Panzers Last Stand: Gaming Budapest 1945

This is the overall situation at the beginning of the campaign game.  The Axis forces are on the left and Budapest is surrounded near the right edge of the map.  This shows you about 75% of the total map area.  The north Danube section is not shown.  Operation Konrad I is about to begin.

Note: For this review I am assuming the reader understands the BCS system as I detailed it in my post for Baptism By Fire from last year.  I won't attempt to re-explain things already covered there.  Instead I will focus on new concepts as they arise.

Longtime readers know that I have a lifelong interest in the Eastern Front of World War Two.  That part of the world war was larger than all the rest of the fighting all over the world combined.  There are certain moments of that theater of operations that stand out in my mind.  Among them is a keen interest I have developed over the years in the Siege of Budapest in 1945.   

I have gamed this situation in the past with a treatment by Command Magazine from 1994 and one by PC wargame designer John Tiller from 2007.  Both of those games are fun and reflect the uniqueness of this situation.  As the Soviet player, you are attempting to capture Budapest while repelling repeated Axis attacks to relieve the city.  As the German, you trying to hold on to the city while attacking to break the siege of the garrison.  There are plenty of opportunities for offensive and defensive strategy for both sides.  A fascinating situation historically and game-wise.

Last year MMPGamers released Panzers Last Stand, a treatment of the situation immersed in Dean Essig's brilliant Battalion Combat Series (BCS).  I have played this game off and on since last fall and it has quickly become one of my favorite wargames ever.  It depicts the situation in a way that offers tremendous insight to anyone interest in military history, while simultaneously being a fun, challenging game to figure out.  The tinkering and figuring out the situation with the BCS system is rewarding and I have to say this is the definitive exploration of this topic.

I posted about BCS last year with a look at the Battle of Kasserine Pass.  That was a smallish battle with fewer pieces which made learning the system easier.  With Panzers Last Stand we have an enormous footprint of activity.  Geographically speaking, the game is a bit larger than the terrain depicted around Kasserine Pass.  But the number of forces involved are comparatively gigantic.  More moving parts means more situations to handle and more decisions to make.  

Since I play solo this slows the game speed down quite a bit.  But it isn't as much to chew as first appears.  Whereas in all the previous BCS titles all commands and units get a chance to move and fight each turn, in Panzers Last Stand logistics were insufficient for that on either side.  Most of your side's units will not get a chance to move and fight each turn.  You have to figure out which ones will do so within a limited number of Activations.  

Even then you are restricted by “primary” (first tier) and “secondary” (second tier) Activations.  This simple but realistic innovation captures the restricted tempo of operations around Budapest in 1945 with a minimum of fuss.  All primary Activations go first, then secondaries next.  There is also the opportunity to “spoil” the activation of a division or corps by striking it before it has activated.  If spoiled you go after the secondary Activations are finished.

For this review, I'll look at a few of the opening Activations of the campaign game and take a quick look at one of the many smaller scenarios provided which reflects the quality of the Soviet offensive capability by this late stage in the war.  Generally speaking, the German Panzer divisions still pack a potent punch but their infantry superiority is greatly diminished.  Meanwhile, the Soviets have become highly competent in all aspects of the operational art of modern warfare.  (Unlike they way they are today in Ukraine, but that's for another post.)

First, an overview of the map and the situation.  The Danube River is the predominant terrain feature on the map.  It is (almost) impassable except at bridges.  It cuts through the map separating the substantial west and the confined east as well as the substantial south from the confined northern terrain.  The north Danube will be covered later on.  For now we will restrict ourselves to the south including the large city of Budapest, itself cut into western and eastern parts (Buda and Pest, respectively) by the river.

The game begins with Budapest surrounded, the mixed German/Hungarian garrison attempting to hold on as the Soviets and Romanians tighten their grip around the city.  The Germans have shifted two SS panzer divisions from Poland to spearhead the counterattack (historically there were three attempts, Konrad I, II, III).  The Soviets have a number of Guards units in the area to maintain control.  The Guards tank corps are virtually equal to the panzer divisions.  It is a match-up of might versus might.  Meanwhile, fighting in the urban center is slow and bloody.

