Red Storm Wafting? AKA, "The Odessa File" - Roster

Afghan War Roster:

99th Independent Mechanized Brigade
Brigade Commander: Colonel Chekhov

54th Tank Battalion - Battalion Commander: Major Jovovich

1st Tank Company - Company Commander: Captain Aronofsky
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Oleynik (2 T-55)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Pedrova (2 T-55)

2nd Tank Company - Company Commander: Captain Kunitsya
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Natochenny (2 T-55)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Bednarik (2 T-55)

3rd Tank Company - Company Commander: Captain Petrov
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Efimoff (2 T-55)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Seversky (2 T-55)

46th Mechanized Rifle Battalion - Battalion Commander: Major Lodygin

1st Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Biletnikoff
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Sharapova (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Dyachenko (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

2nd Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Lepchenko
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Nabokov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Monzikova (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

3rd Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Volodnya
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Kirilinko (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Sorokko (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

47th Mechanized Rifle Battalion - Battalion Commander: Major Nefsky

4th Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Kerensky
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Gorchakov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Stolypin (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

5th Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Bukharin
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Primakov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Sobchak (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

6th Mechanized Company - Company Commander: Captain Yermolov
1st Platoon, Lieutenant Duvarov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Platoon, Lieutenant Shaposhnikov (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)

Headquarters and Service Battalion - Battalion Commander: Major Dubasov

Headquarters Company - Company Company Commander: Lieutenant Popov
Service Company - Company Commander: Lieutenant Makarov
Weapons Company - Company Commander: Lieutenant Kalugin
-Machine Gun Section (4 7.62mm Machine Guns)
-Mortar Section (4 82mm Mortars)
-Anti-Tank Section (2 AT-5 Spandrel ATGM)
-Anti-Aircraft Missile Section (2 SA-7 Grail SAM)
-Anti-Aircraft Artillery Section (4 ZU-23 AA, two on GAZ truck, two on BMP)
-Rocket Detachment (3 MLRS, mounted on GAZ truck)

Combat Deployment:

Battlegroup Aronofsky
Commander: Captain Aronofsky
1st Plt/1st Tk Co., Lieutenant Oleynik (2 T-55)
1st Plt/1st Mech Co., Lieutenant Sharapova (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/1st Mech Co, Lieutenant Dyachenko (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 ZU-23 (BMP)

Battegroup Kunitsya
Commander: Captain Kunitsya
2nd Plt/1st Tk Co., Lieutenant Pedrova (2 T-55)
1st Plt/2nd Mech Co., Lieutenant Nabokov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/2nd Mech Co., Lieutenant Monzikova (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 MLRS (GAZ)

Battlegroup Petrov
Commander: Captain Petrov
1st Plt/2nd Tk Co., Lieutenant Natochenny (2 T-55)
1st Plt/3rd Mech Co., Lieutenant Kirilinko (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/3rd Mech Co., Lieutenant Sorokko (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 MMG
1 Mortar

Battlegroup Biletnikoff
Commander: Captain Biletnikoff
2nd Plt/2nd Tk Co., Lieutenant Bednarik (2 T-55)
1st Plt/4th Mech Co., Lieutenant Gorchakov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/4th Mech Co., Lieutenant Stolypin (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 MMG
1 Mortar

Battlegroup Lepchenko
Commander: Captain Lepchenko
1st Plt/3rd Tk Co., Lieutenant Efimoff (2 T-55)
1st Plt/5th Mech Co., Lieutenant Primakov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/5th Mech Co., Lieutenant Sobchak (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 MLRS (GAZ)

Battlegroup Volodnya
Commander: Captain Volodnya
2nd Plt/3rd Tk Co., Lieutenant Seversky (2 T-55)
1st Plt/6th Mech Co., Lieutenant Duvarov (2 BMP, 4 Rifle Teams)
2nd Plt/6th Mech Co., Lieutenant Shaposhnikov (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
1 ZU-23 (GAZ)

Supply Group Kalugin
-1st Provisional Rifle Plt, Lieutenant Nakhimov (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
-2nd Provisional Rifle Plt, Lieutenant Senyavin (2 BTR, 4 Rifle Teams)
-1st Provisional Weapons Plt, Lieutenant Nestorov (2 ZU-23 [BMP and GAZ], 1 MLRS [GAZ])
-1st Supply Plt (2 GAZ Trucks)

Another New Project!?

