Unlike some gamers, I love these Early Cold War scenarios from Iron Curtain & Secret Weapon and a few others. I wanted to play a scenario with Centurion I’s and this one looked very interesting. Both sides have similar forces.

The Soviet main armor forces consist of JS-2, T44 & Su101 vs. the British Centurion I & Archer. Both sides have a boatload of Infantry units and support weapons but only 1/3 of the Soviet forces have armored APC’s while the other 2/3 is soft skinned trucks in the open desert which is not good. All the British Transportation are armored APC’s but they all start dug-in as do the rest of the British units. Both sides have a lot of off board artillery and the Soviets draw air-support every turn. The Soviets get points for eliminating enemy units and exiting units off the South side, as they enter from the North side. The British receive points for eliminating enemy units and preventing enemy units from exiting. Also, there is no British COL in Beyond Normandy only 4 LT COLs so you had to borrow one from another game.

The British setup as a steel wall blocking the path south, with enough units to cover the whole wall in depth with Armor and Infantry mixed into the wall all dug-in and the weaker Archers farther back south as a last stop measure. The Soviets come on the Map North with two hills to cover them from view and artillery fire but once they pass these, they are in the wide open and the British have the second group of hills to their backs to fall back on if necessary. There is no smoke to cover the Soviets but they send their armor and APC’s loaded with Infantry forward as they have orders to process south. The soft trucks loaded with more Infantry and support weapons hang back behind the first group of hills hoping their comrades can punch a hole in the center they can exploit. The Soviet have two many units to attack in just one area, so in stead of getting backed up, they hit the center and the left flank of the British defenses.

Once the Soviets softened up a few areas with Artillery and air-support they charge forward with their armored battle group and the British Centurion I’s are waiting from them. The Largest group of Soviet Armor is burning in the desert and the second battle group is having another go at it and many of the APC’s are unloading fast, as they will soon become the targets after the armor. The British are now able to unload some of the artillery on the now exposed Soviet Infantry as they have been taking Soviet artillery abuse while dug-in for a few turns now, unable to respond and taking a few casualties of their own.

The Soviet push their second group of Armor forward getting the same results as last time and only taking out a few steps of British armor but still losing 3-4 time more of their own armor. In desperation they unload the rest of the Infantry from trucks in the rear and charge forward in the open, taking mass casualties.

I looked at the overall situation and called off the attack many turns early, as the Soviets have taken way too many step losses to win even if they break through. The Soviets have lost 55 steps to the British 10 steps and if this continues any longer, the Soviets will lose many more steps as the British steel wall of dug-in Infantry & armor with off board artillery is too strong. It’s a Major British Victory.

Maybe I should have softened up the British line a little more before moving in or focused all the attack to one flank but this scenario favors the British just a bit, with terrain setup.

Interesting but World at War Series (WaW) by LnL Publishing has their Cold War series based on the 1985 and with AP, you get a similar series within a series with Secret Weapons & Iron Curtain but in 1945-1950. I find it pretty fun to play with this new hardware for this time period. Armor warfare is a lot more lethal and your strategy has to change a bit from the 1934-1945 scenarios. It’s like a having a second gaming series but using the same system. I recommend trying Cold War & Extended WWII scenarios from 1945-1950, it a good break.

British set up in line, built up between two ridges and each ridge and board edge. Russians advanced along the road (trying to disguise ultimate axis of attack). British Centurians decimate Soviet armor as it approaches. Russian Air Force seems to have been drinking too much Vodka (read poor air draw and attack rolls). Same can be said for Soviet artillery units (poor rolls and good British morale checks using dug-in advantage). Russian leadership hammered during approach to the British line.

Soviet plan was to advance in the center, then shift to drive a wedge in the British line to take one of the large hills. Then, essentially use the LT to regroup/recover before making final drive for board edge.