On January 2, 1945, the Germans surprised the Soviets, but logistical support was not ready for either side.  For this reason there is only one primary Activation that turn.  By the rules it must be the German 96th  infantry division.  Otherwise, the Germans get 3 secondary Activations to just one for the Soviets.  The number and types of Activations vary after that.  The Germans reach a maximum of 4 primary and 3 secondary for turns January 7 – 19.  The Soviet maximum is 3 primary and 4 secondary beginning January 5 to the end of the game, January 27.  Over the course of play, the Soviets received slightly more total Activations though the advantage goes to the Germans the first few turns.  Each turn represents one day.

The 96th  infantry division has special boats and can cross the Danube River as it it were not there until January 6.  This means that their headquarters can initially remain north of the river, totally protected from any Soviet attack (because the Soviets cannot cross the river).  The infantry battalions line up along the main road adjacent the river at various intervals and forego the opportunity for a second Activation by going into Prepared Defense.  This will give them a slight advantage if/when they are attacked later.  Their main purpose is to block Soviet movement or retreat along the road when the panzer divisions attack.  

Panzers Last Stand contains command chits for each division.  These are placed in a cup and drawn randomly to see who goes next.  The Soviet, with only one activation chooses the 18th Tank Corps while the Germans choose the 3SS, 5SS and Pape Kampfgroup.  In wargaming this is called a chit-pull system and it is perfect for solitaire play because you don't know which formation will get to move/attack next.  The next chit drawn is the 3SS.  Which rolls for SNAFU and get a full Activation, which means it can move twice this turn and it can also place up to two Objective Markers.  The 3SS places both markers (a Double Objective) on the 170th tank brigade.

The campaign game starts with an absurd situation on the Soviet side.  It would never happen in regular play where players have more control, but in the case of turn one the Soviet 18th Tank Corps division is widely separated.  In fact, in BCS terms, its forward units are isolated.  The Soviet must correct this situation because the penalties for Isolation in BCS are severe attrition.  A unit can literally vanish for being isolated, which is why a player would never position this division the way it sets up.  But the Soviets have an opportunity to correct this with their secondary Activation by choosing this unit and bringing its headquarter into an acceptable range.  Before that can happen, however, the 3SS is going to attack these forward units with their necks stuck out.

The 3SS Tiger battalion in combat mode moves forward and conducts Engagement Fire against the excellent Soviet 170th Tank brigade.  Objective Markers are not required for Engagement Fire but a Double Objective does give the Tigers a favorable die roll modifier.  Since the Tigers have a range of three hexes and the 170th only has a range of two there is no danger of the Tiger receiving any damage.

The 3SS Tiger panzer battalion (in combat mode) gets an opportunity to conduct an Engagement Fire on the excellent Soviet 170th tank brigade of the 18th corps.  This is a form of attack that I did not give an example of in my previous post on Baptism By Fire.  The Tiger is a heavy battalion with only 3 movement points on its combat side. By using road movement it can advance just far enough to bring the 170th into its 3-hex range.  The weather is “good” visibility on this turn (in most turns it is not) so units can “see” up to 4 hexes away.  

Engagement Fire happens when armored units fire at one another.  In this case the Tigers have a fire range of 3 hexes.  Objective Markers are not required for Engagement Fire but the presence of the Double Objective does give it an advantage on the fire table.  Also, since the 170th is out of command range, it has no HQ to facilitate support, so there are no negative modifiers.  The two dice roll is a “5” modified to a “6”, which is a Both Loss result.  However, since the Tigers are out of range of the 17oth only the 170th loses a step and remains in place.  

In BCS armored units may fire twice each Activation.  The Tigers target the 170th again.  The two dice roll of an “8” is modified to a “9”.  The 170th takes a loss, must flip to its move side (losing its 2-hex ranged fire in the process) and retreat 3 hexes.  This happens to place it in a stack with an SU-85 regiment.  Importantly, since it is part of the 18th Tank Corps, the damage it has taken “spoils” the corps.  Its command chit is removed from the cup and it will go only after the Germans complete all their secondary Activations.

In brief, the remaining units of 3SS advances.  The 1000th Anti-Tank battalion is eliminated.    They drive into the hills protected by the 80th Guard division and make some minor headway with a few infantry assaults.  Meanwhile, two follow-on panzer battalions and conduct (separately, in move mode) Engagement Fire again against the 170th.   The die rolls are not modified because we are no longer in range of the 2-hex range of Double Objective marker.  The first roll causes no damage but the second results in another hit and a retreat result.  Since the 170th has no safe path to retreat it loses an additional step and is eliminated.

