Poland Defiant

It's been radio silence for almost a full month. Have I been playing board games? Absolutely, but primarily games that I don't feel like posting about. I've been playtesting for Decision Games the past several months and focusing most of my die rolling on a magazine game about the Polish-Soviet war. It's been a great learning experience, but (understandably) repetitive. And since the game is still in play testing, I haven't posted anything or taken notes for AAR Central.

Instead, having found the time for something else, I've finally put a finished Revolution Games title up on the table (and not surprisingly, I could notice some similarities with the game I've been playtesting). Today, we're all in on a superb title dealing with the German invasion of Poland in 1939 (code named Case White): Poland Defiant.

This game features plenty of armored trains, ill-coordinated blitzkrieg attacks, and copious of amounts of command and control dilemmas. That's just my sort of game. And, importantly, SLOVAKIANS! Poland Defiant includes the Slovak divisions of Field Army Bernolák in this game. For over a decade, I have been a fan of any history concerning Slovak cooperation with the Axis powers in the 2nd World War. They didn't do much in this game, but their token contribution to the Axis invasion of Poland were more than enough as far as gameplay is concerned.

A view of Army Group South (looking west to east from bottom to top of the image).

The game starts on December 1 and goes through December 10. The German Army Group South (AG South) faced off against the Polish military districts of Poznan, Lodz, and Krakow. To the north, The German breakout from East Prussia fell to the 3rd Army, with link-up support coming from the 4th Army.

At game start, 3rd and 4th Armies struggled to reduce Danzig and the Pomorskie district defenders. Pomorskie HQ conducted a brilliant fighting withdrawal against the German 4th Army. For several days, the Germans were burdened by command over forces far beyond the controlling range of the army HQs assigned to AG North. The delays this caused were to the benefits of the Polish defenders north of the Bug river. Danzig held for three days before eventually falling to the concerted efforts of the German 4th Army. With the German 4th preoccupied with the corridor to East Prussia, HQ Pomorskie withdrew to Torun and Włocławek, all while keeping the 3rd Army at Bay (with support from the Modlin district). While the Pomorskie divisions didn't succeed escaping to the Warsaw perimeter, their early successes against AG North kept 3rd and 4th Armies out of the game. The 3rd never had the strength to force a crossing of the Bug River against the Modlin defenders and the 4th had to contend with the Pomorskie pocket. That left all possible routes for victory with AG South.

The delayed reduction of Danzig meant the survival of Army District Pomorskie.

AG North's two assault formations were the 10th and 14th Armies. The 10th was assinged Lodz, the 14th Krakow. The German 8th Army was assigned mopping up for Polish formations caught behind the advancing Panzers of the 10th and 14th, while to the far south, Field Army Bernolak was assigned harassing duties and security objectives against the Polish mountain divisions in the Carpathians. The Slovaks served well, securing a critical VP, but their combat record was lackluster; they failed 3 times to evict a Polish division surrounded and out of supply from the town they were dug into.

The German 10th Army caught its break outside Lodz when on turn 4 it overran the Lodz HQ. In a quick turn of events, the Lodz defenders were left without an HQ to activate them, and the city fell two turns later once the independent defenders in the city were forced out. The 14th Army took its sweet time reducing the Krakow defenders. By far the most heavily entrenched military district in Poland, the Krakow defenders kept the panzers and grenadiers of the 14th Army far too busy in this game. 

Game End: at the gates of Warsaw.

By game end, the 10th Army had pushed to the gates of Warsaw, the 8th and mopped up Poznan, and the 14th had finally reduced Krakow, but their distraction with pressing onto Warsaw came at the price of the German historical victory. At game end, I was 1 VP away from a German historical victory. The Modlin defenders, along with sizeable remnants of the Carpathian defenders under the Malopolska HQ supported by the last of the Prusy, Lodz, and Krakow defenders held a cordon against the advancing Germans. I would have won had I sent more panzers around the Polish flanks to secure city VPs, but I neglected this strategy. Maybe I'll remember it next time.

In hindsight, this is a great game. I came out with a Polish victory, blood on the chevrons of my Slovak cardboard infantry, and a better appreciation for the opening days of the 2nd World War.

More games to come, as always. Until then.