"Small Ultra-Modern Ukraine Scenarios?" Topic

Has anyone got any interesting, small-scale (reinforced platoon to company sized actions) scenarios they've played, or are considering, for the Ultra-Modern Ukrainian Conflict?

Could be in Eastern Ukraine, around the hotspots there; Crimea; or a hypothetical assault/expansion to build that land-bridge to Crimea.

I'm thinking a platoon or three of APCs or IFVs, perhaps reinforced with a platoon of tanks for each side. Maybe just some infantry battles in more difficult terrain, e.g. woods, villages/towns, etc., as well.

Just looking to come up with a variety of small scenarios, to keep things interesting.

Of course, perhaps the liberal use of artillery and rockets, on call, in order to break up attacks, or suppress the defenders, in advance.

Found a bit of old microarmor the other day, including a few of those cute little BMD-1s, so thinking about giving it a go with some skirmishes in this scale. Been wanting to get some of those into battle for some time now.

Wish someone would make the BMD-1 in metal, in 1/144th scale.

Of course, feel free to recommend any good rules you're using for this conflict as well, especially those on the skirmish end of the scale.

Would love to see some pics too, and/or battle reports, if you have any of those to share, also.

We use Force on Force Mako for smaller platoon sized engagements.

You could easily play and asymmetric engagement with a Ukrainian side of mostly infantry supported by say 2 mortars and 2 AT-5 Spandrel launchers against a Russian supplied separatist column with 1 T-72's a BMP-2 and 2 BTR-60's with their associated infantry.

As for larger engagements we have used Cold War Commander in the past but just recently picked up the excellent Saber Squadron rules for company-battalion sized engagements.

For that just expand the sides some and give the Russians a breakthrough mission with the Ukrainians trying to hold them or vice versa. Perhaps Ukrainians trying to force back the Russian backed separatists from a town in the Donbass region.

Sides would maybe be a tank platoon on the attacking side with two platoons of mechanized infantry backed by mortars and or a single artillery battery and the defenders would have say a platoon or two of IFV's and infantry with ATGM's and mortars for support.

Hope this helped!

Isn't the fighting incredibly low intensity? Might be a good workout for any skirmish games at platoon level or even lower.

If you want to get nitty gritty, you could get as low as an infantry patrol rooting out a few detached shooters in a ruin somewhere, that sort of thing.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Yes, in some cases, apparently you are correct Weasel, though there were also some major pushes from time to time too.

I can see a squad or three of infantry for small skirmishes, backed up perhaps by some IFVs, or a tank, or three.

For larger battles though, I can see a company of infantry with some tanks and IFVs/APCs attached, for a bit more challenging scenario.

Seems like lots of little roadblocks being thrown up all over the place, protected by various units, so those could be good flashpoints too.

Might throw in some rules for "reliability", to see if a given team decides they have business elsewhere, when the bullets actually start flying.

Also consider Separatist light infantry ambushing columns of Ukrainian paramilitaries in unarmored (or makeshift-armored) vehicles. This seems pretty common. 1-2 squads of Separatists vs 5 vehicles carrying infantry, a mix of technicals, armored buses, and SUVs. Maybe throw in a BTR for the Ukrainians or something so it's not a turkey shoot.

Here's a couple of participants' accounts of some tactical actions in late January and early February this year:

SANZHARIVKA COMBAT AT 307.5 HIGH POINT AS DESCRIBED BY PARTICIPANT

FEB. 8, 2015. ‘LPR' TANK COMPANY DEFEATED NEAR NOVOHRYHORIVKA, AS TOLD BY ZENIT PLATOON STRONGPOINT COMMANDER YURII BREKHARIA

Good find Aristonicus, several scenarios there…….

Thanks for the suggestions. Those are some good ones.

The links are great too, for excellent insight into some of the fighting.

I'm really surprised the tanks can in some cases survive so many hits. That is really interesting, and a bit eye-opening.

Lots of missile failures too.