Battlefront Marders

I have always been rather fond of the various incarnations of Marder and found myself 'needing' some for the Skirmish Campaigns 'Red Guards at Kursk' scenarios. I picked these up at Triples a couple of years ago, heavily discounted on the Caliver Books stand so they weren't quite the normal ridiculous BF price.

The two of them in their Mardery glory. They both went together well although the gun assemblies took a fair bit of work.

From the front the typical BF scale vertical distortion is very obvious.

The look fine from the side though, plus lots of rivets and hard lines to pick up the drybrushing.

They also look very good from this angle. While I may moan about the prices, at least BF include crew figures, which you need really for open topped AFVs.

A couple of very serviceable  models, although they have yet to fire a shot in anger. They were just finished in dunklegelb and olive green with a dark brown inkwash, a very light drybrush of pure white to pick up the highlights and a liberal daubing of mud around the running gear.

Platoon House

John has been developing his rules 'Boots on the Ground' recently which cover company level actions in modern Afghanistan and we have been playtesting it with various tactical situations based on the Royal Anglians tour (of 'Ross Kmep in Afghanistan' fame).

My 'A Platoon Commanders Insurgency' rules, based on Johns WW2 tactical rules work fine for a platoon but won't scale to a company, the latter being Johns design objective.

This was the third outing for the rules, this time covering the defence of a platoon house.

The village with the District Centre in the middle. The bazaar is to the left, Mosque and medical centre to the right and the main LZ to north in the open ground east of the road.

For some days the company had noted various combat indicators, particularly an increase in attacks on patrols and the gradual disappearance of the civilian population. At the time game starts, most of the buildings around the centre are empty, the shops in bazaar are boarded up and patrol activity has been reduced to a minimum.

Defence of the district centre with sangars in on the roof of the five buildings with machineguns and other weapons, a section of 81mm mortars dug into the centre of the courtyard and the rest if the troops safely under cover. We used a representational map of the district centre for this.

The DC centre map on the main table.

Suspicious activity! Insurgents manage to drop mortar rounds on the Mosque.

Followed up by sniper fire on the NW sangar. Our own marksman comes off worst and is a T2 requiring evacuation.

A wandering Afgan policeman trips an ambush from the medical centre, which attracts return fire from every MG on the roof. Amazingly the policeman survived unscathed.

Two platoon moves out to secure the ad-hoc LZ for the evacuation. A group of Afghan police can also be seen 'exploring' the Bazaar.

The Chinook arrives escorted by Apaches.

CSM moves the casualty out to the Chinook.

Insurgents fire an RPG at the grounded Chinook. This lands alarmingly close but fortunately doesn't do any serious damage. A storm of return fire keeps the Afghans busy.

Chinook takes off safely.

Apaches provide close fire support aginst Taliban positions in the town.

Having suffered moderate losses and failing to down a helicopter, the Taliban move away into the countryside again.

So, another exciting day in Afghanistan. The rules seem to work fine for the RPG style 'umpire vs players' scenarios we've been doing and they are streamlined enough to be able to run a full reinforced company engagement with fireteam bases in a sensible amount of time.

Zvezda Gaz AA

More Triples purchase, some Gaz AA trucks ot supplement my 15mm Soviet transport. I have to say that these weren't hugely enjoyable to build, the truck bodies and chassis were OK but the mouldings had a very strange arrangement for the bonnets which required them to be cut/bent into shape. As you can see from the photos, this left the engines looking a bit odd. That apart, they were OK and they were cheap and light to carry.

Finished trucks. Duff engine covers not too obvious from here.

Sit quite nicely from the side.

The general dodginess of the front end is very obvious here!

Look OK from this angle though.

These just finished in Vallejo Sov green over a black undercoat with a brown inkwash and highlight with some ochre lightened Sov green and a very light drybrush of light tan. A moderate amount of mud was applied ot the lower portions. The windows are solid so I did them sky blue with a couple of highlights, which seems to work OK from a distance.

Across the Canal Part 2

For this one Tim and Jerry took the Soviets and John the British. It was played as per usual with my 2mm toys on Kallistra hexon terrain. The buildings are spare Command and Colours blocks, which work quite well with the 2mm vehicles.

Warpac forces assemble, view from the SE

Tank regiment behind the ridge, BMP regiment along the road.

BMP battalions move up to the river while the regimental tank battalion, AT company and two SP artillery battalions move up in support.

Heimatschutzen covering one crossing are hit by artillery and their morale breaks. The BMP battalion has discovered the bridge is passable by foot troops.

Braunchsweig burns as Sov recce engages more Heimatschutzen, again inflicting losses and a morale failure.

A British Combat Team motors on to support the platoon of Luchs in the central woods, and is attacked by SU-17s.

The attack inflicts no losses but John is appallingly unlucky on the morale check.

Two BMP battalions swim the canal and a dismounted company cautiously crosses by foot. Tanks and artillery move up in support and engineers prepare to repair the bridge.

Two T-64 battalions move up the Autobahn.

Harriers conduct an airstrike on the newly completed bridge. The blast makes the camera shake, but unfortunately misses.

BMP units supported by a helicopter landed VDV battalion secure the secondary road west as refugees continue to flee down it.

Soviet units mass at the crossings as NATO heavy artillery opens fire directed by the Bundeswehr.

The first Combat Team reorganises in the woods, while the second is delayed by refugee columns.

The Chieftans and FV432s eventually negotiate the crowded roads and are immediately attacked by SU-17s.

And Hinds, with predictable results. Some Chieftans are knocked out and the British morale fails.

Warpac forces along the canal also take some losses and the morale of the T-62 battalion fails, however the Luchs platoon is also destroyed.

T-64 battalions cross the river and BMPs push north.

