A Small Airfield in Germany - Part 2 - AAR

OK - On with the game

BAOR recce units move further onto the table, closing on the dug in VDV.

Landie Gunships prepare to engage:


Scimitars bounding forwards:


All the while further BAOR reinforcements arrived from the NATO table edge.

The FO team (in the Spartan) and Milan Sections (in LWB Landies) move up:


While the CO (Sultan) and Mechanised Infantry Platoon (FV432) drive on:


and on...


The last of the BAOR reserves, the Chieftain troop arrive:


Throughout the majority of this time the VDV silently waited until they were able to spring their ambush:

taking out a Scimitar section.

Under cover of the hangers, the BAOR units move forward:


The chieftains following:


Of course as the game intensified I kept forgetting to take photos!

The first VDV reinforcements arrive (a BMD-2 platoon)


Well time as on the Soviet right flank the BAOR mechanised platoon launched a somewhat ill-fated assault. You can see some burning Scimitars in the background:


Things appear to be going badly for NATO as the assault never really gets started and more Scimitars burn:


However, the Chieftains arrive:

and begin to shift the balance.





By now however, the VDV have taken out both Scimitar sections, the Recce Landie platoon and the Milan Platoon, leaving the BAOR with only two units on the board. The NATO player must keep making Company Morale Checks at the beginning of each of his turns - which he keeps doing!

The final VDV assets arrive - the ASU-85 platoon.


The VDV BRDMs and ASU-85s start to move up the airfield behind the hangars:


The BAOR player isn't too bothered as the BRDMs have no chance of scratching the paintwork of the Chieftains, while the ASU-85s must take flank shots.

The BRDMs rush out from behind the last hangar into the cover of a hedge:


and take out the Company Commander's Sultan, killing him and ending the game.




So - for once the Soviets pull out a win. Although the NATO force suffered a large amount of casualties, once the Chieftains came into play the balance began to shift back towards the BAOR as nothing the Soviets had could damage the frontal armour of the MBTs - (I'll have to revisit those stats).

The NATO player could have just waited until his Chieftains arrived and then advanced, but one of the sceanrio rules stated that he had to have at least one team over the 1/2 way mark of the table by the beginning of the Soviet turn six. This drove him forward and made the game that much more interesting.

All-in-all a great game - lots of fun and as we didn't try and fit everything we had onto the table, it was manageable, had a good outcome and was relatively balanced.

So - have fun

Richard