The Painted Thumb

Justin has a huge collection of 15mm Battlefront minis. For example, he has more Cromwell tanks in his collection than I have total tanks in my collection. And the Cromwells are one of the uncommon 15mm models. Justin and his wife have decided to move to a smaller house that is more manageable for their busy family. Which means his massive collection will have to be pared down. So, to celebrate before the Great Purge, Justin held a large 15mm variation of the Battle of Arnhem and invited some of the local players to participate. Five players including myself showed up. Justin commanded 30 Corp; Wes controlled Axis forces; the US 101st Airborne under the superb leadership of Chris. Meanwhile the 82nd had the tough fight led by yours truly against the SS and panthers of the German 107th hiding within the city and the Grosbeak Heights. The game took place on a 6' x 14' table and we used the Version 4.0 rules, a first for most the players. Justin setup a huge scenario wit...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets suffer setbacks but it is looking good for them overall. Turn 11 On Land, An Iranian armor division is forced to evacuate Rasht but is destroyed by pursuing Soviet mechanized divisions. Rasht is captured. At Sea, Soviet SSGN launches a brutal surface-to-surface missile strike on CVA-65 and almost sinks it. An undetected Soviet sub moves into the Persian Gulf. CVA-65, seemingly without concern for the submarine threat, steams into the Persian Gulf. The Soviet cruiser launches SSMs at the Enterprise but fails to sink it. In the Air, Soviets deliver air bases and planes to the former Iranian airfield in both Rasht and Tehran. Iran counters with an interdiction strike. F-4s from the Mashad air base bomb the infrastructure in northeast Iran, cutting off a vital supply route to the Soviets in Tehran. Both sides are dealing with supply issues. The US base in Konark is cut off by Soviet subs in the g...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviet war-machine starts throttling up to full speed. The Iranians are taking far too much damage, and the Americans are still trying to get units into the battle-space. Turn 9 At Sea, The Soviets drive a transport ship to Yemen and drop off a Marine brigade to defend the Yemen base. In the Air, US B-52s continue to hammer the Yemen base. Soviet air units continue to bomb Tehran. On Land, Soviets surround Tehran and begin their ground campaign. Iranian militia are struggling to hold the city. Special Ops successfully ambush a Soviet column just south of Tabriz, thus delaying the assault on Kermanshah. At this point, we noticed a problem with the US Order of Battle. The Soviets would get victory points if they could deploy mines in the Persian Gulf. However, the US OB doesn't show any mine-sweeping capability at all! This seemed like an incredible disadvantage to the American-Iran alliance....