The Zealand Campaign – Part Three – The Operational Orders

So this will be the last post for the week, but it will contain a fair amount of information - mainly in the form of links to documents that will assist in setting up the campaign.

I prepared an Operational Order for each side - I tried to make it look "real", but I've never been in the military so I've probably got it more than a little wrong!  The Soviet Combat Order style is loosely based on an article or two that I found, but mainly from a section in FM 100-2-1 on page 3-10 which talks about Division Command and Staff Procedures.

I'll provide all the links here - and they will also be reflected in the Battle for Denmark - Documents section on the right.

First up - the Soviet documents:

Soviet Naval Infantry Combat Order

Soviet Naval Infantry Map Set

Soviet Naval Infantry Map Key

Here's a pic of the port at Faxe Ladeplads to give you a look at the primary objective and the landing beaches:

You can also see the Air Assault elements LZ between the two wooded areas near the top right hand corner.

Now the Danish documents:

Danish OPORD

Danish Map Set

Danish Map Key

Here's another pic of the port.  This time taken from the south:

Although this is replicated in the Map Sets - here is a picture of the planned campaign area:

Once again I'd be very happy for any feedback, corrections, additions etc.  Please feel free to have a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks

Richard

The Zealand Campaign – Part Two – The Army Lists

So - onto the Army Lists.  First a couple of caveats:

1.  Part of the reason I'm looking at this campaign, in this setting (i.e. 1986 - NATO Northern Front) and these Army Lists is that I believe that there is very little chance of them having any cross-over with what may appear at some point in the future in Battlegroup: NORTHAG.  I very much want that Ironfist/PSC project to succeed and have played a little part in the project to date - and want that to continue.  So this is my effort to keep the Battlegroup Cold War flame burning - without competing in anyway with BG:NORTHAG.  So with that in mind:

2.  These Army Lists are completely unofficial work by a fan of the Battlegroup system and in no way endorsed by Battlegroup ^TM Ironfist Publishing Ltd or PSC.  Used without permission.  No challenge to their status intended.  All rights Reserved to their respective owners.

3.  These Army Lists are completely my own work and all mistakes etc are mine.

4.  The points values - while reasonably good - could probably be better and I consider them to be a work-in-progress but good enough to get in some balanced games

So with the caveats out of the way - here are the lists.  The links should work directly from here and I'll put them in the Battle for Denmark Documents section on the right

DANISH ARMY BATTLEGROUP

This list should allow you to make a LANDJUT or LANDZEELAND force with regular, territorial or Home Guard troops and a range of other options.

SOVIET NAVAL INFANTRY BATTLEGROUP

This list should allow you to make a 63rd Guards Kirkenneskaya Naval Infantry Brigade (Red Banner Northern Fleet) to attack Norway or a 36th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade (Twice Red Banner BalticFleet) to attack Denmark and/or the northern shore of West Germany.

Hopefully you'll find the lists relatively comprehensive (maybe a bit too comprehensive...) but I'd be happy for any feedback, corrections, additions etc.  Any help will be gratefully accepted.  Please let me know what you think.

Later this week - I'll be adding the NATO and Soviet Operation Orders for the beginning of the campaign.

Thanks

Richard

The Zealand Campaign – Part One – Some Background Information

OK – so anyone who’s paid any attention to this blog since at least November 2014 will know I’m pretty interested in the battles that might have occurred on NATO’s Northern Front during a Third World War.  Way back then I called the project:  THE SOVIET INVASION OF SCANDANAVIA - 1986

So to give my gaming life some semblance of direction I’ve tried (with numerous distractions) to make that happen – and to prove it I can happily say I’ve written Army Lists and/or built/painted forces for:

WARPAC

Soviet Naval Infantry                                                   (List and Painted Forces)

Soviet Air Assault                                                        (List and Painted Forces)

Soviet Arctic Front Motor Rifle                                   (List and Painted Forces)

