August 1, 1999
After Action Review
Scenario: The Mad General
Map 100
US: Scott Gainer
OPFOR: Riki Tikki
The following is a (loooong!) AAR following a recent game of the Mad General with Scott Gainer, a newcomer to the TacOps PBEM world. While this was Scott's first outing outside the Land of the AI, he is by no means uneducated in the tactics and weaponry of combat -- either in real life or in TacOps. While I admit I had a huge advantage in PBEM experience, particularly with this scenario, I feel Scott's superior knowledge base made him a quite worthy opponent in this game and I believe his thorough understanding of real-life combat tactics will continue to serve him well as he gains skill in the PBEM arena. Watch out for him!
This report is presented as a diary of our thoughts and observations as the battle unfolded, thus providing the reader with perhaps some valuable insights into the psychology of warfare as well as tactics. The first half of the game is quite detailed but entries (at least Scott's) begin to get briefer as the game progresses. A brief summary and "Lessons Learned" follows at the end of the diary portion.
U.S. Plan (Scott)
The Mad General
Pre-game considerations
I had never played a PBEM game before and thought that I'd like to give it a try. The Mad General looked like an interesting scenario so I emailed RikiTiki to see if he was interested in a game, he accepted, and I chose the US/NATO selecting the MEU, with the MI attachment and the pre-dawn parachute drop.
Forces available;
The MEU had the following units assigned:
27 AAV7 6 HMMV-HMG 4 LAV Mortar
20 LAV25 8 HMMV-AT 4 M1A2
8 HMMV-LMG 4 LAV-AT 6 HMMV MK19
27 Infantry squads(13) 18 7.62 MG(4) 18 SMAW
12 DRAGON 8 JAVELIN 8 Infnatry (4)
3 Pararecce 2 Sniper
9 81mm Mortar 3 60mm Mortar
MAG
12 CH 46 4 CH 53 4 AH1 5 FA18 sorties (+25%)
NGFS/Artillery
40 HE 3 ICM 10 Smoke (+5%)
The parachute recon option was selected with the thought that
should the general or the patrol units be in any of the larger
valleys, to the East, the longer lines of sight than provided
for in the 1km satellite photograph would allow for a larger search
area and provide a better chance of narrowing down the general's
location, as well as giving some warning of the location of the
patrol. The pararecons are also mobile and would permit them to
continue to search while the other forces moved accross the river
into hostile territory. The night landing option was selected
to reduce the probability of early neutralization of the recon
force, even though it provided only two, rather than three drop
points.
The mechanized infantry option was selected on the basis of three criteria:
The SAM-rich environment and limited covered flight lanes meant that a heliborne force would probably suffer early, heavy attrition. Consequently a strong ground element was deemed necessary to reach the General's location succesfully. During some initial tests I had hoped that flying the helicopters down roads in wooded areas would reduce the ability of SAMs to engage them, but that does not appear to be the case. The AAV7's superior swimming capacity reduced the dependence on bridges for crossing the river(s) and degraded the hostile ability to channel a crossing by covering a bridge with concentrated ATGM fire. Thus the AAV7-heavy MI unit seemed better for this scenario. The AAV7s appeared to have about the same level of survivability as the M60 tanks in the tank company with the added bonus of the onboard infantry to carry the fight, should the track be lost, and satisfying the capture requirements for the General. The indirect fire potential of the LAV Mortar carriers was an added bonus.
The initial set up was based on a number of different considerations:
What and where would the defense be? Due to the set up restrictions
a defense of the river bank seemed unlikely in that the requirement
of the patrol forces being gruuped at game start would force a
concentration of the mobile patrols in a fairly limited area,
rendering them vulnerable to indirect fire, and permitting a hold
and bypass strategy. Consequently a direct defense of the river
was a remote possibility and a mobile defense deemed more likely.
As a hedge against a river defense I decided to cross in three
places:
North group near the town vcty of 0305
Central group crosses the river in square 0202
Southern group crosses in grid square 0200
The crossings were made along a broad front by the swimming vehicles while those that required bridges crossed in the South, which proivided more bridges to cross. Hopefully some future iteration of TACOPS will have a provision for such engineer devices as bridging gear which would provide more options for non-swimming units (the LCAC and Mike boats that Major H has mentioned in the discussion group would make for some interesting changes, especially if some of the islands were converted to lakes).
Assuming that the defense would be conducted beyond the river the crossing groups were to be preceded by scouting screens of HMMV and LAV25 mounted troops with a mind towards blowing and defeating ambushes. While providing for a faster route of approach, the northern diagonal valley opening along the 0404 grid, was to be initially avoided due to it's longer sighting ranges for ATGM, a HMMV AT would be placed in the wood at 0305 to exploit the same situation.
Since the general's hq had to be in adjacent to a clear area
or along a road early scouting of sites matching these criteria
were vital. The large valley (which I now know is referred to
as "The Cauldron") complex just East of the river in
the southern portion of the map seemd like a good place to stage
out of and offered two bridges for crossing the non-swimming units.
This location also presented a large open area that would make
a good airhead, permitting dispersed Lzs, and a covered air corridor
once the woods were secured. As events later developed this was
also the area where the General's HQ was located, for largely
the same reasons that I had considered in choosing it as an airhead,
consequently there was a heavier defense in this area than originally
expected.
Once across the southern force would fan out from it's bridgeheads
and landing zones, sanitizing the crossing areas prior to the
movement of th main force, and neutralizing hostile scouts. The
ultimate initial goal was to secure the valley complex and immediatly
adjacent woods. In the event, the southern force was stalled by
rolling ambushes in the headlands adjacent to the river, and didn't
penetrate as fast as it should have. Had I stuck to the original
concept a quicker, though much more costly, advance to the General's
lair would have happened. This might have actually won the game.
The northern group was tasked with moving through the woods and
crossing into the forest and town at the North end of the river
valley. Once across they were to move through the wods along the
north edge of the main valley, investigate the clearing along
5 easting, and clear routes of ingress along the valley for any
follow-on forces. This group actually moved quite quickly and
would have done fairly well, if I hadn't penetrated too far East,
and quite possibly could have forced the northern valley (which
I think is the one referred to as the Devil's Fork in other AAR).
As it was, they had too many woods to penetrate to arrive in anythbing
approaching a timely manner.
The main force was held in staging areas in the wood below 3 northing
with an intent to move them forward once a preferred route of
approach and the general's HQ area were identified. If the general's
hq was not located within the inital 10 minutes of play the group
would then transit to the valley centered on 0502 Again this valey
was intended for use as a staging area and firebase for the prosecution
of later operations..
