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

[SJWi]

Last week four of us from the Long Range Gaming Group ( a reference to our locations plus a small homage to the LRDG) met up for several games. After 2FL's "What a Tanker" and an ECW game using Simon Miller's "for King and Parliament" I ran a game of SDttRR. We have used this set before but not for some time, as we find we need a large table to give the adequate manoeuvre room for a decent game. For this game we used a large table at our local gaming store "Lost Ark" in Stevenage.  In this case for reasons that will become apparent I opted for a long 12' table, but had to settle for only a 4' width.

I took for my inspiration a scenario from the novel "Red Army" by Ralph Peters. I wanted to use my new VDV so postulated a Warsaw Pact attack with the Polish 16th "Kashubian" Armoured Division advancing along the North German Coast to try and isolate the Jutland Peninsula.  Soviet airborne have landed ahead to capture two bridges. Troops from the  Dutch 41st Armoured are trying to stop the Poles linking up with the VDV,  whilst Danish units from Landjut Command try to dislodge the VDV.  The game was played with early '80s assets such as Leo1s, T55s, PT76s and even Centurions .The only anachronistic vehicles were my BMDs2 which date from a few years later, but I could live with that. I named the Polish operation "Rynak Ogrod" which I hope is Polish for "Market Garden" ! 

The game was great fun.  SDttRR is from the "beer and pretzels" end of the rulebook spectrum, and soon burning tanks were littering the table. Using early '80s armour meant no "super weapons", and nothing was invulnerable. As SDttRR has unrestricted ranges for everything except hand-held AT weapons, terrain to break up the LoS is a must and the only downside I found was the  overly narrow 4' width which really gave the Poles issues.

The end result was a draw.  The VDV still held both bridges but the Polish armoured attack had stalled, leaving just close-up and personal house to house infantry combat to go. None of us fancied gaming this for the last hour, as we find the infantry vs infantry rules the "clunkiest" part of the game.

I apologise for the lack of photos. I do have some but the LAF gremlins won't let me post them.                 

[Fred Mills]

Is 'Seven Days' the Great Escape Games rules set? (Sorry for the dumb question.)

[sundayhero]

Yes, it's mainly based on Iron Cross WW2 rules. Great ruleset, very simple and fun.

[Fred Mills]

Thank you!

[SJWi]

Fred,  as Sundayhero says they are good fun.  You don't need lots of troops or else the board gets too crowded.  We normally play with maybe 3-4 MBTs, 3 APCs with attached infantry teams ( 4 figures per team), plus some support eg AT or AA missile carriers, recce. So may be 10-12 vehicles in total plus only about 20 figures. If I was starting again I might look at 10mm as hitting the "sweet spot" of model size vs visual impact, albeit finding buildings may be a problem, albeit N gauge railway stuff should match pretty well spot on.     

[sundayhero]

if you have access to a 3D printer you can find nice buildings here :

https://www.3dprintterrain.de/collections/6mm-files/products/6mm-12mm-cold-war-in-germany


I plan to buy this set to print it by myself in 6mm scale. I also plan to base my infantry by 5 figures on bases.

[SJWi]

Sundayhero, thanks for the reminder about the building files. I part-funded the purchase of them and must reming my mate with a printer to produce some for me.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Fred,  as Sundayhero says they are good fun.  You don't need lots of troops or else the board gets too crowded.  We normally play with maybe 3-4 MBTs, 3 APCs with attached infantry teams ( 4 figures per team), plus some support eg AT or AA missile carriers, recce. So may be 10-12 vehicles in total plus only about 20 figures. If I was starting again I might look at 10mm as hitting the "sweet spot" of model size vs visual impact, albeit finding buildings may be a problem, albeit N gauge railway stuff should match pretty well spot on.   

Useful information,  I have bought some Pendraken 10mm Cold War (Chieftains with TOGS, FV432s, Scorpions and Scimitars,  T64A plus infantry) for 7DttR.

[SJWi]

Ultravanillasmurf, if you have opted for 10mm might be worth also checking our the Timecast and Red 3 ranges. As well as the Russkies and Brits which Pendraken cover quite well these two other manufacturers also have West Germans and Dutch, not to mention the Yanks. Leopard 1s also allow you to build Belgian, and a few other NATO forces.         

[sundayhero]

the only issue with 10mm is the lack of french forces  that's why I choosed 6mm.

[CapnJim]

Nice report, and good looking minis and table.

One note, it is thought by some that the Poles were just as likely to turn on the Soviets as to fight for them.  Particularly more so as the 80s went on.  That would put a wrench in the gears in that scenario, wouldn't it...?

[Rick]

Nice report, and good looking minis and table.

One note, it is thought by some that the Poles were just as likely to turn on the Soviets as to fight for them.  Particularly more so as the 80s went on.  That would put a wrench in the gears in that scenario, wouldn't it...?

Yes. Quite possibly, if the Polish command had still been in charge to lead them. Every Warsaw Pact unit was put into an Army with Soviet units wherever possible and, in peacetime, every Polish commander from Battalion commanders on up had a Soviet 'shadow officer' - all except the overall commander of the Polish Armed Forces, who was a Soviet General or Marshal. In times of war, the Polish officers would have been removed and imprisoned (probably) and the Polish Army would be completely commanded by Soviet officers. As to the Polish general staff who made policy and organised the Armed Forces, sorted intelligence and logistics? You will probably not need to know that it was duplicated in the Soviet commanders staff as well. I don't think it was just the Poles who would have been treated this way but they would have been trusted the least.
I think the comrades had already thought of that one, comrade.

[SJWi]

CapnJim, you are quite correct when it comes to the late '80s. However in the early'80s the Polish army did participate in General Jaruzelski's crackdown and imposition of martial law 1981-83. The Russians didn't have to intervene as they did in Hungary in 1956 and Czechslovakia in 1968.

In any event in my bigger scenario this attack is a bit of a side-show, the Poles didn't reach the VDV so maybe they did "pull their punches" ! We did actually muse as we set up if we should let the Poles join in the attack on the VDV....   

[Daeothar]

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

[chairborne]

As the Polish commander, I thought I'd throw in a few of my pics too. A good game, but sadly we took too many losses to complete the objectives. I did at one point suggest defecting....

Sundayhero, thanks for the reminder about the building files. I part-funded the purchase of them and must reming my mate with a printer to produce some for me.

oh dear, I had forgotten about this as well......