the AC platoon would have to be recommended for medals.

This proved , once again, to be a cracker of a game. With glory being decided, once again, on the very last die roll. We rated this one a 5, purely on tension alone. Incredibly, we played 50+ scenarios before this one with only one of them deserving the maximum score, and now we had 2 of them almost in a row. We must have become softies.

En este escenario una fuerza húngara, compuesta por los efectivos aproximados de un batallón de infantería, debe defender varias poblaciones ante el ataque de una fuerza eslovaca integrada por un batallón reforzado de infantería, una compañía ciclista y una sección de coches blindados OA.30. Ambos bandos disponen de artillería fuera del mapa, siendo la eslovaca la más poderosa (3 x 15 frente a 2 x 15). Ambos contendientes tienen la misma moral (7/5).

Los húngaros deben defender seis poblaciones: tres de ellas de un hex, una de tres hexes y dos de cuatro hexes. Los contendientes obtienen puntos de victoria (VP) por causar bajas al adversario y por controlar hexes de población. El control de hexes de población por parte de los eslovacos puntúa el doble. La batalla tiene lugar sobre cuatro mapas.

Los húngaros distribuyen sus fuerzas entre las seis poblaciones, desplegando más unidades en las localidades occidentales, las más expuestas en principio al ataque enemigo. Esto supone que las dos ciudades más orientales (las más grandes) quedan semidesguarnecidas.

Los eslovacos comienzan el combate atacando la población más occidental del mapa 15. Los húngaros ofrecen una fuerte resistencia, pero el fuego directo combinado de infantería y de la sección de coches blindados eslovaca aniquila a la mitad de la guernición. La otra mitad es aniquilada es sucesivos asaltos.

La segunda población del mapa 15 ofrece una resistencia tenaz, tan tenaz que los eslovacos no consiguen controlarla en toda la partida. La artillería, el fuego directo y constantes asaltos de los atacantes reducen la guarnición húngara a la mitad (una sección de NHP y un líder), pero esa pequeña fuerza resiste innumerables asaltos enemigos y consigue sobrevivir. La siguiente ciudad (la más occidental del mapa 18) es fácilmente conquistada por los eslovacos: la artillería y el fuego directo desmoraliza rápidamente a las dos unidades húngaras que la guarnecían, que huyen al bosque próximo. A continuación la infantería eslovaca, avanza, la ocupa y en los siguientes turnos consigue aniquilar también a los huidos y a otra unidad húngara que había acudido en su ayuda.

El tiempo va pasando inexorable y los eslovacos apenas tienen tiempo de lanzar un ataque coordinado sobre la ciudad oriental del mapa 18, que resiste bien los inconexos ataques enemigos. Al final los húngaros controlan dos de los tres hexes de esta población.

El combate está muy nivelado. El comandante eslovaco ve como unidad posiblidad de victoria el avance con sus unidades rápidas, la compañía ciclista y la sección de coches blindados, hacia el mapa 21 y ocupar al menos unos hexes de las semidesguarnecidas poblaciones húngaras. El avance se produce, pero los húngaros dirigen el fuego de su artillería sobre la compañía ciclista, que sufre un duro castigo: una sección es aniquilada, otra y el líder son desmoralizados y la tercera sección consigue llegar a las cercanías de una de las poblaciones, pero no puede penetrar en ella por falta de liderazgo.

Por su parte, la sección de coches blindados consigue entrar en la otra población, pero al estar desprovista de apoyo de infantería es asaltada y desmoralizada.

Al final, tras una competidísima y emocionante lucha, los eslovacos consiguen 16 VP y los húngaros 14 VP. Empate.

Magnífico escenario.

Two understrength and unsuspecting Hungarian battalions have occupied a big swath of Slovakian territory and have established themselves in two enclaves separated by miles of space. A large Slovakian force with a mobile component (Cyclists and an armored car) and air support arrive to take back their country.

Readers of Chandler will recognize the opportunity created by that large open space between the two Hungarian forces as a perfect opportunity to take the central position. Apparently the Slovakian leader had access to time travel (since it was published in 1973), read carefully, and sent his mobile forces around the Hungarians and grabbed some defensible terrain between the two forces.

The advancing Hungarian force ground itself to dust on the mobile force while only contesting two town hexes, while the forward Hungarian force was reduced by artillery and concentric assault. The Slovaks won a major victory without any real effort.

The only real possibility for the Hungarians is to abandon their forward positions and attempt to link up with the advancing battalion. To stand and fight is to get crushed. As tempting as it is to try to kill Slovaks as they advance, there are just too many of them and you will not be successful. The Slovaks can still probably grab that central position but there is the chance to at least make them pay for it.

The addtions of low morale on both sides (7/5) make this a battle marked by stretches of recovery. A solid 3.

This scenario is a great showing of why the Slovaks aren't really good at offensive operations. First, their troops are mediocre. Second, their morale is mediocre. Third, their leadership is mediocre, or worse. Yet, here they are surprising a bunch of Hungarians and trying to push them out of a bunch of villages. They are aided by generous artillery support, a bit of air support, and some mobile troops, consisting of 4 units of motorcycle troops and one armored car unit.

Things went poorly for the Slovaks from the start, as Hungarian OBA zeroed in on the motorcycle troops, causing a step loss on turn 1. That unit demoralized (7/5 morale will do that to you) and did eventually recover to full morale...on turn 23. The Slovaks pushed forward, taking the forward most town from the Hungarians via assault. As they tried to move up through the woods towards the next town, accurate Hungarian OBA and mortar fire disrupted and demoralized a number of units, and several leaders. The motorcycle troops took it worst, as their leader was killed, and 2 more of the units were reduced, demoralized and never recovered. The 4th unit later took a step loss and was demoralized, too. It took the Slovaks many turns to rally leaders and be able to mount another offensive, and time was running short. They did manage to take another town hex from the Hungarians, and the armored cars made a dash for the far towns, however the Hungarians had troops in all the towns to engage them in assault and deny control. Note that with no anti-tank weapons, the Slovaks can use gamey tactics to run the armored car through town hexes to change control if the score is close.

When all was said and done, the Slovaks inflicted 9 step losses (including killing the Hungarian mortars with aircraft on a snake-eyes) and controlled 2 town hexes for 13 points. The Hungarians inflicted 6 step losses and controlled 12 town hexes for 18 points. The Slovaks basically needed 2 more town hexes to win, and that was next to impossible. The Hungarians are basically reactive here and defending the towns, there's not a ton for them to do, making this scenario better suited for solo play.