Seven Days To The River Rhine: Vort gamle Danmark skal bestå!

Andy and I met up down BIG recently for an evening's 15mm Cold War action using Seven Days To The River Rhine (7DTTRR) and I realised I had not posted this report from a game earlier in the year which saw the blooding of my newly painted Danish armour... 

Against Andy's Soviet horde!

A Centurion Mk.V 2 DK takes up position in the village covering the road the Soviets would hopefully advance down...

Once they'd finished moving through the construction site.

The Centurion's hunkered down in the village with the M41 DK1's lurked in the woods hoping for some flank shots on unsuspecting T-64's...

The Danish plan started to unravel as the Soviets pushed across country, the lead T-64 spotting a M41 hiding behind some trees. The Soviet tank opened fire...

And unsurprisingly a hit saw the Danish light tank blow up!

Emboldened by this success the Soviet armour pushed forward...

The lead T-64 spotting a target in the village...

Its 125mm smoothbore D-81T cannon taking out one of the Centurions with a well aimed shot!

Another Soviet tank platoon arrived on the Danish left...

An M41 DK1 spotting the lead T-64 and firing its 76mm gun...

Despite the promises of the manufacturer the new so-called high performance APFSDS anti-tank round  bounced off the front armour of its target!

The Soviet tank returned fire at the M41 with predictable results... 

One of the Centurions spotted Soviet tanks working their way around the woods on the Danish right, the T-64's having destroyed a second M41...

And then the Centurion! This left the Danes with just two elderly Centurions to fight off the Soviet tank horde...

Fortunately Andy kindly leant me some US reinforcements, a platoon of M1's, the first of which arrived as the Danish armour was blowing up all around.

But would the Americans be in time? 

Another Centurion was destroyed as a T-64 caught it from behind after moving up the unprotected high street.

Sensing victory the Soviet tanks pushed forward...

A T-64 sneakily lining up for a flank shot at the M1!

Which it missed! The T-64 promptly ended up as a ball of flame as rounds from the M1 and the sole surviving Danish tank slammed into it!

Unfortunately the M1's attempts to hold the Danish right failed as two Soviet tanks in the woods fired at it, one inflicting a damaging Morale hit...

Which was then converted into a kill as another 125mm shell broke the crew's morale and they abandoned their tank!

The two Soviet platoons now started to advance into the village...

One T-64 taking sentry duty along the road to thwart any NATO reinforcements...

The view down the high street...

At last the cavalry arrived. The remaining three M1's joined the sole Danish survivor. Could they break out and destroy the Soviets?

Faced with the superior M1's, the Soviets on the Danish left opened fire...

And a lucky shot immediately took out one of the M1's!

Whilst the Soviets on the Danish left engaged the M1 and Centurion there but scored no hits.

Back on the right one of the M1's spotted the Soviet commander's T-64 in the open...

And despatched it with a 105mm shell!

However the Soviet advance was now relentless, both through the village...

And past the woods.

The M1's tried to staunch the tide but the last Danish tank took a damaging Morale hit...

Before another T-64, which had worked its way around the flank...

Blew the Danish commander's Centurion up!

Now in a hopeless the position the remaining M1's decided to get out of Dodge and the Soviets secured the village.

Well for the Danes that was a very chastening experience! True my force is not yet balanced and I'm sure when I add some TOW's and LAW equipped infantry the Soviets won't have such an easy time rolling across the green fields of Jutland, but even upgraded versions of second or third generation armour are not going to do that well against the frontline tank of the Warsaw Pact (if the M41's had problems with T54's in 1972, one should not expect them to be much better 15 years latter against a Soviet tank two generations on, for all that they look like baby Leopard tanks), so I might need to invest in a platoon of Leopard 1A3's...