Tactics in 'Iron Curtain'
Scenario Two: SPEARHEAD, Part 1
By Doug McNair
August 2007

With the release of Iron Curtain, the Panzer Grenadier game system finally moves beyond World War II to start exploring what was and what might have been after 1945. Iron Curtain tackles the latter, pitting U.S. and Soviet forces against each from 1948 to 1950 in the land war that could have erupted in Europe had the Berlin Airlift failed. And while Iron Curtain lets tread-heads field all the cool heavy tanks that never got to see action in World War II, it offers a powerful lesson in what the U.S. Army would have been up against had it taken on a foe with equipped with the tanks that put the Panthers and King Tigers of Nazi Germany out of action for good.

For my first tactics article on Iron Curtain, it makes sense to start where it could have all begun: the Berlin Blockade. On June 24, 1948, Soviet forces blocked the roads to the western-occupied sections of Berlin, cutting off supplies to American, British and French forces there as well as the German population.U.S. Army General Lucius D. Clay proposed calling the supposed Soviet bluff by sending an armored column up one of those roads with a supply convoy, but President Truman was less sanguine about risking open war. He went with the non-confrontational airlift instead, but had Clay’s idea gotten a better reception, U.S. 3rd Armored Division could have been in a position to mount the relief mission and either prevent or start World War III.

Tactical Situation

The scenario is played on Eastern Front and Road to Berlin boards 14, 6, 21 and 18, laid out horizontally in a column with 14 at the top and 18 at the bottom.

It uses counters from Road to Berlin and Battle of the Bulge, along with the new counters provided in Iron Curtain.

The scenario begins with Soviet 9th Guards Tank Division blocking a road running north into Berlin. U.S. 3rd Armored enters from the south edge escorting 14 truck units carrying relief supplies. The American mission is to get the trucks off the north board edge and not fire on the Soviets unless provoked.

The Soviet mission is the converse — stop the trucks from exiting the north edge, but don’t move beyond Soviet defensive lines and don’t fire on the Americans unless provoked. Of course, what constitutes provocation is subject to interpretation by commanders in the field, so the Soviet player makes rolls a die at the start of each turn and adds modifiers based on how many American steps have moved how far north of Board 21, with tank steps always counting double and other steps counting double if they’re within Soviet LOS. On the first modified roll of 12 or more, one side or the other decides they’ve been provoked, and all opposing units may fire on each other from then on. Until that happens, no unit may fire on or move adjacent to any opposing unit.

All American mortars and offboard artillery factors can fire smoke in this scenario, so if the Americans can conceal the movements of their trucks they may be able to get relief to Berlin and win the game without firing a shot. But if the Soviets stay ahead of American movements, position their units to see around smokescreens, and make it impossible for the trucks to get by without provoking a violent Soviet response, the Americans will have no choice but to clear the Soviets from the road to prevent Berlin from falling.

Soviet Setup and Tactics

Soviet units must set up on the three northern boards either in limiting terrain or within one hex of the road, with at least 20 units per board. So, the Soviet player sets up an infantry roadblock at the southern edge of Board 21 to prevent the Americans from using the adjacent town as a fire base, and puts tanks and heavy machine guns in the hills and forests on both flanks of the roadblock.

Half a kilometer north of there is the main Soviet defensive line, with tanks and infantry positioned in town and forest hexes to cover the entire width of the board with powerful fields of fire. Nearly a kilometer north of there is the Soviet forward reserve and mortar company. Finally, a kilometer and a half north of there, the Soviet northern reserve and heavy artillery sit on a prominent hill, ready to support whichever Soviet units take the brunt of the initial American assault.

The Soviets have one major advantage over the Americans: Their average anti-tank firepower strength is much higher than average American armor strength. That, plus the fact that the Americans get lots of victory points for exiting trucks off the north board edge, means that the Soviets need to move units aggressively to block American infiltration routes.