Polish Motor Rifle                                                        (Painted Forces)

NATO

Royal Marines                                                               (List and Painted Forces)

Danish Army                                                                 (List and Painted Forces)

US Marine Corps                                                           (List and Forces)

Norwegian Army                                                           (List and some Forces)

Canadian Air/Sea Transportable Brigade                      (List only)

West German 6^th Panzergrenadier Div                          (List and Painted Forces)

I’ve only run a couple of games thus far with SNI versus West Germans in the Schleswig-Holstein area and Soviet Arctic Front Motor Rifle versus Royal Marines in Northern Norway.

As my Danish force was ready for gaming I decided to push the boat out a little further than normal and potentially start a small campaign set in on the island of Zealand or Sjælland in Denmark.  

Why Zealand?  

As I had figures for the Danish Hjemmeværnet (Home Guard) the campaign would need to take place in Denmark.  As I didn’t have any Leopard 1A4s for my Danes (just Centurions) it couldn’t really be a LANDJUT force and pretty much had to be a LANDZEELAND force.  So to make sense – the game(s) had to be set in an imaginary invasion of Denmark, particularly the invasion of Zealand.

Before I go any further I have to mention an awesome pdf that is a must to download if you have any interest in the Soviet invasion of Scandanavia.  It’s called “The Northwestern TVD in Soviet Operational-Strategic Planning” and it is written by Phillip A Petersen.  I was planning on doing a full-blown book review at some point but never quite got around to it.  Just to be useful I've also added this pdf into my Useful Documents links box thingy on the right hand side of my blog.

This large document (book?) is pretty much gold for wargamers.  Not only does the author describe the probable invasion routes for the Soviets into Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark he provides loads of maps and photos of the landscape, landing beaches, airfields, coastal forts, bridges, defiles and much, much more.

He goes on to describe the weather, off-road trafficability, alternate routes, problems with logistical trails, difficult terrain etc etc.  Not only does he outline where the Soviets might have attacked, but where NATO reinforcements might have landed.

Regarding Denmark he outlines BALTAP and how it works and includes how the WARPAC forces would have attacked through Schleswig-Holstein into Jutland and the Polish lead attack on Zealand, primarily to take Copenhagen.

The book pretty much gives you a brilliant skeleton for you to build a campaign on.  This is what I have done for my Zealand Campaign.  As I don't have any Polish Paratroopers or Naval Infantry (right now) I couldn't really focus on those.  I could however run a campaign surrounding the Soviet Naval Infantry landing near Faxe in Denmark.  So that's where I'll start.

Next up - Army Lists.  In the meantime - download the pdf and have a flick through it!

Thanks

Richard

Airfix Sheridan

Something a little out of left (or perhaps right) field to keep you all on your toes.  I was never really going to get any Sheridan's as they had pretty much disappeared - at least in Cavalry units - by my preferred 1986/87 timeframe.  I think the 82nd Airborne still fielded them then.

But with Battlegroup NORTHAG looking at an earlier timeframe I can see the value in having a couple of Sheridan's should I need them.

I got this at my local Wargaming Convention - MOAB - which was just over a month ago in Sydney.  It was a good decent price as well.  Please note I did not make or paint this - what you see in the pick is what I paid for.  So here it is:

Pretty damn well painted in my opinion.

Thanks for looking

Richard

Back to Denmark - Final figures Part 2

OK - so for once I actually finished something when I said I would!  So without further ado I'll jump straight into the pics.  They are a bit large - so you'll have to use your imagination a bit to think that they are actually just 20mm figures.

First up my Hovea SMG armed NCO.  This is a Wartime Miniatures WW2 US Army figure with a Thompson SMG from this set:

Next up my Forward Observer Team - made up of an Elhiem Miniature (the observer) and a Wartime Miniature (the big fingered pointer) from the same previous set - so he was holding a tommy gun.  This was replaced by the scratch-built Hovea. Perhaps I should have reduced the size of his pointing finger - its a monster!

