Seven Days to the River Rhine; North Germany Mid 1980s

[SJWi]

Daeothar, Zaloga's Osprey book on 1980s armour in Europe says that the Poles were assigned a role attacking along the coast. I guess GSFG would attack BAOR and the Bundeswehr. My scenario used Dutch and Danes as I wanted to get them on the table. I also have Canadians, BAOR ( including Chieftains in the 'Berlin urban disruptive" paint scheme) and Russkies. I did have Yanks but foolishly sold them when my gaming group seemed to fall out of love with 15mm and SDttRR.

[Rick]

Great setup, and still an area of interest to me. One day...

I remember reading somewhere that in the original draw up of the 7 Days scenario, the Poles would be left as a rearguard, while Russian Guard units would spearhead the attacks in Northag's area of operations.

Which is why I'm still undecided as to who my Dutch will be facing; Poles or Russians

I don't think that's correct Daeothar - if anything the opposite is probably true, with the Soviets using the Poles as cannon fodder - the plans drawn up were quite brutal in the way they used the Warsaw Pact forces.
As to the Dutch - they'll go after anything with equal ferocity and bite deep. Many years ago we did a modern campaign in 1/300 (usual scenario, Soviets attack, allies defend the west sort of thing) with various nationalities represented (I played the Dutch and had just finished reading about the Dutch in military exercises). So, first campaign turn of the game, everyone else gets attacked by the Soviets except the Dutch (who felt a touch miffed about it); second campaign turn, the Dutch attack - broad advance across the border trace into East Germany! I figured that if the Soviets weren't coming to me, I'd go to the Soviets - which worked, the Soviet reserve commander had to commit his reserve air assault unit behind their lines to try and stop the Dutch. We abandoned the campaign with the Dutch, having brushed aside the VDV, going on a rampage through the Soviet supply lines! 

[Daeothar]

Yeah, I'm trying to remember where it was I read that. I do remember that it said that Russia never completely trusted the Poles and expected them to run or even turn as soon as they came into contact with the enemy.

They would rather use the East Germans and their own cannonfodder in the Northern corridor, keeping Polish forces as deep defense, and to sweep conquered terrain behind the frontline troops.

Sounds plausible, but also, knowing Russian tactics (still) involve waves of expendables, followed by crack troops to break the enemy's spine, it's equally plausible that they would drive the Poles over the expected mine fields and nuclear wasteland to spare their own troops.

So since I am unable to produce the source of my information, we'll go with the latter instead

And yes; even when I was serving (late nineties), Dutch militairy still had a touch of the maverick, often reacting really flexible to tactical situations. I've always put that on the fact that conscripted armies, while on paper usually poorer trained than a professional one, employs men (at the time) from all walks of life, feeding new ideas, insights and initiative into the command structure. You'd have college graduates rubbing shoulders with last chance street kids (army or jail). They all learned from eachother and made for a better unit because of it.

Our current professional army is much more monochrome, and it shows...

Cracking pictures of the table too btw

[SJWi]

Chairborne, at least you know how to post photos in the correct orientation. I had forgotten about the burning T55 in Aldi.

 I guess a few more 6mm buildings might be needed if we run a "big game" late July.

 I'm currently immersed in the mid 17th century having had a fascinating discussion about "Cromwell in Ireland" with a German gentleman.