They should position units and leaders so that they can see around American smokescreens, since the more American units the Soviets can spot and report as moving against Soviet lines, the higher chance that that Divisional HQ will release them for combat. That will let them start picking off American tanks and trucks without delay.

Killing American tank steps is the biggest source of Soviet VPs, and the Soviets get VPs either for killing trucks or by simply preventing them from exiting the north edge. The Americans, on the other hand, gain lots of VPs for killing Soviet tanks and for exiting trucks off the north edge. That means the Soviets should feel comfortable falling back northward whenever one of their positions is bypassed by American units.

Cut off Soviet tanks will be vulnerable to crossfire from American tanks and assaults by American infantry advancing behind smoke, so the Soviet tanks shouldn’t feel attached to any patch of ground. All that matters is keeping the American trucks out of Berlin, so they should concentrate on that and killing American tanks while falling back to keep their distance from American infantry.

American Tactics

The American armor disadvantage versus Soviet tanks should be a major worry to the American player, who needs to pick his avenues of advance very carefully and cover them with smoke. He should not be in a rush to start a war, and should avoid moving units into exposed positions on the three northern boards. Doing so adds big bonuses to the Soviet provocation roll, and would result in the loss of most exposed American tanks once Soviet forces are released for combat.

The scenario is 30 turns long, so the Americans have plenty of time to inch a few of their trucks northward behind hills, woods and smokescreens until they’re close enough to make a final dash to the north edge. The Americans should leave the rest of their trucks in or behind town and woods hexes on Board 18 so that if combat does start, they can wait for American tanks and infantry to clear the road to the north and then dash up it at maximum speed to the north edge just before game end.

The American M26 heavy tanks are the only ones with a clear firepower advantage over Soviet armor, so the American player should move them into covering positions on Board 18 and then advance his infantry northward behind smokescreens if the trucks fail to exit the north board edge without starting a war. American tanks with weaker armor should be held in reserve behind cover until combat starts. The vast majority of American tanks won’t survive a duel with Soviet tanks, and they need to play a long-distance fire support role to avoid destruction.

The Americans have plenty of APCs to quickly transport their infantry to attack positions and then provide fire support before and during assault combat. APCs also make good cannon fodder; Soviet tanks can blow up APCs with ease, but those that do can’t fire at incoming American infantry.

Putting American infantry in the lead is also good because American INF units have short-range anti-tank weapons (AT firepower of 6) which they can use in Assault combat. This gives American infantry a powerful advantage when assaulting town and woods hexes held by Soviet armor, and if units are released for combat American infantry should assault such positions aggressively. Killing Soviet tank steps gives the Americans lots of VPs, and once a hex is assaulted tanks there can’t fire out of it. That will let American tanks advance and fire into the Assault hexes to pick off Soviet tanks there, then move into those hexes and use any limiting terrain there as cover when firing at Soviet tanks farther to the north.

Game Summary

With that, here begins a turn-by-turn replay of Iron Curtain Scenario 2.

Turn 1: 0600 Hours

The Americans start with an initiative level of 4 while the Soviets are initiative 3. The Soviets roll a 3 + 3 = 6 while the Americans roll a 6 + 4 = 10, so the Americans win initiative by two activations.

They start by moving two INF riding two M3 halftracks onto the board and moving them into the town on Board 8 along with six truck units. The second activation brings 6 x INF and 3 x HMG in riding M39 APCs, with six of the APCs moving into the woods north of the trucks and the other three driving up the road to just south of the town near the Soviet roadblock, then heading one hex off the road to the west.

The Soviets hold position and pass, and then 6 x M26 tanks and 3 x M4/76 tanks roll in, with the latter driving into the woods for cover and the former ending their moves on the road near the Soviet roadblock. The Soviets keep waiting for the Americans to finish entering, and M39s move mortars into the woods due south of the Soviet roadblock while more INF move offroad southeast of the woods along with extra M3s for fire support.