Now my Medic and casualty.  Both are Wartime Figures with the Medic coming from this set while the casualty (more obviously) comes from this set.  The only thing I did was remove the M1 Garand from the casualty as I thought it made him look more like a WW2 figure, while without the gun he could be either a standard Infantry man or a Homeguard figure.

Last up is the 60mm Light Mortar team.  Both AB Figures from this set.   As shown previously they had their small arms removed and replaced by Hovea SMGs and like all the rest, scrim was added to their helmets.

And now the final pic of the whole bunch - with the Medic/casualty in the background.

So that is that job done.  Now the only Danes I have left to do are a small, 8 man,  HJV Special Intelligence Patrol (at some point in the future) and some vehicle crew for a couple of Land Rovers.

Thanks

Richard

Back to Denmark - Final figures Work-in-Progress 1

Just to keep you all as confused as I am I've jumped back to Denmark to finish off a few figures I needed.  These will probably be my last "standard" danish troops/home guard - although I do have a wee plan for some HJV Special Forces at some point in time.

One of the things holding me back was I needed to convert a bunch of the figures and replace whatever personal weapons they have with Hovea m/49 SMGs.  My research (for what it's worth) lead me to believe they looked like this:

And with the stock folded, like this:

And in situ - like this:

On the chap on the left.

Back in January I made my first conversion of a Wartime WW2 US Infantry figure with a Thompson SMG to look like this:

Now I needed to do it all again - on a slightly more industrial scale - as in I needed to make 5 or 6 SMGs.

Here's what they ended up looking like:

And with the stock folded:

Now added to some Wartime figures with added scrim on their helmets:

The chap above actually has the stock unfolded - but it's hard to see in the photo. 

This chap is part of my FO team.  The stock is folded and the SMG cut down slightly as he is holding the barrel in his left hand.

I also needed a 60mm light mortar team for my Danish Infantry Platoon Command Squad - and I ended up using the AB Figures US 60mm mortar team.  I consider it almost heresy to convert AB figures, but all I was doing was removing their rifles, adding SMGs and helmet scrim.  So here they are:

Above - is the loader.  His SMG (stock extended) is on the ground in front of him.

The No. 2 in the team.  His SMG is on his back (stock folded).  I was going to add a strap but I think I'll simply paint it on.

So that's the Hoveas.  I've also prepared a medic and casualty for the platoon - nothing particularly exciting here.

The casualty

The medic.  He'll be placed on the same base as the casualty.  Both are Wartime WW2 US Infantry figures.

So that's it for this WIP.

Thanks

Richard

OK.... So it's become pretty obvious I have a problem...

The other day I was looking through the stash and I started to realise that I had accumulated a fair amount of Cold War aircraft.  It's become a kind of guilty pleasure which should last me for years considering how long it takes me to make and paint aircraft.

Now bear in mind these are just the boxed model kits.  If I've gotten rid of the box for some reason - it didn't make the list.  So no inclusion of a C-130, an A-10 and an A-7, a Starfighter, F-16, MiG-21, Su-25 etc.  None of the made and painted aircraft will be shown either - nor helicopters....

So here we go starting with some general Soviet air support:

And some for my Naval Infantry:

In that case I need some air support for my USMC:

And my Royal Marines need a bit as well:

My BAOR need's some more support:

Something for my Danes:

(I'll use another one of those for my Norwegians), plus one of these:

So that just leaves this:

to be used for either my Americans, Belgians or possibly even Dutch.

Well - looking back I realise my problem isn't so bad.  No problem at all actually - so it makes perfect sense to get that Su-24 afterall, and that Su-22, and probably a couple more F-16s and Tornadoes (for the Germans), a Skyhawk, a Bronco, a F-4G Wild Weasel, and F-4 for the USAFE and one for the Luftwaffe and ..........

So.  No problem at all.

Richard