7 Days to the Rhine River, 3 days to the game

 Well, having the epiphany on how to handle the November kickoff  of our WW3 mini campaign I have something to report.  

 

 

Ok, we all love maps. A view of the battle area, BAOR responsibility in green, FRG responsibility  in blue, Warpac movements in red.

 The table will be presented on game day, and be relatively crowded. Each map hex will be represented by a hexagon shape 20 inches across on the table. Our table is pretty much 3 foot  by 4 foot so there will be partial hexes. Friday's game will be a Guards Tank Regiment attacking where the BAOR and FRG operational borders meet.meet.

Schematics of types of terrain hexes, each represents 20 inches of tabletop terrrain. From the article GDW's The Late Great Unfought War

The two NATO commander's are both experienced gamers who have played the rules,  twice now, but have a big difference in outlook. At least in this case.

Roger was in the FRG as an Infantry officer at the same time as I was playing at being a red-leg (Field Artillery) officer.  That is 1975 to 1978.

Greg has not had the opportunity to get lost in the dark, in the rain, wondering if the village will survive his units tracked vehicles on its streets. Lucky him.

Seriously,  the verbal shorthand from two of us would be infuriating for any third Friday player,  so setting the mood is part of my job. We are playing pre Abrams/MBT era. So it is Chieftains, Leopard Is and M60s against the Russkies.

Some guidelines for me to consider- 

finite resources: I can only count on present player inventories of toys.

 BTR regimental  assets-well some of them

the rules are relatively low echelon focused, serious gaps appear if you want a battalion level as opposed to a company with attachments level game.

game time is approximately three and one half hours on the table.

So, the best 'set up' was for me to say starting forces would be 'three tanks, three infantry stands with apc, and 200 points of recce, support.' 

What better way to start the party than explaining the 5 paragraph field order. This is merely the way orders for operations were meant to be issued to units by higher echelons of command. The advantage to the form is the regularity...you know where to look for details, and if they are not present you don't have the resource or guideline available.

The paragraphs were Situation, Mission, Operation, Support (Administration and Logistics), and Command and Signal. ( Hang on, it will be okay.)  First up, the FRG orders.

TO: Col Hanson Commander 2nd Pz  Gruppe

From: TG HQ

Situation: At approximately 0400 hours elements of the Fifth Guards Tank Regiment, supported by front level engineer and bridging units have crossed into Federal territory. The axis of operations has struck at the juncture of the BAOR/Bundeswer operational border and is expected to continue on tot the cities of Hamburg and/or Hanover. 

Mission: Take your force, stop the invading Warpac force, blunting its advance for at least twelve hours (7 game turns) so as to prevent penetration beyond the second hex of Federal territory. 

Operation: Retaining your two combat teams, one each tank or infantry heavy, co-ordinate with BAOR units to the southwest of the Warpac advance. Use of command level assets on a limited basis is authorized. Artillery and air support will be sporadic, but available.

Support: Divisional trains will resupply ammunition at designated dumps. Unit losses will be evacuated through medical units. Only normal spares and ammunition will be available.  BAOR is supplying its own troops.  No nuclear, chemical or biological weapons have been reported used by belligerents so far.

Command & Signal:  Standard radio nets are available and to be monitored.  Divisional command net two will be used to co-ordinate with BAOR units until further notice.  British units will be identified by a color/number sequence-Blau 1, Grun 2, Gelbe 1 and so on. 

 

TO: Col Downie Commander BAOR Green force

From: TG HQ

Situation: At approximately 0400 hours elements of the Fifth Guards Tank Regiment, supported by front level engineer and bridging units have crossed into Federal territory. The axis of operations has struck at the juncture of the BAOR/Bundeswer operational border and is expected to continue on tot the cities of Hamburg and/or Hanover. 

Mission: Take your force, stop the invading Warpac force, blunting its advance for at least twelve hours (7 game turns) so as to prevent penetration beyond the second hex of Federal territory. 

Operation: Retaining your two combat teams, one each tank or infantry heavy, co-ordinate with FRG units to the north of the Warpac advance. Use of command level assets on a limited basis is authorized. Artillery and air support will be sporadic, but available.

Support: Divisional trains will resupply ammunition at designated dumps. Unit losses will be evacuated through medical units. Only normal spares and ammunition will be available.  BAOR is supplying its own troops.  No nuclear, chemical or biological weapons have been reported used by belligerents so far.

Command & Signal:  Standard radio nets are available and to be monitored.  BAOR command net two will be used to co-ordinate with FRG units until further notice.  British units will be identified by a color/number sequence-Blue 1, Green 2, Yellow 1 and so on. FRG units will be identified by a series of alpha-numeric call signs as per daily code books.

 

  Whew, not bad for a couple of late night hours of work. The players  have their emails with more details  on their 'commands.'  Think I'll try to get some sleep now.  Tomorrow I tackle the Warpac forces and op-plan,  as Col. Fishkie?