Aegean Strike 2016 - Day 2 action

Day 2 saw the tables modified to reflect the advances made the previous day.  This meant the town occupied by my Soviets was now almost on my base line.  Fresh troops appeared in the form of a BMP MR infantry battalion and 2 6 tank T-55 tank battalions, plus an engineer company with bridge layers.  The engineers made for the impassable stream on the Soviet right, the BMPs headed for the wood occupied by the Spanish infantry next to the castle and the 2 T-55 battalions advanced down the left wing.  The Spanish brought on the last of their reserves, a 4 stand Milan section and another infantry battalion in M113s.  A third command blundered on entry and suppressed itself, severely delaying their entry.  The Milans despatched the last of the T-72s in the Spanish rear, while the infantry deployed into a wooded hill near the baseline and the surviving M-48 battalion traded long range shots with the T-72s to polish them off.  Then, in came successive waves of airstrikes.  These were directed against the T-55s adjacent to the village, but a couple of high scatter rolls and some accurate Shilka AA fire resulted in most attacks being ineffective and ending with an air blunder, which caused air strikes on the nearest Spanish infantry, causing the loss of a stand.

The final effects of 5 waves of aircraft, not bad considering the number of potential attacks.

The following turn saw the other T-55 battalion advance and engage the M-48s, which were also struck by 240mm mortars, effectively wiping them out.

BMP battalion on the right shoots up the infantry in the woods, thanks to recce revealing their locations.

Another BMP battalion consolidates their hold on the castle (top left) and artillery clears out some of the infantry in the nearby woods.   Engineers advance to the ditch and prepare to deploy the bridges, while T-72s impatiently try to rush past down the flanks.

The Spanish infantry hanging on in the woods.

The final scene.  Engineers have deployed bridges on the right, while impatient T-72s race down the right flank.  BMPs wait impatiently to cross the newly laid bridges.  In the centre, the fresh BMP battalion and the remains of the second shoot up the Spanish infantry in the nearby woods.  On the left, T-55s try to take up overwatch positions in the woods on the left and hunker down next to the town to await the next phase of air attacks.

Viewed from the Spanish rear area, the surviving M113s, minus their infantry, prepare to flee the woods next to the castle..  Two infantry battalions prepare to pull back fro m their exposed positions and retire back off table.

So, at the end of day 2, after c. 15 turns in total, the Soviets succeed in pushing the Spanish back.  Although fed in in dribs and drabs, the Soviets finally outnumbered the Spanish 2:1, so they did a good job holding up the Soviet steamroller for so long.  The Soviets weren't particularly inspired, but played the numbers game and fed in reserves to maximise their effect on the game, relying on numbers telling in the end -  quantity does, after all, have a quality all of it's own.

A great weekends gaming, thanks to Mike A for providing such a sporting and amicable opponent, Mike Y for doing his best to get up to speed with a new period, games system and scale, while doing his best to wreak havoc on the Spanish flank.  Thanks to the umpires, Richard P and Gordon M, and to all the participants, it wouldn't be the same without the usual suspects and there were some notable faces missing through illness (get well soon!) or other commitments, so hope to see you all soon - and new faces are always welcome!!!.  Oh, and come on Pendraken, get the new version of BKC3 published and let's see CWC2 out before we get too much older.


Links to


Richard C's AAR
http://thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/aegean-strike-part-one-disaster-in.html


Richard P's AAR
http://coldwarcommanders.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/aegean-strike-part-one.html



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