Scouting would be conducted by lines of HMMVs and LAV-25s, the
lines at right angles to the direction of movement and spaced
500m between lines. The theory here was to sweep areas identifying
clear paths as the lines went forward and to permit the isolation
and bypass of any hostiles encountered. Particularly in wooded
areas the hope was that the follow-on lines of scouts could remain
undetected while bypassing enemy positions to continue scouting
beyond them. The scouting forces were to be followed, also at
a 500m interval, by reinforcing columns of 2 - 4 LAV7 to provide
infantry to contain enemy umits.
Once the first FA-18 arrived at T+8 more heliborne scout units
would be launched, they and the fighters had two primary tasks:
locate the general through analysis of missile launches or direct
observation and ferry more scouting units to positions across
the river from which to search. Having many a/c up, at once was
also intended to dilute the SAM threat and enhance spotting.
FA-18 would arrive at 1 minute intervals for as long as a/c were
available to do so. This was, in part, based on the thought that
the General might have his SAMs set on rnage zero to defeat just
such an approach to determining his location. My reasoning was
that he would eventually have to risk firing or be subject to
either overflight and discovery, or allow free transport of scouting
forces around the map via helicopter with the same result. Massed
attacks of attack aircraft on particular localities would probably
have ben a better idea, as I somewhat overestimated the effectiveness
of SAMs against the jets, and the use of airpower against a better
opponant than the AI is something that I need to work on in the
future.
Artillery was initally used to lay down a smoke screen bisecting
the river valley, centered on the large town, I hoped this would
prevent the spys (see game description) from observing all of
the crossings. Likely positions for ambushes were and spotters
were shelled by mortars while tryiug to avoid such concentrations
of fire as to show where the troops were heading. As it turned
out I should have used more smoke to obscure my own movements
since OPFOR thermals were not as numerous as I had initially assumed.
I also undereutilized smoke to try to avoid masking observation
of SAM launches by my forces.
The General's Plan (Riki)
07:00
I have just received an unconfirmed report that an estimated battalion-sized U.S. force has penetrated our area of operations and is headed straight toward the mountains where my command post is located. The fools! Only a battalion? I have three armored brigades at my disposal, which, in just 70 minutes, will close in on them and rip them apart! Ahahahahahahahaha! [EVIL CACKLE]
It is incredible to me that the U.S. is even undertaking this mission. For one thing, the weather here in Bosnia has been terrible these last few days, which pleases me greatly -- no, not because I am mad, as people claim (those people are fools, of course, or dead!) -- but because this means my headquarters could not have been spotted by U.S. satellites. The other reason this mission is pure folly is that the terrain greatly favors the clever defender (ahem, such as myself... ahem...) who can stage hit-and-run ambushes. (In this terrain, the running is as important as the hitting, in order to prolong the lifespan of my meager garrison.)
Initial setup. The General is at the southern map edge in the lower right hand entrenchment at 058000.Click the map to see a larger area of the defensive setup.
Still, I do not want to take any chances, so I have chosen my headquarters location very carefully -- on an old goat trail all the way at the southernmost edge of the map, at UTM 058000. This location is far enough west that I will have time to mine two of the three bridges along the Bosna River, which should slow up the U.S. forces considerably. It also allows me to deploy as many troops as I want to the big town overlooking the river in the center of the map and pick off their vehicles as they try to wade across.
The core of my defense consists of 5 rifle platoons, made up of both regular and RPG infantry (I chose RPGs for their short-range anti-vehicle stopping power), 2 MGs and 2 Saxhorn ATGMs. Good for ambushing in the woods, but not very lethal beyond 1500 meters. I have a healthy air defense of 16 SAMs, a motor pool of 8 BTR90s and 12 trucks, and 6 82mm mortars for fire support.
Rather than use my war fund (an extra 400 points or so) to buy a lot of longer ranged ATGMs or BTR90s to make up for my shortfall in long range weapons, I thought I'd try something different. I decided to spend most of the fund on extra SAMs, the idea being to create a virtually impenetrable airspace and either wipe out a significant portion of the American recon and ground force assets while they are still in the air, or force them to make their drop-offs far away from my HQ, which will cost them time. The downside is that I won't have much in the way of stopping power once I am face to face with the U.S. ground element, especially in long range engagements. In fact, the only long range weapon I could afford to add were three AT-3s. However -- I have placed them in very key locations in and around the big river town where they will be able to cover a lot of territory and will hopefully get in some early kills before having to be pulled back. Even if the U.S. tries to circumvent the 2500 meter range of my AT-3s it will cause their overall advance to be further delayed. I had just enough time to dig 10 entrenchments, most of which are in rear areas to help protect my SAMs, because if my plan to deny the U.S. my airspace is going to work my SAMs have to survive. Also, entrenchments are places where caches of supplies (extra SAM missiles) can be stored. My remaining entrenchments are clustered together around the HQ so that even if the U.S. finds me it will take a lot of bloody fighting to get at me! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! [YES, THE CACKLE AGAIN].
Along the Cauldron (the big round valley in the south-central portion of the map) I placed several of my BTR90s to take advantage of their range (the outer rim of the valley is about 2 km. in diameter) and to act as a decoy. If U.S. special forces units are prowling around there, they will hopefully think the BTR90s are standing guard near the HQ. Another BTR and a truck are being deployed north of the canyon in the west where they will set up SAMs and ATGMs to pick off any U.S. approach trying to circle around to my north. Again, having units appear that far north may draw the U.S. off the scent in the south.
A good half of my infantry and most of my trucks are surrounding the HQ. This will be my reserve pool to send to hot spots as the situation dictates.
And finally, late last night I received a "secret shipment" of extra ICM which has got me rubbing my hands together, fiendishly. I could have ordered SAMs instead which would have left more of my war fund for better ground weapons, but the thrill of having some real clout with my artillery was so tempting I was willing to sacrifice things like BTRs and ATGMs to get it! Armed with this super-munition, I will be able to kill anything the U.S. has in its arsenal, including the vaunted M-1, which will blast the bloated pride of the Americans to shreds as surely as it will their tanks and their crews! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! [THIS IS A FIENDISH DIMENTED CACKLE, NOT TO BE CONFUSED BY THE SIMPLY DIMENTED CACKLE HEARD EARLIER].
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turn 1.
Cleverly landing one of the airborne recce teams in the middle
of a group of the general's defenses I have at least ascertained
the position of a ZSU-4 and a couple of BMP in entrenchments,
albieit at the cost of the recon team. They appear to have taken
a SAM team with them though. It would appear that the general
is near the valley I chose as my forward assembly area and fire
base. A chnage in strategy is called for which is probably going
to involve a left flanking movement near the big valley, I wold
imagine that the approaches along the tree line ar mined so a
I'll try extending East through the woods in the North while holding
him in the South. Already an ATGM has been sighted in the woodline
across the river so suppression by indirect fire while I move
some spotters into the town to the South
The town near the North bridgehead has a BMP sqad in it, probably
to cover the bridgehead and possibly as counter recon, suppression
with mortar fire will be tried then a hold and bypass attempt.