All,

What can I say, I'm being the typical wargamer with "ooh, shiny" syndrome.  So I've got tons and tons of 10mm stuff in multiple periods, then my wife gets pregnant and I decide I want to go with small board stuff, so I broaden my 10mm skirmish forces and pick up a bunch of new 3mm stuff.  My 3mm stuff is taking awhile to paint, and I need more of it, and the 10mm skirmish stuff is cool but I came up with another idea, so what do I do?  I order some new stuff in a new scale.

So what did I do?  I went and got me some 6mm (1/285) stuff from GHQ.  My intent is thus: I'm going back in time to show sort of (what we would call in the United States) a National Guard-type unit from the former Soviet Union, specifically the Odessa area of the Ukraine.  I think I'm going to start circa 1988, the Soviet-Afghan war is winding down, but this Odessa-territorial unit gets thrown into the mix, specifically with the idea that the war is not going well but the Soviets are throwing a last ditch effort, and so the Odessians(?) get thrown into very heavy fighting in the Panjshir Valley.

Then I'm wanting to fight a revolution/civil war-type deal, and I believe the plan is to go at it from the breakup of the Soviet Union, specifically the idea that the Ukrainian gov't is too pro-Soviet and helps bring Transdniestria back into line when it takes its shot at independence.  The veteran military leadership of the Odessa unit wants independence and takes its shot, which ends up at war with the Ukraine.

For the first portion, I bought the "Al-Qaeda/Taliban" Combat Command, a set of BTR-70s, an Mi-24 Hind-E, Modern German Infantry (I like the poses, they're going to be my home team), Modern Third World Regulars, and Modern Third World Heavy Weapons (some of the hvy wpns are going for my Odessa unit, the rest of the modern infantry are going to be my pro-Soviet guys).  I still have a bunch of infantry unpainted, and I have five T-72s and five BMP-2s that are primed but not finished.

This is the whole force for the early portion, the Soviet-Afghan War.  "Good Guys," AKA, the Soviets (never thought I'd say that, but this is only wargaming) are at bottom and bad guys, AKA, the Mujaheddin, are at the top.  Both sides have a a boatload of infantry and numerous vehicles.  The Soviets also have a Hind.

The Soviets: bunch of infantry, four T-55s, four BMP-1s, five BTR-70s, a BMP with ZU-23, one GAZ truck with ZU-23, one GAZ truck with MLRS, and two other GAZ trucks with canvas tilts.  Oh, and a Hind.

 The Mujaheddin, with a bunch of infantry, two quad-14.5mm HMGs, and eight pickup trucks.  Five of the trucks have a single 14.5mm HMG, two have 107mm MLRS launchers, and one has a ZU-23 mount.

The Mi-24 Hind E, in all its bad-assness...

Four T-55s.  You're probably wondering why I have only four tanks and they're all painted different colors (and why I haven't spot-fixed that damned track on the bottom right tank); well, I'm going to be playing skirmish rules, and I like my stuff to have some character.  Sorry I don't have a better reason...

Four BMP-1s, also with each painted differently.  Now, you will notice that they match the tanks, so I can make matching little battle groups with a tank, a BMP, a BTR, and a truck.

The BTRs, sorry the pic is so shiny.  You'll note that I have five BTRs, so there is an odd-man out with a different camo scheme that is matched only by a GAZ truck.

Miscellaneous vehicles, painted up to match little battle groups.  A BMP carrying a ZU-23, a GAZ carrying an MLRS, a GAZ carrying a ZU-23, and two unarmed GAZ trucks.

Some "Soviet" infantry (using the Modern Germans; I like them, so get over it!).  These paint up quick and like a champ, basing was pretty easy too.  Because I'm going to be using these for modified KR-16 rules, I believe I'm going to call the below pic a platoon, i.e., two-five man squads with a platoon commander.  Yes, I know in real life this is a squad of two fireteams, but to make more sense for my overall campaign I'm going to make them platoons.  I'm not going to track every single man/vehicle, only leaders, so platoon commanders and above.  Each battle I will put on the table a company battle group (need to come up with a snappy name for it), and that should work with a real life squad equaling a platoon.

