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This was the first playtest using Version 0.2 of the rules which incorporated changes from my first playtest and one by Derk in the Netherlands. It was another attack by a Soviet force against a West German held position. The table is below and incorporates a hamlet astride a road bordered by three small woods. On one side of the table was a ridge while the other held corn fields.

The Bundeswehr force was a deployed on blinds and consisted of dismounted Panzergrenadiers:

  • Company HQ

    • Level 3 Big Man

    • Level 1 Big Man

    • Infantry section of 9 men, Carl Gustav SG550, Pzf44, Handflammpatrone

  • Platoon 1

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • 1 Infantry section of 9 men, Carl Gustav SG550, Pzf44, sniper, Handflammpatrone

    • 2 Infantry sections of 9 men, Milan, Pzf44, sniper, Handflammpatrone

  • Platoon 2

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • 1 Infantry section of 9 men, Carl Gustav SG550, Pzf44, sniper, Handflammpatrone

    • 2 Infantry sections of 9 men, Milan, Pzf44, sniper, Handflammpatrone

  • Panzer Platoon Detachment

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • 2 Leopard 1A4

  • Off-Table ATGM (BO105P)

Orders were to prevent any Warsaw Pact advance.

The Soviet force was a reinforced Motor Rifle company:

  • Company HQ

    • Level 3 Big Man

    • One BTR70

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, sniper

  • Platoon 1

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • Three BTR70

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16, sniper

  • Platoon 2

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • Three BTR70

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16, sniper

  • Platoon 3

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • Three BTR70

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16

    • Infantry section of 7 men, RPG 18, RPG 16, sniper

  • Machine-gun / Anti-tank Platoon

    • Level 1 Big Man

    • Two BTR70

    • One machine-gun section of 6 men

    • Three AT4B Spigot teams of 2 men

  • Tank Platoon

    • Level 2 Big Man

    • 4 T62MV

The Soviet commander was told that capitalist forces had been detected ahead of the advance and he was to attack their expected position so as to ensure unimpeded progress along the road. Two pre-planned stonks hit the German forces causing casualties and shock on the second platoon that was holding the wood in front of the hamlet and the German left. This softening up was accompanied by a smoke screen that blinded most of the defenders.

The Soviets entered and immediately came off blinds. The MR company was concentrated in the centre with the infantry dismounted and the BTRs following in a mixture of close and distant support. The tank platoon was kept intact instead of being broken up to add intimate support to the MR platoons and carried out a rapid advance on the right flank.

The Soviet advance was rapid making the most of the effects of the initial bombardment

Making use of bonus moves the tank platoon and an infantry platoon advanced rapidly around the German left flank losing one BTR to a lurking anti-tank helicopter that appeared in the right part of the table.

The 2 Leopards had been hidden behind a wood at the rear of the German right flank and moved to engage the Soviet flank attack.

The German 2nd platoon came off blinds and opened fire on the advancing communists. One Soviet section was pit out of the battle in the initial exchange. Concentrated Soviet fire from 2 platoons and their supporting BTRs destroyed one German section but not before the Soviet company HQ section was devestated, the Big Man being amogst the dead.

The Leopards engaged the T62s helped by a Milan from the 1st infantry platoon. One T62 took a hit from a tank and an ATGM losing its gun sight and being immobilsed whilst taking out one Leopard. The other Leopard finished off the T62 and destroyed another before making full use of its gun stabilisation to move away from possible retaliation.

The game ended with one German platoon smashed and sufficient Soviet forces remaining to make life difficult of the other. So a Soviet win was declared.

It was quite a quick game consisting mainly of one big firefight . Flaws in the German deployment meant that their forces struggled to support each other so a rapid Soviet attack carried the position. The Soviet player took a big risk as even a limited amount of German artillery (he was not aware that there was none available) could have casued carnage.

There were a few areas to review in the rules, a lesson in scenario design and I really need to get some better terrain done for the next game!

Maxim to Milan