Have had one shot at a helo by SAMs already and expect more soon.
Turn 2.
Had the helos unload their scout teams and book for the rear.
The team near the central city was quickly lost to ground fire.
The team at the southern crossing lost their HMMV but bailed out
and have spotted several enemy units surrounding the proposed
LZ. It's a good thing that I didn't follow my original instincts
and try for a cavalry charge-type crossing by airlift. Dropping
a large laod of troops into the LZ would have been bad since it
is in a wooded cul-de-sac.
Will try to establish a safe air corridor, probably to the North,
and it looks like I'll have to clear the central city.
First impressions are that the general may be in the wood within
the central valley originally thought to be a good LZ/FB area.
This is based on the concnetrations of enemy troops already encountered.
There seem to be too many too close to the wood for them to be
deployed members of the mobile patrol as it is set-up in the rules
for startex.
Turn 3.
Mostly repositioning forces for a movement to contact and deliberate
assault of the central city.
Will co-ordinate the next major air phase with the arrival of
the first airstrikes. Too bad that there's no provision for SEAD
in the game.
Mental note: be sure to send both turns to you're opponant.
Turn 4.
The general seems to object to helicopters, his people keep shooting
at them. It's beggining to look like a deliberate defense along
the East side of the valley, from the city South. I keep receiving
fire from all along this area and am trying to attrite the SAM
teams with mortar fire. Most hostile indirect fire is arond the
bridge in the center of the valley. I'm not sure whether he thinks
this is where the main crossing will be (it would have been if
the river had been undefended) or if it is a misdirection. We'll
put some infantry into the hills near the island below the bridge
and see what we can see. Got air reinforcements, an AV-8 flight,
will send it in with the second strike wave. I think I'm going
to send the planes in in pairs, this will keep the pressure up,
hopefully attrite some of his missiles and maybe bag some units.
I like playingh against a human opponant, so far, simply because
there are deceptioons and mistakes in play that don't appear with
the AI.
Turn 5.
Resistance along the treeline between the city and the South border
of the map is increasing, lending credence to the possibility
that the general is in or near the wood in the large open valley
beyond the river. So far most of the ATGM and SAM fire has come
from this arrea. There has been some fire from the town near the
North end of the valley
recon and probeing units are moving into the woods near there
with the intention of determining if this is actally a resistance
node or a large scale OP/LP.
General's Diary (Riki)
07:00 - 07:05
A U.S. special forces team has been spotted at 07:01 at the east edge of the Cauldron -- just a meter or two away from one of my entrenched SAM! My SAM trooper fired on the paras, then quickly ducked inside a nearby BTR. The BTR moved in for the kill, but now the paras have disappeared! Where did they go??? A minute later a US transport helo is shot down by another SAM as it attempted to cross the river near the big town, but another helo manages to drop off a hummer at the draw in the far south. My forward-deployed defenders successfully kill the hummer, but now there's an infantry scout hiding in the wreckage I'd like to eliminate, if I can, lest it report back on my movements there and call down artillery fire.
At 07:04 I receive two interesting pieces of intel. First, 4 SAM teams report firing at two Cobras far to the west in the middle-south portion of the map. I am disappointed they did not bring them down but the report that they are Cobras tells me what kind of force I'm dealing with -- Marines. Less lethal APCs than the Army (AAVs, not Bradleys) and better air support (which I have prepared for with my strong air defense). Given my choice of defense, this matchup looks to be in my favor.
Then my intelligence officer tells me he received a radio intercept, from a U.S. colonel...
"Hmmm... lots of activity to the South, wonder what it
means?"
I'm not sure if the enemy colonel was referring to the shooting going on at the south draw or the sightings his specwar operatives may have made along the southern edge of the cauldron, but I must assume the jig is up -- the U.S. knows I'm hiding somewhere in the south. I send a truck from the HQ area with two RPG teams forward to the southern draw to reinforce that area.
U.S. (Scott)
Turn 6.
Continueing to reshuffle forces to exploit whatever the probing
units come up with. First airstrikes are due soon and I will need
to organize the helos to exploit their presence. I am alternating
between adjusting fire and fire for effect to conserve ammnition
for my mortars.
Something like a scissors bridge would be really nice for facilitating
the movement of troops acroos the river that bisects my lines.
Sofar losses are 2-HMMV/LMG and the recon team that landed in
the General's lines.
Turn 7.
Continueing to move units to their jumping-off points, waiting
for the air strikes.
Turn 8.
Lost 1 strike and an H46 to SAMs, but the dilution strategy seems
to be working. Appears to be a correlary on the effectiveness
of setting the helos for evasive action and the length of the
line of sight to the launcher.
Turn 9.
The BTR90 group to the North is appearing more and more like an
OP/LP, the Cobras cleaned up on them, artillery is following up
on the dismounts.
Turn 10.
Lost a cobra to an SA16 from a range of 2,000m, this was the same
ac that had been shot at, and missed, about 5 times already.
General's Diary (Riki)
07:10
For several minutes it has become strangely quiet. I have surmised that the U.S. must be staging some sort of massive air-drop armada which they will launch somewhere in the southern region eventually, but perhaps they are waiting for more recon results from their Harriers. My intelligence officer tells me it takes 8+ minutes for their Harrier jets to respond to a call for an air strike, so assuming they were ordered in at the beginning of the attack, at 7:08 I will stop all movement, which will hopefully lessen the chance of being spotted from the air. My BTR patrol in the big town up north (near the river) takes out a hummer approaching the river, and suddenly the Cobras are pouncing on it -- all misses, thankfully! (But again my SAMs miss the Cobras! Arghhh!!!) At 07:09 only one Harrier appears -- directly over my BTR patrol and -- Yessss!!! -- a SAM team at Devil's Fork shoots it down! Give that team a medal! What a great day for the Republika Srpska! I am told that the peasants in the north town are dancing on the wing of the downed Harrier. I figure that BTR's luck has probably just about run out, so I order it to pull back before an artillery barrage hits -- I just hope they don't get picked off by the Cobras as they do so, however.
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turn 11.
Units continue to move to their jumping off points. Lost the southern
scout team.
Turn 12.
Preparing a barrage against the central city. A smoke has been
dropped form a 152 between the isolated ridgeline East of the
plateau on my side, and the towns near the plateau. Riki may not
be aware that I have spotters all along the area, so the smoke
doesn't appear to be accomplishing much. It will be interesting
to find out what the reasoning behind this one is.
