Konrad - Century of Warfare, TOAW III, and TOAW IV

KONRAD

The German Attempt to relieve the

Budapest Pocket, Jan-Feb 1945.

Scale:

2.5 km per hex, half-day turns.

Units are almost all Battalions, with a few Soviet

regiments.

Colors:

White on Grey: Wehrmacht.

Black on Grey: SS.

Brown on Green: Hungarian Honved.

Blue on Green: Various Hungarian Militia units.

Various on Blue: Luftwaffe.

White on Brown: Soviet regulars.

Black on Brown: Soviet Guards units.

Blue on Brown: Soviet Parachute units.

White on Blue: Romanians.

Various on Red: Soviet Air Force.

Victory:

Axis

In order to win the Germans must capture and hold for one

turn one of the hexes containing a manpower symbol. These

can be seen by making units invisible. They are all on the

roads leading into Budapest and each is 5 km from the city.

The premise is that the capture of any one of these is

close enough to the city to enable a breakout by the

garrison.

Soviet

The Soviets win by capturing the Axis Supply point hex (and

holding it for one turn) in Buda.

Draw

If the game reaches turn 70 (Feb. 5) without either side

winning in the ways described above, then the game is a

draw.

Supply:

Axis

For the first 6 turns Axis supply is 40. This models the

inevitable pre-offensive stockpiling that must have went on.

Beginning on Turn 7 these stockpiles are assumed to be

exhausted and Axis supply drops to 25.

Soviets

Soviet supply is 33 throughout the game.

Radius

The supply radius is 10 (25 km) for both sides.

Shock:

Axis

Turn 1 = 120. Turn 3 = 110. Turn 5 and after = 100.

Soviets

Turn 1 = 80. Turn 3 = 90. Turn 5 and after = 100.

Note: Air Shock is 100 for both sides throughout.

Unit Reconstitution:

There isn't any.

Replacements:

Axis

SS units receive units at the HIGH rate.

Slovak units are set at LOW or VERY LOW.

Everybody else is NORMAL except units inside the pocket.

Hungarian Honved units can tap the local populace and

so receive a VERY LOW rating. The two SS cavalry divisions

were composed of Germans of Hungarian descent and so also

get a VERY LOW rate. Other Hungarian units in the pocket

are either fanatics or militia, and so are set to NONE.

Note that these comments apply only to units containing

no heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery. Units

in the pocket containing heavy equipment are set to NONE.

Soviets

Guards units and regular army Mechanized and Tank corps are

set at HIGH. Romanian units are set at VERY LOW. Everything

else is NORMAL.

Weather:

The game starts at Frozen1. At some point a cold front will

occur and things are likely to become Frozen2. There will

be at least one Blizzard.

Reinforcements:

Axis

The Germans get a couple of Panzer Divisions in the North

at around turn 12. They will need them to stem the Russian

counterattack there and that is how they were used

historically.

There is a significant Luftwaffe reinforcement at around

turn 36.

Soviets

Between game turns 20 and 50 the Russians receive a Tank

Corps and two Mechanized Corps.

Withdrawals:

Axis

One of the Panzer corps received at move 12 is withdrawn

later in the game.

Strategy Considerations:

Axis

Your road is hard but not hopeless. Your first thought

will be to drive with 4 SS PzK towards the nearest manpower

point in front of the city. This is what the Germans did.

The Russians, however, are (and were) deployed to counter

this. But who knows ? With a little luck ( a key soviet

unit reorganizes at an opportune time etc. ) you might make

it. Another option is to delay moving the Panzer units near

the Lake with the hope of drawing all the Soviet mobile

reserves into the fight east of Buda with 4 SS PzK and then

launching a secondary strike from the south. This idea has

potential, but a good Soviet player will be able to stop it.

The PO does take it into account, but Elmer is what he is…

You could also try something else the Germans actually did,

which is pull 4 SS PzK out of the fight in the north at

an opportune moment and redeploy it in the south to support

a delayed thrust there. This is the option must likely to

cause Elmer trouble; it is, however, also the most difficult

to undertake. Redeploying a heavy engaged Panzer Korps is

not for the faint of heart. Lastly, by trying all these

things you may keep the Russians so busy moving their

mobile reserves around that they only have Rifle divisions

to assault Budapest with and so fail, thus ensuring a

drawn result.

Soviet

Read the above and plan accordingly.