This is after the completion of the Soviet 18th Tank Corps activation.  The surviving forward unit of barely avoids being isolated.  Note the follow-on SS panzer battalions are in move mode and the HQ's are flipped and inverted to indicate they are "done" for the turn.

In BCS if any unit forced to retreat is stacked with another unit (in this case the remaining SU regiment) then that unit must also retreat.  But the SU unit is in the Zone of Control of the 96th battalion which moved adjacent to it earlier.  This means the SU has no Safe Path and therefore cannot retreat.  This results in step loss by the SU unit and it remains in place.  This places the final step of the SU-85 regiment a desperate situation.  It is threatened with Isolation, which will eliminate it no matter what the HQ attempting to reach them from the south is able to do.  But it isn't dead yet.  Checking fatigue a second time results in a decrease. The 3SS “Fresh” is downgraded to Fatigue-0.

Keeping the details brief, KG Pape goes next.  It has two regular panzer battalions that pack a reasonable punch but they are brittle.  One only has one step and the other has but two.  By comparison the 3SS battalions have 3 or 4 steps.  Pape attacks the infantry of the 30th Guard division.  The Guards are well-supported with artillery and anti-tank units.  This fighting will be a slower slog.  Pape makes little progress and loses fatigue in the process.

Secondary Activations are only allowed to activate once per turn, which reflects the difficulties of tempo for both sides at this stage of the war.  Next, the 5SS Panzer drives back some 30th Guards units around the city of Tata.  They get a good fatigue roll and remain "Fresh."

Finally, the spoiled 18th Tank Corps gets to move.  The HQ and rest of the units race through the valley and mountainous terrain to the south in a bid to get into range of the Soviet SU-85 regiment.  Though out of command range, the SU can still conduct an Engagement Fire against the 3SS Recon unit which is adjacent and potentially isolating the SU.  This could open up a Safe Path and enable the unit to avoid the penalties of Isolation.  Thanks in part to the bountiful Soviet air support, which is more prevalent in the “good” weather, the tank unit forces the Recon to retreat which, barely, opens up the Safe Path when the HQ moves into position.  Isolation is checked only after all Activations have taken place, in this case after the spoiled Formations all activated.  The SU regiment avoids Isolation but is still in a tenuous situation.

The overextended forward units create a lot of tension for 18th Tank Corps on the first turn of the game.  It is interesting to play its situation out repeatedly.  If the 18th tank chit-draws before the SS Formations, it has far more options to prepare itself.  It could even conduct small-scale attacks.  But, if 3SS is drawn first, as in the example above, it is common to see the units facing Isolation and having to respond to that threat moreso than to that of the enemy for the moment.  It is a small example of literally dozens of little moments like this created by BCS in this interesting operational situation.  This game is truly entertaining as much as it is informative. 

Alternatively, the Soviet side could simply let the forward units of the 18th Tank Corps fend for themselves and select another Formation to activate on Turn One.  The 34th Guards Division, for example, has the potential to inflict some damage on the 5SS or to reposition itself northward to assist the 18th's forward units in their defense.  The 2nd Guards Mech Corps could also be brought forward and pre-positioned for a counterattack next turn.  There are a lot of possibilities.  The Soviets are by no means required to choose to begin the game with the 18th tank.

Panzers Last Stand is the first game in BCS to reflect urban fighting.  This required new “Urban Warfare” rules in the updated version 2.0 of the series rules that comes with the game.  Budapest contains both normal “city” terrain but it mostly consists of special “urban” hexes.  Combat in city hexes is handled per the rules as normal.  Urban hexes are a different type altogether and, as usual, Dean Essig has found a great way to reflect the intense nature of this fighting that is playable, realistic yet not too cumbersome.  In a nutshell, all normal combat retreats are ignored and you must attack to control the hexes.  Importantly, this means that just sitting around defending will not gain you control of anything.  Slowly, hex by hex, the whole city will fall unless you attack your opponent.

Here is the section of the map showing Budapest (Buda and Pest).  The tannish hexes with street lines drawn through them are "urban."  The nearby reddish hexes are "city."  Panzers Last Stand features BCS special rules for urban fighting.