The northern group is beginning it's crossing while the central
and southern groups head for their lines of departure.
I'm hoping to co-ordinate the next cycle of air strikes with a
vertical envelopment. However I want to preserve the bulk of my
airlift for the end game, when I may need them to take the general.
Turn 13.
Helos have spotted another SAM.
Turn 14.
About ready to jump-off for the northern river crossing
Turn 15.
Resistance in the town , to the North, is light. I suspect the
AH1 hit on the BTR 90s attrited a lot of the force there. This
appears, from the equipment list, to be the mobile patrol unit.
It looks as if all their vehicles are down. I'll try and finsih
what's left with infantry, holding lAPC in overwatch.
Forces proceeding across the river nicely, in the North, opposition
minimal, sofar.
Airstrikes are providing a better picture of the defenses behind
the river., there appears to be a node of ATGMs centered on 0301,
which explains the use of smoke. It looks like the idea was to
engage my forces, through the smoke, in the manner most players
use against OPFOR in the solitaire games.
Also looks as if he's moving forces to reinforce the area around
the city: trucks spotted going that way (possibly also a loglift,
per the rules)
General's Diary (Riki)
07:15
Argh!!! So of course that's exactly what happens! And I planned that retreat so carefully! Now I realize what happened: I had dismounted a pair of SAMs that had just arrived at their firing position north of Devil's Fork, which I assumed would protect my BTRs during their retreat, or at least exact revenge. (Most of my other SAMs were reloading after 2 airstrikes a minute earlier). But I found out later that these SAM's firing ranges were set to zero! (I started the game with all units' range at zero so that I could control fires individually by opening their ranges as needed. I must have forgotten about re-opening the range for this particular SAM team because they were mounted on a BTR so I didn't see them on the map at the time!!!) Of course, I cannot take the blame for this, so I will have my senior operations officer flogged at sunup tomorrow for this egregious offense! <g> At any rate the BTR platoon is being mercilessly destroyed by the 2 Cobras, with only a few infantry remnants clinging to the north town. Meanwhile, reports show AAV7s and LAVs approaching the river in the far north and more AAV7s on the plateau due west of the river town. My AT-4 in the south of the river town has killed the first AAV7 and must now be moved to avoid artillery. From their good vantage point the AT-4s are able to see several LAVs in the north and AAV7s in the middle southern region, moving across the plateau. Ahhhh! another two Cobras have been shot down, one in the south and one in the middle area! This alone will cost the U.S. dearly, and will bring me that much closer to humiliating their efforts in front of the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! [EVIL CACKLE RETURNS].
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turn 16.
Lost a cople of APC in the crossing, to the South, things moving
well to the North, bot don't want to sit still too long and become
a target for artillery. Need to get the people off the ridgeline
South of the city soon, before they start getting hammered, too.
I suspect that this has been used as a jumping-off point in many
of the test games.
Turns 17 & 18.
Lost a number of tracks in the river crossing. Probably should
have built up a fire support base in the isolated ridgeline by
the river to suppress the ATGM. Although given the amount of smoke
I'm dealing with, that may not have done much. Judging from the
size of the smoke screens that are appearing I suspect that Riki
has divided his mortars into individual tubes, rather than firing
them as batteries or sections.
Presently moving units to new locations for the next assault/crossing
phase.
The group to the North seeems to be progressing well, even with
the loss of a couple of vehicles. He may be moving troops into
the area using trucks beyond the 4,000m visual range, but it's
still too hot to send helos in for a recce.. Hopefully the northern
group will be able to manuver around the defenses. Once the infantry
in the town, up there, has been eleiminated I may try to helilift
the remaining HMMV and LAV25 up there while pressing in with the
AAV froom the center.
Turns 19 & 20.
Seem to be getting the upper hand near the isolated ridge, can't
tell if his ATGMs are killed, suppressed, evacuated or out of
ammunition. Will try to get HMMV across the river to test his
defenses then follow up with AAV/LAV in waves. Next airstrikes
due soon. Been fortunate, so far with additional air, air reinforcement
seems to slow down in mid game: game device or statistical quirk?
Happens in most solo games, as well, but air strike availability
does seem to slow down every 20mins or so.
See U.S. planning map (Turn 15)
General's Diary (Riki)
07:20
I have directed my artillery to a TRP in the far north where a number of AAVs are now crossing the river. The AAVs are spread out enough so that ICM will not cause a lot of massive destruction. A minute later I spot several AAVs moving south behind the little drumlin [02025], I assume on their way to make a big push in the south. I decide to keep the artillery up north for now and let my mortars deal with the southern advance. I also decide to take a chance and move two trucks full of infantry and ATGMs out to the very end of the southernmost strip of land where they can pick off U.S. units as they attempt to cross the river. The danger here is that these troops can very quickly be stranded and killed by arty if they lose their truck transports, in which case I have just weakened my inner defense for the sake of a few kills. I must be careful to keep my trucks alive and pull my units back before enemy artillery can zero in. Sure enough, I get some kills of AAV7s, and my ever-alert air defense fends off *two* airstrikes from hitting my trucks. Time to reposition the ATGMs -- but an AAV has just killed my one remaining nearby truck. I will have to recruit another one to send forward and conduct a daring rescue operation -- hopefully before any U.S. helos show up. Speaking of helos, enemy artillery and rockets from Cobras are succeeding in killing off a piece of my air defense near the river town, but my forces to the north are successfully killing or delaying and harrassing the LAVs, LAV-ATs and dismounted infantry that have made it across the river. I note that several AAVs have skirted the far northern map edge unscathed, however, and make a note to watch out for their reappearance somewhere along the north side of the main east-west valley.
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turns 21 & 22.
Finally beating down the mobile patrol's infantry, with some loss,
mostly vehicles. The left hook through the forest is proceeding
well, probably should've committed more forces here to begin with.
Need to work more on timing operations and co-ordinating overwatches.
Ran across mines on the southernmost bridge, wondered where they
would be, on the plus side this helps localize the general (assuming
these aren't some good deal purchase item that doesn't fall under
the distance rules). It's looking more and more like he's in the
big valley I had originally chosen as a fwd ralley point/fre base.
Question now is: Which part? he could be in the South end near
my original line of advance, which would explain why the infantry
and missile teams are so thick there. S;potted a large concnetration
of entrenched vehicles, including a ZSU in the NE corner of the
valley at startex, he could be there, which is the furthest point
from which a minefield could be planted, or this could be misdirection
and he is infact in the South end.. If all the bridges are mined
getting the tanks across could become problematic.
