O Group - Soviets v Finnish 1943

After a 3 month break I was able this week to meet up at my FLGC SouthWight Wargamers with my regular WW2 gaming opponent Nye for a game of O Group. We decided to play out a small meeting engagement between Soviet and Finish forces during the Continuation War. As luck would have it the club was busy this week and so we had to make do with a 4' square table. It was a very nice looking table though :)

 The Finns had the top edge of the table for deployment with the Soviets deploying to the lower edge. After rolling our deployment dice We deployed to our respective edges and battle commenced.

Seizing the initiative the Soviet scouts made a run up the road but were well out of recce range and the 1st plt from B Coy who had deployed on table made a move from their start position towards the farm(1 BUA) to there front. Combat patrols from A and B coy both pushed forward. The Fins responded with a Battalion mortar barrage on the Soviets advancing to farm but the harassing fire caused no damage.  

On their left flank the Finns pushed forwards deploying troops near to the other farm buildings 

Retaining initiative the Soviet left flank saw the Infantry platoon and company commander move into the farm buildings and establish a firing line into the trees beyond. The Scouts made a dash across towards the centre managing to recce away one of the Finns combat patrols but coming under heavy fire as the finnish scouts and infantry pushed into the tree line. A Soviet infantry platoon deployed into the woods, the Soviet consolidation point, meant that the reserve Company commander could be deployed with two Combat Patrols at the end of the turn. 

On the Finnish left flank the arrival of some light armour and the taking of the farm allowed the Finns to drive back a Soviet infantry Platoon that had deployed in the small woods with an MMG.

On the next turn with the initiative going to the Finn's and sensing an early push at causing a fubar the Soviet Scouts came under increased fire. Reduced to a single section it was only saved from a rout by the Company commanders intervention. The Finn's also managed to slow down the reserve battalions deployment by taking out one of it's Combat Patrols.

The clatter of tracks saw a Soviet T-34 platoon make its entrance and move up towards the farm to begin pushing up the road. The front two sections adding some HE fire into the treeline ahead. 

On the other flank the Finns having secured the farmhouse get into a prolonged firefight  that holds the advancing Soviet company in check.

Next turn and the initiative is back with the Soviets who promptly rally and withdraw the last scout section. The T-34 platoon moves up the road in column and spits HE at the Finish troops in the trees to either side of the road. As the reserve C company begins to deploy and company lines are again solidified the centre elements of B coy move to the roadside hedge ready to support the tank advance. 

On the other flank likewise A company now concentrates its forces on the Finns in and around the Farmhouse. This is helped by the Finns also withdrawing their scouts from the woods near the farm after they became suppressed. 

In reply the Finn's deploy their remaining armour to meet the advancing T-34s but their fire is ineffective.
The Finnish reserves also begin to deploy into the treeline in the centre opposite the Soviet reserves but both sides will have to clear open ground under fire if they wish to Assault

And with that turn over we had to call time. Nye felt the Soviets had the advantage but I was by no means sure if that was the case. A couple of times in the game the Finns tried to call in artillery support both times it failed to happen. If either had succeeded then the outcome could have been very different. As a what if? after calling it we rolled and sure enough it could have been 3rd time lucky as the dice resolved to an accurate heavy artillery barrage which could have potentially devastated the Soviet advance up the road. 

All in all a great evening gaming against a great opponent with a great ruleset and we both came away I think with a better feel for the nuances of the rules and certainly a better feel for the forces we were commanding.  A bigger table would have been nice 6'x4' as once three companies were on the table it started to feel a little busy with very little room to manoeuvre but such can be the nature of real battlefields. Looking forward to more battles of O Group in the near future.