Some heavy weapons, left to right: ATGM, MMG, and 81mm mortar.

Anti-Air assets.

Leadership.

Mujaheddin vehicles and HMGs.

Infantry, with Stinger, RPG, and UGL at head (top) of each "squad."  There's only one Stinger in the whole force, but there are two quad HMGs and a ZU-23 to help counter the Hind.

Well, that's the force.  I apologize, I really thought I would get some fights in this weekend, but in the end I was being unrealistic as to how busy everything was with Easter being this weekend (Happy Easter, all).  I have some buildings on the way, so hopefully this gives me some time to get them ready for next weekend.

V/R,
Jack

FURTIVE ARCHER, Gorazde, Bosnia-Herzegovina

All,

Following on from the successful, if bloody, op in Malaysia, Halfstep provided information stating OTW had acquired WMD, apparently a nerve agent, and was storing it in the bombed-out outskirts of Gorazda, Bosnia-Herzegovina.  The world wants to be sure, so there will be no airstrike, JCSOG is being sent in.

Situation: OTW is storing a cache of chemical weapons for use in a near-term terrorist attack in an undisclosed European capital.  JCSOG is ordered to destroy the cache.

Mission: Airborne ISR assets have ascertained the location of the OTW chemical weapons cache based on Halfstep's debrief.  The cache is two separate sites located nearby, likely meaning the chemical munitions are a binary agent.  Two teams will infiltrate on foot, locate and secure the two cache sites.  Once the sites are secured two vehicles (Range Rovers) containing two pax (driver and demolition expert) and explosives to destroy the cache will race to the site, rig it for destruction, then exfil, followed by the two foot-teams collapsing back to a nearby HLZ for evacuation.

Overview of board, the same 3' x 2' from last time.  North is 'up,' with JCSOG entering on the west edge, the two caches at roughly board center, and the bad guy board edge on the east side, with three hotspots.  HS1 is at top right (NE), 2 is at far right (E), and 3 is at bottom right (SE).

The two caches, each with two sentries on table.  All other hostiles will enter via hotspots.

The good guys; Honcho (platoon commander) up front, followed by Tm2 (left to right, Mace, Lancer, Tumbler, and Dragon) and then Tm3 (Corkscrew, Foghorn, Ballpark, and Transit).  The two Range Rovers carrying the explosives are in the rear.  Each vehicle has an assigned driver, a demolitions expert (Blaster and Detcord, respectively), and enough gear to ensure the destruction of the two caches.

Tm2 on the right (SW) side, moving up towards cache 1.  Honcho is at top left.

Part of Tm3 moving up on left (NW) side.   Corkscrew is at left, Foghorn at right, and Honcho is at top center.

Tm3's Ballpark and Transit moving up on the far left, with enemy in sight at top left.  At about this time is when the bad guy at top left spotted Ballpark and Transit and fired some alerting shots.

Transit (bottom right) moves up and fires at the Oscar at the cache, puts a pin on him.  The other Oscar at this cache (cache 2) moves up and fires at Transit, to no effect, followed by two more Oscars coming on board there at HS1.  Ballpark (top right), on second floor, opens fire and puts two Oscars down (bottom left).

On right, Mace (bottom left) moves up but can't get a shot off, while Lancer (far left) double times up to get a look but can't shoot either.  The bad guy (center) on the second floor snap fires at both of them, to no effect, while the guy standing on the cache puts a pin on Lancer.  An Oscar comes on at HS3, moves up at the double time (bottom right).

Foghorn moves up and takes a shot at the Oscar upstairs of cache 1 and puts him down.

Another Oscar comes on at HS3 (center), while Tumbler moves up (bottom left, with Mace to his left rear).

An Oscar comes on in the center, and Honcho moves up in the center but doesn't have a shot.  Corkscrew (center, with Transit to his left, Ballpark to his left rear, and Foghorn to his right) moves up, just around the corner from cache 2.

