Opening Battles of WW3

The Cold War Commander campaign finally has gone in full swing. This past weekend I joined Joe, Wes, Bob, Mark B, and Biff in the second battle of the grand campaign which simulates an attack on NATO by the Warsaw Pact.  Here's the description of the campaign from Joe's briefing.

This is a point-based campaign that covers the first 72 hours of a Warsaw Pact invasion of West Germany in 1985. The battle is between elements of a Motor Rifle Regiment, supported by its parent Motor Rifle Division and elements of an Armored Cavalry Squadron supported by its parent Armored Cavalry Regiment. Each side will have 10,000 points for the entire campaign with limits placed on how much can be used to build forces, modify the battlefield , or modify scenario conditions.

Each day will include up to four battles. The overall victor will be determined by the highest earned total of aggression points through the course of the campaign. Aggression points are earned for inflicting casualties and achieving objectives. During the campaign accrued aggression points may be used to draw reinforcements or gain other advantages.

This particular battle was an assault with three objective markers setup in the middle of the map. NATO spent points to place a large river across the middle of the map.  The WP spent points to place an 'Autobahn' with a bridge across the river on the north side of the map. They placed a second, smaller road with a bridge on the southern side of the map.  NATO filled in a small woods next to the smaller bridge. NATO setup as the defender with hidden deployment, 3 units of artillery and a large reinforcement group arriving on turn 7. NATO used 2 aggression points to bring in reinforcements on turn 5. WP setup with a much larger force in three separate commands. It included a Hind and a Hip helicopter, a handful of T-55s, T-80s, an anti-aircraft missile launcher, and some mobile bridge equipment.

The terrain for the battle

The minis they used were Micro Armor 6mm.  They were great little models and painted very well. It was also clear that some of the players including Joe, were former soldiers and had firsthand experience with the units that were part of the battle.

The opening turn started with the WP forces moving forward toward the hidden NATO units. A Soviet recon unit moved quickly to the Autobahn bridge and secured that objective straight away. NATO attempted its first artillery strike but failed the command role.

Soviet recon on the bridge, T-55s following.

The second turn the Soviets moved up the rest of the T-55s to the bridge.  This turn the American artillery successfully shot a FASCAM round on top of the bridge and surrounded the area in a tiny minefield.  The tanks rolled through it and the Soviet recon discovered Biff's infantry and TOW armed ATGWs. The Americans used opportunity fire to land several TOWs at two T-55s and lit them up easily.

FASCAM mini-minefield

T-55s on fire

On the south end of the map, the NATO commanding officer revealed his location with one M-1 tank.  The tank exchanged fire with Soviet units on the opposite side of the small bridge with little effect. But, a group of T-80s moved toward the small bridge. The mobile bridging vehicles moved toward the river and started to setup.  The Soviets also made a successful anti-artillery attack (resolved off-map) on this turn.

M-1 firing across the small bridge (behind the trees)

T-80s on the move

The third turn was a pivotal one. The American artillery dropped another FASCAM round on the small bridge. The Soviets took serious hits but rolled through it. The Soviets deployed their Hip helicopter to drop off some infantry on the opposite side of the river.  On the south end, the Soviets brought up enough units to secure the objective on that side.

Hip helicopter

The north side was bloody for the Americans as the Hind made its appearance and started a devastating attack on the American ATGWs. Hind combined with the remaining T-55s destroyed enough American units to trigger the end of the scenario. The American reinforcement scheduled to arrive on turn 5, never made it.  Sadly, the American force had to retreat from their position and NATO suffered a loss of 2 aggression points.

Hind helicopter (photo from previous game)