"War in The Donbass 2014/15" Topic

A brave attempt by The volunteer separatist army of Novorossiya to push back the Ukrainian forces of the illegitimate Ukrainian neo-fascist ‘putschist regime' based in Kiev is thwarted. The Kiev-backed ‘western stooges' had more tanks and, frankly, and a better plan. The separatists made the school boy error of creating a congested road block on the road leading into the town making it difficult to deploy quickly. The Ukrainians used their advantage in tanks wisely. (You can probably tell from the commentary which side I was as on!)
Rules: Rapid Fire with club additions for Moderns.
Figures: 20mm; Mostly Elhiem and Under fire Miniatures
Vehicles: Mostly die cast kit – manufacturer unknown and S&S models

Separatists Occupy some buildings:

Ukrainian BMP2s cautiously move into town:

Separatist armour causing traffic jam:

A T80, T72 and some IFVs rumble down the high street:

A Ukrainian T80 identifies some targets:

Separatist advance is thwarted:

Nottingham Wargames Club

Very cool, but you forgot the chocolates:)
Cheers

I notice Debaltsevo and Kalinovko are written in the Russian way ;-)

Slightly worrying as the Ukrainian Kalinivka is a long way to the west, and the other one is about 11 km inside mainland Russia! :-D

How eagle eyed of you sir! These are 'representative' signs only to give a feel for the period/area. I imagine 'Kalinovka' could be a district or something like that. To be honest, these are all I could find on Google Image! Debalsevo is definitely in the Donbass though, rather than the Russian Federation.

Debaltseve was the location of a fairly major conflict last year: link

There are some distinct differences with the way letters are used that define them as Russian or Ukrainian.

A few more images from a re-fight of this scenario as we enjoyed the first encounter so much. This time a stalemate was eventually ground out. The Ukrainians made swift initial progress helped by some direct hits from off table BM27s but the tenacity of the Novorossiya Separatists ensured them an honourable draw by close of play. We are now pretty comfortable with our own simple amendments to Rapid Fire to provide Rapid Fire Modern rules. They work well in this scale and at this tactical level.

Reluctant Ukrainian Conscripts take up positions:

Ukrainian 'Uragans' (220mm rocket launchers) soften Separatist resolve:

KO'd targets in the centre of town:

Nottingham Wargames Club

Very Nice!

Lovely photos! Thanks for posting them.
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.

Fasicts? Stooges? Ok my sarcasm is broken is this a joke?

I'd always heard that sarcasm didn't cross the Atlantic too well…..This was meant as a bit of an fun pastiche/parody of Russian media outlets style of reporting. Please feel free to 'reverse the bias' in favour of the Kiev lot to get the full western CNN/Fox News effect. Happy gaming!

Your work on the Debalcevo sign is actually very impressive – especially the graffiti

Thanks for commenting Aristonicus. It's amazing what you can find on 'Google Image' nowadays. It's a real goldmine for the 'lazy, time-poor wargamer'! This sort of modern urban paraphernalia can help spice up the otherwise drab nature of a lot of modern battlefields.

It certainly adds local colour in a very cost effective way. Your work has inspired me to a bit of an image hunt:

This one is a bit more challenging:

Many thanks for the images Aristonicus! I'll definitely be printing out and using the Lugansk/Donestk one. Agreed, the Slavjansk one at the bottom is a bit tricky. cheers.

You could buy those stick on plastic letter and fix then to a strip, then paint and weather with victory DNR graffiti…