Another Airstrike inflicts more losses and breaks the balanced Combat Team.

They duly withdraw off the table.

The last balanced team from divisional reserve attempts to counterattack behind artillery fire but again, has appalling luck and  suffers a morale failure.

With that, the Soviets have secured their route west with most of the tank regiment over the canal and ready to motor on towards Hanover.

And the rest of the division following up, with engineers preparing more crossings.

So, not NATOs finest day. TF Hotel was just too little, too late and paid the price for the concentration of effort against 10th GTD further north. In this instance the local Soviet air superiority proved to be decisive.

3rd Shock Army is now over the canal and into the good tank country of the plain east of Hanover. TF Hotel has however hardly suffered any losses and 4th Armoured Div is still in a good shape to conduct its mission of aggressive delay while the rest of BAOR moves into position. Bundeswehr units  have also put in their first appearance, and they aren't going to be very keen on Warpac units running around all over West Germany.  What will the afternoon bring?

Across the Canal Part 1

Followers of my fictional 1981 WW3 campaign may recall that in the previous installment the spearhead of 10th Guards Tank Divison was blunted by Task Force Golf of 4th Armoured Div as it crossed the Mitelland canal northwest of Wolfsburg. Further south the rest of 3rd Shock Army is heading towards the canal in the vicinity of Braunchsweig.

Area of operations. The previous action was to the northeast of here.

Across the canal, June 31st 1981

General Briefing

The rapid Warpac offensive has caught many NATO units still forming up although reinforcements have brought units up to their wartime strengths in many places. South of the Mitelland canal en route to Braunschweig, 3^rd Shock Army has been delayed by an intensive programme of demolitions and desperate resistance from Bundeswehr screening forces. The two leading Divisions found the bridges over the canal demolished and prepared to cross before NATO reinforcements could intervene.

British briefing

4th AD is operating in advance of the rest of the BAOR. The failure of the enemy to bounce the canal  at Braunchsweig gives some hope that the canal line can be held. TF Golf is engaging enemy forces to the NE of Braunschweig, and TF Hotel has been sent SE as fast as possible to hold the canal line although it is spread thinly over a 30km frontage. Progress is being hampered by refugee columns.

There is reasonable RAF and Luftwaffe air cover, but the priority operation is TF Golf to the NE. TF Hotel has three battlegroups, one BG is being retained as divisional reserve and the others sent either side of Braunchsweig. Each is believed to be facing an entire Tank Division.

Prevent the enemy crossing the canal and destroy any bridgeheads they may establish.

Forces (D6, regular morale unless indicated otherwise)

BG Charlie Hotel, TF Hotel, 4th Armoured Div

BGHQ, 1 x mortar battery, 1 x Milan troop, 1 x recce troop (Scimitar)

1 x Chieftan Squadron, 3 x Mech Inf Co (FV432)

1 x battery of Abbot in DS

Doctrinally BGs break down into 2-3 combat teams.

Balanced (1 x Mech Inf, 1 x Chieftan) combat teams from BG Alpha Hotel may be available in the event of a major breakthrough.

Heimatschutzen companies are holding the bridge sites at Wedheim and Braunschweig (D12, morale poor) with the remains of the German recce screen (1 x Luchs, D8, good) patrolling.

1 x battery of M109 in General Support (one turn delay).

1 x section of Harriers and 1 x section of Lynx may be available for ground support.

Enter from the north or west edge on or adjacent to roads.

 

Warpac briefing

The leading tank regiment of the division approached the canal east of Braunchsweig to find that the bridges over the Mittelland Canal had been demolished and it had insufficient infantry to force a crossing.  The divisional BMP regiment has been brought up to sieze a bridgehead and maintain the advance.  Light German forces are covering the bridge sites and air recce reports enemy mechanised columns approaching from the NW.

Cross the canal and establish a bridgehead.

Bridge the canal and resume the advance west with tank formations.

Forces (D8, regular morale unless indicated otherwise)

200 GMRR(+), 12th GTD, Cat I

RHQ: 1 x Mech HQ, 1 x recce Co, 2 x Engineer Co, 1 x AA Co, 1 x GW Co

1 x Tank Bn (T62): 2 x tank Co ea

3 x Motor Rifle Bn (2 x BMP Co)

1 x SP Arty Bn, 2 x SP 122mm how, 1 x Btty HQ

1 x SP Arty Bn (SP 122mm): 2 x SP 122, 1 x Btty HQ attached from Tank Regt.

2 x Mi 24 Hind and 2 x Su-17 Fitter available each turn.

1 x Air assault Bn (2 x para, 1 x Mi 8 helicopter) - pre-plan the drop

48 GTR (elements)

3 x Tank Bn (T64)

1 x Eng Co, 1 x AA Co, RHQ

Set up on or SE of the road from the Autobahn to Groscal. Tank Regt in reserve.

 

Terrain

Villages and towns provide concealment and cover (-1 to hit), woods provide concealment.

Hills are rolling and not an obstacle to movement, stationary units may find concealment on them. Much of Braunchsweig has been demolished as an AT obstacle.

Weather

The weather is good.

Umpires notes

Game length - until we get bored. Really it should be four hours (16 turns).

Airpower: draw a card for each aircraft each turn (if not on table)

Any but spades = Soviet available from readiness.

Any black = Lynx available from readiness.

Black picture card = Harrier available from readiness.

Once a strike is launched, planes return to airfield, need a card to rearm and move to readiness. They need another card to attack. SU-17s always attack when card comes up, others may choose to and helos can loiter. 

VLB as per engineering rules. BMPs cross the canal as one engineering action.

May repair a damaged bridge with one engineering action, to bridge the canal otherwise takes two.

 

Refugees delay entry, each road not possible turn 1, turn 2 5+, turn 3 3+, turn 4 OK.