Cold War Commander

This weekend, we finally arranged an actual game of Cold War Commander at Joe's place with Bob, Ian, and myself. Joe's been trying to assemble some kind of late 20th century or modern combined arms battle using Micro Armor minis. There was some significant discussion about which rules to use which lastest several weeks prior. Ultimately, the group settled with the Cold War Commander rules and I think it was the right decision.

We decided to start with a modest sized battle; Ian and I took a group of Soviets including a group of T-64s, one battalion of troops carried by some BMP-3s, some artillery pieces with forward observers, a Hind attack helicopter, HQ and extra CO. Joe and Bob were the Americans with a bunch of M-1 Abrams and Bradley tanks.

Most of the afternoon was spent reviewing the rules, but once we got started the game moved fairly quickly. I advanced my T-64s and BMPs toward the center of the board. We tried to activate the Hind and the artillery but missed several command rolls. In retrospect, Ian and I were convinced we needed some extra CO's just to simply make up for low command ratings of the Soviets. On the other side, the Americans had an even worse time with command rolls. Most rolls in this game involve two D6, and any snake eyes will result in a 'fumble'. The Americans started the game with a fumbled command roll. The result was a couple of Bradley crews got itchy trigger fingers and suppressed one of the other Bradleys. No harm was done as the crews recovered the next turn and started firing TOWs at my T-64.

The Soviets finally activated the Hind and launched a barrage at the advancing Americans. Due to time constraints, I had to leave the battle and let Ian finish the game. My impression was that Cold War Commander was a worthy game and I hope to play more.

I tried to photograph the battlefield but I've got a lot to learn about filming 6mm minis. The lighting was bad in Joe's game room and that's another challenge I'll have to master.


Americans advancing through the valley, blasting their... rock-n-roll music...

....Meanwhile..., the Soviet HQ is calling in an artillery strike and air support.


Some Bradleys driving through the rough, M-1 on the road.


Hind makes its move against the tanks

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