Seven Days To The River Rhine: Vpered Tovarishchi! Na Lidl!

Catching up with November's games reports down BIG (I have been lucky and played a lot of games of late!), next up was a new period and a new set of rules - WWIII, the Cold War gone hot, with Great Escape Games' Seven Days To The River Rhine (7DTTRR). Andy and Kev played the corrupt capitalist West German and French forces respectively, whilst Jimmy with his Czech fraternal brothers, Chris with the mighty Soviet armour and myself commanding some Russian Airborne (VDV) attempted to liberate a decadent Lidl supermarket for the benefit of the workers in the Democratic Republic. Jimmy set out the 8' x 6' board which was very impressive...

Unsure of what forces the capitalists had in the area, Comrade Chris adopted a cautious approach with his T-64's making use of the woodland to cover his advance.

The first sight of the capitalists! A West German Spähpanzer Luchs moved through the car park...

Suddenly a French Gazelle popped up to take out the T-64's. My VDV fired a SAM and the French helicopter was sent crashing to the ground in flames!

Emboldened by the removal of the NATO air threat, the Russian tanks moved forward supported by the VDV in their BMD1 APC's.

Monsieur Kev moved two AMX-10 RC armoured cars on the NATO left flank...

As Fraternal Comrade Jimmy moved his Czech T-55 main battle tanks forward to the forest edge on the WarPac left.

Meanwhile Herr Andy's West German forces were settling into a local McDonald's to enjoy Der BigMac and deploy some troops...

Monsieur Kev then deployed two VCAC Mephistos (VAB AT variants carrying HOT anti-tank missiles) on the NATO right, firing at the Czechs...

Exploding one of the T-55's in a ball of fire!

French joy was short-lived as I deployed a Mil M-24 Hind...

Which blew up one of the French AFV's before retiring to safety.

Herr Andy moved his Luchs forward, trying to hide it behind an advertising billboard...

Which did not stop a shell from a T-64! Herr Andy also lost one of his Marder's to the unerringly accurate Soviet tank fire.

Meanwhile the VDV airborne infantry moved up into their centre with their Czech fraternal brothers deploying three BRDM-2's with AT-5 Spandrels mounted on top.

Comrade Chris maintained his position in the cover of the woods and targeted the capitalist forces when they appeared...

One 125mm round ploughing into an unfortunate AMX-10 RC which went boom!

Unfortunately things were not going all the way of the glorious forces of liberation, as a West German TOW team, having enjoyed their Der BigMac, blew up my VDV SO-120 self-propelled mortar carrier before it had a chance to wreak havoc on the NATO forces.

Encouraged by the sight of burning Soviet armour, even if it was rather small, Herr Andy ordered his Leopard 2 MBT into action...

Its shots hitting but not destroying two of the T-64's, only affecting their morale.

Ignoring the threat of the Leopard, the T-64's blew another French AMX-10 RC to pieces...

Whilst Herr Andy deployed another Luchs.

Bravely the Czech infantry advanced forward, crossing the autobahn.

As the NATO forces brought up an AMX-30 MBT to support the Leopard.

The brave Czech fraternal brother infantry came under fire from the enemy Luchs taking a hit to their Morale...

But bravely they stood their ground and fired an RPG round back at the scout vehicle, destroying it!

What is good for l'oie is good for le jars apparently and a French MILAN team targeted the Soviet armour...

Destroying one of the T-64's!

A French AMX-10 P then began to push forward to the WarPac left flank...

But found it guarded by a second platoon of mighty T-64's!

In the centre the VDV infantry followed the brave Czech infantry across the autobahn...

But unfortunately their BMD's were caught by enemy TOW fire from the McDonald's, destroying the VDV command vehicle!

The French then decided to go on the offensive, pushing two AMX-30's, supported by two AMX-10 RC's up behind the AMX-10 P.

Unfortunately for the AMX-10 P it was spotted by a T-64...

And a well aimed 125mm shell despatched it!

Despite that loss, Monsieur Kev decided to continue the French attack down the Soviet left...

Suddenly the Soviet Mil Mi-24 Hind popped up firing S-8 rockets at the French tanks...

The lead AMX-30 crew suffered a drop in morale as a rocket hit their tank but did not penetrate. Their colleagues behind were less lucky and they exploded in a ball of flame.

The respite for the lead AMX-30 was short lived as it was targeted by the T-64's on the Soviet flank...

The French main battle tank swiftly joining the rest of the burning French armour.

Seeing the destruction of the French armour, the Czech T-55's commanded by Fraternal Brother Jimmy decided to advance towards the capitalist prize of Lidl!

Unfortunately Herr Andy had two TOW sporting Marders on hand and the Bundeswehr launched their missiles...

One Czech T-55 exploded in flames...

Then a second...

Then the third! 

In a matter of moments two Marders had wiped out Fraternal Brother Jimmy's lead T-55 platoon! Fortunately as Comrade Lenin said "quantity had a quality all of its own" and Czech reinforcements were moving up behind the line of burning tanks.

Herr Andy's joy was to be short lived however, as the Mil Mi24 Hind returned to the battlefield...

It's S-8 rockets ripping the Leopard 2 apart!

Despairing at the loss of most of his main battle tanks, Monsieur Kev ordered his MILAN team to hunt down the enemy T-64's and the infantry team managed to get close to one and blow it up!

French fortune continued as an AMX-10 RC pushed past the burning AMX-30's...

It's 105mm gun blowing up a second Soviet tank!

One of the Czech BRDM-2's positioned itself on a hill giving it good lines of sight...

And one of its AT-5 Spandrel missiles despatched a lone AMX-30.

Sensing victory was at hand Fraternal Brother Jimmy advanced his second T-55 platoon past the burning wrecks of his first...

Their cannon fire taking out of of the German Marders.

The remaining T64's now also pushed forward...

Destroying the final French AMX-30!

At this stage we unfortunately ran out of time - and so, we decided, did the patience of Soviet High Command who tossed a tactical nuclear weapon at the Lidl's... ;-)

My first game of Seven Days to the River Rhine was very enjoyable, even if some of the nuances of the rules passed me by (I do like the way you can hand off the initiative to your opponent forcing them to react when they might not want to and saving your activations to see what they do). Whilst 15mm is not one of my favoured scales, I did enjoy the game so much I have now (as you have seen) started raising a small Cold War Danish force. Thanks to Jimmy, Andy, Kev and Chris for a great game.