West of Hannover - A BAOR vs Soviets After Action Report (another attempt at Part 1)

Back  in April I posted up a coupe of pics of what was meant to be the prelude to a large After Action Report.  We had an all day game, I tried to take a bunch of photos and as usual I started with the table layout.  Unfortunately, real life slammed me pretty hard right about then, and all my "free time" at home got spent on anything other than my hobby time.

So now, although all my hobby stuff is packed away, I have a bit of spare time and I thought it was time I rid myself of the guilt of not putting up this report.  So I'll pretty much start from scratch - so settle in.

OK - the premise of the game was to test to see whether or not my unofficial BG:Cold War rules could cope with a large battle - rather than a platoon plus kind of skirmish.  To do this I decided to test a game with "real" Battlegroups.  I was also testing whether or not you could do this in 20mm rather than a smaller scale.

The BAOR force would be a Squadron/Company sized combat team - similar to the US team described in the book "Team Yankee" - except Brits of course!  It would consist of:

Forward HQ (1435 pts - 65 BR)

• Combat Team CO & 2IC - both in Chieftain TOGS MBTs
• Forward Signals Unit in a Sultan

Tanks

• 2 x Troops of 3 Chieftain TOGS MBTs

Infantry Units

• Mechanised Infantry Platoon in FV432 (2 with MG turrets)
• Self-Propelled medium Mortar (in a FV432M)
• 2 Milan Teams (in a FV432)
• 1 Spartan MCT

Artillery Units

• FO Team (in a FV432)
• 2 x Abbot SPGs (on table)

Reconnaissance Units

• 2 x Scimitars

Logistics

• 1 x Stalwart

Specialist Units

• 1 Blowpipe Team (in a Spartan)
• Tracked Rapier
• Guided Weapons Section (2 x FV428)

Additional Fire Support

• 2 x Pre-registered Target Points
• 2 x Counter battery Fire Missions
• 2 x Timed 155mm HE barrages

Defences

• 6 x Tank Fighting Positions
• 20" of Trenches
• 2 x Minefields
• 2 x Bridge Demolitions

While the NATO force got a company sized team with add-on assets, the Soviets got a Battalion sized force with some add-ons.

Forward HQ - (1997 pts - 92 BR)

• 1 x Battalion Commander (in a T-64BK)
• 1 x Artillery Command Post (in a ACRV)

Tanks

• 2 x T-64 Companies (each with 10 T-64B)

Infantry

• 1 x BMP-1 company (with 10 BMP-1Ps)
• 1 x MANPADS Section (in a BMP-1)
• 1 x Fire Support Section (in a BMP-1)

Artillery Units

• 3 x 122mm guns (an off-table battery)

Reconnaissance Units

• 1 x Recon BMP Squad (in a BMP-2)
• 1 x BRDM-2

Specialist Support Units

• 2 x ZSU-23-4 Shilka

So that's about 28 tanks on the table, along with about 31+ other vehicles.  I then had to decide how to fit this all into one game on 1 table - that a normal human being could reach across!

So... of course... I cheated.  I found this nice straight stretch of autobahn heading from the Inner German Border towards Hannover, in the British sector.  It seemed like a perfectly sensible road for the Soviets to speed along on their way to liberate the workers of Hannover from their capitalist oppressors.  It also seemed like a perfectly good road for BAOR engineers to crater, mine, and drop every bridge along it's length in front of the Soviets.  Here it is:

Since it was impassable (and a raised road in my mind) it would make a perfect boundary between two tables.  There is a road (and maybe a tunnel) connecting the villages of Lehre to the north to Essehof in teh south.  As long as it is controlled by the British they can pass units backwards and forwards to their heart content along it.  If the Soviets control it at the end of the game - so can they.

The top red outlined box would become Table 1.  It turned out looking like this from the Soviet's point-of-view:

And like this from the NATO end with the village of Lehre in the foreground:

The bottom box on the map then becomes Table 2.  We laid it out with the Soviet end looking like this:

Here's a table-eyed view of the road heading towards the NATO held village of Essehof:

And here's the NATO point of view looking back down Table 2:

So now we were ready to start the game.  Greg and Charles took up the cudgel for NATO (the dastardly oppressors previously mentioned) while Mick and myself played the role of the Heroes of the Soviet Union.  As such you'll have to forgive me as more photos ended up being taken of the massacre on my table (Table 2) than of the more free-wheeling attack on the other table (Table 1).

Next up - the game itself.