On the right, Dragon moves up next to Lancer (both bottom left, Lancer has the green pin bead, and Mace is at far right), while three Oscars come on at HS2 in the center.  The few shots the JCSOG guys have been able to take haven't had much affect.  When you're really outnumbered you really need to make your shots count...

Bad guys rush the center, which is manned only by Honcho.  He's quickly put down without even firing a shot...

While Oscars in the southeast (center left at the cache, center right behind the wall, and bottom right in the building) are all able to open up and put pins on Mace and Tumbler.

On the left (this photo is taken looking at Tm3 from behind the bad guys, pretty much looking out from HS1), Transit (in the rubbled building at right) opens up and hits... nothing.  The RPG gunner at bottom left slams a rocket into the rubbled building, luckily only getting a pin on Transit.

Oscar at bottom left moves up and takes a shot at Transit (top center), misses, while Ballpark is able to put one whole-whopping pin on the Oscar RPG gunner at HS1...  We need to get these boys out to the range.

A very quick and violent firefight breaks out at cache 1.  Lancer holds tight but opens fire through the doorway he's manning and puts the Oscar at cache 1 out of the fight, while Mace fires at another Oscar, misses, but still sprints up to cache 1, wanting to get it secured so the vehicles can come up and rig the damned thing to blow.  But the bad guy Mace just missed moves up and fires a long burst into Mace, putting him out of the fight.  So now the platoon commander and the team leader for Tm2 are down...

The bad guys have managed to get quite a few guys on in the center, and since they have pretty good position on their left, the guys in the center decide to head right to lock down cache 2, as Tm3 was getting pretty close.

But Foghorn is Johnny on the spot and moves up to the corner, puts one down and puts a pin on the other.

The damned RPG fires again at Transit in the rubbled building, putting a second pin on him (seriously degrading his combat capability), but Corkscrew pops around a corner of his own, right onto cache 2, and puts another Oscar down.  Another bad guy comes on at HS1.

Lancer (at bottom left, you can just see the yellow bead) opens up through the doorway again, puts another Oscar down, then Dragon (just to right of Lancer, near cache; you can see WIA Honcho at top left and WIA Mace at cache) rushes through the doorway firing, and puts down two Oscars.

This is quickly followed by Tumbler rushing up to secure cache 1, calling on the V1 to come deliver it's explosives, which it does, while several more bad guys come aboard at HS3.  V2 is trying to get to cache 2 (which Corkscrew, Tm3's leader, just secured), but it's taking its sweet time.

This is a good time for a lock-on: this is top down looking sort of west to east.  The big group at bottom right is cache 1, from bottom to top is Lancer, Dragon, then Tumbler actually on the cache, with V1 having just pulled up.  At the center near the 'T' intersection is Foghorn, while to his left (out of sight on the other side of that same building) is Corkscrew, on cache 2.  The rubbled building just to the left is where Transit is pinned down, while further back and to the left is the building where Ballpark is set up on the 2nd floor.

The Oscar at bottom right came charging out around the corner of the building and took a shot at Tumbler (top left), putting a pin on him.  Tumbler quickly spun and put him out of his misery.  Blaster pops out of V1 and starts rigging cache 1 for demolition.

Back on the left, Foghorn is peering around his corner and figures hell with it.  He pops the remaining guy at the intersection, moves up to cache 2 to cover Corkscrew (far left), and goes on overwatch (white bead).

Another photo looking back at Tm3 from HS1.  Several bad guys move up, taking Ballpark and Transit under wildly inaccurate fire.  Transit lays low in the rubbled house, managing to pull one of his pins off, while Ballpark gets it on, putting two Oscars down.  V2 manages to get to cache 2, currently secured by Corkscrew and Foghorn, but several bad guys make a play to get up there and disrupt the setting of the explosives.

So Corkscrew charges ahead, but only manages to put one Oscar down...

On the right, Lancer pulls a pin off himself while covering Blaster and Tumbler on the objective (cache 1).  More bad guys come on and move up (mostly at bottom right), so Dragon (center left) moves over and takes them under fire, to no effect.  More bad guys come on table...

Dragon (far left, white bead) pops one Oscar then goes on overwatch, and the bad guys just keep coming.  Dragon pops another one.  Two more replace that bad guy...  Blaster is finished rigging cache 1, so he grabs Mace (WIA) and throws him in the Range Rover.

