The Most Sophisticated Helicopter In The World

 This weekend sees the annual Cold War Commanders big weekend game at Grimsby Wargames Club. A massive intervention from real life however meant that I could not attend this year. I did still want to get a game in though so looked about for a suitable solo game.

This scenario is from issue 470 of Miniature Wargames magazine, June 2022. I didn't pay too much attention to the article at first as it was a sci-fi game featuring Rabbit People; not really my thing. On closer inspection though I noticed that it borrowed significant elements from Black Ops and could be easily adapted to a Cold War environment.

"During the Soviet invasion of West Germany of 1985, reports began to emerge of several Soviet units coming under attack by some sort of advanced stealth helicopter. Military intelligence managed to locate the forward operating base of this advanced prototype. Although they would have preferred to capture the helicopter and learn its secrets, there was not enough time to find a suitably experienced pilot. A hurriedly assembled Spetsnaz team was therefore infiltrated into the area with orders to disable the mysterious aircraft." The game was played using the Black Ops rules in 6mm, with inches substituted by cm for all distances.

 

The NATO compound.

The mysterious advanced stealth helicopter.

The defenders started with two 2-man patrols on guard duty, with their starting positions randomly determined. The first patrol started at the South East corner of the compound.

The second patrol began at the western edge of the compound, right by the Spetsnaz deployment area.

The Spetsnaz raiding party was split into an assault team with 2 demolition specialists, a security team tasked with dealing with local security and a support team led by the CO with a LMG team and RPG team. Here the Soviet force deploys and begins to move towards their objective.

The security team moved quietly up to the guard force patrol before engaging them in close quarters combat:

One of the guards was outnumbered and quickly despatched. The other one though fought back and managed to kill his attacker. The remaining 2 Spetsnaz troopers then attacked the guard, who amazingly fought them off.

The raiders didn't have time for a long drawn out melee though so the security team's NCO joined the fight and slipped a bayonet between the guard's ribs.

With the first patrol out of the way, the assault team climbed the perimeter wall and the demolition team moved in on their target.

Meanwhile, Starsky and Hutch of the 2nd patrol continued to bimble slowly along the perimeter road in blissful ignorance of the drama happening around them. By now the security team had occupied one of the bunkers and, backed up by the LMG of the support team, lay in wait to ambush the remaining patrol. As they got within range, the 2nd patrol had to make a roll on the guard reaction table. Their response at their big moment...

... was to turn 180° and proceed back the way they had just come. And so the 2 worst security guards in the world continued with their evening stroll.

The assault team had now infiltrated into the compound and lain their satchel charges on the stealth helicopter. The defending quick reaction force and off duty team had still not been alerted that anything was wrong. The defending CO finally became suspicious but wandered ineffectually in and out of his barracks, still not raising the alarm.

Having set the satchel charges to detonate in 3 turns, the raiding party began to exfiltrate the area.

All too late, the defending CO belatedly began to suspect that something was afoot and moved towards the source of all the noise. Unfortunately, that brought him within the blast radius of the satchel charges when they successfully detonated. Surprisingly, he survived the blast but the advanced stealth helicopter was no more.

An almost perfect stealth mission then, with just the one Spetsnaz casualty. The prototype helicopter is gone, Starsky and Hutch have been demoted to spud patrol and the guard commander is being bawled out by an Agency man who looks just like Gary Busey. I'm not sure that I read the guard reaction rules correctly but it was an enjoyable game nonetheless. I really ought to play some more Black Ops and definitely want to play this scenario again, after I've read the rules some more. Perhaps next time the target will be the stealth helicopter Mk II, the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" project.

Down on the farm

 Yesterday the Cold War Commanders convened in the village of Stone in Staffordshire. Our esteemed colleague Richard Phillips has set up a splendid gaming venue in a unit set in a converted barn, imaginatively named The Unit!

As can be seen, there's plenty of space! I'm not sure of the actual dimensions of the table, perhaps 20 foot x 6 foot. More than enough elbow room for 10 of us to fight out in comfort.

In contrast to the usual massed tank battle, the scenario saw a thin NATO forward screen of 5 roughly battalion sized commands fighting a delaying action against the advancing Soviet hordes. 5 Motor Rifle Regiments of them in fact! Our task was to stop them advancing past the Elbe Lateral Kanal, represented by the NATO table edge (apart from a section of canal on our left flank). My force consisted of the West German 3 Recce Battalion, backed up by a company of Leopard 2s, a battery of 155mm artillery and 2 BO105 attack helicopters.

Here my 2 companies of Leopard 1s move forward to take up position in the woods.

I don't have too many action shots of the game. My opponent, Ian, deployed a tank battalion on to the table as the vanguard of his main force. The rest of his troops arrived behind a shallow river. That plus Ian's ability to repeatedly roll 10s and 11s with every attempted command roll pretty much did my job for me.

In the top right of this photo, in the open valley, Ian's T72 battalion came off second best in a firefight against my Leopard 2s and BO105s.

By 4.30pm Ian had started to untangle the omnishambles of his deployment zone and advance forward. On my left flank Andy C's BAOR seemed to be holding their own against Mark J's East Germans. Further off to the left flank however Mark F's Dutch had succumbed to the increasing pressure from Richard C's red tide and the general retreat was signalled.

