Cold War Gone Hot - Preview

While I'm waiting for the new rulebook and Road to Baghdad supplement to arrive I've noticed that Ambush Alley Games & Osprey will be releasing a Cold War Gone Hot companion book at the end of the year.

Piers has posted a few teaser pictures over on the AAG forum and the lead author Jim Roots has given a brief glimpse into what it's going to cover.

The book will have three main divisions:

1) The Cold War We Thought...this is a collection of essays, scenarios and stats for what we thought was going to happen. E.g., Fulda Gap, Soviet breakthroughs, etc.

2) The Cold War That Was...this is the same, only for what we know now. The declassification of documents on both side showed that the Soviet Union was a lot tougher on paper than in reality. Think, The Bear Went Over the Mountain applied to all theaters.

3) The Cold War of Hollywood. We all have our favorite movies and books...we're taking it one step further and writing scenarios in that vein.

The book will also have scenarios for all budgets. There will indeed be a few Piers "armor parks" scenarios, but there will be special ops, infantry slugfests and whatever other coolness we choose to throw in the book.

The Guild's Big Game this year will be another Cold War bash so there'll be plenty of more eye candy to tempt you before the release of the book, but I can't wait for this.

The book is available for pre-order over on Amazon...

French ad hoc Brigade

A small force of French to bolster the West Germans against the Warsaw Pact hordes

A French reinforced regiment of heavy armour and mechanised infantry



A tank squadron



Artillery Battery alongside CO



HQ with Air Defence and FAO



Mortar Carriers behind FAC



Mechanised infantry company



Air Defence with Support coming through



Flight of Mirages



Well-balanced, I shall have to come up with some scenario to get them into action - as the typical Cold war gone Hot setup doesn't include the French.

The Battle of Sahagun

As designed by Mr. Kinch over on Joy and Forgetfulness

As the climax of the Campaign of 1808 approached, the army of General Sir John Moore, 33,000 men strong, was advancing from Salamanca in the general direction of Burgos, intent upon surprising and all being well defeating in detail the dispersed forces of Marshal Soult, and thereafter creating a threat to the vital French lines of communication running from Bayonne through Burgos to Madrid, which Napoleon had recently occupied at the head of his Corps d'Armee.

Ahead of Moore's main body moved his screening light cavalry under command of the 40 year-old Henry Paget, Lt. General of Cavalry, who was described at about this time by his younger brother as "always at the head, and in the thick of everything that has been going on. He is, in this respect, quite a boy, and a cornet instead of a Lt General of Cavalry, but in every other he is the right hand of the army."
Some very nice background and accounts of the battle

With the element of surprise fast dissappearing and time running short Lord Paget made a characteristically bold decision and ordered a charge straight into the teeth of the enemy.

Initial skirmishing goes against the British, though they have forced some of the heavy cavalry back into the town



Fierce countercharge lead by Colonel Tascher continues their good fortune



Lancers lead by Debelle drive the hussars from the field



British sweep towards the ford, and a last ditch attempt by the French to turn the tide fails



We played this again, and despite a 'Cavalry Charge' drawn by the British, the French counterattack sweeps the tightly packed British squadrons from the field - the game lasts but a single turn!



A nicely balanced scenario, even though the initial handsize of the French has the potential to be disastrous.