AEGEAN STRIKE 1985 - Map Preview

Planning is well under way for next years Cold War Commanders MegaGame, Aegean Strike 1985, at Broughton the home of the Deeside Defenders. 2016 will see a change in set up slightly with myself and Gordon Malcolm taking the roles of Game Umpires, players will be given points totals to create their battlegroups from OOB's, reserves will be controlled by the Umpires as will the Strategic Asset Tokens which will be tweaked slightly. Playtesting is underway for the new helicopter rules adapted from FWC and also we are playtesting a couple of other rule changes, more on these when they have been played a few times.

First up a preview of the maps for the four tables that we will be using.

Table One - The Black Sea Coast

16' x 6' - Six Player Table (3 WP vs 3 NATO)

WP Amphibious Assault on Turkish Coast

Table Two - Border Crossing

10' x 5' - Four Player Table (2 WP vs 2 NATO)

WP Breakthrough Greek/Turkish Border

Table Three - Aegean Bridgehead

14' x 6' - Six Player Table (3 WP vs 3 NATO)

NATO (Greek/USMC) attempt to breakout of Bridgehead near the Aegean Coast

Table Four - Counterattack

9' x 5' - Four Player Table (2 WP vs 2 NATO)

Yugoslavian & Greek forces attempt a Counterattack against Bulgarian forces.

However much we all like the big scale games, two days is not enough time to reach a conclusion and I think most of the Cold War Commanders agreed that things needed to change slightly. For those players who attended the very first game they will remember the three table set up and we reached a conclusion on all but one table in a weekend. The big table looks superb but it is difficult to keep track of turns when players play at different speeds because of their familiarity with the rules. So for 2016 we have decided to go back to the multiple table set up and have four tables which can accommodate 20 players (10 WP & 10 NATO) plus 2 umpires but also add elements of the big table games like the Strategic Asset Token system which worked to some extent but need reviewing which is underway. However much we enjoyed seeing the massed NATO artillery strikes (66 attacks/unit) on the East Germans, we probably need to 'downsize' a little. 

Points totals per player are being finalised at the moment and I have included an example of how the game will work to give you an idea.

Example

Day One: Soviet Player A has his initial 8000AP to deploy, which he deploys as per the scenario. On Turn 3 the Umpire make available a reserve formation of armour (1500AP) which arrives using mobile deployment from his own table edge, on Turn 5 the Umpires decide a small VDV airdrop is available to harass the enemy rear (750AP), airborne deployment on to any point on the table if player has full or partial air superiority. Original deployment zone if enemy has partial air superiority, no deployment if enemy has full air superiority [VDV force diverted to next table]. Contested air superiority results in the airdrop being delayed for one turn and review the result again.

Day Two: At the start of Day Two the Umpires decide a reserve formation of 1750AP (tanks and mechanised infantry) appears, mobile deployment from players own table edge. In Turn 3 a 500AP Spetsnaz recce formation is available, deploy via any placed ambush anywhere on the table, or flank deployment from any table edge. Use recce movement to deploy.

In this example there are no reinforcements for off-table assets but there could have been three Hind-E’s plus two FAC’s are made available to Player A’s Battlegroup.

In total Player A has 12500AP, but he has no idea what will turn up or when after the first 8000AP. 

I will post more information about the game once we have finalised the points totals, then we can start allocating players to tables. 

Many thanks

Richard P