The Russians (Brian) had to cross a river,by bridge or ford,and establish an HQ and see if the Ukranians would put up any resistance.Brian had 5 tanks,a mortar section and 3 infantry squads,whilst I had 3 tanks,a mortar section,an anti-tank gun and 3 squads of infantry-all hidden!!
The Russians are piling across the bridge,intent on making their HQ at the forward farm-one of my infantry squads has other ideas!!The Russians lost a few men on this move,but Brian ordered"bullets and bayonets" on the next move and actually charged the farm-the cheek of the man!!
My infantry in the woods,guarding the ford,have come under mortar fire and small arms fire,and tank fire,so I fired back with my tanks,thus revealing their position-fool!!-we both inflicted a bit of damage to the opposing tanks,but my damage was more than Brian's,so I decided to break cover and get to short range,to try and knock him out-fool!!
Oh Dear,one tank down and another about to go-it was maybe a mistake to break cover!!-however,on the plus side,I managed to stop Brian's infantry from getting over the ford by killing his officer,and forcing him to "dig in" for two moves-a bit of a respite,allowing me to withdraw my infantry to a safer place.
This shows the on-going fight at the forward farm-even though I had more troops,Brian's superior dice throwing,saw me having to retire!! By this time,the Russians seemed to be all over the place,and most of my troops were either dead or going somewhere safe!!
The Russians have captured the farm,reinforced it and are now about to advance and drive the last of the Ukranians off the board-time to say goodbye I think..................
Yes,goodbye!!-my last and untouched tank departs without firing a shot(Hmmmmm!!)
This was a fun game,and a period I know precious little about-did it show??
In total I have 10 tanks,6 infantry squads(12 in each) 6 APC's 6 artillery pieces,2 helicopters and 2 planes,plus lots and lots of "spare figures"(ie unpainted) and the whole lot was bought for under £30 from the Pound Shop!!-it just shows what can be done with a little imagination and a "tight" wallet!!
Roll on tonight,Paul will be joining us for an Ancients game.
We have interesting discussions in our group about wargaming anything too close to contemporary history (if you'll pardon the oxymoron). For two of us, anything past around the late 19th C is getting a bit too 'modern' and anything 'contemporary'—which is ill-defined, but certainly in our lifetime—would not sit comfortably.
ReplyDeleteThere is no logic to this, of course. We all agree that there is nothing like wargaming for creating an understanding of the waste of war and an anti-war feeling. It has something to do with the difference between 'history' and 'recent events'.
Did this game generate similar discussions in your group?
James
As only Brian and I played this game,we didn't really have a discussion,although of course we had our own individual "take" on recent events-I am not a great fan of anything past Ancients to be quite honest!Keep your comments coming,we appreciate them.
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