Picked up a trailwatcher team near the village in 0700, probably
dropped off by truck from the original lines at startex. If I
could have gotten helos past the SAMs it would have made an attractive
LZ. Too bad flying the helicopters down the roads, in forest,
doesn't provide masking. That would be a good way to evade SAMs
(real world tactic, btw).
Depending on how many additional units got purchased we should
be starting to attrite his defenses.
Turns 23 & 24.
Air strike cycles revealed fewer SAM shots, either they are running
out of missiles or were in the process of being moved that turn,
this is the least interference air has had in the game. Hoping
for more strikes to come up soon, haven't had a recycle in awhile,
will want them for the final push into the valley. Second strike
bagged a truck and possibly the ATGM that was with it, whether
retrograding or resupplying is unsure, if they are still there
we'll soon see as the troops eneter town.
Don't know if the opposition is hunting the recon team off to
the East. I'm pretty sure they were spotted. Have to wait to see
if they have the resources left to engage them or not. The helo
lift has been uneventful sofar, which leaves me braced for an
artillery barrage or something of the sort, umlike Riki to let
them go unmolested.
First track is across the river to the South and another in front
of the central city, no mines yet so I'm waiting to see what is
coming. Pins and needles time, bound to be some response as there
are a number of BTR90s unnaccounted for, probably 6 - 8. If possible
I will send infantry back to check the bridge, if it is safe the
M1s come across there, and the way in wil be much faster.
The infantry, overwatched by the tracks, appear to be taking the
hill behind the town in the North, I need to improve my skills
at overwatching and supporting attacks. Once it is secure I will
start landing the helos there.
See U.S. planning map (Turn 24)
General's Diary (Riki)
07:25
My rescue at the southern peninsula succeeds in retrieving 2 Saxhorns and an infantry team, but arrives too late to help a doomed AT-4. They withdraw just in time before a huge barrage of artillery and mortar hits the western edge of the woodline. They take up new positions in the tiny clearing at the bulge of the peninsula [032008], ready to turn it into a death zone in case the U.S. uses it as an LZ to drop off troops. My air defense is massing fires at each U.S. air strike, which are being launched individually, thank God. But the air strikes along with the Cobra attacks have killed all but one truck in the big river town and I'm now down to a single AT-4 and an infantry team there. I decide to reinforce the town by sending a BTR90 from the eastern Cauldron area along with a mobile ZSU. Up north there's a lot of enemy activity -- AAV7s, CH-47s, all moving along the northern map edge, with the AAVs killing off most of the remaining dismounts from the BTR platoon I had stationed there. Hmm. How odd! A smoke grenade was reported by my spy in the far southeastern corner of the map. Must be another special ops unit, but why did it announce its position like that? (Is it trying to move across the open terrain? Or is it a PSYOPS maneuver, designed to get me to divert forces to the rear?) Akk! A Cobra far to the west picks off my reinforcing BTR en route to the river town (but then misses the ZSU). Looks like I'm going to lose control of the town very soon. Worse, I'm going to lose my eyes on the enemy along the river valley altogether.
 |
Southern peninsula defense. The AT-4 and AT-7 (underneath the infantry team just north of the AT-4) did a great job of keeping the U.S. pinned down in the South. A rescue truck, which is now in the little clearing 300 meters away, failed to get there in time to save both ATGMs from incoming arty. |
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turns 25 through 51 .
This sequence was marked mostly by dealing with ambushes and mines,
in the South, while exploiting the breach, in the North, and advancing
to overwatch positions along the big East-West valley.
I need to develop a methodology for dealing with these ambushes
as they are very costly to the tracks. My original concept of
using HMMVs to screen the advances would probably have worked
well, in the future I need to husband the HMMVs for screen work
once in the woods, but they got pretty heavily attrited in the
early moves.
Organisation error that is now pretty obvious is the need to avoid
placing the ATGM teams in the van tracks while in wooded areas
This is particularly true of the Javelins which are better empl;oyed
in an overwatch capacity on the edges of open country. Dragons
seem better suited to defensive ambushes than to assault. In replaying
this game I think I would have used the Dragons for observers
rather than the scout teams as the Dragons have thermal sights
and are ill suited to close-country assaults.. I would also organise
the Javelins and about half the machine guns into vehicle killer
teams deployed from the LAV25s and held back until the intial
safe lanes of advance had been established or airlift routes secured
for the H53s.
Towards the beginning of this cycle analysis of the minefields
tended to support the liklihood that the General was in the South
of the big square valley. This was supported by the sudden appearance
of ADA and APC along the southern treeline.
Pretty much the whole of the force was across the river (Bosna?)
by now and advancig, with varying degrees of success, along several
different axis. Least resistance was encountered to by the groups
in the northern woods further reinforcing the growing beleif that
the General was somewhere to the South.
General's Diary (Riki)
07:30
AAVs are now crossing the river just to the west of the river town as well as down south. One stumbles into my infantry team in the town, but there's not much I can do about the others in that area. In the south, however, I am causing a lot of destruction, as my Saxhorn picks off an AAV and a LAV while an RPG unit kills a transport helo as it is about to unload troops. I swing my mortar and artillery down there to put an end to those dismounts. Stupidly, however, I left my arty on smoke over the town on the west side of the river and keep forgetting to order it to drop HE on the vehicles as they cross. My AT-3 kills an AAV headed toward the draw west of the big drumlin (NE of the river loop) before being killed by mortars. An M-1 is seen firing on my infantry in that town from the west side of the river. I am now especially glad that I mined those bridges in the south!
07:35
The U.S. attack seems to be losing momentum, thankfully. My machine gunner and infantry in the far south are fending off the hummers and helo-delivered ground troops down there without too much difficulty, though there's not much I can do about the flow of AAVs and LAVs I see crossing the river just southwest of the river town now that my AT-3 is gone. I am also aware that a significant number of AAVs and LAVs crossed in the far north, but at least they will take a long time to reach my command post and they will also have to cross the main east-west ravine where I have two strong ambush positions set up: a pair of Saxhorns in the northwest corridor and a BTR90 and more Saxhorns at Devil's Fork. Anything that tries to cross between those two points is dead. For a moment my confidence is shaken, however, when an air strike zeroes in on my Devils Fork stronghold, but thanks to my ridiculously strong AD the bombs once again miss their mark.