A bad guy pops in, so Lancer moves up and puts him down, so another one shows up; V1's driver says hell with it and leaves town carrying Blaster and Mace's wounded body.  Tumbler spots a group of bad guys in the street, pulls the pin on a hand grenade, tosses, gets a couple pins.

Back on the left side, Corkscrew (the wounded guy in green, pretty much dead center) pops an Oscar, but another moves up and returns the fire.  For those keeping score, we now have three men down: the Plt Cmdr and both team leaders, and only one of them has been evacuated.

Another bad guy moves up, and Transit puts two of them down.  Meanwhile, Ballpark comes down from the second story and pops onto cache 2.

One of the bad guys in the center moves up and pops right, opens up on Foghorn, who's sitting on the south edge of cache 2.  The bad guy opens up with an LMG, putting two pins on Foghorn.  Foghorn's return fire manages only a pin (the green bead on the bad guy is one pin, the yellow bead on Foghorn is two pins; a red bead is three pins and makes a guy utterly useless).

More bad guys arrive: two at HS1 (NE), one at HS2 (center).

Detcord hops out of V2 and manages to wire cache 2 at warp speed, which is certainly needed.

Remember when I mentioned a red bead means a guy is useless?  Well, the bad guys in the street opened up on Foghorn again, putting that all important third pin on him.  JCSOG guys generally get three (potential) actions per activation, with each pin removing a potential activation.  If you have activations left you can use them to unpin yourself.  If not, only a leader can pull pins off you.  And all my leaders are down...

Meanwhile, Detcord (top center) hops the wall, runs to the right, grabs Corkscrew (WIA), and drags him back to the wall, while another Oscar pop into the street (bottom center).  This feels kind of like "Zulu" with the non-stop bad guys.

Back on the right, Tumbler fires and puts an Oscar down, while Dragon sprints to the second story near cache 1 and drops a frag on the the three bad guys below.  Two go down, while one is untouched.

On the left, the situation is getting critical as the bad guys are simply swarming towards cache 2.  Transit (top left) opens up and puts two down, while Ballpark (center left) rushes to Detcord, grabs Corkscrew over the wall, and throws him in V2.

Lancer, seeing V2 getting ready to depart, sprints left, grabs Honcho (the first casualty), and drags him to the north side of the street (bottom left).  To his right we have Foghorn, who's pretty much hors de combat, we've got Ballpark next to him, and Detcord still in the street.

One bad guy comes on at HS1, and three more at HS2 (center).

Speaking of Detcord, he hops the wall, grabs Foghorn and get both of them into V2.  Dragon, on second floor in center, fires and puts three guys down, whle V2 pulls around to Lancer and Honcho (top left).  But, just as things seem to be shaping up, another bad guy pops up in the center and makes a helluva shot, which drops Dragon up on the second floor...

On the left, more bad guys are moving up, and Tm3 is not looking so well.  As a matter of fact, Tm3 is only Transit (top left), who just received his second pin, and Ballpark (bottom center), as Corkscrew and Foghorn were both evac'ed in V2.  You can see the bad guy horde continuing to come (top right).

More bad guys come on table as Tumbler rushed upstairs, grabs Dragon, and drags him back downstairs (bottom center, just across the street from Lancer/Honcho and V2).  Lancer throws Honcho in V2, runs across to Tumbler, grabs Dragon, and throws him in V2.

Ballpark and Transit are mowing them down on the left, but they keep coming.  Time to think about getting out of dodge...

Three more bad guys come on at HS3, moving left towards cache 1.

A couple bad guys move up the street in the center, and Lancer pops one while Tumbler piles into V2.  Lancer follows suit, and the vehicle squeals tires getting the hell out of there.

Three bad guys manage to get to cache 1, just as...

Ka-Boooooom!!!  Okay, I know it's cheesy, but hey.

While Ballpark and Transit finally get their stuff in gear on the left, detonating cache 2 and booking for the LZ.

Another success, but again bloody, with Honcho, Mace, Corkscrew, and Dragon going down, and Foghorn kinda losing his marbles and having to be evac'ed as well.  The enemy lost 33 men.

V/R,
Jack