Blitzkrieg Commander – Example Soviet Order of Battle

Our recent experiments with ‘O’ Group have got me thinking about a similar set of rules that has been lurking on my shelves: Blitzkrieg Commander (BKC). I’ve got every edition of the rules (1 through 4), yet I have never played it because it was a bit too crunchy (concrete) for my tastes. But it is a credible alternative to ‘O’ Group, so I got it of the shelf and read through it.

I prefer scenarios over pick up battles so I’m trying to wrap my head around how to map official historical orders of battle to BKC OOBs. In this post I play around with a official Soviet historical order of battle for a infantry battalion and see what that looks like in both game scales of BKC. Not that I’m going to use an official OOB for an actual scenario, but this exercise will help me understand which bits of the historical OOB turn into BKC stands and which bits get ignored. And because BKC has two game scales – regimental where a base is a platoon and battalion scale where a base is a squad – I’m going to have to do this twice.


Soviet TO04/551 Infantry Regiment (December 1942)

The official historical order of battle I picked on was TO04/551 (Zaloga & Ness, 2003, p. 26). This is the Soviet Table of Organisation for an Infantry Regiment from December 1942. For this exercise I’m only interested in the Infantry Battalion bit:

Soviet TO04/551 Infantry Regiment (December 1942)

  • 1 x Battalion HQ (3 officers)
  • 1 x Signal Platoon (8 officers and men, 1 horse, 1 cart)
  • 1 x Medical Platoon (5 men; 1 horse; 1 cart)
  • 1 x Train Platoon (12 officers and men; 14 horses; 4 wagons; 3 carts)
  • 3 x Rifle Companies each with:
    • 1 x Company HQ (5 officers and men)
    • 1 x Medical Squad (5 men)
    • 1 x Mortar Platoon (7 officers and men; 2 50mm mortars)
    • 1 x Machine gun Squad (4 men; 1 medium machine gun)
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons each with:
      • 1 x Platoon HQ (4 officers and men)
      • 4 x Rifle Squads (each 9 men)
  • 1 x Machine gun company with:
    • 1 x Company HQ (4 officers and men)
    • 3 x Machine gun Platoons each with:
      • 1 x Platoon HQ (3 officers and men; 3 horses; 1 wagon; 1 cart)
      • 3 x Machine gun Squads (each 5 men; 1 medium machine gun)
  • 1 x Anti-tank rifle Platoon with:
    • 1 x Platoon HQ (2 officers and men; 2 horses; 1 wagon)
    • 3 x Anti-tank rifle Squad (each 7 men; 3 anti-tank rifles)
  • 1 x Anti-tank gun Platoon with:
    • 1 x Platoon HQ (5 officers and men)
    • 2 x Anti-tank gun Squads (each 6 men; 1 45mm anti-tank gun; 4 horses; 1 wagon)
  • 1 x Mortar company with:
    • 1 x Company HQ (3 officers and men)
    • 3 x Mortar Platoons each with:
      • 1 x Platoon HQ (4 officers and men; 3 horses; 3 carts)
      • 3 x Mortar Squads (each 5 men; 1 82mm mortar)

TO04/551 Battalion in BKC Regimental Scale

BKC has a pretty straight forward mapping at the regimental scale. “A unit [stand of miniatures] represents a platoon of infantry or vehicles, or a battery of guns, when playing the game at the regimental or divisional level” (BKC, p. 5). The rules give further guidance:

Each unit/base in the game represents:

  • A platoon of infantry or support infantry (approximately 50 men).
  • A battery of guns (approximately 4-6 ordinance pieces and crews).
  • A platoon of vehicles (approximately 3-4 tanks or similar).
  • Or a similar sized group of battlefield assets


Thus a Tank Squadron with 3 platoons of 4 tanks is represented by 3 tanks on the tabletop. (BKC, p. 7)

fred’s Late War German Grenadier Regiment is a good example of a BKC OOB at Regimental scale. Each Rifle Company has five bases: three Rifle Platoons, a single MG Platoon, and a Wagon. The two Heavy Companies have two different OOBs. The first four bases: a 8cm mortar, 12cm mortar, wagon and halftrack/lorry. The other had three bases: two 8cm mortars and a wagon. All of that is included in a Grenadier battalion. What is interesting for me is the only commander stand in fred’s OOB is the battalion commander which is an HQ in BKC terms. The company commanders are not represented. The upshot is a single HQ unit commands 18-19 other units. In contrast, the MicroMark OOBs lists Company HQs but say “Company HQs are not compulsory and are included for historical reference and optional game play.” Hmm, sounds like Company HQs are not the done thing in the BKC Regimental scale.

I also looked at several MicroMark Blitzkrieg Commander IV Army Lists from Wargames Vault.

Based on the rules and the examples, I get the following order of battle for a TO04/551 Battalion:

Soviet Battalion (from TO04/551) in BKC Regimental Scale

  • 1 x BCO or BHQ1
  • 3 x Rifle Companies each with:
    • 0 or 1 x CHQ2
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons
  • 1 x Machine gun company with:
    • 0 or 1 x CHQ2
    • 3 x Machine gun Platoons
    • 3 x wagons and/or carts3
  • 1 x Anti-tank rifle Platoon4
  • 1 x 45mm Anti-tank gun Platoon
  • 1 x limber or wagon3
  • 1 x Mortar company with:
    • 0 or 1 x CHQ2
    • 3 x 82mm Mortar Platoons
    • 3 x carts3

Notes:
(1) The battalion HQ would be the BKC CO if the battalion is your entire battlegroup, otherwise a BKC HQ. The signal platoon is included in the battalion HQ and the medical platoon, train platoon and 50mm mortars are not represented (Pendraken Forum).
(2) Company HQs are not compulsory and are included for historical reference and optional game play (following MicroMark OOBs).
(3) I noticed from fred’s OOB and from various Micromark BKC OOBs, that artillery get separate tow bases, even if a wagon.
(4) The straight forward mapping is an anti-tank rifle platoon becomes a BKC anti-tank rifle platoon. Personally, I’d probably distribute the anti-tank rifles amongst the rifle companies and give three existing rifle platoons the anti-tank rifle upgrade.


