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10mm Sabresquadron, Soviets vs Canadians

After a busy few weeks with real life stuff, Nick and I finally both made it down the club for a fight!
So, it's Sabresquadron, in 10mm, what’s not to love! 

Nick has been quietly working on Canadians in 10mm, as it is one force he does did not own, and looking at relations, apart from Ice Hockey, it looked like a good, evenly matched game.

My Soviets, 
Command 1 T-62B
Three tanks units of 3 T-62B
Infantry platoon in BMP1Ps, with attached Grenade launcher section
Recce platoon in BMP1Ps.
6 x 120mm howisters, with AOP in his newly finished MTu.
Counterbattery artillery on call.
All figures from Timecast’s amazing Cold War 1984 Soviet range.

Nick brought his newly finished Canadians.
3 Leopard1A3(C) Company Command
2 sections of 4 Leopard1A3(C) 
2 Infantry platoons
An anti tank section with TOWs
4 M109 artillery pieces, and an observer.
Newly painted and ready to roll.
A fun mix of 3d printed vehicles, and Pendraken vehicles  (Lynx) and infantry (Argentinians from their superb Falklands range

The table, a largely wooded area in Southern German.

The only signs of civilization, a small forestry hut with an enclosure

These tracks would be prove to a major objective.


Objectives marked, left to right, hill, dwelling, wood. hill, junction, wood. I thoought the lower set looked tasty, maybe maple syrup flavoured?


We decided, as we both had nice, shiny forces we wanted on table, to play an encounter game, and I won the deployment choice, so put my Soviets Recce platoon on table, holding two objectives, they also were placed in 'Overwatch', a new trial rule suggestion, if something moved past them, they could shoot out of sequence. This meant Nick had the first move


Nice shack, we'll take it! It's like Uncle Vanya's dacha!

Nick cautiously moved on table, splitting a tank and infantry platoon off to my left to attempt to swat my Recce, and then brought his main thrust through the centre of the table.


Hold on, there's an awful lot of Canadians there!
My reaction was to swing one tank platoon left, one up the middle, and one out right supported by the the mechanised infantry platoon.


It's quiet here, that will do...

No, you go that way!

It almost worked... not!

On the left, my tanks cautiously advanced through some crops.

On the right, my tanks peaked over the hill, as their infantry followed, this looked like good ground to fight over!


The Canadians were thinking the same thing on their right too! That's an awful lot of Leopards!


One objective falls to the might of the maple leaf!


My left tanks then snuck past a nearby wood, sneaky sneaky catchy moosy! Or not, as the Canadians popped up and promptly blew away my first tank!
"Don't be afraid, you have better guns and armour!" came the call from the other end of the table...


Canadian infantry in their natural environment, eh! Objective two and three quickly fall to the red and white menace.



The BPM1Ps from the recce platoon, still on overwatch, decided to show the world what a pair of Spandle missles could do (not to be confused with Spangles sweets, mmmm). One of the nice features Nick has written into the rules is an ability to dodge ATGMs if you are armour. Except if you roll 2 x 1!
 "INCOMING EH!"


You know, in the great battle of hills vs metal-objects-carrying-explosive-lumps-moving-at-several-hundred-miles-per-hour, hills have yet to lose?
Hull down! Drat! Hit but impacted on the hill! GAH! But we got one.


Nick quickly picked off the two remaining tanks in my right hand tank platoon with accurate sniping, while my guns just could not hit him!
Now you see them...


No you can spot the smoke from several miles away!


In the centre, it really wasn't going any better, my centre platoon only took one shot before failing three morale checks (1, 1, 3, byeeeeeeee) in a go and legged it! Cowards! The right hand platoon took a hit too, leaving me with three live tanks left on table and down 8/0!


The other two in the right hand platoon were turned into scrap metal all too quickly. 12/24 of my Force was dead within three turns, in return I had killed ONE enemy tank. It was certainly going to be a good day for Bavarian scrap metal dealers!

The only thing now stopping the sweet sweet bacon producing horde was two platoons of infantry with RPGs, and BMP1Ps, oh no, maybe not, two lurking in woods from the recon got picked off by Canadian tanks.. and the battalion command tank... 

But, when things were looking at their most bleak, my lonely AOP, who suddenly realized he was holding the flank, called in defensive fire, and successfully artillery dropped a bunch of 122mm on Nick’s tanks and HQ! 


It only popped two tanks, but it stopped his advance long enough for my BMPs to load up Spandle missiles and let loose, joined by the remaining recon BMP, soon a tank platoon lay shattered.


How do you say 'killbox' in Canadian?


More missles sir? The infantry even joined in with RPG-16s and 18s (not good enough to kill, but enough to annoy the Canadian enough to warrant a filed complaint.

Faced with a lot of shells and rockets, Nick's remaining HQ carefully tiptoed back out of the artillery area, and out of line of sight of the ATGMs of the infantry. Another RPG goes in... We would have thrown sticks and rocks too, it was about all we had left!


On the left, life was getting dicey! And my infantry was receiving the undivided attention of several tanks and M113s... Thankfully, the BMPs from the right flank had a few spangles spandles spare!


Back on the right, the artillery, despite repeated screamed requests, would not come back, but who needs artillery when you have sticks and rocks?



It was soon over for the commander too, he was hit by a tank shell and two TOW missiles, none killed him.. 


but discretion proved to be the better part of cowardice, and he legged it off table, 14/24 plays... erm... yeah 4/! Oh, Hello Mr KGB man...

Nick's remaining tanks try to reassert their dominance by shelling my infantry in the woods, but it wasn't to be.


His dodges just were not working today!


My BMPs were the most effective thing in the game, their missiles caused no end of problems.

On the left, my recon was under intense fire from Canuck tanks, only to be saved by the infantry platoon’s spandles.
The Canadians advanced to point blank range of the embattled recon platoon.

But from across table, the spandles of the infantry platoon slammed into the Leopard tanks who had advanced a mooses' antler too far! Things were looking brighter.


The Canadian infantry debussed (there must be a Mountie joke here, have we mentioned lumberjack, oh...), adding even more weight to an already desperate situation.
As they did, they came under fire from every Soviet who could, even trying to range the artillery in!


But it was too late, the recce had taken too many loses, their morale shattered, and fled backwards, leaving the infantry platoon as the only viable force on table!

LEGITSKI!

Game to Nick, 18-4, but he had some severely beaten up units! Great game. It really felt after about turn 3, that this was going to be a one sided fight.with his tanks reigning supreme, but then he walked into my kill box! The artillery that came down, and the BMP's Spandles, had left those over confident Canadians were decidedly upset! SO upset they considered writing a stern letter about it, and not even putting a stamp on the envelope!

Hmm... So, how do I win with Soviets! ;)

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the club and back in biblical times, another 10mm tank game, as Sea Peoples scrap (hmm, where I have I seen these before

Wargames, as Homer intended!

Comments

  1. Will

    How to win as Soviets? Artillery... and don't split your firepower up, keep the units together

    Oh yes... Spandle missles - the word is SPANDREL... ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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