Saturday's Game | Part Two, The battle

After selecting our forces, it was time to deploy. As the attacker I made a note of my scheduled artillery and starting positions of the British units. Danny then deployed the Soviets on table in their defencive positions.

Soviet left flank

 

Soviet centre

Soviet right of centre

Soviet right flank

The Soviets deployed their forces dug in, in prepared positions, behind a series of visible and hidden minefields. The green rectangles in front of the Soviet positions represent the visible minefields. the Soviets concentrated their armour South of the town.

 The British started by giving partial air superiority to the Soviets! Turn one saw the British artillery targeting the empty woods South of the town. The British then moved on and advanced towards the Soviets, deploying all the force to face the Soviet right flank, North of the town. The Soviets responded by firing on the British recee units, revealing their positions. 

Turn two saw the Brits continue to advance and target the units that had revealed themselves in the previous turn. The remaining recce units located a number of unmarked minefields in a line, linking the North and South of the table.



British advance

The Soviets replied by continuing to shoot at the Brits recee. Once again the British artillery targeted an empty area.

British continue to advance

Turn three saw the British army reach the edge of the minefield, to screen the mine clearing unit on the left of the picture. The Soviet infantry attempted to engage the Challenger's with RPG fire, resulting in a barrage of return fire. The vulnerable FV432's made their way through the woods. This turn saw the Soviet player attempt to relocate his armour from the South of the town towards his now servilely threatened right flank. This was hampered by a roll of double 6, a blunder!

Turn four saw the Brits continue to engage the infantry in the woods and start to engage the Soviets who had managed to filter into the town. the mine clearing unit cleared the first string of mines. The Soviets continued to filter more units into the town but found themselves pinned in place by six challengers on the Brit right flank. The Soviet infantry in the centre right woods also found themselves pinned in place, not wanting to risk moving North, exposing their flanks to the Brit tanks.

Soviets taking fire in the town



British screening  force

 Turn five saw the Brits starting to move through the minefield into the woods. The screening force continued to exchange fire with the Soviets in the town. The Soviets, pinned in the town could only return fire at the Brit screening force.

Turn six saw the Brits streaming into the Soviet rear area unopposed. It was at this point Danny suggested we call it a day as the Brits now had six turns to exit the table! A major British victory.