Operation UNTHINKABLE 1948

This week at the Wollongong Wargamers, Daniel, Scott and I played Clash of Steel, based on the first release: Operation Unthinkable, set in 1948.

I love these rules and period. Not only do they provide a dynamic, tactically rich yet fun game, they also allow you to field a great variety of fascinating tanks which are probably too late of WW2 and obsolescent on the Team Yankee timeline.

I got in early and set up a fairly random table aiming for a rural Polish farmland feel:

The random mission drawn was The Clash. (good name for a band). Not wanting to be too bothered with sums, and having a nice big table to play on, we narrowed the Mission Rules card selection down to the ones with no reserves. Our card simply stipulated the game would last 6 turns.

I rolled high to be the Attacker. Alternating deployment, with both sides having Spearhead units, resulted in this fairly wide and open deployment:

I was pleased with how it panned out - spearheading T-34-85s had enabled a secure gunline of SU-100s in a central, covered position, and the Brits had left Objective 2 wide open. Rude not to take advantage!

But I also sped off towards the other flank Objective 1:

Mob handed!

The centre objective was left to the T-44s to grab:

I first encountered resistance out on the flank around Objective 2. Futile!

Things were going well on the other flank too!

Success was reinforced!

However in the centre the defence has coalesced and had ripped my T-44 unit apart very quickly!

I had built up quite a lead in victory points but now the British were in the race!

I had nothing left around the centre objective

However, the British shot themselves in the foot by using card play to change one of the objective conditions - the game would now end a turn early! Just as they were starting to catch up the game ended!

Once again Clash of Steel delivered a fast paced and enjoyable game. In fact we had so much fun next week we are going to use these rules in a Fate of a Nation setting!