Thanks

Richard

My Unofficial Battlegroup: Cold War - Belgian Mechanised Infantry - Armoured Battlegroup List

Sorry it's been a while - but "Real Life" is raging pretty hard at the moment and after completing a bunch of painting commissions all my gear has been packed away.  So the only thing I have to work on, is army lists.

So today I've finished a draft Belgian List.  I think it's reasonable accurate, but will be updating it once I get any feedback.  So here it is:

Belgian Mechanised Infantry - Armoured Battlegroup

So please have a look and let me know what you think

Thanks

Richard

My Unofficial Battlegroup: Cold War - East German Paramilitary Battlegroup List

So it's taken a while to get here, and rather than jump on the Polish lists like I thought, instead we've completed an East German Paramilitary Battlegroup list as something a wee bit different.  Once again this  would not have been possible except for the extensive research efforts and help provided by Paul Cziganj (as known as Kirill_GV001 on the Battlegroup forum). 

The primary idea behind this list is to provide opportunities for players who want to run some games set in Berlin to have access to some of the units that would have been at the forefront of the battles - excluding frontline NVA or Soviet troops.

So the list includes units from Wachregiment "Feliks Dzerzhinsky" of the Stasi, the Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse or "Combat Groups of the Working Class" and Grenztruppen (or Border Troops) - all of which had a role in Operation Stoss - the planned capture of West Berlin.

So here is the East German Paramilitary List:

East German Paramilitary Battlegroup

I still have to finalise the East German AFV data.....  

Sadly for the Poles they are getting put off yet again, so the current plan is to deal with the Belgians next.  So we'll see what actually turns up!

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions etc - here or on the Battlegroup forum.

Thanks

Richard

My Unofficial Battlegroup: Cold War - East German Panzer Division List

OK, so here is the second East German list I had hoped to get to you last week.  Once again this  would not have been possible except for the extensive research efforts and help provided by Paul Cziganj (as known as Kirill_GV001 on the Battlegroup forum). 

So here is the second East German List:

East German Panzer Division Battlegroup

I still have to finalise the East German AFV data which should happen shortly.  Next up will be some Polish lists before were turn back to a particularly funky East German list.

Let me know if you have any questions etc - here or on the Battlegroup forum.

Richard

My Unofficial Battlegroup: Cold War - East German Motorised Rifle Division List

Well it's taken a long time, but finally I can upload a Warsaw Pact nation list other than the Soviet Union!  I can honestly say it would not have been possible but for the extensive research efforts and help provided by Paul Cziganj (as known as Kirill_GV001 on the Battlegroup forum).  Paul and I will be collaborating together to produce a number of other WARPAC lists over the next few months, so look forward to more East German lists followed by several Polish lists and then who knows what will come next.

Anyway - here is the first East German List

East German Motorised Rifle Division

Hopefully the East German Panzer Division list will be up sometime next week (I hope) along with the East German AFV Data Table.

So please have a look at the list and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know

Thanks

Richard

My Unofficial Battlegroup: Cold War - Revised Soviet Lists and West German AFV Data Cards

It's been a while between drinks and I still haven't quite sorted out the AAR that I was supposed to put up a couple of weeks back... Anyhoo...

Part of the reason for not putting up the AAR is that I've been going through all the Soviet lists revising/re-editing them for the 57th time.  Right now I feel they are getting pretty close to what I would call finalised and so I wanted to put them up today.  So here they are

Soviet Tank Division Battlegroup - Central Europe

Soviet Motorised Rifle Division Battlegroup - Central Europe

Soviet Desant Battlegroup - coming soon

Soviet Naval Infantry Battlegroup

Soviet 45th Motorised Rifle Division Battlegroup - Northern Front

I've also received some new Data Cards from Greg (Chairborne) - this time for the West Germans.  Once again Greg has done a brilliant job and I'm super impressed.  I used his cards in my last game and they were very helpful.

 West German AFV Data Cards

So let me know what you think about these new lists and cards.  I'll answer any question I can hear or on the Battlegroup Forum.

Thanks

Richard

New Playtest Part 1

Hi there

It's been a while since I posted as life has seriously gotten in the way. I'm also about to hit that point when my Photobucket account officially ends and I've been looking at alternatives - so today I thought I'd try 4 pictures of the table(s) set up for my last playtest game - which I'll explain more about tomorrow.

So this is a bit of a test.

Table 1 - NATO end

Table 1 - Soviet end

Table 2 - NATO end

Table 2 - Soviet end

Well my test seems to have worked... Fingers crossed!

Thanks

Richard