The Soviets keep waiting, and the older-model M4 Sherman tanks enter the board and move toward reserve positions in the woods south of town on Board 18. The Soviets keep holding position, and the last of the Americans enter the board, with the remaining trucks taking cover south of the woods on the south board edge, and the remaining APCs moving north to join the main body of American troops in the center of Board 18.

With the Americans showing a slight preference for sending units northwest (though that may be simply because that’s where the road goes), the Soviets send one T44 tank unit south from the forward reserve to a backup position behind the roadblock, from where it can return fire on any American tanks or halftracks that attack the roadblock. They also send one JS3 from the forward reserve toward the eastern woods on Board 21.

The Americans then begin firing smoke. They successfully place three smoke markers near the east edge of Board 21 (with the Soviets staying put to watch how things develop), and then the turn ends on a Fog of War roll. The Americans then roll for smoke scatter, and all three rolls are high enough that the smoke dissipates completely.

Turn 2: 0615 Hours

No American units are north of Board 18, so there is no Soviet provocation roll. The Soviets win initiative by one activation, and they start by moving the southbound JS3s into the western woods, using strategic movement to link-up with the other tanks on the south edge of the woods. The Americans then move several INF, HMG and APC units northwest of the road through the woods, and the Soviets advance their southbound T44s to just behind the roadblock and into a flanking-fire position on any American APCs that fire out of the woods.

The Americans then move a mechanized infantry company eastward from the road, and the Soviets start passing to see where the Americans go. More American tanks move into the western woods while one M26 tank unit follows the mechanized infantry eastward.

Then American mortars start laying down smoke just southwest of the hill on Board 21, while infantry, tanks and APCs move to firing positions on the north edge of the central woods opposite the Soviet roadblock.

The Soviets go back to passing, and more American tanks, infantry, APCs and trucks advance through the western woods. At that point it’s pretty clear that the Americans are massing for an advance up the west board edge, so the lieutenant colonel from the forward reserve heads east on an APC with an INF unit toward the heavy Soviet tank company massing in the western woods on Board 21.

Then the American offboard artillery starts firing smoke, but not to very good effect—only three of the six OBA factors successfully lay smoke, and when the turn ends after further American redeployments, only two of the six on-board smoke markers don’t dissipate. But they are adjacent to each other and both drift one hex due east, so the beginnings of a smokescreen for the American advance is established.

Turn 3: 0630 Hours

The Red Line has not been crossed, so there is still no Soviet provocation roll. But the Americans win initiative by three activations, and with that kind of a jump there will be no better time to advance the trucks up the west edge. An infantry company marches northward ahead of two truck units, to the western spur of the hill on Board 21.

Mortars extend the smokescreen in front of them, and offboard artillery extends it farther. The Soviets on the hill can’t charge into the smoke because that would place them adjacent to the American INF before they’d been released for combat, so they call in a report on the enemy advance while the lieutenant colonel coming in with his APC and INF from the forward reserve arrives in the western woods to take charge there.

American tanks, infantry and APCs east of the road start creeping right up to the Red Line but not crossing it, getting to within spotting range of Soviet units in the southeastern patch of woods on Board 21. With the Americans carefully positioning their units behind patches of woods to keep heavy Soviet tanks beyond the woods from being able to fire on them, the Soviets move a JS3 unit from the forward reserve south to the central town on Board 21. That gives it range and LOS to an American M26 heavy tank out in the open, and it pulls back one hex accordingly. The T44 unit that was backing up the roadblock pulls back north three hexes to shorten the angle between the rapidly-diverging American tanks so it won’t get hit with a crossfire bonus when combat starts.

American infantry and APCs keep deploying along the Red Line, and it becomes quite clear that the Soviet roadblock will either by bypassed or obliterated by short-range American infantry and APC fire when combat starts. But the Soviet lieutenant in command there was ordered to deny the Americans a fire base in the town just south of the Red Line, so he tells one of his INF platoons and an M3 unit to stay behind while he and the others pull back north to join the T44s.

