Cold War Commander Iran Iraq

[Westbury]

The final couple of turns saw the T54's & T55's come out of skulking mode and press the attack on the reduced M60's & M48's with their RPG infantry lending support. The scheduled Iraqi artillery strike also arrived but the planned point of impact was nowhere near the Iranians and succeeded only in destroying two settlements.
Again the mechanism was fairly straight forward and from a gaming point of view taught us that you need to think very carefully about pre planned strikes.
As we neared what would be the end of the game from an attendance point of view somebody piped up up and said "isn't there a break point mechanism in the rules?" which there is and we had forgot  After consulting the rules, yes the Iranians were over their break point so we did the test and they failed first roll, end of game.
The break point mechanism could be seen as a little artificial but it did mean we had a definitive end and frankly none of us could argue about it.

[Zingara]

Lots of tanks in the desert - what fun. Good to see the rules giving a good game.

[Easy E]

It looks lovely. 

IIRC, Cold War Commander is based on the Warmaster rule set.  Any comment on how well this works with "Modern" Command and control structures?

[Westbury]

Easy E
I'm no expert but the mechanics seem to work ok and have enough nuance to feel like an 80's clash at the brigade level. Other guys I've played with who use it for "classic" cold war gone hot in Europe seem to rate it as a reasonable representation. What I am thankful for is there isn't a whole mass of technical detail to try and comprehend, which type of shell will penetrate what thickness of armour on a graduated scale of ranges, I'm just too old for that s### 
What the Warmaster set was I have no knowledge of.

[Westbury]

Another go with Cold War Commander in the desert; this time an Iranian infantry battalion (165th Mechanised) holding the line of a major highway in the face of an attack by the Iraqi 26th Armoured of two tank battalions (6th & 7th) while awaiting the arrival of their own armour the 232nd battalion.
The Iraqi armour was mainly T62's with some T54's & T55's, the Iranian's were Chieftains. Both sides had an FAO, the Iranian already on high ground looking over the highway and the Iraqi arriving with the tank forces.
As we had a limited time frame to play in all arriving forces started on their respective table edges at turn 1. 

[Westbury]

What was noticeable about this game was the ability of all players to barely get a phase in before failing their command roll - history coming to life maybe?
The Iranian tank column roared (spluttered) up the road obscured by hills and the villages occupied by the infantry. The Iraqis had the 7th armoured (all T62's) come on via the road leading to one of the villages at the northern end of the table while the 6th (one company each of T55's, T54's & T62's) came on in line abreast at the other end of the table using the hills to keep themselves out of range of the Chieftains for as long as they could.

[Westbury]

Inevitably the 6th armoured came into range of the Chieftains better guns before they could themselves fire and paid the price. Full marks though to the Iraqi tank commander for trying to keep the terrain between him and the enemy.
Both sides also started to call-in artillery but the spotting was miserable from both sides 

[Westbury]

Both Iraqi columns had now got close enough for the Iranian infantry to fire their RPG's from the villages which at least meant the Iraqis had another target to shoot at ineffectively 
This was also the time for the Iraqi FAO to roll an artillery blunder and call down fire on his own tanks - as if they didn't have enough problems!

[Westbury]

With relief the Iraqis noted that it was time to call it and be elsewhere so we assessed the state of play.

The 6th armoured was destroyed with no loss to the Iranians which left the 7th needing to swing out and take on the Chieftains knowing the odds favoured the Iranians. The objective of seizing the highway had failed.

Reflecting afterwards we noted again that the Iranian armour consistently out performs the Soviet gear of the Iraqis and so the Iraqis definitely need more kit but as we needed to be quick, one battalion per player was the way we went. From a "points" perspective it was definitely tilted in favour of the Iranians, maybe next time we will have a bit longer to play (and know the rules a bit better) and so have a more balanced game.

[has.been]

An accurate report Ian, which more than can be said of our artillery.

The question on the lips of all the players...  is there a bonus for moving on a road   

[flatpack]

I enjoyed commanding the Iranian armour today.
Lovely duck shooting weather.


Scratch the first Iraqi tank


Scratch the second and third Iraqi tanks


Lovely view of the chieftains on the shooting range.


Oh look, it’s a full house of destroyed Iraqi armour. Well, the ones that decided to advance Pete 


John’s Iraqi armour steadily approaching our village, before we got to open up on him.


Iranian chieftains taking a steady approach to oncoming traffic.

[Dr. Zombie]

Great pictures! Do keep them coming.

Cold War Commander is my gaming groups preferred rules set. And is by far our most played game. We have just now switched to 2nd edition. and have only had one game of it.

It can be frustrating when commanders consistently fail command rolls but it is also part of the fun.

I think it is a good idea that you gradually introduce the different aspects of the game. We did the same when we started playing.

We have introduced the house rule that infantry in transports can mount or dismount as part of a move action. And if a transport is killed the infantry in it are not knocked out as well, but they take the same amount of hits as the vehicle and are suppressed. All to make life a bit better for the poor infantry. That way you are a bit more willing to take more infantry and not just get tanks.

[Basin is BACK]

Thanks for posting these, some very readable battle reports with nice pics. I've dug my 2mm Cold War accumulation out of the lead pile and I fancy giving it a spin, although that does hinge on finding an opponent.

[Easy E]

Great looking games.  I also enjoy that you are focusing on the Iran/Iraq War.

[Westbury]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words, encourages me to get more done - just started a battalion of M109's for the Iranians.
Still looking for that on road bonus Pete