22 October 2015

WOT!!! NO TANKS?? Another AAR

Today I got to play a very fast game with a good mate - time was a little constrained so we went through things quite quickly and the game ran very smoothly.

Game Premise
In the last game we tried a little bit of everything.  While it all worked fine, neither of us were prepared for the number of Jets & Attack Helicopters that turned up in the game.  As a result I re-jigged the number of helo and close support aircraft counters in the pot.

For today's game we would concentrate on infantry.  An American M113 mounted mech platoon, supported by a couple of M901 ITVs, a M163, a M106 battery, a FIST-V, a TOW mounted on a HMMWV and a .50cal on another HMMWV have pulled into a small rural area during the night.  They have been tasked with defending the area from what is expected to be a secondary attack.  No tanks are available to support them.  The Mech Platoon leader, a lowly Lieutenant is the only officer.  They have not had time or engineering support to dig in proper defences.

On the other side of the hill, a Soviet Motor Rifle Company has been charged with an attack through this sector.  Apart from his own 10 BMP-1s (3 of which have been upgraded to BMP-1Ps) he has a heavy ADA element, with a ZSU-23-4, a SA-13 and another BMP with 2 SA-7 teams.  He also has a 120mm heavy mortar battery, towed by 2 MTLBs.  He has not been provided with any tank support.

Although we didn't really pay any attention to points the US had about a 475 point force against the Soviet 520 point force.  The Battle Ratings were 32 (US) and 44 (Soviet)

Game
As things happened pretty quickly, no photos were taken  of the layout - but you'll get the idea from the pics below.

The Soviet's were the attackers (obviously) and we loosely based the game on the Battlegroup "Defence Line" mission.  The US was defending three objectives and has chosen to leave all his troops in his M113s.  The M901s have been set up on Ambush Fire (and also have the "Ambusher" special rule which makes them harder to spot when they fire from cover).

A small prepartory bombardment saw 2 M113s and a M106 pinned at the beginning of the game.

The Soviets use their "Battle Drill" special rule to rapidly push onto the table.


This is the Soviet right flank, with the Company Commander's BMP top of shot.  The MTLB's deployed their mortar teams in the centre.


They had a woeful time - pinning a couple of units the whole game.

The left flank immediately ran into trouble - dashing up the one country road - into the sights of one of the waiting M901s.


The other BMP platoon is top of shot sheltering behind some woods.

The American left flank looked like this:


While their right had all the pinned units:



The remaining pinned M113:


With a rush of blood to his head and the words "Attack is the best form of defence" rumbling between his ears the US forces go onto the attack.




and a long range Dragon shot takes out another BMP-1


But Soviet revenge is swift and the ill-judged attack on the Soviets left flanks stalls


Now the Soviet right flank gets in on the action


The height of the battle!


More from the Soviet left flank:


The US FIST-V withdraw back towards the centre of the table:


while the Platoon Leader, also attempts to hold the table centre - a little closer to the action


And finally a shot of the Soviet high water mark before time defeated both of us.  You can just see a dead ITV in the shot:


Final thoughts
It was a great game, with  the Soviets losing by 3 BR points in the end.  They had their Battle rating reduced by 30 points, while the jammy Yanks had only lost 15 points - which sounds like a bit of a drubbing, but when you look at the starting BR was much closer.

The Americans drew a helo chit, which never turned up and a aircraft chit which drew an A-10 in the final turn.  Fortunately the ZSU-23-4 was the one bit of ADA the Soviets had managed to get on Ambush Fire and it beat off the only air attack in the game.

The Soviets drew an EW chit during the game and used it to halve the US orders in the next turn, which turned out to be the best orders roll for the Americans - with 12 - being reduced to just 6 orders.  One turn the Soviets rolled snake-eyes for orders - so all in all it was a low order game - which actually makes it more fun in my opinion.

All in all we both enjoyed a tank free game!

Oh yeah - and my M113 platoon had its first game and you can even see my first (not quite finished) MERDC AFVs on the table-top.  More on them soon I hope.

Thanks

Richard









15 October 2015

ACE Models BMP-Ksh Update

Way back here in November 2010 I completed a bunch of Soviet vehicles including an ACE Models BMP-Ksh.  As you can see from this picture (taken at the time) I placed the main antennae (on the front of the turret) in a upright position.  (Third from the left)


My plan was the try and find a kneeling Soviet figure which I could place on the top of the BMP to look as though he was winding the antennae up (or down).

Of course I never got around to that....

A few weeks back (in a moment of complete stupidity) when I was transporting some Soviet vehicles down stairs for a game, for some reason I decided that the upright antennae was lower than the side of the box I was carrying everthing in, and closed the quite heavy (for a plastic antennae anyway) lid, breaking the antennae into three peices.

I was not a happy camper...

So in the days after the game I decided to rebuild the antennae, lower it into its travelling position, and cover the end of the antennae in a tarp.  Rather than try and glue it all back together, I used plastic rod, some peices of the orginal antennae, plastic tubing, wire and green stuff to remake it anew.

Here's the end result:




All-in-all I'm happy with the result.

Thanks

Richard

12 October 2015

S&S PT-76 - Platoon Commander

Back in August, I built a couple of S&S PT-76's - Here - to go with my PST Models PT-76 which I first showed here back in January.

So I decided not to add decals to the S&S models - particularly Naval Infantry flags - so they could be used for Category 2 style Soviets or 1970s games etc or as units from a WARPAC force.  And I decided I needed a Platoon Comander vehicle which would look different enough to the other two PT-76s to be easily noticed on the tabletop.

My standard way of doing that is to add commander figures - so that's what I decided to do to this PT-76.

This meant it needed a bit of radical surgery as the commanders hatch on the PT-76 is a rather massive one.

Like that one above from Wikipedia.

I forgot to take any work-in-progress photos - so here is the finished model:





So the crew are Liberation Miniatures, the tank has had some T-34 fuel barrels added, plus shovels, lamps, hooks and antennae from the bits box.

That's it for now.

Richard



01 October 2015

T-55AMV Platoon - Completed!

Back in August I showed you a W-I-P of some Britannia T-55s I was converting into T-55AMV.  They are now "finished" - as in good enough to take photos, but no real weathering - so I thought I'd put them up.

As I said before my ERA work on the turrets is pretty dodgy - but considering what I was working with I'm quite happy with the results.  And apart from some mud I'll never have to touch these crappilycast models ever again!

Crews are by Liberation.  I'll be getting some Elhiem ones shortly...

So here they are:









So there they are...

One step closer to Norway!

Thanks

Richard