This game was set in the "Central Eurasian Republic" which was a sort of amalgam of various former Soviet states [hints of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Chechnya], mixed in with various ideas and based around what models I had [ a hoard of 1/87th vehicles and 20mm figs of Soviet nationality]. It ended up as a large 'Combined Arms' (the GDW version of Command Decision) game [one day campaign] with 3 sides, a Presidential force [mix of ethnic Russians and Nationalists desiring independence from the collapsing USSR], a Rebel Force [a mix of Nationalists and Islamic extremists opposed to the president] and the remaining Soviet [ Russian] forces trying to enforce law and order. The Rebels had the largest force, with the President's forces about 2/3rds their strength. The "Soviets" were a token force of KGB, KGB Border Guards and Internal Ministry troops very outnumbered. A Battalion of "Desantniki" were on stand-by. I wanted a lot of variety, so included some obsolete armour [T34/85 and 2 JS3's !] and all sorts of equipment haphazardly organised into Battalion sized units. The troop quality went from Elite for the paras to Green for militia with all grades in between, morale similar. The forces were decided by a lot of random rolling for individual tank models and infantry companies. Tank training/morale was random but weighted by type [so T72s tended to have better training than T34s]. The mix ended up fairly balanced. Terrain was the city of "Arkov" complete with Presidential Palace at one side of a central square. Another small table had the airport [held by the "Soviets"] reached by a "floating table". The rough outline of the game was the Rebels attacked, trying to seize the Presidents palace, but detaching 1/3rd of their forces to attack the airport. The Soviets and the President opened negotiations, whereby the CER would join the CIS in return for military aid. The Paras were duly summoned from the neighbouring Republic, to arrive by air. The Rebels detached force made heavy weather of reaching the airport, being delayed by countless refugees and roadblocks [friendly]. On table they almost managed to seize the Palace with a furious "Pasadran" charge by T34s supported by infantry [!], but were stopped short by a JS3 [!!] and some lucky long range infantry fire. At the time the President and his defenders were demoralised, after being strafed by a Mil 24 Hind [which turned out to be manned by Green pilots when diced for on arrival!]. At about the same moment, the Rebels eventually reached the airport, suffering from an airstrike which KO'd their artillery.. Without pausing they launched themselves at the perimeter fence and managed to demoralise the Internal Security troops with their fire. At this moment, the Paras having arrived on the airfield by plane were organised enough to act. The next move saw both sides rush everything they had to the perimeter [full advance] with the paras just managing to reach the slit trenches by the skin of their teeth [landing on top of demoralised IS troops!]. All Hell then broke loose as everything that could, fired in the close assault phase. Rarely have I seen such mayhem and destruction in so short a time...at the end of which the Paras held [just!] and the Rebels [Veterans mostly] morale cracked and they melted away, leaving behind most of their vehicles as burning wrecks..So the President remained and celebrated a victory of sorts. But, the war continues..It was all great fun especially for the fiendish umpire! And in the end a very close run thing. What was interesting is that the bulk of the fighting was done by obsolete T34s and JS3s, with both sides husbanding their T72s and T55s! I plan to do more with this set-up once I paint some more ex-Soviet equipment and figures. Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 1 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com