Brigade Commander Play test - version 0.05

For the record, I have the BEST wife in the world.  Over morning coffee, we played a quick game of Brigade Commander version 0.05.

Mrs. Tin Man had a small soviet force of 3 x T-72 companies, and 3 x BMP companies.  Their objective was to seize a town in a gap so that follow on forces could pass through.  I defended with a battalion task force consisting of 2 x M-1 companies and 2 x M-113 companies.

This is the debut of my infantry stands, although I need to flock them still.  I use them to indicate "ready" mechanized infantry or leg infantry.  I'll do some closeups and an explanation why I picked that unusual shape in a future post.

We played the rules as written, and I think the worked really well.  I am starting to get over my ATGM phobia and I think the rules as written handle it nicely.

My only rules recommendation is to update the assault combat factors to match Company Commander so Pinned units are at -1 and Damaged units at -2.

Here we see the Soviets rolling across the line of departure towards their objective.  Mrs. Tin Man rolled a Scurry for he first activation.

We had some significant exchanges of fire the first few turns, and I managed to knock out one of her T-72 companies.

And here I am rolling dice and placing disorder markers on my guys.  She was able to drive back one of my M-1 Companies and force the Infantry Company in the small wood to fall back.  

My wily opponent then occupied the wood with a BMP company...

 ... and began to pour fire into the infantry company occupying the town, damaging it ("Man Down" result")...

... which was then followed up by a close assault by another BMP company.

At this point the defender had lost 1 infantry company and the other was almost routed off the table, so it made sense for the American Battalion commander to fall back and set up a new defense or (more likely under AirLand Battle doctrine) regroup and counterattack the follow on forces from the flank as they move through the gap.

Mrs. Tin Man enjoyed the game and is up for another!  Once she got the "look for 1's or 6's" mechanic it was easy.  Going to try again this weekend with the bigger table and a full MRR in the assault.

All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

If you are not familiar with the rules, you can find the play test version on The Wargames Website here.