June 6 saw the long-awaited OML3 Lardy games day hosted by the able boys of The Wyvern Wargames Club from near Evesham, Worcestershire. It featured some fantastic-looking games covering WW2, the Russo-Japanese War, the War of the Roses, the Sudan 1885, the Napoleonic War, Athurian and recent Afghanistan.

I put on two games of I Ain’t Been Nuked, Mum. The morning game concerned a Soviet tank company (T64Bs) supported by a motor rifle platoon, a recce platoon and some artillery attempting a breakthrough against a West German force of a Panzergrenadier platoon in Marders, a Heimatzschutzkommando platoon, a pair of Jaguars and a weakened panzer platoon (Leopard1A4) supported by some mortars.

Here's a shot of the table from the west

And another from the east

A close up of the village

And the supermarket

A further view of the village from the east

The Soviets started by hitting suspected German positions with artillery (which did little harm) and laying a smokescreen.

The Soviet force entered on Blinds

One Blind was quickly spotted and revealed as the Recce Platoon of 3 BRMs

The German Blinds were deployed to cover the whole front making use of available cover

The Soviet Recce advanced quickly along the road

...and surprised the Jaguars parked in the supermarket car park

The Heimatzschutzkommando platoon deployed off its Blind to fire at the advancing Soviets

The Soviet recce was caught in a crossfire between the Heimatzschutzkommando and Marders and the BRMs were knocked out. Their passengers had already dismounted and piled into the village.

Before succumbing to hail of 20mm rounds the leading BRM accounted for a Jaguar.

The Leopards had been deployed to the rear to make use of their mobility.

German infantry entered into a firefight across the road against the Soviet recce infantry that went on for the rest of the game.

A Soviet tank platoon advanced on the left through a cornfield

While another pushed into the village

A close range fight ensued between T64 and Leopard

With losses on both sides

The other Soviet tank platoon was held back to seek a gap in the defences

These Commies have no respect for property

By the end the Soviets were close to a breakthrough but had little left with which to exploit it.

Nick Overland