An After Action Report with a (sizeable) difference!

So something a little different this weekend.  Before I start a little history.  I used to play a lot of 15mm World war Two.  It was my scale of choice for about 10 years and when I decided to expand into Cold War I looked around in 20mm and was not 100% satisfied with what was available at the time.  So I jumped into 20mm and have never really looked back - not until this weekend at least.

A couple of my mates have bought into Battlefront's "Team Yankee" in a big way.  Miniatures-wise at least.  And why wouldn't you - it looks like BF have done a very nice job on the figures and vehicles they have bought out.  I swore I wouldn't jump - as I have committed way too much time and money on 20mm Cold War - and I am satisfied with the games I get out of it.

So one of my mates has got a bunch of stuff ready and asked if we could play a 15mm Cold War game, using his models and "my" variant of Battlegroup: Cold War.  I also supplied the terrain (apart from one BF building my mate bought along to show me).  Just to have a go we also used some official playtest ATGM rules to test them out.  I should note that all the vehicles you see int eh game are from Battlefront, Peter Pig or QRF.

So here's the table - 10' x 6' - from the Soviet (my) end:

And from the American (my mate's) end:

This won't be a proper battle report as I didn't take enough photos - but I'll try and give you a flavour of what happened.  Before I jump in I'll fill you in on the two lists

Soviet - 1439 Points - 74 BR - 8 Officers
Forward HQ - 1 x T-72AK
Artillery Command Post - 1 x BTR-60
T-72A Company - 10 x T-72A
T-72A Tank Platoon - 3 x T-72A
T-72A Tank Platoon - 3 x T-72A
Motor Rifle Platoon - 3 x BMP-2
1 x ZSU-23-4
1 x SA-13
Off Table 2S1 Battery - 3 x 2S1

US Army - 1440 Points - 67 BR - 4 Officers
FHQ - 1 x M577, 1 x M1
Mechanised Infantry Platoon - 4 x M113A1
M1 tank Platoon - 4 x M1
M1 tank Platoon - 4 x M1
Self-Propelled Mortar Battery - 2 x M106
M901 ITV Section - 2 x M901
1 x M163
Off Table M109 Battery - 2 x M109

So all up we would have about 40 vehicles on the table - 9 x M1 vs 17 T-72 (I miscounted during the game and only fielded 16 T-72... only!  Ha!)  That's a pretty big game, and certainly the biggest I've played one-on-one.

The Soviets got the first move and rapidly bought on a couple of platoons of T-72's

One down each flank.  The US force countered and bought of a couple of M1 sections, plus another M1:

One section came down the main road, while the other, with the tag-along moved up my left flank:

This would almost mark the furthermost extent (plus a little bit here and there) that the Americans advanced - as they settled in to start taking long range shots at the Soviets.

More Soviets arrived and pushed forward.  My Shilka came on to prep in case any fast air arrived:

Later it would be joined by the SA-13 Gopher - so I was pretty well defended against fast-air - which never turned up (of course).

Other Soviet units moved onto the board.  Here you can see my Artillery Command Post vehicle parked behind a building when the FO spotted for the whole game.  T-72s are moving past up towards the battle area.

My leading platoon moved forward and 2 of them went in behind a hill - which would be my jump-off point when I was ready to jump.

I moved forward down the other flank as well - a little too far forward,  These tanks would pull back to a better position int he next turn.

Meanwhile, the Americans were doing pretty much the same thing.  Here their mortars set up, ready for a fire mission:

While his M163 waits on ambush fire

Ahead of it is one of the American objectives.  More American units would move up in the centre of the board, and on my right flank

They threw a mech squad into the mix on the left flak as well.  they ended up in that small house and it surrounds.

My Artillery Command Post got into action and started with this:

Then this:

And finally this:

I was ready to start my advance at this point - left flank:

Right flank

Most action was on the left - 1 M1 had come forward and I thought I was in a great spot to isolate and destroy him.

It was not to be for that turn, as I rolled a hilarous amount of 1's (it wasn't so funny at the time, but the Americans had already had their turn of rolling ones so it all evened out)

So here is my swing left:

And here is the result:

Not quite enough though as the Soviets eventually started to overwhelm the Americans:

I ended out knocking out 2 M1s and a M113, along with the Dragon fireteam and most of the next fireteam. The little blighters in the house took out one of the T-72s with a M72 LAW in the side!

Things were also happening on my right flank - side shot!

Not the greatest result for me though

Another T-72 on my right, spent the game immobilised by long range fire.  The one at the bottom of the picture.

The right ended in a point-blank brawl - only 1 tank in this pic is operational - an M1

The game ended back on the left flank - another point-blank shot into the side of an M1

This also allowed me to capture on of my objectives and force another chit on the Americans.

We had pretty much run out of time by this point, but the game was pretty heavily leaning towards the Soviets at this point.  The Americans had 2 M1s remaining out of 9 M1s (22% by my crap maths) with one of these bailed.  They had lost 44 BR leaving them with 23.  The Soviets were well inside their lines and were about to clean up a M106 battery and more in the next turn.

The Soviets on the other hand had 9 T-72A remaining out of 16 (should have been 17) which is 56% by my count.  They had lost 20 BR leaving them with 54.  They were in a much better position to win from there.

So it was a really good game.  Closer than it looks as I believe I had more luck than my mate (e.g. my communications checks to link up with my arty never failed while I think I got hit by the off-table M109s maybe 3 times in 7 turns, due to failed comms checks).  If he had pulled a plane or helicopter and ended up with an A-10 or a Cobra, it could have swung the game back in his favour.

The new ATGM rules worked well and were simpler than mine.

Having 39 or so vehicles running around on the table was definitely great.  It never looked cramped nor did we have the rolling tank park look.  A 10 x 6 table certainly gave plenty of manoeuvre space for both sides.  Playing in 15mm gives you greater scope for playing larger games.  I think if we had played a game with my normal 20mm points size (around 500 pts or so) the vehicles would have looked lost on a 10 x 6, while playing 1440 pts in 20mm on the 10 x 6 may have looked a little cramped.  We'll see...

Anyway - starting to waffle now - so time to wrap it up

Thanks and good gaming to you

Richard