More American APCs unload infantry and HMGs in the woods just south of the hill the American trucks are now bypassing, and the Soviets send one more tank unit in from the forward reserve to join an HMG and an SMG unit in the central town and make ready to contest the hill.

Then the Americans start firing smoke to thicken the smokescreen in front of the trucks, but they’re stopped by a Fog of War roll after placing just one Smoke marker. The ensuing smoke scatter rolls eliminate three of the five smoke markers, but those stay in place without drifting. Miraculously, that smoke and the hill block all Soviet LOS to the advancing American trucks and infantry, so they will not count double for purposes of modifying the Soviet provocation roll!

Turn 4: 0645 Hours

The Soviets roll a 6 + 2 (for 8 American steps on Board 21) = 8 on the provocation roll, and reports of enemy movements are confused by smoke. So, 9th Guards Divisional HQ tells its forward units to keep to their defensive lines; it could all be a trick to draw the Guards out into the smoke and then attack with overwhelming forces from south of the board.

The Americans beat the Soviets by one activation on the initiative roll, and the trucks and infantry on the west edge move north with all due speed. They’ve bypassed the hill, but the Soviet units guarding it have to stay there and try to spot the advancing trucks from behind (and also to defend the hill against capture by the Americans in the woods to the south). So they move one hex northeast, staying in the woods on the hill but gaining a clear line of sight to the trucks (unless more smoke gets laid behind them).

The Americans waste no time laying smoke around the trucks (not wanting to get cut off by another Fog of War roll). But the mortars both roll 10s and fail, and Soviet units spread out along the edge of the western woods on Board 21 to get more vantage points on the advancing Americans.

American offboard artillery starts to do better and extend the smoke screen around the trucks, but a Soviet M3 in the woods on Board 6 moves north to gain a new LOS angle on the Americans. Offboard artillery extends the smoke screen another hex, and the T44s south of town join the lieutenant commanding the secondary roadblock so they can activate with him and form fire teams later. OBA extends the smoke screen one more hex to the north, and now no Soviet unit has LOS to the trucks (but they likely will after the smoke scatter roll if the Americans can’t thicken the screen with more markers).

If the trucks bypass the western woods and make it onto Board 6, there will be little to stop them reaching the north board edge unless HQ releases the Soviets for an attack. The Soviet colonel on the field does what he can by sending two M3 halftracks and two SMG units from the northern reserve south to link up with the forward reserve and head west fast should the order to attack come through next turn.

OBA smoke fire misses, and the Soviets at the secondary roadblock start digging in. More OBA smoke fire misses, and some Reformed Druid in the American lines starts praying to the Smoke Gods to keep everything right where it is till next turn.

The Soviets can’t profitably reposition anyone else right now, so they pass, and the final American smoke shot goes wide, leaving a thin smokescreen as the only factor preventing a possible massacre of American trucks. With a two-thirds chance for each smoke marker to be removed at the end of the turn, and an additional one-sixth chance that a marker which stays on-board will drift, it’s almost certain that some Soviet unit will spot one or both of the American stacks. That will jack up the provocation roll bonus to either +3 or +4.

But with a modified 12 needed to release units for combat, that’s not a guaranteed war by any means. The Americans move more units forward to the north edge of the western woods on Board 18 while pulling an M26 back to outside the AT range of the T44s at the secondary roadblock. Otherwise, they make ready to rush the hill as soon as combat begins.

As feared, at the end of the turn the three central smoke markers screening the advancing Americans disappear, while the northernmost one remains in place and the southernmost one (which has been on the board for a while now) drifts northeast, toward the trucks. But that leaves plenty of Soviet eyes on all the advancing American units, so at the start of next turn the Soviets will be able to accurately report an American infiltration attempt into Berlin.

The provocation roll mod at the start of Turn 5 will be +4 (for 8 x 2 = 16 American steps), so a base roll of 8 or more starts World War III. Will it happen? Or will the Red Army bureaucracy insist it’s all a diversion and let the trucks keep heading north? Tune in next time and find out!

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