We managed 4 or 5 turns before pulling back so probably not enough to call it a NATO win. Still, it was a grand day of gaming and it's always a good day when I meet up with the chaps again. It was particularly nice to see Alan and Roger as this was the first time we've met up since Grimsby 2018.

I don't have long to wait until the next meet up as a group of us will be putting on a participation game at Joy of Six in Sheffield next week.

If anyone is attending then come and say hi!

Cold War at the Club

 Work commitments have been keeping me busy of late but a window of opportunity opened up tonight for a game so I headed over to the Beacon Wargames Club in Elton for a game of CWC2 with fellow Cold War Commander Andy Canham.

The battlefield before we deployed troops. We had decided on a reinforced West German battalion taking on a Soviet brigade. I totted up a Panzergrenadier battalion with 2 companies of Leopard 2  plus 3 M109s and a pair of Phantoms in support and it came to just over 4,000 points. Andy C's force on the other hand was a bit over 9,000 points. Hey ho...

The Soviet horde advanced, with BMP mounted infantry supported by T64s (I think) and on table 2S1 122mm artillery. My Jaguar dedicated ATGM unit managed one shot before the rapidly approaching Soviet tanks blew it away.

Undaunted, my stalwart Panzergrenadiers dismounted and headed for the BUA while their Marders backed up and tried to get out of range of the Soviet tanks.

The hits built up on my Leopard 2s but they gave as good as they got, although several of Andy C's tanks survived what looked like certain death as he rolled a series of astonishingly high saving throws. They make their steel tough in the Urals!

Late in the game an unfortunate command blunder resulted in my flank company charging off their hill and towards the oncoming red tide. Andy took the opportunity this offered and wiped out the infantry and M113s. This blunder had dire consequences for me as it took me to within 1 unit of my breakpoint.

With my battalion morale looking shaky and fresh Soviet forces arriving on-table, I decided that that was enough and left the field in Andy's possession.

A Soviet win and defeat for me then but an enjoyable game nonetheless and a good workout of the new rules. There are a few significant changes that we noticed: Leopard 2s have had an armour upgrade and are now very difficult to kill. I didn't lose a single one over the course of the fight. The change to aircraft attacks, so that AFVs are now hit on a 6 rather than a 4+ has made them much weaker and is not something that either of us agree with. On-table artillery rules seem strange too.

We are heading to Richard Phillips' new unit for a big game next weekend so General Von Klinkerhoffen's Panzergrenadiers will not have to wait long for their chance for revenge.

The Battle Of Hooke's Farm

 The last attempt to fight a battle against m'colleague Neil was thwarted by Storm Arwen. This week we had Storms Dudley and Eunice in quick succession (with Franklin blowing through as I write) but the routes through the Pennines were sort of clear. So, after a somewhat alarming slalom along the Snake Pass, the Army of The Hesse Kassel Reinforcement arrived in Sheffield ready to fight.

After our last game we decided to reduce the amount of terrain so the battlefield had a more stripped down look.

My infantry, in column, waiting to advance.

On the right flank the cavalry engaged in a ferocious melee. The 2nd Lieb-Regiment cavalry were broken but that just cleared the way for the elite 1st Prinz Wilhelm regiment to charge forward, routing 2 French cavalry regiments. Later on the 3rd Miltitz regiment, seen here on the left and already disrupted by melee with the enemy, were broken by massed artillery fire.

On my left flank my light brigade advanced through the woods and over the hill to Hooke's Farm. The mounted Buckeberg Carabiniers did not advance any further but their presence alone deterred a French line battalion from moving. Unwilling to turn their backs on cavalry, the French line battalion stayed put and took no part in the unfolding drama in the centre of the field. My Jaegers and dismounted Buckeberg Carabiniers fired into the flanks of the French central infantry, mostly causing nothing more than a nuisance. That is, until the end of the battle when the dismounted Carabiniers unexpectedly produced a devastating round of carbine fire and broke a French line battalion in one volley.

As ever though, these flank engagements were mere side shows. The battle would be decided by the infantry clash in the centre. Unlike previous battles I managed to keep my artillery in line with my infantry so they could support the infantry volleys and help offset the French numerical advantage. With my firing line set I waited for Neil's French to advance towards me. After the first few volleys and a French bayonet charge we had both sustained losses so Neil's infantry pulled back slightly to allow his second wave of infantry to come into the line.

Here my elite 6th Grenadier regiment are marching into the line to fill the gap left after the 7th Erbprinz infantry had broken. After that brief pause the volleys ensued before the Hessians fixed bayonets and charged in.

That final bayonet charge was enough to shatter the French front line so General Neil offered the honours of war. My remaining infantry were in bad shape and time was getting on so I accepted and took the minor victory.

Another narrow win for the Hessians but it was a close run thing and, once again, I think that the quality of my trained battalions won out over Neil's mostly conscript force. However, this is a campaign not a battle. Half my infantry and 2 out of 3 cavalry regiments have now been reduced to conscript status after the losses sustained today, severely reducing the qualitative advantage I have. Neil's French remain a mix of trained and conscript battalions and his numerical superiority may prove decisive in the next battle.