Sparker's Wargaming Blog: Clash of Steel: Uhlan Eagle

Last night at the Wollongong Wargamers we tried Clash of Steel for the first time...hence I wanted to give a thorough brief:

The table was set up to represent a rural scene in western Poland, albeit with a reasonable road net:

The randomised scenario turned out to be The Long Run, which fortuitously I had played for my initial solo game, so we were able to get into it reasonably fast. Richard, on the US side, had never played Flames of War nor Team Yankee, whilst Darren and Declan, for the Soviets, were reasonably experienced at both...

All players immediately realised the importance in CoS of getting to an objective fast, so both used their Spearhead light forces to quickly approach the objectives. The Soviets actually got to one on Turn 1!

And then backed it up with some heavy cover!

The random scenario conditions stipulated 40% of forces were to go into Immediate Reserve. This severely hampered the smaller but more skilful US forces, as the loss of just the one platoon of T29s was a major blow. Richard did the best he could with his light forces, seizing the centre objective, which was now revealed to be worth an extra 5 VPs if held at the end of the game.

Unfortunately for the US, who were consistently unlucky with their reserve rolls, the nature of the Soviet force meant that even without reserves they has swarms of heavy armour from the outset!

And they weren't afraid to swap heavy casualties for objectives!

Richard expertly manoeuvered his paper thin Hellcats through cover, but the necessary side shot opportunities just weren't being presented by the experienced duo of Darren and Declan!

Eventually, finally, the US reserves showed up...

And combined with the on table survivors...

to create a kill sack:

But it was too little, too late, as, with their two reserve companies now well into the action, the victory points on the Soviet dial were now well into double figures!