CWC Landjut - Aarhus

LANDJUT 2017 is a campaign set in 1989 covering the Soviet invasion of Denmark. The games are fought out in 6mm using Cold War Commander from Pendraken. In September 2017 we played out the battle of Aarhus over two days at the Grimsby Wargames Club.

Colonel Poirot, the Belgian commander, surveys the Highway 15 battlefield

There were two battlefields - Aarhus and Highway 15 (H15). The highway is the supply route between Aarhus and the main Nato base at Herning, some 60km to the west.

Highway 15 looking west.The Aarhus table connects via the road going off the bottom of the picture.

The Nato objective on H15 was to keep the Soviets from cutting the supply route. Andy T and Danny commanded West German brigades in the centre and the western flank. The eastern flank leading to Aarhus was held by the Belgian 17ème Brigade Blindée under yours truly.

The western end of Highway 15 - Lasby is in the distance

Close-up of Lasby

West German troops cover the western flank of H15

West German Leopards dig in while Belgian Engineers prepare to blow the bridge at Storring

The Belgian 2e Regt Gidsen takes up position next to the West Germans

1ste Regt Karabiniers Wielrijders occupy Lillering. Note the marked minefields to their front

Lillering looking east. Behind the village the Leopards of 1er Regt des Guides provide support. Whilst  on the  right 2eme Regt Carabinier-cyclistes dig in in the wood again covered by minefields

The outskirts of Aarhus

Looking south towards Storring

2eme Regt Carabinier-cyclistes deployed in Lillering wood

The Guides provided much needed fire power throughout the battle

A West German tank battalion moves to cover Storring

East Germans advance to engage the Carabinier-cyclistes

East Germans advance between Lillering and Storring supported by Polish troops on their left flank. 

Col Poirot makes some interesting observations

Mark J's East Germans advance on the wood

Andy M's East Germans drive on towards H15

Simon W's Polish legions target Storring

Andy T's West Germans cover the flyover but become a prime target for the Poles

The Poles extend their line to attack Danny's West Germans

The West Germans await the Polish attack

The East Germans preparing to cross the minefields

A supply truck, by the white marker, drives done H15 protected by West German & Belgian tanks 

East Germans pile on the pressure against the Belgian cyclistes

The East Germans come close to taking H15

At close of play

East Germans about to cross the minefield and enter the wood

East Germans almost made it to H15

Storring falls to the Poles but a West German counter-attack is building

A gripping battle that needed some thought on both sides. The stream, the wood and the minefields were life-savers for the Belgians as they presented quite an obstacle to the East Germans.

As the highway was still in Nato hands then a victory to them. My thanks to Mark,Andy M & Andy T, Simon and Danny for a good weekend's gaming 

Meanwhile the other table covered the town of Aarhus and it's environs.

Aarhus and the docks - a Soviet objective

Looking south towards Aarhus

The radio station - a Soviet objective

A close-up of the radio station

The battlefield looking west 

Aarhus Airfield - a Soviet objective

Aarhus Airfield

Aarhus beach - lovely at this time of year

The power plant  - another soviet objective

Aarhus docks - can you spot Dr Evil's power boat?

Most of the fighting centred on the airfield.

The church took a battering

Nato helicopters head for the airfield

I didn't get to see much of this game as it was in a different room but I believe the honours went to Nato although the airport is apparently quite a mess.

An excellent weekend of CWC hosted by the Grimsby Wargames club at their very own premises. I'm really envious of those guys having a place like that. They organised food and drink including a lovely piece of haddock but then again it is Grimsby.

A big thanks to Richard P for organising the campaign and the weekend and building a lot of the terrain. The terrain makes these games as the photos show

Thanks to all the lads who turned up from far and wide and made the weekend what it was.

And finally a big middle finger to the idiot who trespassed on the railway line that delayed 2 of our 4 trains on the way back from Grimsby to Stroud

Roll on the next CWC weekend.

Jelli Bannu North-West Frontier skirmish

Rodge put on an excellent North-West Frontier game using Liberdy, our Wild west rules.

The small village of Jelli Bannu is holding it's weekly market. Among the traders is an arms dealer who has cases of rifles for the Pathans and a British informant who knows the arms dealer's identity.

The three  British players, Chris, Paul & myself, each commanded a squad of 1  officer and 3 riflemen.  Whilst the  three Pathan players, Mike, Owain & Shaun, each commanded a group of 1 chieftain and  3 tribesmen.

The main objectives of the British are to

• Keep the identify of our informant hidden from the Pathans
• Find and arrest the local arms dealer and confiscate his weapons

The Pathan's objectives are to

• Get the cases of rifles from the arms dealer
• Find and kill the British informant.

Just another normal market day in Jelli Bannu - the British informant is at the top of the picture

The Pathans take up firing positions to cover the arms dealer - the stall with red stripes

More Pathans bring up the donkey to carry the guns away

Having identified the arms dealer the British move in to  arrest him

The RSM simultaneously interviews the arms dealer and haggles for a carpet 

On the far build the Pathan chieftain attempts to get the villagers to rise up whilst avoiding getting shot at from the cental tower

Both the British and the Pathans attempt to seize the rifles 

British Guides advance to support their comrades

Having been beaten back from the rifles the British attempt to outflank the Pathans

The Pathans make a desperate attempt to load the weapons on the donkey

The Pathan chieftain makes a brave but futile attempt to rush the British as they capture the donkey and the rifles

So honours to the British for meeting both of their objectives. As with all of our Liberdy games this one was a complete bloodbath with 4 British and 3 Pathan surviving.

The Civilian reaction table worked well with the locals running here, there and everywhere. 

We tried out some leader rules but they need working on.

Four of the players had not played these rules before but picked them up very quickly.

Rodge supplied all of the toys. He made all of the buildings and the figures are from various 28mm manufacturers.