"Cold War Commander Urban Combat question." Topic

I was wondering how well urban combat has been "modled" for lack of a better word in CWC. Or is it an afterthought and the game was mostly designed to reflect Soviet Tank Hordes rolling across the German plains?

Most of the after-action (in fact all!) reports I have read deal with open terrain battles. I was wondering how the game would deal with a Hue, Grozny, Fallujah combat type situation in built up areas? Thanks for any input.

Hi Uesugi,

I do not think it will really model urban combat in too much details.

CWC is more like "unit A covers flank, unit B occupies west of city" with some finer down level mechanism.

From the pictures I have seen on Grozny (which seems to be our common interest) it looks like there were very large avenues and block fighting rather than house to house fighting. CWC, in that perspective, may fit more or less in an abstracted way.

Depending on your scale, it can work really well. I recently played a Future War game where an armored force attempted to clear a town of local militia troops. We were playing low-tech forces which was very much like the battles you describe.

The game was 1:1 in 15mm with infantry squads on bases of 4-5 figures. The defender used Hidden Set-up and Ambushes. As the Attacker, I had no idea where his forces were and had to send recon elements ahead to flush them out. In the end, he sucked my tanks among the buildings and easily ambushed them from the flanks. A lot of armor was knocked by their Fall-back distance. The narrow streets meant they almost always came into contact with impassible terrain (a building) and therefore were destroyed. In the end, the rebels very successfully repelled the attack. I was amazed how realistic it felt were infantry are so much more mobile in an urban environment and can easily flak tanks that are trapped among narrow streets.

Here's a link to some photos from the game. I don't have the narrative written yet, but the pictures should give you an idea of the flow of the game. The grav tanks/green based infantry are the attackers and the wheeled forces/brown based infantry are the rebels.

link

"Here's a link to some photos from the game. I don't have the narrative written yet, but the pictures should give you an idea of the flow of the game. The grav tanks/green based infantry are the attackers and the wheeled forces/brown based infantry are the rebels."

That's a nice set up and I recognize those GZG vehicles. Pity some of them are not painted yet …

It could be done. I think it would be tough slugging – which I guess would accurately represent house to house, block to block fighting that takes place in urban areas. I've played games with small amounts of built up areas – like this one:

link

I can't say I've done any larger urban actions – but that's mostly because I haven't enough buildings to do so.

Mike- Thanks! Those images are from a couple weeks ago. Since then I've added a bunch of stowage (bits of plastic strips and balsa wood) and have primed/base coated the force in German Grey. Here's some updated photos:

link

Tim – Great battle report. Nice blog, too.

Nice work on the stowage!

I had a horrible experience taking my T-26 and BT's into Bulit Up Areas in my last BKC game, I feel it copes well with it on a grand scale.

For sniping from windows or potting the tank-commanders in the cuppola not so well perhaps.

Pat

In CWC if thetroops aretouching the building doesit meanthat they are in it?

It sounds a bit like Modern Spearhead, which as I recall largely ignored specialized rules for urban combat.

The addition of "Hidden Set-up and Ambushes" in CWC will go a long way towards catering to my needs. I look forward to reading it.

You might find more useful information on the official site at link which also has an excellent forum.

Henry
Battlegames

"In CWC if thetroops aretouching the building doesit meanthat they are in it?"

Well some might play that way… if their buildings are solid and they can't physically place their troops inside them.

I second the idea of going to the CWC from, they're a very friendly, helpful bunch and you'll probably get answers from the author himself within hours of posting a question.

Keep in mind that the rules are written for battlegroup actions. Stands are platoons. Formations are Battalions. You generally field Regiments/Brigades/Divisions. You CAN play it where a stand is a squad. But I think it was really written with the higher scale of action in mind.

At that scale some things have to be abstracted. Built up areas are basically treated as "area terrain". A building model on the table isn't really going to be a single building, it's going to be a block of buildings.

It is simple and fast-playing and I think it works just fine. I understand some people like more "detail", less abstraction – but I'd rather finish a game in an evening…

Hope that helps a bit.

Good to hear Tim
Thank you