CWC Commanders Big Game Weekend
This weekend was the annual CWC game hosted at The Unit by the inestimable Richard Phillips. The set up was the proposed invasion of Denmark by various Soviet and East German NVA forces.
The area of operations was a bathtubbed area around the splendidly named Middelfart and it's bridge linking the island of Funen/Fyn and the city of Odense to mainland Denmark. My battle was to involve naval infantry and VDV forces on the eastern end of the bridge seeking to sweep aside Danish forces defending the bridge approach. The main table was the Western area with a combined force of motor rifle and tank regiments taking on scratch NATO forces of West Germans, US Airborne and British.
The view looking west along the E20 highway. NATO to the right of me, WarPac to the left, here I am stuck in Middelfart with you...
the 2 fields in the centre are ringed by the stone walls. On the outskirts of the BUA is a water feature that was the scene of much fighting around and over...
this photo from the 2nd day shows the Hawk SAM battery on our table. If Soviet forces could overrun it, it would allow Soviet heavy bombers (represented by a TU22M Backfire) to be used as air support.
the stone walls and duck pond funnelled Simon's forces up the road towards the town and was the scene of ferocious exchanges of fire between Danish Centurions and infantry and Naval Infantry and their tank support.
Air support was quite a feature of the game, for both sides, with Richard allocating it as he saw fit.
Control of the SAM battery allowed us to call in a bomber strike. Unfortunately it was driven off by AA fire. However, we realised that the only forces that should really be able to fire at high level bombers are SAMs rather than HQ units or AA guns. It was called in on the big table but I believe it had limited effect.
By the end of Day 2, the VDV reserves of an infantry battalion on foot, one in BMD2's plus a battalion of 6 ASU85 SPGs had made some headway although had suffered greatly for being caught in the open by artillery. The ATGWs on the BMD2s had caused some issues as they loosed off a volley before speeding into cover. Simon's forces had managed to keep their grinding advance going, with a brave PT76 crew earning Orders of Lenin all round by actually destroying a Centurion with some repeated gunfire.
Myself and Simon landed with the best part of 5 battalions of Naval Infantry plus tank support of T55AMs and mighty PT76s. We had one round of scheduled naval gunfire which was dropped on the main BUA but did nothing of note.
A feature of Odense are the stone walls that mark field boundaries. Apparently these are constructed of rocks removed from the fields by the farmers and can be quite substantial. A stone bocage, essentially. They would form part of NATO's plans for defending the island and were to play an important role in our game as they were impassable to vehicles and provided hard cover.
Soviet deployment is often slow and hampered by command rolls, but using the Rigid doctrine and the "+1 if everyone does the same thing" they can usually get more than 1 done per turn. Although I managed a blunder that left the HQ of one of my battalions on a permanent -2 for the rest of the game.
The Soviet forces made slow progress towards the town, through the woods towards the SAM battery and on the left flank. The dug in Danish took hits and suppression but were hard to destroy, but the SAMs and Shilka SPAA guns took quite a toll on the various Danish F16s and RAF Harriers that were called on for CAS missions and I estimate we downed about 5 or so and drove off more.
By the end of Day 1 our forces had a tenuous toe hold on the BUA and were feeding forces onto the SAM battery where they were taking terrible casualties. One of Simon's infantry battalions was plagued with command and control issues as they lost a HQ, then lost another when it eventually turned up to take over command and then suffered more hits from the incessant air strikes.
By the end of Day 2, the VDV reserves of an infantry battalion on foot, one in BMD2's plus a battalion of 6 ASU85 SPGs had made some headway although had suffered greatly for being caught in the open by artillery. The ATGWs on the BMD2s had caused some issues as they loosed off a volley before speeding into cover. Simon's forces had managed to keep their grinding advance going, with a brave PT76 crew earning Orders of Lenin all round by actually destroying a Centurion with some repeated gunfire.
The remains of the VDV moving across the stream.
On the western side of the bridge Soviet forces had secured the bridge which trapped Nicks Danish troops on the island of Fyn. Our naval infantry were down but not out, so there would be more hard fighting to secure Denmark before it could take its place in the community of Marxist Nations.
My key takeaways
Pay more attention to the Orbats. Time and Real Life saw me bring pretty basic forces. I needed more recce, more support weapons, more FAOs plus the integral artillery support allowed to the naval infantry. The rules work best when used as combined arms. The Soviets Rigid doctrine means they struggle when reacting to events but can be successful if used with scheduled artillery, effective recce that works in tandem with FAOs and FACs to help them bring in support and closing with the NATO forces to deny them their advantages of artillery and long range tank guns. All part of the challenge for the young officer fresh from Frunze Academy!
All in all, a great weekend. Our little corner of Denmark saw some fierce combat, with splendid achievements and setbacks that saw Soviet fortunes rise and fall. Great food and beer and good company. I'm looking forward to the next game!
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