07:40
The U.S. is now trickling across the river in a spread-out fashion all along the length of the north-south valley, but not in very large numbers. I am getting in an occasional kill here and there, mostly in the southern region where my defenses are strongest, so I am continuing to bleed him slowly. AAVs are now finally entering the woods in the southern two peninsulas but I am able to ambush and stall them in both of them. All of this is good news, because the clock is beginning to play a role. In 30 more minutes, my armored brigades will arrive and I will be safe. And I have yet to see hide nor hair of those forces that crossed in the north earlier. Meanwhile, I'm having some fun pummeling a 60mm mortar team that I spotted across the river. Hopefully I can kill all or some of them off before they are picked up and rescued. An RPG team that I left stranded west of the tiny clearing in the southernmost peninsula continues to singlehandedly hold off a moderate sized U.S. advance there as it kills AAVs and my mortar pounds the dismounts. This gives me time to set up a more sturdy line of defense a couple of hundred meters to the east. In the meantime, I am informed that two MiG-27s have managed to slip past NATO air cover and can be in the area within 4 minutes. I decide to wait for just the right moment...
07:45
The fighting is getting more intense in the south and middle areas, as another tentacle of the U.S. approaches through the second-from-the-bottom peninsula while another appears north of the river town. The advance in the southern two peninsulas has been stalled by my handful of infantry which were positioned exactly right to meet their advance. Now I am beginning to spot AAVs north of the main east-west ravine, where I am hoping to kill units as they try to cross southward. One of my trucks carrying ATGMs made a risky trip from Devils Fork to the town in the middle of the valley for a better firing position and while the ATGM has caused some destruction enemy artillery is now zeroing in. Time to make my escape from there. Whoa! Another air strike over Devils Fork, just as my truck was moving through there -- but once again my air defense wards off the attack and my truck and Saxhorns are safe. More and more I'm seeing that having a strong air defense really pays off.
07:50
Well, it took awhile but the northern force is finally showing itself. A swarm of LAVs have appeared on both sides of the main ravine, most of which are ganging up on my Saxhorns on a peninsula in the northwest passage. Looks like they will be toast soon. One LAV popped up all the way east at 067035 and took out my BTR near Devils Fork. Suppression is now the problem, and my front-to-back ATGM defense is not as lethal as I would have hoped. The southern advance has finally pushed passed my 1 defender and is now entangled with my stronger defense 200 meters west, which is holding up admirably. An airstrike threatens to kill off its trucks and prevent its ability to escape arty, but once again my air defense comes to the rescue and the two trucks are safe. By 7:50 my Saxhorns and SAM in the northwest passage are dead, though a lone machine gunner on the north side of the ravine, while not getting in any kills, is drawing a lot of fire and thereby helping to delay the advance of this northern force. If I can delay them enough, they will soon be made irrelevant.
U.S. Commander's Diary (Scott)
Turns 52 through 70: endgame.
Encountering very limited defenses in the North, probably shouldn't
have bothered with this route of advance, and concnetrated everything
in the center. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! Killed a few units
in the woods along the North edge of the southern valley, but
nothing to speak of up here, and most of the activity seems centered
around the southwest.
Keep running into the rollong ambushes down there, and though
I'm having success breaking them now, they have slowed this operation
down considerably (fatally, as it turned out). Finally developed
a technique for dealing with these: hold them with the infantry
units that first enciunter them, bypass with other infantry or
vehicles, and hit them with either overwatches or flanking movements.
Unfortunately I figured this out after the tracks and other vehicles
in the southern zone were too badly attrited to exploit this much.
Should've divided the forces with more bias towards the southern/central
forces.
Finally broke through the edge of the valley along the NW and
N edges and have met with a lot of resistance from the South.
Between this and a look at the pattern of mines I have encountered
I am virtually certain that the General is somewhere between 5
and 6 easting along the South edge. Fortunately I have concerved
enough of my airlift to attempt a vertical envelopment and will
start airlanding troops at the points where a couple of roads
enter the woods from the valley, in this area, as I imagine the
General will be along one of them per the rules. Meanwhile I will
try to develop a base of supporting fire from the North side of
the valley and the small plain in the SW.
The helos have landed the infantry along the wood in the South,
but with the loss of most of the a/c, and resistance is heavy.
Inclusion of the Dragon teams with the assault units has payed
off as they can continue to fire against the enemy even in smoke.
Bagged another BTR and lost the last of the Cobras, one to hostile
air (I had forgotten that these showed up in the last ten turns)
and one to ground fire.
It now appears that the units to the North are too far away to
provide anything but long range support and continued airlanding
is the only, if distant hope, of aking the objective.
As resistance mounts I am confident that I am working the right
area, now, but it is probably too late.
Time runs out while I advance into what later turns out to be
the General's lair.
General's Diary (Riki)
07:55
A tank and an AAV have now appeared north of the east-west ravine and have taken out my truck which was to provide my Devils Fork team with an escape route. Now they will ihave to die in place in the name of the new Bosnian-Serb republic! The Saxhorns, which were dismounted at the time the truck was destroyed, are now moving on foot into the woods near the tip of the Fork. I moved a BTR into the area from the Cauldron but it was quickly taken out by a hummer-AT that just appeared. The U.S. is beginning to use its superior numbers and firepower to good effect, it seems, though at 7:51 they may not be able to reach my command post in time. I see, however, that these units are ducking east, into the woods, not south across the ravine (which they could now easily do without too many losses). Good, more time lost for them! At 7:53 I see 2 AAVs and 2 LAVs (1 AT variety) crossing the valley at 075-080 easting, near the highway town. My defense in the southern peninsula continues to hold.
08:00
The US thrust that was seen going north of the river town has now finally begun to show up along the north side of the Cauldron, where at first there is an exchange of fire -- and losses -- with my BTRs along the eastern side. More enemy units are beginning to appear, however, and the U.S. now has the upper hand in these exchanges (I get off one shot and *maybe* get 1 kill, the others all gang up, end of defending unit.) An air strike (yes! Another one!) finally kills my truck in the peninsula south of the town, marooning my troops there, but my defense in the southernmost peninsula is still intact and keeping the U.S. at bay. My spy in the little village in the northwest passage (055040) has just been ferretted out and killed, and with him goes my last pair of eyes in the east-west ravine. But with only 10 minutes left, I do not fear any units this far north anyway, so no matter.
08:05
The defense at Devils Fork is not yet vanquished. The ATGMs that were stranded by the destroyed truck have now ducked into the woods and have killed an AAV and at least 2 hummers as they attempted to pass through the southern valley. At 8:02 my two aircraft arrive, one of which locates and destroys a Cobra in the northwest passage! (I am dying to know what the U.S. attrition figure is up to at this poin!) The other attacked a transport helo but came under machine gun fire and missed.
