Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Soviets are at it again!

Here is another game set in Germany during the second Soviet union. The US forces must hold a riverside town near the Czech boarder against the Soviet coy sized all arms teams.

The town is divided into an industrial section closest to the edge in the picture below. The RR tracks cross a bridge and pass by a fueling station which is also the main Soviet objective.

The other Soviet objective is toward the other end of the table: a two story office building which doubles as the US platoon HQ and battalion OP.
Turn #1
All the Russian units start up parallel to the river and begin to move.
The BMPs move towards the office building to the upper right hand side of the board.
The T-72 platoon must follow the RR line into the edge of the city because the regular traffic bridge is not strong enough.
Finally the BTRs are to cross the river and lad in the field on the other side, that way they could flank the station and move along side the T-72s.
 Turn#2
The BMPs began their advance and were targeted by the Javelin team who damage the lead BMP halving it's speed.
The lead T-72 is targeted by the (totally awesome) Bradley mounted TOW missile, which in turn destroys it blocking the RR bridge; luckily for the Russians, the river is shallow and the other two tanks begin to cross.
The BTR platoon makes it across the river.
Like something from a 70s war movie!
 Turn #3
The lead BMP pulls to the side since it is slowing the rest of the platoon down. and dismounts. The other two move on past towards the office.
Meanwhile, at the other bridge, one T-72 pulls to the side and engages the Bradley IFV but does not score a good hit. The other remaining T-72 crosses the river and follows the RR tracks to the station where the>>>
BTRs begin to dismount parallel to the tracks.

A hidden US Army squad engages the BTR squads from a stone wall parallel to the RR tracks as the platoon begins to dismount.
It didn't take long for the Javalin team to lock on to the heat signature of the T-72 which was engaging their Bradley. It kills the second T-72.
The BMPs push on past their disabled friend who unleashes his crew of Bolsheviks.
 Turn#4
The platoon dismounts and begins to advance on the station just as...
the BMP platoon reaches the office building.

Just about this time in the game, a US fireteam across from the station and the GPMG team IN the station join in a crossfire on the platoon in the street below, a total of four Russians are killed. To add to the gore in that section, a US sniper team fires from the office building and the unit behind the wall kills three more Russians. This six casualties from this four way crossfire was more than the poor Russian unit could stand, the remnants of one squad routs off the battlefield never to be seen again.


The commander's tank.
 Turn #5
The BTR platoon by the station is still pinned and in a desperate situation.
The last T-72 fires at the Bradley but still manages no hits.
The BMP platoon engages a US squad at the office building but scores no kills. One of its dismounted squads enters the building.
The squad from the crippled BMP begins to advance on the station.

The Javelin finally destroys the last T-72 just as the...
GPMG engages the advancing Russians killing one.
The squad in the grey building across the street kills another of the pinned Russians, who in turn fail their second morale test and retreat.
The Bradley brews up one of the static BTRs with its cannon.



 Turn #6
As the BMP platoon kills two US soldiers near the office, the other squad charges to the rear of the station.

The Brad destroys a second BTR.
Action by the unit in the grey building, the sniper team, the unit in the station and a Stryker results in four more dead around the station.
The carnage in the our way crossfire



 Turn #7
The BMP squad near the station retreats across the street to a house.
Across town, the other squad of the BMP platoon moves to the second story of the office building and engages a trapped US squad on the ground as their parent BMP engages them with the cannon, ouch! The other BMP pulls out of this area to assist in the capture of the station.

The Brad knocks out the other BTR clearing the way for it and the squad by the wall to move to the station and office.


Turn #8
No kills, each unit continued its move to their new objectives.

Turn #9
The Russians still made no progress on the station or the office, and the US extra squad and Brad were closing in so I called it a game       :-D

Conclusion.
Russia
23 either KIA or badly injured and captured.
9 routed
the remaining 15 retreated.
and 3 T-72s, 3 BTRs, and 1 BMP were either destroyed or left behind.
US
2 men were KIA and the objectives were held.

Lessons Learned(to steal the idea from Steven).

The Russians should have opened up on the positions especially the Brad with their T-72s before attempting to cross the stream.

The Russians in the street should have engaged with small arms and especially targeted the tougher areas with the squad level RPGs with which they are equipped.

I should have used the guns and rockets on the BMPs more to my advantage during the rush through the city.

As for the US. The four way crossfire worked wonders for stemming the main Russian attack, I'll have to remember that one.

The TOW and Javelin are excellent deadly weapons, I should continue to focus on engaging the MBTs and heavier vehicles with them early on, but if I had instead engaged the APCs early I could have saved a lot of stress during the street fighting, hmm priorities.

Anyway, that's my latest FoF game, hope you like.

23 comments:

  1. an excellent game and although it has to be said that it was 1 sided from the beggining and so the result could be expected. I did enjoy it and I can only hope that the soviet troops in Oronegro are better trained than those in europe. I have to to get some equipment for them so I have compiled a small list soon to be published on the ideas blog... your games are always excellent, I do wonder though what happens when the soviets are able to use their latest weapons on those US troops, mother russia must be concerned about these guys now

    in other news I am almost finished the german UN soldiers... just thought you would like to know.

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    1. Thanks Gowan, ufortunatly solo gaming must leave some room for bias! I look forward to those Germans of yours as well.

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  2. Replies
    1. Your right Austin! Maybe a bit later than most of your cold war, I am still tempted by the 1985ish era.

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  3. Thanks for the AAR, very interesting and I was actually supporting the Russians, hoping they could do it!
    Good photos and good scenery...were those spraypainted food cans representing silos? Novel! Great idea! I'll have to see if I can import that to my wargaming.
    The photo of the T-72 brewing up with the trainline in the background is really good, take more of those.

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    1. Thanks EF, your right about the cans, though not as perfect as I would like I think they look good. Its not my original idea though, I stole it...

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  4. Great tabletop, vehicles and figs, cool

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    1. Thanks Al, I think I still need more though ;)

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  5. Wonderful pictures and minis, a great post!
    Phil.

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  6. Great stuff. That second photo is hugely atmospheric!

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  7. Great AAR, some great photos there.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  8. Ben,
    TERRIFIC Pictures and an awesome AAR. I love the picture from the "1970s War Movie" where the Sov tanks are cresting the hill. Beautiful shot.
    You are inspiring me to finally complete my Modern Russians and game my Invasion USA Scenario from the Modern Warfare 2 game!!!

    Steve

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    1. Sov BTR's not tanks...but it's an amazing picture none-the-less!

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    2. Thanks Steve! I can't wait to see your Russians in the future. Especially the T-90 you mentioned a while back!

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  9. Excellent pictures and review of the game! Thanks for sharing!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.be/

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