Saturday, March 16, 2013

A Large Game

First off, some purchasing news. Yesterday while looking at Wyndehurst Productions wargaming blog, I saw a link to GameCraft Miniatures, a producer of great miniature terrain. After browsing around I decided to buy some of their Middle East city buildings. So maybe there will be more urban AARs in the near future!

Now on to the meat of the post.

This is again set in current-day Western Europe with the unlikely occurrence of a Russian invasion. As the Russian tank brigades throw themselves against NATO's center defenses, a duo of Bradley IFVs are throwing TOWs down a main road, holding the attack up. A small Russian task force was ordered to silence the two vehicles at all costs.
This little battle takes place on a far flung flank of the local defending force, so a mere skeleton unit of one and a half squads, and two Javalin ATGMs are there to protect the Brads.
The Russian unit of two platoons mounted on BTR-Ts and BMPs, and supported by a T-90A, crash through a shallow stream. Their targets are the two Brads hidden behind the red house to the left. BTR-T platoon will advance on the hill to the left, and push directly into the village, while the BMP platoon swings right for the other woody hill, and hits the village from the rear.

The culprits!

The Russian attack: BTR-Ts, T-90, and BMPs. This is the view from the first hill. This is occupied by one whole squad, and a Javelin to the rear of the photo.

The Russians got initiative and blasted the first hill to bits with rockets from the BMP fleet. There were several casualties and the second fireteam was pinned.

The two Javelins opened up on the advancing BTR-Ts as they posed the greatest immediate threat. The hits only resulted in some mobility issues, but this forced the platoon to loose steam and dismount prematurely.
As more rockets slammed into the hills, as well as 20mm shells from the BTRs which began picking up targets, one of my Brads slipped out of the village and hit the T-90. The Javelins joined in on this and hit the BTR-Ts again, resulting in severe casualties to the dismounted crew who were near the blasts. The Brad was then brewed up either by the T-90's quick reaction, or the Kornets mounted on the BMPs (I have since forgotten).
As the BMP platoon began a foot advance on the village, the defending US fireteam began picking targets effectively pinning first squad. They were overrun in a couple turns nonetheless.
Long story short, the brad eventually emerged engaging targets. But was challenged by several squad level AT rockets and eventually overcome.

Overall this was a fun game which ended up being a close match until the very end. I at least got to test my new S&S BTR-Ts! Happy weekend!

12 comments:

  1. Nice AAR Ben. Plenty of action all around.

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    1. Thanks Paul. It ended up being a closer match than I expected. It was a lot of fun.

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  2. certainly that was a great game! the bear rolls forth still, if a little sore.

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    1. actually I must say that after seeing that T-90 for sale, I had to resist getting it over the weekend... but I don't think I can hold out for much longer, and with the free shipping why am I resisting? oh well soon we may both have a T-90... do you think I should give mine a similar cammo pattern to my Spetnaz? it would look very cool I think.

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    2. Thanks! The actual pattern would probably be a pain to paint over the whole model, but the same colors in a much larger patter would be cool. It would be a cool contrast to the black Challenger.

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    3. it would be, of coarse that is what I meant... certainly painting all those tiny lines on a tank would drive me mad(der). anyway I have just started my own tank week celebrations so I guess over the week I'll be showing off the new tanks for the Oronegrean war (both rebels and nationals... and the foreign forces).

      Oh I don't think there is an official tank week... but there should be :-)

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  3. Nice AAR! Smoke effect are great, and some pictures excellent!
    Phil.

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    1. Thanks Phil. The smoke was some poly-cotton type stuff with some fall foliage net mixed in. I think it looked cool!

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  4. Great to see all the stuff you've been working on on the table. Fantastic AAR.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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    1. Thanks Pete! I was happy to try some of these on the tabble for once. I should have used my ModelCollect T-90s, oh well. Glad you like it!

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  5. Nicely done. The BTR-Ts have a nice, "ultra-modern" look to them and "pair" well with the Bradleys with their add-on armor. Looks like a proper, 21st century battlefield.

    I am assuming you used Force on Force? Almost ready for my Hameln Bridge World War III Assault soon. I think to "practice" the Seek Out, Close With, and Destroy rules, I'm going to play the "Top Malo House" Falklands engagement from the FoF rulebook. I might throw in some light armor just for fun!

    Nice work, Ben.

    El Stevo

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    1. Thanks El Stevo!
      The BTRs were really good fighters. I believe the real version has a TOW mounted on them like the BMP as well which makes them an even better match for the Bradley.
      I did use Force on Force. I have looked at the Top Malo scenario but never did anything with it. It should be a lot of fun though, especially with a Scorpion added!

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