08:10
The U.S. forces at Devils fork turn out to be quite significant -- apparently it is the bulk of the forces that originally crossed the river in the far north and looped all the way around to a third of the way east along the long strip of woods east of the Fork. At least 2 tanks are among them and I am able to kill one of them with ICM! Ahahahahahahahaha!!!! (YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT ABOUT THE CACKLE, DID YOU?) All of this is merely a sideshow, though, because they are already too far away to attack my command post. The only threat that is even within 1 km. of my HQ is a group of helo-deployed troops which a few minutes ago dropped a large group of infantry on the southern ridge of the Cauldron. Lots of helos die in the attempt to land troops, and the dismounts come under immediate fire from my infantry firing from the treeline. A Cobra is shot down as well, the last of four. The closest gunfire is at least 500 meters away from my HQ at the moment that the first of my armored brigades radios that they are entering the sector. The U.S. will no doubt leave as quickly as possible now or be trapped.
I immediately put out a message on international frequencies saying that I will allow the Marines safe passage to their base near Sarajevo under the condition that in one hour's time the U.S. President announces that his government recognizes the sovereignty of the new Republika Serpska, led by me. I must now hurry and prepare my victory speech for the television cameras, which are just now setting up. Today, Republika Serpska, tomorrow... the *world!!!* Ahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! (THE GENERAL ALWAYS EXITS WITH HIS TRADEMARK CACKLE).
Turn 70. Scott makes his final assault on the General's compound.
Summary & Lessons Learned (Scott)
Conclusions and analysis.
I have discovered that I much prefer playing PBEM to solitaire;
the inventiveness and flexibility of another mind make for a far
more interesting game (although I confess to missing the "circle
the wagons" response that the AI sometimes displays: the
units running around in a circular pattern for no apparent reason).
Another person doesn't have the single-minded adherence to a set
plan that the AI often exhibits (maybe when we all have gigahertz
processors, terrabyte harddrives and terrabyte RAM we will be
able to have near human Ais, without built in cheats, but I suspect
they'd be a bore to talk to) and presents a pleasant challenge
(although I still get stomped pretty regularly at a couple of
the standard scenarios). Social interaction with the other player
or players (hoping that the multiplayer version that Major H has
speculated comes to fruition) is an especially enjoyable difference.
The northern flanking group was probably a waste of time: it doesn't
appear to have drawn very many units to it and was out of position
for the final assault. This was an intelligence failure on my
part: over-reacting to the recon team landing in the middle of
the units entrenched around 0602, and assuming that this was where
the General was hiding. A better plan would have been to advance
along 03 northing and enter the valley along this axis. As it
turned out this route was not as well defended as I thought it
might be when I caught the BTR and ZSU in the NW corner of the
Cauldron area. The only thing that this group did manage to do
was kill a handful of units and get the tanks across.
The AAV7s proved to be the most useful units available: they carry
a good number of troops, swim well and provide a credible fire
support to the infantry. Once I finally started using overwatch
with these they did quite well. The LAVs were quite effective
also, the chain gun outranges many of the oppossing infantry weapons
and they have a moderate swimming capacity, with thermal sights
these two vehicles could be formidable, least usefulf were probably
the M1s, which can only come into play if a bridge is available
for them to cross with and being too heavy to airlift anywhere.
The HMMV did a better job than I expected since in solitaire games
they have appeared only to be something for the other side to
shoot at (probably because they can't use the hull-down methods
that they are geared to given the limitations on elevations in
the present game engine).
Conserving my helos until towards the end (except the AH1s, which
were committed far too early) was probably a pretty good move,
since my losses going into the final 20 turns were only 20%, and
the helos counted for big points in the loss scheme. However I
should've accepted more losses from ground units to achieve mometum
in the South (and stuck to my original plan which committed a
much larger force of LAV and AAV to this route). Hopefully more
experience will address this failing. Generally I could've handled
air better, using massed strikes to gain SAM suppression and hit
more ground targets, the recce strategy of bringing in the strike
planes in pairs was faulty. The original idea was to get the SAMs
to shoot at the planes, while the helos spotted, then suppressing
the SAMs with mortar fire. This probably would have worked better
with UAV as a spotter than it did with the manned helicopters.
Also I tried to disperse the airstrikes a bit to mask which avenue
of approach my ground forces were taking, forgetting that the
enemy didn't really have the troops to stand up to a slugging
match. A better plan would've been to commit the planes in groups
of four, in the same grid square, and sytematically destroy the
SAMs and such ground forces as might be in the area. This would've
allowed me to develop the sanitized approacj corridors I had origianlly
wanted and deprive OPFOR of the trucks necessary to their mobility
and resupply. Once I had determined that the General was somewhere
in the Cauldron a gid square by grid square allocation of strikes
would've provided a greater reccce value than the dispersed system
tthat I used even if it might've triggered the game clause allowing
the General to leave his position. There is something of a pattern
I have noticed to the way the unscheduled air appears: it seems
to go through cycles where another strike is provided about every
turn for awhile, then it dries up for twenty minutes or so, then
there is another spate of availibilities. I don't know whether
this is a design feature to refelect rearming and refueling time
of availble air assets, a quirk or just a statistical oddity deriving
from my machine's random numbers generator.
I need to develop a better method for overwatching my attack helicopters,
although setting the SOP for evasive action does seem to enhance
their longevity, they still seem to get clobbered easier than
they should. Maybe having another three or four terraine heights
in the game would help, meanwhile maybe timing who is up when
will make tham more effective, or working out a better co-ordination
with massed airstrikes would help. Helicopters, generally , could've
been used with greater effect in this game..
It took me quite a bit of time to come up with an effective solution
to the rolling ambushes. Initially I had units stop and slug it
out with the ambushers, who would usually pop smoke and flee,
rather than commit more troops to overwatch and flank these units.
I finally realised that a follow-on group of infantry was the
key to this, especially when deployed from APCs beyond the visual
range of the ambushers or waiting until they popped smoke then
rushing APCs tom the edge of the smoke (I had overestimeted the
number of thermal equipped units that OPFOR had through misreading
the force availabilities, once I got over this I found that a
bounding overwatch worked pretty well at breaking the ambushes.).
I need to get a better handle on how far units can see in different
kinds of Tacops terraine and exploit these values better when
faced with a live opponant.
Generally speaking I was too conservative of troops early in the
game when major inroads on the OPFOR defenses could've been made,
although I suspect that if we had had another ten minutes I could've
prevailed. Speed is important in this game and forces the NATO
player to make a determination as to how much comprises acceptable
loss early in the game. I should've accepted higher loss rates,
earlier, in order to penetrate deeper into the map.
I should have stuck to my original plan, with the center of mass
focused between the 00 and 02 northing lines, rather than shifting
the attack to the North. This cost valuable time, and diluted
resources that would've been useful in breaking the ambushes ,
securing the western end of the Cauldron area.
Fighting in the city near the 02 northing line was lighter than
I had expected, as were the minefields away from the General's
HQ, I had expected much denser mines than I encountered.
