The Fields of Black Gold ETO (id:#59779)
Friendly Fire (Friendly Fire Pack 2 ID: FrF12)   [next]   [previous]
See Also: The Fields of Black Gold by Multi-Man Publishing
Designer: Martin Svärd
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
German (SS)Russian
37.209302325581%

Overview:

In mid-September, after the fall of Rostov, the Wiking SS Division received orders to leave the western Caucasus and move eastward in order to spearhead the attack on the important oil fields east of Grozny. After two days of bitter fighting against deep and well-fortified Russian defenses, the Germans reached Sagopshin and made preparations for assaulting the town. - - - - In The Fields of Black Gold a company of SS infantry reinforced with Panzer IIIs and IVs surprise the Russian defenders, whose plan for the day didn't include fending off a strong German attack, but rather finishing the trenches and positioning the last guns.
Attacker: German (SS) (SS-Panzer-Abeilung 5 and SS-Regiment Westland, SS-Division Wiking)
Defender: Russian (44th Army)  
6.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:12.0 D:14.0
AFVs: A:6
PzKpfw IIIJ x 2
PzKpfw IVF1
PzKpfw IVF2 x 3

AFVs: D:6
Valentine II x 4
T-34 M41 x 2

Guns: A:0 D:2
76.2mm P obr. 39 x 2
50mm RM obr. 40

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: Very Dry. Treat Hill 18P7 like a multi-hex building for control purposes. D: MOL
Map Board(s): 2 18
Overlays: NONE
Errata (source)
Question: May Mopping Up (A12.153) be used to secure the 18P7 hill? Answer: No. The 18P7 is considered a building for Control (A26.14) purposes only. FrF
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultComments
2023-11-09(A) Paolo Cariolato vs Federico Corso Russian winRussian decide to defend in force level 3 hills and left unoccupied the low 1 level hill OBJ, he prepared a back defence with a nice network of trenches. Germans attacked with valor pressing the russian defences, on my second turn I was menacing the trench network. Time is not on german side. Unfortunately I lost 3 tanks to molotov (4 TK), 2 broke their MA (1 was later recallted) and 1 immobilized on an ESB, my opponent got a mortar CH on my MMG stack killing the leader (it cost hime the sniper since my sniper lowered his SAN to 2) and 1 more snake on a long HMG shot on a stack that was doing armored assault in order to conquer the low 1 level hill.
I pushed on, and while an HS took the hill later reinforced by a leader and a squad, my 9-2 AL took hull down position an a level 2 hill and single handed kept my germans in the game. Smoke poured on Russian Position, He destoyed one 76L and broke the crew of the other. brazed 2 valentines and then smoke the trench network again for good (intensive firing SMOKE), unfortunately my advanced assault group that was SOOOOOO near to get the last 2 LEVEL 3 hexes was wiped clear by a 30 + 2 shot that got a K4 as a result killing both leader and hero and breaking 2 squad (1 was fanatic). I attacked againg clearing from defending russian all trenches and nearby hexes except for a lone crew, I needed to take just the last Hex. In his last turn he succed in destroying the last tank that was helping the attack ESBed for 2 MPs and succed in getting to the 3 level hex where 2 of my squads were waiting to attack his last trench hex, both PAATC failed leaving both squad pinned, his crew left the hex and joined the CC, in the subsequent melee nothing happened. On my last turn my 9-2 AL brazed the tank but no amout of fire was able to kill the pesky crew. I was strunk in melee , ADJACENT to the last victory hex but unable to get inside. my last chance was a 2/12 on melee, but adding insult to injury I rolled a 12 on CC. :-)
Very good scenario and very good match went down to the wire.
2021-03-28(A) Stefan Fiedler vs GUSTAV LIDEMYR German (SS) winAn interesting and very good scenario. German was very aggressive with tanks that paid off by taking the small hill early with aid of SMOKE. The Big hill was harder but with sudden death VC the German eeked out a win in T6.
2020-11-20(A) X von Marwitz vs Chris Hofland German (SS) winI wanted to play this scenario for a long time because it looks quite interesting and ROAR gives it an excellent Excitement Rating of 7.25 (out of 9) based on 73 playings. On the other hand, ROAR also lists 47 Russian wins vs. only 26 Germans. As this seemed to be no detriment to the fun, I took the attacking Germans and gave it a go.

Set in September 1942 near Grozny, this is about as far east as the Germans ever got. The Germans have an excellent elite SS-force supported by 3x Pz IVF2, 1x Pz IVF1, and 2x Pz IIIJ including a 9-2 Armor Leader. The Russians have the same number of 1st Line squads with MOL Capability to keep the Germans honest in their notion of moving ADJACENT. Support consists of 2x 76L ART Ratschbumms, one of which has to be towed into position along with a few MGs and 7 Trenches. The Germans need to secure the Level 3 hill hexes and the 18P7 hill. In Turn 3, the Russians receive armored reinforcements in the form of 2x T-34 M41 and 4x Valentin IIs. The AT capacity of the latter is not exactly impressive and they are slow, but on the other hand their armor provides decent protection vs. the German 50L Guns, they have sM's, and a CMG is surely always useful vs. enemy infantry. Two squads, a leader, and an LMG round off the reinforcements.

Because the Russians were surprised by the German attack, a certain amount of Russian units will be TI for the entire first Game Turn, which is surely something that the Attacker needs to take advantage of. Noteworthy was furthermore, that the EC are Very Dry, there is that MOL Capability and a Light Breeze is blowing from board 2 towards board 18. Kindling is NA, but still - nudge, nudge... Wink, wink...

As ROAR had this significantly pro-Russian, I put some careful considerations into the setup and movement for the first German Turn. Looking at the setup of my opponent, I found it appearing mostly sound: Two lines of Infantry screen on the main hill mass that could not be ignored and could prove dangerous with the Russian MOL capability. I suspected the Trenches around the TI units of the victory hills. The two lines of screens would delay my Germans until the TI came off and bought time for the Russian armored reinforcements to make their appearance. I suspected the HIP Russian Gun on a Level 3 Hill as my opponent knew that I would have to move into every one of them and would also have a wide view to threaten German tanks.

A full AAR can by found at GameSquad forum under this link:

http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/frf12-the-fields-of-black-gold-aar.159321/
2018-10-03(D) Andy Beaton vs Keven Killean German (SS) winASLOK 2018
2016-01-24(D) Russell Dewhurst vs Ken K Russian win
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ActionDate
cosarara Added a playing2023-11-09 08:14:52
rdewhurst Added a playing2021-09-04 21:21:49
Fiedler Added a playing2021-03-28 20:59:27
von Marwitz Added a playing2020-11-21 00:18:30
von Marwitz Uploaded the Board image2020-09-28 20:09:28
FileDescriptionUserViews
(russ oil.png)Imagehoxson1764
(!SS-sov_new.png)Imagehoxson1503
(fields of gold batisse map.jpg)Map Imagehoxson1591
(FrF12 The Fields of Black Gold Scenario Archive v660.jpg)Map Imagevon Marwitz482
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Statistics:
Avg Rating: 7.54Votes: 13
Views: 3431
To-Play list count: 1
Estimated Play time: 7.3 hours
Recorded Games: 11
Archive recorded plays:
German (SS)4
Russian7
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of October 2023)
The Fields of Black Gold [Confirmed]
[A] German 28
[D] Russian 47
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