A Fist Full of Tows 3 - what next

I enjoyed the test game I played last weekend and it has reignited my interest in 'the war that never was'. I have placed an order for the rules via Lulu and as I have never used Lulu or any other print on demand service before that will be interesting in it's own right. I also placed a second order to Magister Militum to expand my troop range to include the support arms along with a couple of (read that as four) different Warsaw Pact tank types. I have added some T-55s for third tier formations, and some T-64s and T-80Us for first line formations plus T-72As. I have air support Recon, AA and AT plus more infantry and transport. Let’s just say it wasn’t a small order!

An additional 75 Russian tanks are only part of the order!

 I'm still getting my head around where the T-72 fits in.  Most sources term it a mobilisation model which was intended to be mass produced when war was imminent but at the same time it appears to have equipped existing formations in the second echelon.  I read an interesting (read that as depressing) quote from someone who served in Germany at the time, they believed that if they came up against T-72s the war would have been almost over. Either the Russians were winning and we were about to go nuclear, or they were loosing and they were about to go nuclear!

I think the 1980's is the obvious period to set scenarios for NATO v WarPac as the electronic and cyber aspects of warfare have not become an overpowering factor yet and active counter measures to anti tank munitions are only just appearing.  In a lot of ways it is akin to late World War Two with better equipment (and nerve gas and nuclear weapons!).  It's also the period where the Soviet doctrine had moved away from massive use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield so there is something to play out other then just dousing the playing table in petrol and applying a match!  It's also probably the latest period where we know a good deal about the capabilities of the equipment and can be reasonably comfortable that it is accurate(ish).  Plus in doing the research its interesting to compare what we thought we knew at the time and what turns out to be the truth.

So the date is summer 1982 the Falkland conflict never happened as we re-enforced the islands rather than going ahead with the removal of HMS Endurance (The FCO were furious).  This deterred Argentina, but required the maintaining of a strengthened garrison and RAF presence.  That weakened our presence in Germany slightly.  Meanwhile the Russians are concerned about the rise of pro democracy movements in Poland and are seeking a means of diverting attention from the poor results in Afghanistan.  Brezhnev is dying and no longer able to control the hardliners in the Politburo and many of the foreign policy decisions are being made by his ultimate successor Yuri Andropov.  This coupled with US President Reagan's anti Communist rhetoric sows the seeds for military action to reunify Germany by force.  The final straw is the forthcoming deployment of Pershing and land based cruise missiles into West Germany by the US.  Russian military planners consider that these weapons, especially the precision guided missiles, would be as effective as tactical nuclear weapons at disrupting command and control nets but without the long term wide ranging collateral damage.  If a war is to be waged and won without a need to use tactical nuclear weapons on a massive scale there is a narrow window of opportunity and summer 1982 is that window.

I have set up a 'campaign' map divided into oblongs each of which is equivalent to the area of my standard game table.  The initial map area covers about 30 miles north to south and 40 miles East to West, sufficient for the first day's fighting if WarPac rates of advance are as NATO expected in the early stages.  Just waiting for the rules to arrive now which should be in the next couple of days.

The Soviet Tank Force has made it to the painting table