The Battle of Rasdorf

On Sunday we met up at the uni for our annual Lariat Advance game, a mega Team Yankee game recreating the likely Warsaw Pact advance through the Fulda Gap. I last blogged about the preparations, and the mini campaign that led to this game, here.

After much deliberation, the Warsaw Pact team chose to attack up table 1. Bryan would take the Soviet Motor Rifles and go right flanking, I would take East German Motor Rifles and go left flanking, and we would leave our third formation, a T-72 Tank Battalion, in the middle to exploit whoever was making the most progress. Bags of smoke, natch, and making full use of the first three moves of early morning fog (night rules). Note at this stage that Bryan's first hurdle would be to clear the town of Rasdorf...

The table from the NATO perspective

The NATO team, for their part, were clearly  up on their SIGINT as they correctly guessed it would be table 1, where they had committed 2 of their 3 formations, both the US ones. On this table they got to lay 2 minefields and spring 1 ambush...The latecoming West Germans, deployed on the 'wrong' table, would be arriving as delayed reserves...

The Warsaw Pact forces forming up, from the right, a T-72 Tank Formation with a Hail battery, Soviet Motor Rifles with ridiculous amounts of artillery, and on the far side East German Motor Rifle formation, including 10 T-55AM2s. All 3 formations of 60 points, no air, no AA.

NATO - Colin's 11th ACR Scout formation, infantry courtesy of the 82nd Airborne who were hurriedly flown into Frankfort and then bussed up to Fulda. Note the large amount of tiny formations typical of Cav.



Not that they're full of themselves, of course... The other US formation was Philip's USMC formation, which seemed to be mainly armoured:



And finally, hastily redeploying as delayed reserves across from the adjacent valley, Stephen's Bundeswehr Mechanised Infantry. You don't get much for your 60 points with West Germans:

The NATO team deployed their teams pretty far forward...

And all of it snug in cover - and that's without the ambush platoon...

Lots of M60s crammed into every wood and copse - look they may be venerable, but they still get off 2 well aimed 105mm rounds every turn...

Warsaw Pact deployment, by contrast, was not so neat and tidy...

In fact it was a bit of a jam in places...

Nevertheless our opening moves were faithful to the Soviet General Staff's grand plan - I went left flanking, through wooded hill and dale, and Bryan had the nice open approach to Rasdorf…



Where he promptly put in a well supported massed infantry attack with his entire Battalion of Motor Rifles against the US defenders who were deployed on its northern outskirts...

But it was the first time the Warsaw Pact had come across the equally large platoons of the US 82nd Airborne, and their phenomenal firepower. Already annoyed from not having been allowed to jump in, these Paratroopers were in a mean mood and not about to budge for anyone...You want to take Rasdorf from us? Nuts!

The troopers were stoutly supported in their defence from some long range AT sniping from small but numerous Scout platoons of ITVs and Humvees armed with TOWs, who steadily picked off the Motor Rifle's supporting BMPs, making Bryan's life even harder...

On my side of the battlefield I wasn't making much progress either...what little open ground there was mined and covered by long range ATGW, and the hills were alive with M60s...

Although that enabled some very satisfactory tank stalking for my Schutzen, it was hardly blitzkrieg!



But our very timidity seemed to embolden the NATO forces, and they got cocky...springing their ambush and moving out of their hides to confront us in the open...

Well, about as open as we were going to let it be...with our artillery assets!

The US tankers accepted the challenge and advanced right through the smoke....and so a massive tank close range knife fight ensued on the north eastern outskirts of Rasdorf…

All those years of NATO long range gunnery training wasted...

As both tank forces pretty much wiped each other out! Pretty soon, my ancient T-55s, late to the fight, were the only tanks remaining in the vicinity!

Both sides exhausted, and with the majority of the objectives still in NATO hands, we conceded the game, having paid a heavy price to advance only a couple of feet over the Inner German Border!

So our second Lariat Advance game ended in another NATO victory. Next year we will have to play the other table, and perhaps tilt the game Eastwards by going with a fighting withdrawal type scenario...

As ever, this colossal game would not have been possible without a great bunch of players, L-R: Philip, Colin, Stephen and Bryan. Thanks chaps - a great game!