Soviet Operations in Afghanistan

[Oberstleutnant Koenig]

More photos.

[CapnJim]

I agree with ultravanillasmurf.  Do you have a story to go with the pics?  From the photos, it looks like it would be very interesting...

CapnJim

[Oberstleutnant Koenig]

Last of the pictures.

[Oberstleutnant Koenig]

Hello CapnJim and Ultravanillasmurf,

The series of photos are from two games we have played and they have been posted in no particular order.

The first game was a platoon-size clearance of the village. This didn't go very well for the Russians. They basically didn't have the strength in forces to conduct the mission. Once they lost a BTR, filled with an infantry squad to an RPG strike, it turned into a fighting withdrawal as the Mujahideen swarmed in about them from all directions. The Mujahideen were drip feed into the battlespace in elements of 1-6 fighters. Their advantage was that they could come from any edge of the table, even from behind the Russians.

Determine to give the Russians a more acceptable force, I painted up another rifle platoon and heavy weapons platoon for them. I even brought another 3 x BTRs, but didn't get around to painting them.

The next battle was an assault on the same village by a Russian company(Minus) - 2 x Rifle Platoons and 1 x Weapons Platoon. Defending the village was about
24 x Mujahideen fighters.

The Russians could enter from the southern edge of the board, either on foot or mounted in BTRs. The Mujahideen Player could deploy anywhere on the table, even right up to the southern edge.

The Russian Player advanced methodically on foot, killing a Mujahideen early warning sentry and pushing back an RPG team by the river. The RPG team fled back across the river as the Russians continued to advance.

On the extreme left flank of the Russian line, 2 x BTRs probed forward near the river edge and a rock escarpment, without infantry support (A big mistake). One of these vehicles was destroyed by RPG teams lurking on the cliffs overlooking the Russian point of entry. The other BTR beat a hasty retreat with the engine revving high as the driver slammed his foot down hard on the accelerator. The only thing that saved the second BTR was the arming distance of the RPG - which we determined to be 6".

More Russian forces flooded onto the board with the Weapons Platoon taking up a position on a sandy ridge and covering their advance.

Reaching the ford in the river, the Russians executed a right enfilade advance around the dominating massifs. The Mujahideen withdrew before them.

On the left flank, the Mujahideen who had ambushed the two Soviet BTRs earlier, swept down from their ambush position to clear the destroyed vehicle of any valuables. They found the wounded vehicle commander laying in the dirt beside his burning vehicle. The Mujahideen were in no mind to take prisoners and they executed the Russian without a second thought.

Not to let this act of barbarism go unpunished, the Russian player threw a dismounted infantry squad against the looters.

A short firefight erupted and the Russians got the better of it, killing three of the Freedom Fighters without a loss. The Weapons Platoon who were on Overwatch added their firepower to this engagement. A lone Mujahideen fighter armed with an RPG who was still lurking on the escarpment above tried to get off a shot at the advancing Soviets. He was obliterated in a tornado of AGS-17 grenades and 12.7 mm machine gunfire.

With this group of Rebels cleaned up, the Russian squad advanced down the left side of the table to a small rock and sandhill overlooking the maize field. Here they came under fire from a small group of Fighters held up in two houses at the other end of the field. This firefight didn't go the Soviet's way. The God of War who smiled on them only turns before, frowned on them now. Over the course of three game turns the six Russians were wiped out and the Freedom fighters lost no one.

With the Russian strong right hook now having reached the extreme end of the table, the Mujahideen Commander determined enough was enough. He started to withdraw his force from the village. There was some minor small arms fire during the withdrawal, but no casualties were inflicted on either side during this stage in the battle.

Losses - Soviet
2 x BTR Destroyed - Commander KIA
6 x Infantrymen KIA

Losses - Mujahideen
4 x Freedom Fighters KIA and 1 x WIA/Captured

[iDreamofMinis]

Really great stuff!  I love all the pictures.  I've been thinking about gaming the Russian-Afghan war as well.  This is great inspiration!

[CapnJim]

Thanks for the AAR!  I was right - it was an interesting story.  Again, nice terrain and minis!

CapnJim

[Easy E]

Good stuff.  I look forward to more.

[Oberstleutnant Koenig]

The map is for Wargamers who want more than one-off tabletop battles. Consider using the attached map.

Each hex is about one kilometer as the crow flies.

A foot soldier could walk 15 kilometers per day. Eight kilometers in the morning and seven kilometers in the afternoon along roads/tracks or flat ground. Climbing hills/mountain hexes would consume four kilometers of flat ground movement. If you're searching for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), then this pace would be more like eight kilometers for the entire day.

Vehicles would move 20 km in the morning and 20 km in the afternoon along roads/tracks or flat ground - the roads are little more than donkey tracks and heavily washed out. Vehicles can't go into hill/mountain hexes unless flat ground is present at the base of the hill/mountains or a road/track is present.

I think a few Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted on the roads/tracks would rapidly curve the Player with the Panzer commander-minded set.

The Mujahideen Player would have ten cave complexes they can use as bases or supply dumps. The Mujahideen can use the cave complexes to store surplus equipment in them. The Mujahideen player would determine which hexes these caves are before the game start. They must be in hill/mountain hexes and not co-located with a village. I would suggest the Mujahideen Player disperse these complexes around the map.

Should the Soviet Player discover any cave complexes, he can destroy them using an engineer platoon. Using explosives, they will seal all entrances and collapse large sections of the caves rendering them useless. All supplies, munitions, and weapons are destroyed or taken away by the Soviet Player.

[Lord Raglan]

Awesome stuff buddy, I enjoyed the read.

I just finished painting my forces for this conflict, so can't wait to get them on the table now.

[bluewillow]

Great stuff, the terrain looks good, it is always tough to get the balance correct in argaming asymmetric warfare especially when a simple dice through can mean a squad being vapourised.

What rules were you using?

Cheers
Matt

[Blackwolf]

Great stuff, the terrain looks good, it is always tough to get the balance correct in argaming asymmetric warfare especially when a simple dice through can mean a squad being vapourised.

What rules were you using?

Cheers
Matt

A modified set from Iron Kremlin.

[madman]

Here is a link to the thread with them, reply 25. Each page is scanned and posted. I cannot find them on line anywhere else or does the original site still exist (at least by that name/address).

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=128617.msg1628002#msg1628002

[AKULA]

A great looking table, and a handy campaign map - thanks for sharing