BTRfan Fri May 10, 2013 5:36 am
I've been doing a fair amount of wargaming on the computer with the chosen platform being Steel Panthers Main Battle Tank [the entire game + all of the updates/patches can be obtained free online, I will link anybody who wants the link]. The graphics are minimal but the detail is amazing, they have excellent systems for armor values, front turret, front hull, side turret, side hull, top armor, rear armor, etc. The attention to minute detail is superb.
The infantry are also armed as they should be for any given period you select [the periods run 1946 to 2020]
Anyway, I set a battle in July 1980 just to do a test run and see how things would turn out. I played as the FRG defending against an assault by the DDR.
My force was comprised of 30 Leopard 2 tanks [basic version]and 30 MILAN teams. The DDR forces had 180 T-72 tanks [basic version] and 80 T-55 tanks, in addition to three platoons of infantry mounted in BMP-1s.
My forces were deployed in defensive positions on reasonably high ground [overlooking the flat terrain from which the DDR forces were approaching].
The end result was 241 tanks lost on the DDR side, no tanks lost on the FRG side.
I tried another battle with the DDR vs FRG, playing as FRG. This time I had 4 Leopard 1 tanks [A4 variant], 12 M48 tanks [highly upgraded version], 8 155mm artillery pieces, 3 infantry platoons, 8 medium machine guns deployed independently, and 12 MILAN teams deployed independently. The DDR had 2 infantry companies in BMPS, 80+ T-55s, 12 T-72s, and two batteries of BM-21s.
The end result was I lost 2 of my 4 Leopards, 8 of the M48s, about half of my infantry, but I managed to destroy all of the DDR T-72s, most of their T-55s, most of their BMPs, and I blunted their infantry offensive.
I then started a campaign that was built by the game designers. I take on the role of an American company commander with open war having begun with NATO vs Warsaw Pact. I have about 50 military police armed with M16 rifles, 50 infantrymen armed with M16s and M60s [standard infantry squads], a few jeeps, several Dragon ATGM teams, 6 M60A3 tanks, enough M113s to carry all of the infantry and the Dragon teams, and almost enough M113s to carry the MPs as well [about half of the MPs had to ride in a thin skinned truck]... Anyway, my task is to advance about 5-6 miles and secure the battalion's ammunition storage depot, with the warning that Soviet commandos might be operating in the area and might establish ambushes at key intersections on the way to the battalion's ammunition storage depot.
I'd say my advance was reasonable, I kept the tanks and APCs advancing in pace with each other, although I left two squads of MPs behind at the first major intersection where secondary roads came to meet the main paved road, just to cover the area. Once the first units reached the ammunition storage warehouses, the ambushes were sprung.
The company ultimately managed to kill about 28-30 of the Soviet commandos but the losses to the company amounted to one tank immobilized [human error, I was moving the mouse improperly and clicked it to move over a building instead of around the building, and the structure collapsed around it], one truck lost, one jeep lost, a company NCO lost, and about 15-20 personnel lost. Things would have been a lot worse if I hadn't brought up my tanks and used them in conjunction with the infantry that I tasked with assaulting the commandos.