COLD WAR GONE HOT 1950s STYLE

Onward to Berlin

This was a massive Clash of Steel game. Call it Team Yankee Light since its only focus is on armor. My memory is there were close to one hundred tanks on the field. The goal was for the US to cross the board in force. I'm not sure what the number for "in force" meant, but by games end there were enough burning wrecks to build an aircraft carrier from the scrap. 

US Forces Enter the Table and Immediately Come Under Attack from a Soviet Flanking Force.  

The US Advancing Force Coming Under Fire. Only One Tank Bailed Out. 

On Turn One, The Flanking Soviets are Already in Control of an Objective. This is Crucial as Objectives are Scored Every Turn. 

The Blocking Force Soviets are Having a Poor Day, but not to Worry. There are Around Fifty More Tanks Backing These Up. 

The US Sends its Second Group to Deal with the Flanking Soviets. A Number of the Soviets are Burning, but Yup, there are Plenty More Soviets on the Way. 

Advancing Up the Road is Slow Because of the Need to Keep Killing Soviets. 

It's Not All Going the US Way as the Soviets Begin Knocking Out Tanks. More Importantly They are Still Controlling a Key Objective and Racking Up Points. 

At Just After the Midway Point in the Game and While the Soviets are Losing Lots of Armor There is Still Plenty Remaining. More Importantly They are Ahead on Victory Points at About a Two-to-One Ration. 

While This Looks Like a Lot of Burning Soviets, it is Still Less than Half. More Importantly What Remains is Their Best Armor. They are Also Keeping the US Away from the Objectives. 

A Few More Dead on Both Sides, but Still the Soviets Hang On to the Objective. The Points are Now Close to Three-to-One in the Soviet Favor. 

At This Point the US Advancing Force has About Had It. The Soviets are Now Advancing to Flank the US Tanks Still Fighting the Original Soviet Flanking Force. 

Game End and While There are Plenty of Burning Soviets There are Plenty More Advancing. Just Before the Game Ended the US Finally Finished Off the Soviets Flanking Force. I Lost Track of the Points, but the Soviets Were Ahead Three or Four to One. 

An overwhelming Soviet victory. It was the group's first time playing the rules, and especially the victory point scoring. The Soviet players did everything right, advancing at the double across the short side of the board to grab a two-point objective, taking loses as they advanced up the center to grab a single point objective, and entering on the flank that both slowed down the US advance, but critically captured another two-point objective. The US for its part only held two one-point objectives, so while the kill ratio was in the US favor the points, and therefore victory, were all on the Soviet side. 

I did enjoy myself as there is something to be said about just fighting tanks, but I do prefer combined arms in all my gaming. That said you can see my massed armor for this game in the first post of the blog, so...