TO04/551 Battalion in BKC Battalion Scale

You can also play games at the company or battalion level by simply stating that each unit represents a squad of infantry, or a single vehicle or gun (BKC, p. 5)

That isn’t a lot to go on. Some things are obvious, e.g. Battalion HQ becomes CO and Rifle Squad becomes Infantry Base. But some things are less clear. I was particularly curious about:

  • What becomes a BKC command unit; the Battalion HQ for sure (CO), but what about Company HQ and/or Platoon HQ?
  • If there are no Platoon HQ then the Company HQ have nine Rifle Squads in their formation, without a Platoon HQ … is that okay in BKC?
  • What about those two or four horse wagons and one horse carts? BKC allows for them but would you take them?
  • What about the non-combat elements (signal, medical, train)?
  • What about that anti-tank rifle platoon?
  • The 50mm mortars?
  • etc, etc.

So I asked Pendraken Forum about the 1942 Soviet Battalion in BKC Battalion Scale … ?. Lord Kermit of Birkenhead and Fred were kind enough to answer. Thanks guys.

Based on the rules, the examples, the answers from Lord Kermit of Birkenhead and Fred, I get the following order of battle for a TO04/551 Battalion:

Soviet Battalion (from TO04/551) in BKC Battalion Scale

  • 1 x BCO1
  • 3 x Rifle Companies each with:
    • 1 x CHQ1
    • 1 x Machine gun Squad
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons each with:
      • 0 or 1 x PHQ2
      • 4 x Rifle Squads
  • 1 x Machine gun company with:
    • 1 x CHQ1
    • 3 x Machine gun Platoons each with:
      • 0 or 1 x PHQ2
      • 3 x Machine gun Squads5
      • 3 x wagons and/or carts3
  • 1 x Anti-tank rifle Platoon with:
    • 0 or 1 x PHQ2
    • 3 x Anti-tank rifle Squad4
  • 1 x Anti-tank gun Platoon with:
    • 0 or 1 x PHQ2
    • 2 x 45mm Anti-tank gun Squads
    • 1 x limber or wagon3
  • 1 x Mortar company with:
    • 1 x CHQ1
    • 3 x Mortar Platoons each with:
      • 0 or 1 x HQ2
      • 3 x 82mm Mortar Squads6
      • 3 x carts3

Notes:
(1) The battalion HQ would be the BKC CO if the battalion is your entire battlegroup. Company HQs are BKC HQs. The signal platoon is included in the battalion HQ. The medical, train, and 50mm mortars are not represented (Pendraken Forum).
(2) Platoon HQs are not compulsory and are included for historical reference and optional game play (following MicroMark OOBs).
(3) I noticed from fred’s OOB and from various Micromark BKC OOBs, that artillery get separate tow bases, even if a wagon.
(4) The straight forward mapping is an anti-tank rifle platoon becomes a BKC anti-tank rifle platoon of three squads. Personally, I’d probably distribute the anti-tank rifles amongst the rifle companies and give one existing rifle squads in each rifle platoon the anti-tank rifle upgrade.
(5) Three platoons of three machine gun squads makes nine machine guns. Plus one in each rifle company. Wow, that is a lot of machine guns (12). Perhaps two weapons to one stand is better.
(6) Three platoons of three 82mm mortar squads makes nine mortars. Wow, that is a lot of on-table mortars (9). Lord Kermit of Birkenhead suggested I field them as three weak off table artillery batteries instead.


What did I learn?

Well, converting official historical OOBs to BKC is pretty simple at both the regimental and battalion scales.

the regimental scale gives a tidy little force. But that isn’t too surprising as you’d expect a battalion to be only a small portion of a regimental force.

The battalion scale will give a Soviet battalion of 1942 in a lot of rifle squads (36), machine guns squads (12), and 82mm mortars (9). Add to that two 45mm anti-tank guns, three squads of anti-tank rifles and bunch of wagons and carts. This lot is commanded by a BCO and five CHQs but I’ve no idea whether that kind of command ratio is normal in BKC. I did get the sense from the folk on the BKC forum that this was a big force.

Perhaps the most comparable version of BKC to ‘O’ Group is actually regimental scale. To make it exactly comparable, you’d use the platoons as the manoeuvre units, but give them all the squad level stands rather than just one.


References

fred’s BKC Commander OOB for Late War German Grenadier Regiment

MicroMark Blitzkrieg Commander IV Army Lists from Wargames Vault

Pendraken Miniatures. (2019). Blitzkrieg Commander: Fast play tabletop wargame rules for WWII (4th Edition). Author.

Zaloga, S. J., and Ness, L. S. (2003). Red Army Handbook 1939-1945. Sutton.

6 thoughts on “Blitzkrieg Commander – Example Soviet Order of Battle”

  1. The Soviets are outliers for MMG squads, having 1 MMG per squad. US/German/UK typically had 2 MMGs per squad/section.

    Reply
  2. Is Blitzkrieg Commander the system based on Games Workshop’s Warmaster (with failed orders, etc)?

    Reply
  3. Thanks Steven. Very interesting post. I’m building a 1942 Russian army for Blitzkriegcommander and Crossfire and here I found the information I needed to answer my questions.

    Reply

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