A big slice of real life has kept me from gaming for a long time so when my friend and fellow Cold War Commander Richard Crawley invited me to help run a game at Joy Of Six this year I jumped at the chance. Lots of background information is available at Rich's blog on thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com. The scenario was a fictional Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1948 after the failure of the spring coup d'etat. We had 2 games running side by side, with Richard taking the helm of a TACWW2 battle while m'colleague Neil and I looked after a CWC game. Our battle featured advance elements of the Soviet 11th Tank Division crossing the Polish- Czech border and looking to push past the town of Ceska Skalice and on to Prague.
Our set up. Soviet forces would enter from the North East corner.
The town of Ceska Skalice.
As usual I got far too engrossed in the game and took very few photos. The Soviet forces comprised a Motor Rifle battalion in lorries, a tank battalion of T-54s and an attached heavy tank company of JS3s. N.B. we wanted to give the game a post-war feel so we stretched the in service dates for some of the Soviet equipment. Thus the Soviet forces had AK-47 rifles, T54 tanks and a limited amount of air support from a MiG-15. The Czech defenders used 2 companies of WW2 Soviet infantry, a battalion of T34-85s and an anti-tank company of 2 x 88mm guns. They also had an armoured train carriage with a surplus Panzer IV turret with short 75mm gun. The Czech air support featured a Me-262!
Being outnumbered and outgunned, I decided to deploy the Czech tanks into a fighting line and let Neil's Soviets come to me. In the right of the photo is a wood that concealed my 88s. This turned out to be a smart move as the 88s could get flank shots on the Soviet armour. They were my most effective unit and accounted for one of the JS3s.
The Soviet forces advance, T-54s in the centre, JS3s along the road.
As the forces closed in on each other the hits ran up on the Czech T34-85s.
We played from around 10am until 3.10pm and got through at least 10 turns. We called the game a minor victory for the Soviets. Most of the T-54s had been KO'd but the Czechs had lost over half their T-34s and the armoured train. The JS3s had got in range and were about to tackle my 88s before finishing off the remaining Czech tanks.
The game was most enjoyable and certainly kept Neil and I busy for the day. As a display/participation game it was well received, with a constant stream of visitors chatting, asking questions and rolling some dice. Everyone we spoke to was very complimentary about the scenery and the scenario. We were so busy that I barely had a chance to look around the rest of the festival and have no idea what the outcome of the TACWW2 game was. Richard C, Ian and Andy C looked equally busy though and seemed to be occupied for the whole day.
As ever it was a pleasure to meet up with the chaps and get some gaming in. My thanks to Neil for co-hosting the game and to Richard C for inviting us to help. Rich came up trumps again with another brilliant and unusual scenario. Let's see what his fertile imagination comes up with for next year!