The same screen shot with the units in place.  This is the situation at the beginning of the campaign game.  Buda is exclusively urban hexes, making it much more difficult and bloody to take (and hold).  The game begins with most of the Pest side outside the urban zone, making the initial Soviet advances somewhat easier initially.  Note the "All Up" counter which indicates none of the bridges across the Danube have been blown-up yet.  Management of the bridges is a critical part of defending the city.  The river cannot be crossed without them, which can be an advantage or simply a necessity.

So the Budapest garrison must counterattack the Soviets in an attempt to regain control of any city hex lost, or they will keep on losing hexes.  In BCS terms, there is a “transition” of hex control.  This is reflected purely in combat losses.  For each loss a unit suffers in an urban hex, it loses on “level” of control.  It flows like this...defender control to defender partial control to attacker partial control to defender withdrawal.  Special markers denote which side as partial control of a given hex.  Withdrawal is forced upon a defender (be it Soviet or Axis) when a hex partially (but not physically) controlled by the attacker takes a step loss in combat.  Attacker step loses do not count in terms of control, it is defender only.  In most cases, you have to inflict 3 casualties to force a Withdrawal.  But you only take control the empty hex in a future Activation when you can move into it.

This marvelously reflects the slow and nasty job of taking an urban area block by block. This method is another impressive aspect of BCS.  The defending Budapest Garrison must attack (and likely take causalities in doing so) the Soviet and Romanians if they want to maintain control of the city.  Over time, turn by turn, some vital hexes will pass from Soviet partial control back to Axis partial control.  It is not uncommon to have both Soviet and Axis units next to each other with partial control markers for the other side on top of them.  This reflects the intense, infiltrated nature of urban fighting, where various city blocks are partially controlled by both sides simultaneously.  This back and forth is how warfare in heavily developed urban centers works.  It also makes the use of artillery and air support even more crucial than when attacking an open hex.  I'd love to see this system used for other situations like Stalingrad or even the Battle of Hue in 1968 in future games.

The campaign game is HUGE and takes a lot of time to play.  Admittedly, as with large scenarios in most games I play, I have only played through the first 5 – 6 turns before starting over.  I want to quickly mention one of the smaller scenarios, where we find the shoe on the other foot, offensively speaking.  This one plays a lot faster and can be easily completed in a few hours.  The scenario features the situation on the north Danube and is entitled “Days of Battle: Opening Blows at Komarom.”  It is named after one of the first books I bought for my kindle collection several years ago entitled Days of Battle.  This reflects the the “surge” of the 6th Guards Tank Army against a Hungarian infantry division with ad-hoc German support.  

A look at the north Danube part of the game. This is a short scenario which allows players to see how potent the 6th Guards Tank Army can be against a Hungarian infantry division and ad hoc German units.  This is more reflective of the typical situation along the eastern front during this late stage of the war.

The scenario gives the player a chance to see how a competent Soviet force can rip into mixed Axis forces with relative ease.  As I mentioned, by this late stage of the war the Soviets were very effective, especially their Guards units.  It is a fun scenario to play and offers a good glimpse as what a potent punch the Soviets can offer in driving back rather mediocre infantry units.  I would recommend this one for learning BCS as it is small and includes all aspects of the system for you to appreciate.  A good way to learn how to best coordinate an offensive without too many decisions to make.  This scenario has only four turns, so it is fast-paced and easily playable in a single session, a rarity in games I usually play.  That means it is easy to play this one repeatedly, so you aren't focusing on the rules so much as learning what the situation has to teach you.

Panzers Last Stand comes with ten scenarios of varying sizes.  I have only played the two mentioned in this post but I have also taken long looks at the game setups in VASSAL to better understand the situation in this part of World War Two.  As usual, in tandem with my books on the subject, this game gives me a better appreciation of the opportunities and the challenges present on both sides in this late stage of the war.  Like Baptism By Fire and Last Blitzkrieg (which covers the Battle of the Bulge) I consider these games to be the definitive treatments of their respective topics.  BCS is an extremely satisfying system to learn and play.  It is sophisticated but not overly complex once you get the hang of the concepts.  It is also a system unlike any other in the wargaming genre.  Another brilliant interpretation by MMPGamers of what commanders actually have to address in order to fight and battle or implement a World War Two operation.