Artillery could've been deployed better. In using searching fires
I had forgotten that it usually takes anything other than ICM
to achieve a kill and should have conserved my ammuniton for the
endgame (this is alos the first time I have ever palyed a game,
with off map artillery, where there wasn't a n unscheduled increase
in the ammunition availability during at least one turn during
the game). The same goes for the mortars, which were pretty much
shot dry by the time I had forces anywhere near the Cauldron area.
I need to hold this resource in better reserve in the future.
Smoke was not used as effectively as it might have been, mostly
because I perceived a superior availability of thermal sights
on the part of OPFOR, and assumed smoke would confer more of an
advantage to OPFOR than to my troops. The M1s stranded on the
West bank of the river tended to reinforce this beleif. Smoke
in the last ten turns of the game probably would have helped,
since OPFOR SAMs were pretty well attrited by then and many of
the ATGM killed or out of ammunition. Until the very last few
moves I was able to keep OPFOR from killing major units with ICM
fire. Until the M1s broke into the open along the Cauldron artillery
kills were pretty much confined to HMMV. By that time I had decided
to try cavalry charge tactics since the game was about to run
out and I figured that losses were about to become irrelevent.
As it turned out the northern force was just too far away to be
of any interest.
Localizinbg the General early and advancing to his position seems
to be the critical element of this game, alonmg with balancing
losses so as to insure that enough force is left to satisfy the
game constraints while being able to break his defenses.
Having read Riki's AAR it strikes me, once again, that my original;
plan was the right one and that I should have stuck too it.
I hope to play this scenario again several more times, both as
the NATO and OPFOR commander and try some different force mixes
and see if my tactical accumen improve. Overall a very enjoyable
game, even from a losing perspective.
Summary & Lessons Learned (Riki)
Quick Summary of the Battle:
It is pretty clear that the main reason for my winning was that Scott simply did not allow enough time to close in on the general. While taking the roundabout route to the north allowed him to penetrate my interior lines without too much attrition, the cost in time effectively made that portion of his force irrelevant; it simply could never have arrived in time. I also think he could have used his arty to better effect, either to suppress my SAMs or to mask his movements with smoke, or both. On the other hand, his use of overwatch tactics from both the north ravine and the north rim of the Cauldron were very effective, and resulted in taking out most of my BTR threats very quickly.
I also think I had the right matchup for Scott's Marine force, choosing a strong air defense to negate his powerful CAS (6 airstrikes at 25% chance of unplanned missions -- the most you can get in TacOps) while my weakness in longrange weaponry was less of an issue against AAVs than it would have been with Bradleys. (Pure conjecture: had Scott chosen the Special Ops package I think he may have fared a bit better, assuming he swarmed his helos all together to overload my SAMs whenever possible and that he knew he needed to deploy them to the far south -- which, according to his e-mails, he did. A lot of recon/sniper units crawling around would have probably gotten the upper hand in the ground fighting, assuming there was a lot of mortar/suppression and smoke going down. End conjecture <g>).
Lessons Learned:
Having not played this game for over a year up until a couple of months ago, I feel I am learning some things all over again.
Air defense as OPFOR is always a good thing, and in this scenario, a super-saturated air defense is an even better thing! Actually, though, in all truth I believe the reason it worked so well is that my opponent did not employ any counter-air defense tactics -- in particular, his air strikes were almost all individual sorties, not overwhelming swarms. This might still be okay as a recon mission but with half a dozen SAMs firing away it probably won't have much of a chance to hit targets with any accuracy. Also, once my SAM positions were known, a few well-placed mortar barrages early on would have created at least a hole in the umbrella that he could pour helos through, I'm sure. Also, I am not sure I could get away with a lopsided air defense twice in a row with the same player (or any player who's reading this AAR, for that matter! <g>). Like anything else, once you expect and prepare for it, it becomes less effective.
Taking chances with a forward deployed defense is possible on these skinny peninsulas, but still risky. It's a good idea to have backup transports right behind the active ones if you can spare them. A corallary to this is: don't skimp on transports for your troops -- in a 'mobile defense,' the word 'mobile' comes first. :->
Choosing the HQ location is key. Moving it just forward enough to be able to guard the river was a big help. Had I moved it 10 more meters to the east, however, I might just as well have moved it a km., since the rules would not have permitted me to mine the bridges.
Details, details, details. If you fiddle with firing ranges, always check to be sure the units you are really depening on aren't sitting with a zero range because you forgot to reset it!
As the exchange of fire in the Cauldron area shows, you don't need a *lot* of firepower to overcome a long-range, treeline defense. A 3-to-1 ratio of ATGM firepower would seem to be enough to win out over even entrenched BTR90s, if not in the first turn then usually in the second.
The above lesson leads to another key piece of learning, or at least a personal interpretation that I find helpful (if you disagree, other opinions are welcome!) In this scenario, the U.S should try to trade AT firepower, which it has plenty of, for time, which it has little of. Mobile AT units are most useful in the early and middle game, when the outer, woodline defenses must be breached -- especially in places that are defended by ATGM-equipped APCs (like at Devil's Fork). Once inside the woods they are not as helpful, so why not employ them when they can do the most good?
As a defender you always have to be thinking two or three moves ahead. This is the whole advantage to being the defender! Otherwise, the enemy can spring out of nowhere or threaten to envelop your positions and you won't be ready to evacuate (which almost happened in the southern peninsula). As Steve Althouse pointed out to me once, you want to have shorter decision cycles than the other guy, so he is still reacting to an old situation that you are in the process of changing, but this means taking *action,* which is in fact the last and most important component of the cycle. If you sit and wait for that great ambush without also anticipating how you're going to escape from that position after the ambush is sprung, you are not taking full advantage of your shorter cycles. (Or something like that. <g>)
One thing interesting on the PSYOPS side of things. While Scott was in fact way behind in terms of time, at no time did he *act* as though he was under a time crunch. His maneuvers were slow, thoughtful, and methodical, it seemed to me, and never really did anything rash or hasty that gave me any great opportunities for causing mass destruction. This, oddly enough, had a ruffling effect on *me* as I was getting more impatient with wanting to obliterate significant portions of his forces! This caused me to go for somewhat riskier maneuvers than I ordinarily might have tried (such as a couple of risky rescue operations) -- which I got away with, but I'm not sure in retrospect if they were justified. I must be wary of this phenomenon in the future, and try to hold my eagerness in check. <g>
I will be interested to read Scott's side of things, and to see if there were any aspects of the battle that I may have overlooked or was oblivious to.
Once again, a great game, loads of fun, and packed with action and suspense. I'm looking forward to playing Scott again from the U.S. side.
END REPORT.
