CWC Soviet Invasion of Norway 1985 - Northern Table Day 2

Our latest campaign is the Soviet Invasion of Norway in 1985. The games are fought out in 6mm using Cold War Commander from Pendraken. In October 2018 we played out the battles over two days at the Grimsby Wargames Club. his post covers the Northern table on Day Two

 The Northern table looking north

On Day One the table was defended by Norwegian Home Guard (Rodge W), US 9th High Tech (Mark F) and Finnish forces (Simon W). The Soviet attackers were an MRR (Danny M), VDV (Peter S) and a Naval Infantry Brigade (Nigel G). Hopefully some one will blog the AAR.

On Day Two the Finns had been withdrawn and Peter's VDV had been replaced by a fresh VDV battalion under my command. This time we airdropped several miles away and drove to the battle.

My target - the airfield and the lovely beach for a bit of R&R

While the Soviet MMR and Naval Infantry pushed their way south against the Norwegian Home Guard, My VDV advanced north  to take the airfield from the US troops

The US troops in their buggys defend the airfield. 

The buggys reminded me of the latest programme on Soviet TV - The Banana Splits

VDV Company advance to take the hill overlooking the airfield

US buggys get hammered by the only artillery strike the VDV managed to call in

Norwegians defend a village

Some very nice Soviet choppers - mine ended up as scrap metal

My assault on the airfield was halted by several well placed Rocket barrages. However The US troops broke before mine did so i'm claiming a very minor victory.

Again this was a battle that was not well suited to the VDV's role as it involved assaulting dug-in infantry armed with TOWs and 50 cal HMGs. Nevertheless an enjoyable game.

I forgot to take many photos of Day 2 as I was too engrossed in the game - sorry

My guess is that over the two days NATO stopped the Soviets from taking Norway so well done NATO. and well done to the Grimsby club - excellent hosts.

There are two other posts covering the weekend at Grimsby: Day 1 on the Southern Table and Scenery

CWC Soviet Invasion of Norway 1985 - Southern Table Day 1

Our latest campaign is the Soviet Invasion of Norway in 1985. The games are fought out in 6mm using Cold War Commander from Pendraken. In October 2018 we played out the battles over two days at the Grimsby Wargames Club. This post covers the Southern table on Day One

 The Southern table looking north

This table was defended from west to east by 4th MAB USMC (Andy C), Canadian and Luxembourg forces (Mark J), US 82nd Airborne (Neil M) and Royal Marines & Dutch Marines (Andy T).  All were nicely dug-in defending the airfields and the beaches.

Opposing them were Soviet Naval Infantry (Andy B) with an amphibious assault on the beaches, a Soviet MRR (Andy M) driving down from the north, Soviet VDV (Andy H) with a helicopter and airdrop assault on the Irina airfield and another Soviet VDV (me) doing an airdrop on the town of Ivana.

How not to do an airdrop - my VDV land in Ivana

My airdrop was a complete mess. Units scattered and miles away from their HQs. Next time we will parachute in a few miles away and walk to our objective!

 One of my few successes - an airstrike takes out a load of Royal Marines

The MMR advance south

Action around the Irina airfield

Andy H's VDV successfully airdrop 

 And don't get scattered to the four winds

More MMR

Looking north-west

My VDV attempts to organise itself whilst under fire from Royal & US Marines

Soviet Naval Infantry assault the beaches

The amphibious assault but does the Lighthouse block line of sight?

If only the crop circle had been an objective

 The Irina aiffield

Soviet Naval troops advance up the beach

And deploy their infantry and the treeline

 USMC occupy the docks supported by Canadian tanks

 More Soviet Naval infantry come ashore on the northern beaches

 A fresh Soviet Naval brigade hits the southern beaches

However everything bogs down at the beach head

 USMC defend the power station

 Even more USMC defend the hills overlooking the beach and Ivana

 Ivana looking east - the VDV attempt to clear the town of US Engineers

 Ivana looking west - the VDV try to organise themselves

 The chaos continues in Ivana

 A view of how scattered the VDV were - from the fields (bottom left) to the wood (top left) and west to the flocks of sheep

 The MMR continues it's advance south-west to the beaches

  The MMR continues it's advance south-east  to the airfield at Irina

 The US Airborne troops defend the airfield

 Soviet paratroopers debate the cause of the crop circle

 Dutch Marines complete the encirclement of the VDV in Ivana

 The final positions of the VDV in Ivana

The combined firepower of the USMC, Royal Marines and Dutch Marines decimated the disorganised VDV in Ivana. Having lost over 75% of their troops the VDV battalion surrendered.

So at the close of play my VDV had disappeared. The Naval Infantry were beginning to make headway on the beaches. The northern VDV force was still hanging on and the MMR were still advancing south.

All in all not a bad game even though I lost.  A big thanks to my opponents, Andy & Andy, for letting me stare at my troops for long periods as I worked out how to get them organised

There are two other posts covering the weekend at Grimsby: Day 2 on the Northern Table and Scenery

CWC Soviet Invasion of Norway 1985 - the scenery

Our latest campaign is the Soviet Invasion of Norway in 1985. The games are fought out in 6mm using Cold War Commander from Pendraken. In October 2018 we played out the battles over two days at the Grimsby Wargames Club. This post covers the scenery.

The Northern table looking south

The Northern table looking north

The Southern table looking north

A major feature of the games is the layout.

Richard Phillips does most of the scenery

The buildings are a mix of Timecast, Leven Miniatures and Brigade

He scratch builds most of the other terrain

 He does an outstanding job

 There are loads of detail in each model

In total there were 3 airfields on the two tables  all made by Andy Miles

 I could go on

 But you get the idea - it's just amazing to play on.

 At least in Norway they don't run Bus Replacement Services for the trains

The airfields were major objectives for both sides

A lovely stretch of coastline allowed for Soviet amphibious assaults

The Ross Tiger moored at the docks 

Storage yards

Oil tanks

Overview of the docks at Katya

 The town of Ivana where my soviet Airborne troops landed and died 

Lara airfield

Looking west to the docks

 Maybe the Soviets weren't the only ones thing of invading Norway

Irina airfield  

Two stunning tables to play on over two days at the excellent Grimsby club, and a tropical heat wave in Grimsby to boot. you can't ask for better.

There are two other posts covering the weekend at Grimsby: Day 1 on the Southern Table and Day 2 on the Northern Table