The Battle of the Mainz-Mannheim Salient: CWC Big Game Day 2

 After a pleasant night of curry and beer followed by a distinctly less night at the Crown Hotel, day 2 of the big gaming weekend started with the Irish and American forces now on the centre table, attempting to capture the airbase in order to cut off the Soviet supply route into the salient. The airbase was defended by a contingent of VDV troops. Other Soviet forces were rushing to engage with the attacking NATO force and stop the airport falling.

Irish troops assault the airport.

On the southern table our West German forces had been making progress but not fast enough. We had to get a move on in order to be able to assist the attack on the centre table. My left flank infantry company advanced forward on foot and into the woods. If the Soviet tank battalion came forward they could defend my left flank with Panzerfausts. If not, they could press on and perhaps close assault the troops to their front.

On my right flank my infantry pushed forward towards the Soviet troops holding the field in the centre of the table. That group had been a thorn for most of the first day, threatening both mine and Martin's flanks stopping any forward movement.

On my right, Martin suffered from a particularly devastating airstrike from a SU-25 Frogfoot and his forces getting whittled down. His opponent Steward though was also getting hammered in the battle of attrition.

At the end of day 1, we had managed 5 full turns and NATO turn 6. By the end of turn 8, the weight of fire from Martin's West Germans and a decent strafing run from a pair of F104G Starfighters finally told and Stewart's Motor Rifle Regiment was broken. He failed his morale check and his troops quit the battlefield.

That left me to try and break through the remaining troops of Mark's tank regiment.

Leopard 2s drive forward.

I knew that Mark had troops hidden in the woods and behind a hedgerow. By pushing the panzers forwards I hoped to provoke some fire from Mark's hidden units, thereby exposing them to return fire from my artillery and aircraft. Mark's ability to successfully keep calling in air support from SU-25 Frogfoots (Frogfeet?) and Mil-24 Hind E's plus artillery took its toll on my Leopard 2s but finally at then end of NATO turn 9 Mark's tank regiment was broken. Rather than attempt to play on Mark offered his sword and the game was over.

A tactical victory for the West Germans but Mark and Stewart had successfully held up our advance well into Day 2, preventing us from having any influence on events in the centre table.

We managed to keep the game rattling along and a fun time was had by all. There are notable changes from 1st to 2nd edition. The improvements to Soviet FAO & FAC command values mean that far more attacks come from the skies. The HIND E is particularly nasty. Luckily the Leopard 2 has had a serious upgrade and can take some real punishment while still dishing it out.

A few pictures of the Irish and American advance on Day 2. From what I could see the opposing troops got stuck right in and there seemed to be a lot of point of bayonet action. I think that the centre table managed 5 or 6 turns on day 2 and it was decided that the Soviet troops would have not held on much longer before breaking. All in all then a NATO victory, a rarity in these big games. Even less common is a decisive result. We kept force sizes down to 6,000 points per NATO player and a brigade sized force for each Soviet player. That seems to give us enough to have a good sized game without getting too bogged down.

Big thanks to Mark, Stewart and Martin for a fun weekend of gaming, played in the right spirit of gentlemanly competitiveness. Cheers to the other chaps for a fun weekend. As ever, many thanks to Richard Phillips for organising and hosting the weekend and keeping us all fed and watered. I know that Mr P has already had some ideas for next year's game and it looks like it's going to be a corker!