Battle of the Bridges, part two
Back to Battle of the Bridges, Kuwait 1991, Part One.
Second part of the game starts at 9:30 am, with Iraqi mechanised infantry battalions occupying most of Jahra, the tank battalion of the Medina division in defense on the outskirts of the city. Brigade commander had to command the unit which was otherwise in march column behind the mechanised troops.I think that our home rule for third world armies limiting attack arrows to go either straight or winding along roads is working well. In this last case units have either the possibility to attack in column or to stop at the end of the attack arrow, assume a defensive position and wait for further orders.
At barely 2 km away the Kuwaitis have just reached the big Jahra cemetery. No fire is exchanged so far.
The rest of the Kuwaiti brigade is nearby, the whole brigade assuming a two battalions up, one behind formation. Logistic vehicles with ammo and fuel are nearby. They have orders to advance up to the east edge of the cemetery and then wait for new orders.
At around 10 am Iraqi tanks start to see the dust of the Kuwaiti vehicles, they are still too far to engage.
The kuwaitis are intermixing Chieftains and the brand new BMP2s, just arrived from Russia.
Meanwhile the Iraqi columns move to complete the occupation of Jahra, the lonely recce Scimitar platoon still in the city leaves Jahra at full speed to try to reach friendly lines. Wrecks belonging to the recce battalion still occupy the Jahra ring road. They were hit three hours ago by the Kuwaiti artillery.
A bird view of Jarha occupied by the Iraqi Republican Guard.
From this perspective a better view of the opposing lines can be seen.
The Kuwaitis manage to change orders to the third mechanised battalion. The commander would like to hit the flank of the Iraqi tank, but the command arrow can only be drawn straight (Our house rule Third world armies Compulsory Frontal attack) and they can just move past the cemetery, and then wait for new orders to try to hit the Iraqi flank.
Now the Kuwaitis are in range of the Iraqi tanks, who must engage the moving Kuwaiti Chieftains. Four platoons burn bright, attacked by two tank companies. About one company has been suppressed by Kuwaiti artillery and cannot fire.
The Kuwaiti respond right after first with the moving Chieftains and during next 15 minutes with the full two mechanised battalions and attached tanks. The stopped platoons fire tank rounds, Spigots and Tows. It is an extremely heavy toll that the Iraqi suffer. In this last exchange the full Iraqi tank battalion is wiped out, with the additional loss of two Chieftain platoons.
The third battalion on the left has reached the foreseen position, but too late, the engagement has finished in barely half an hour.
The situation now id bleak for Iraqis, which have no defence line outside of Jahra, the mechanised battalions spread along the roads of the different city quarters.
the Kuwaitis have taken heavy losses as well, they may not be able to attack even if their commander would like to liberate the city.
A nasty surprise arrives at about 11:30 AM. A long column is seen at the back of the Kuwaitis. Another Iraqi division, Hammurabi, is arriving from a secondary road west of Jahra. Logistic vehicles bringing ammunitions are caught without defence, some will be targeted and destroyed shortly after.
The Kuwaiti battalion on the left (using the Forced Order change rule from magegames) breaks contact and goes back, but they see the enemy column!!!
The rest of the brigade is stuck, waiting for orders (Third world armies get new orders with great difficulty, very fun!)The Kuwaiti brigade starts feeling caught in between two Iraqi divisions..The just arrived division is not able to carry on immediately with the attack. The division commander has deiced cautiously, to carry the attack in column up to a road bend, then to reply and wait for new orders (we are using the Home rule Third world armies Poor tactics on attacks along roads).Enemy commanders exchange their impressions about the battle.Another view of the battlefield west of Jahra.Same as before, but with the umpire lost in the handling of the scenario…At about midday and order is finally arrived. The Kuwaiti battalion on the left is ordered to turn and face the menace. They manage to see and place a few shots of the Iraqi recce battalion, which was ordered to close the iraqi from the rear. It will flee from combat after having received 70% losses.
The rest of the Hammurabi brigade is deploying for combat, planning to close the gap and encircle the Kuwaitis. They all have original orders to move in column of march and then defend around the road bend.
The situation at 1 PM. Two Kuwaiti battalions are in defence, looking towards the hammurabi Division, one is facing the city. Lines of communications, and logistic columns are cut, so they will have to live with what they have brought in battle this morning. Iraqis are just deploying, they will have to get orders to eventually carry an attack on the Kuwaitis.
We have decided that the situation is still interesting that it deserves a third gaming session.We have used the Magegames combat tables, using D6. They seem to work well. We have the impression that having trained troops firing at each other may be a bit too bloody, but the combat tables and the forced order change seem to work well.Some players think that the Magegames Forced Order change may force an average unit (a Cohesion 0 unit), to fall back, even in defence and with modest losses. Others think this is a good game mechanic. We are thinking of changing the losses thresholds for -1 and -2 to upper values.Overall our Third world armies home rules have proven successful for this scenario, limiting players in their attacks, forcing them to move along roads, to make frontal attacks without much manoeuvres in flanks.Next game will be most interesting because both armies will need to manoeuvre and change orders under heavy stress.
Next game on Tuesday.
