Czecho engineers and traffic controllers

Having established a probable need for more Warpact bridging kit I had a rummage in some boxes to see what was in stock.  Quite a bit as it happened, including a Skytrex set with Zil lorries, pontoons and roadway sections.  I painted them up a Czechs as I have plans for a couple of games where they might have a role.  I used the roadway sections to form a deployed bridge and couldn't resist adding a traffic control detachment with an H&R UAZ-469, a motorcyclist and of course a man pointing!

 

Pfaffing About - part 2

 

As we rejoin WW3 in Austria we find the engineer brigade 

parked up and awaiting a safer road to the west.

With the lead elements of the Czecho 62 MRR heavily engaged, 68 MRR sweeps round to the northwest.

62 MRR deploys it's artillery

An overview - all still to play for.

elements of 62 MRR bypassing the town

An airstrike goes in on the tank destroyers...

...who promptly fail a morale test!

Meanwhile the plucky motor riflemen of 62 MRR are pushing forward

The attached battalion from the divisional artillery rgt deploys their 152mm Dana SP guns.

Another airstrike - on both the Kurassiers and M-60s...

....with very new (this being 1981 remember).....

...and very old aircraft!

The result of the air strikes - the Kurassiers have fled and the M-60s are looking very battered.  The Austrian infantry are also withdrawing while the Czecho infantry keep up the pressure.

At this point we drew a veil over proceedings, the Austrians shoving off to the west to the next and final (in Austria at least) defence line.  Here's the final overview.

"Comrades, start your engines!" At last the order comes through to move forward the engineers.

A nice game which went every bit as well as I'd hoped over only two and a half hours of playing time.  I'm already working up the next game in the series.

Pfaffing About - part 1

 

This was another of our 'Cold War gone hot' games set in the early 1980s and saw the debut outing (not counting solo games) of both my Austrian mechanised brigade and my Czech motor rifle regiments.  Above is a Czecho motor rifle battalion - GHQ infantry and Scotia OT-64.  I've owned the OTs for over 20 years but painted them only in 2020.  It doesn't do to rush these things...

The field of battle.  In NBC a hex is 1km across and a stand generally represents a NATO-style company or a Warpact half-battalion.  The game featured units of the Czecho 15 MRD - part of 4th Combined Arms Army - sweeping through northern Austria and up towards Bavaria.  While casting around on Google Maps for suitable terrain I spotted the area of Pfaffing and the scenario name suggested itself!  I ran the game and hosted the Zoom call.  John A led the Austrians while Martin and Michael provided direction to the Czechos.

NATO air recce photos shared with the Austrians showed mechanised columns advancing.  This is a whole motor rifle regiment.

62 MRR trundling on from the east.

The Austrian forces represented their last remaining Mech Bde.  And advance battalion of JagdPanzer Kurassier was soon joined by a battalion each of M-60 tanks and Panzergrenadiers, as well as a battery each of AA and artillery.

The town of Pfaffing was soon swarming with motor rifle troopers.  They were immediately under fire from Austrian infantry just to the west.

The Czechos were very pleased to see their attached T-72 battalion!

Things were soon pretty warm - with the MRB in Pfaffing exchanging fire with the infantry in the marsh - though the latter declined their commander's invitation to close assault - hence the yellow marker.

Meanwhile the Au tanks had deployed on the major road junction and were exchanging fire with T-55s and Sagger operators.

But here come the T-72s!

Another MRB advances.

By now the T-55 btl was losing the battle against the M-60s - would the Czechs be able to concentrate sufficient force to prevent the advance stalling?

In Pfaffing the original MRB was looking very tatty and the engineer co had also suffered (stands can generally take two hits)

While the M-60s had taken a hit...

...the T-55s were down to 50% - but the T-72s were in range!

When the last of 62 MRR had cleared the eastern area, the bridging units came plodding on.  The Czech CO wisely sent them to park up on a side road so they didn't get in the way.

The game was played over two evenings - this brings us pretty much to where we left off on Tuesday.  What will happen next?

Plugging the same Gap again

In need of a game to entertain Lloyd and I a couple of weeks ago I reassembled the 'Plugging the Gap' scenario I'd run several times back in 2020 (see here and subsequent posts).  I duly set it up a couple of days before and we cracked through it in a little under two hours - so pretty much real time.  Lloyd commanded the US lackeys while I provided the forces of scientific socialism with inspired and ideologically sound leadership.  So exciting was it that I quite forgot to take photos until GT6!  Just don’t ask whose artillery is landing on that Motor Rifle battalion.... 

The Soviet cunning plan.

Mostly lifted from a previous plan but drawn on clear acetate to offer a veneer of professionalism.

The US defended a little further back than previous incarnations of this scenario. Here they are skulking in cover and exchanging fire with units of 1 GTR

After seven turns the jittery capitalists fled west, so the Sov advance can continue.

Blowpipe teams

I painted these months ago but for some reason the photos weren't posted.  These are 1980s BAOR AAGW teams armed with 'Blowpipe'.  An expensive* combination of drainpipe and firework, Blowpipe seems not to have been a great operational success

The figures are GHQ, painted last year.  The Series Three Landrovers are Heroics & Ros models, painted c1983, making them real Cold War veterans!

(* in 1994 the unit cost per missile was USD55k, the firing unit USD94k)

BAOR Mechanised Battalion

I churned out this Mech Btl - or most of one - a while back.  CinC FV432 and GHQ infantry.  I can steal the support elements from my Warrior mounted btl as I'm unlikely to be fielding them both at once.

Mokra 1939 - part 3

The final part of the action commences with 19 Uhlans wandering about in the open.  Behind the German front line but still - is it wise?

Meanwhile in the woods, I/Schtz Rgt 12, having fought through one position turn SE to confront the other half of the Polish rifle battalion and a stray cavalry squadron.  More blood is spilled.

One of the game's more exciting moments was the attach by III/Pz Rgt 36 on the Polish armoured train.  The Poles fought bravely....

...but the new technology triumphed.  A predictably tragic first outing for my train.

Martin had gathered the remains of Pz Rgt 35 into a single detachment and led them in person against 2nd Mounted Rifles.  Who were in fact dismounted.  Clear?  Good.

Blood flowed freely on both sides.

At this point we decided to draw to a close.  The Poles had carried out a determined defence but were being pushed back and had lost control of the railway line.  They'd lost their 'armour', a cav sqn, train  and infantry btl, and a further two cav sqns were looking a bit ropey.

On the other hand, 4 Panzer Div had suffered least the 150 tanks disabled in the historical engagement.  Leaving it with about two Panzer btls and a schtz btl.  Ouch!

For fun we resolved the fight between Pz Rgt 35(-) and 2 Mounted Rifles.....

In which Martin's brave lads prevailed!  A most enjoyable game (in my view) and a broadly historical result - both side managed to do slightly worse than their historical counterparts!
A quick note on the troop representation.  I gave each of the Panzer Rgts three battalions  - they should in fact have two larger btls each.  This was something of a contrivance to force the Germans into the piecemeal attacks which 4PD actually carried out.  Sure enough it resulted in some very shot-up units.  The Polish cavalry regiments were a challenge, composed as they were of four smallish squadrons and a MG sqn.  I decided to represent them as two fairly chunky stands per rgt.  They were quite tough due to high morale, good training and wide issue of a fairly dangerous AT rifle.  Dangerous to the the tin-foil armour of 1939 panzers at any rate.  Finally, the train had two artillery cars, each with 2 75mm guns, and a company of infantry so I treated it for combat purposes as a weak artillery unit with similar close-combat capabilities as an infantry stand.

A further visit to Poland may be in order in a few weeks.