Operation Bagration was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation, a military campaign fought between 23 June and 19 August 1944 in Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviet Union destroyed 28 of 34 divisions of Army Group Center, and completely shattered the German front line.
Bagration to Berlinprovides the TO&E for the German and Russian divisions that took part in this theater from Spring of 1944 to the fall of Germany in Spring of 1945.
Also included are designer notes and a scenario,The Battle of Targul Frumos, May 1944,where the Panzer Grenadier Division Gross Deutschland commanded by Lieutenant General von Manteuffel, AKA the Panzer Baron, made a gallant stand in Romania.
New rules include ranged fire by heavy anti-tank guns and tank riders. Includes designer notes and much more.
D-Day to Berlinis an operational-level miniatures game where players command divisions and corps.
Bagration to Berlinand all the other games from Chris Parker Games will be available atAdepticonat theWinged Hussarbooth.
Myself, Art F. and my friend Mark, aka the GamesPoet got together this week to playtest a battle of my new D-Day to Berlin Sourcebook called Bagration to Berlin. This is the Eastern Front from Spring 1944 to the end of the war in 1945.
Of interesting note is that I took Russ Lockwood’s advice used 12mm scale pieces for all of the MECH units and 15mm scale pieces for the INF and ART units. We all thought it looked great for the scale of the game.
In the Gallery below you will see the Battalion single stand units. Many of them have colored dots. These are reminder of different rules. The key is below.
KEY
Pink: Detachment Strength
Green: Veteran Morale
Yellow: Poor Morale
#1: Engineer
US Halftracks: Russian Recon Battalions
Cards: These are staff cards that allow different special rules for the Battalion resting on top of them.
#7: The number denotes the Battalions parent Division. this is helpful when it is time to count up how many Battalions are on the field for a Division Morale Check.
Swords: These mark Division Boundary Lines
Tiles: I experimented with 4″ square tiles as my hills. We all liked them. I plan on cutting up 51/2″ squares from foam board and mounting the tiles on them. I will then fill in the gap between the two surfaces and after painting should have some nice looking hills.
The Bagration to Berlin rules are done and will be released in late March 2022.
ROMANIA, MAY 1944
As the German Army was being driven back west by the Soviet Army, the Division Grossdeutschland commanded by Lieutenant General Von Manteuffel AKA The Panzer Baron, made a gallant stand in and around the village of Targul Frumos, in northeast Romania. In this engagement the Veteran experience and skill of Grossdeutschland commanders and soldiers
halted the attacks of the Soviets who were seeking to deprive the Germans of the Romanian oil fields.
The Battle of Targul Frumos began on 2 May 1944 with a Soviet artillery bombardment followed by waves of T-34s and infantry across a broad front. The Veteran soldiers of the Grossdeutschland allowed the tanks to drive over their defensive positions and engaged the lagging infantry. The tanks, now without infantry support, were systematically engaged and destroyed by concealed anti-tank guns and assault guns.
During this battle the Soviet IS-2s appeared and the German tanks at a range of 2000 meters. A few escaped the Tigers but were pursued by a company of more Panzer IV’s and knocked out.
I have had a number of gamers write back to me on the subject and I really appreciate the feedback and Ideas.
My good friend John M. let me look at his 1:200 scale WWII collection. Most of them were Pendragon I believe. I brought a few home but compared to my 15’s I was disappointed in the smallness (sp) of them. I had rather hoped for something at about 60% in size. Seems to me the difference shouldn’t be so great.
I have 6mm and 10/12mm and 15mm and the difference is noticeable…however, if you’ve ever played Axis and Allies board games (not the miniature-specific game), you’ll have played with roughly 6mm tanks and 20mm troops and who knows what scale (1/3000?) ships. As you use squares, not inches, perhaps the size of the figure matters less as long as you can place them inside a square?
I once had the idea for something like that in an ancients game — the bases were all the same size, but the figure size determined its ability, whereas 6mm used a d6, 15mm used a d8, 20mm used a d10, and 25mm used a d12. DM (die modifiers) of +1 for advantageous terrain and another +1 for advantageous training/quality. But I figured I would have to buy the different dice types in the same color (all d6s are white dice, all d8s are blue dice, all d10s are green, and all d12s are red — easy to confuse d8 and d10 without a color prompt), which I never did, and then paint up all the different figures…never did. When you lost a melee, you dropped down a size, so 25mm – 20mm – 15mm – 6mm — remove from table. So every unit needed multiple stands and figures. I’m sure there’s a fellow with better math than me about the odds of a 6mm defeating a 25mm, etc. I figured the heresy factor would preclude even trying it, although the fun factor of a 6mm whacking a 25mm would interest folks. I would recommend trying it.
10mm vs 15mm WWII Panther Tanks
Wargame Drop zone Comparison
I was sent the above link to an interesting website. It had some good info on this subject.
In closing I must say i am unsure now if i want to pursue this. I was about to place an order with Pendragon Miniatures for Russians and German armor but when I compared the T34 I borrowed from John M. I was disappointed in the difference in sizes. Well I will wait a little while and ponder some more.
Meanwhile if anybody knows a brand or scale or armor that might be better suited for my quest please let me know.
