AARs of Nick Noran’s CPX run on March 21, 1999.

The umpire’s AAR is put first.

--------------------------

Rule the first... Never, ever, if you contemplate being a serious wargamer,
have a family. A sudden commitment got me to the channel just after
official start time, and then I had to input Opfor orders courtesy of
absence.. This resulted in game start being delayed by about an hour. Plus
one or two other distracting 'phone calls in the middle....

Anyway, to the game.. The game was played on a slightly modified Map230
(Bottom half.. As far up as 980 Northing), I had drawn in a river from N/S,
starting at 675920, following the treeline to Guston, continuing N, then
curving right going between the clump of trees at 685958 and the big woods
just E of there, and basically heading in an NE direction to the road at
698965 (This was named La Madeleine), before following the road (on the E
side) North off the map.

The scenario itself is one that I have successfully GM'd on the gaming
table (Command Decision). The original scenario was printed in one of the
supplemental magazines (Command Post Quarterly 5, if you're curious) and is
called 'Buying Time'. Of course, I couldn't tell the players that, it might
give too much away. It was set in Northern France 1944, and obviously
required a few changes to the TO&E in order to make it a little more
suitable to a TacOps CPX. My main worry was going to be the effect of
missiles on the balance of forces.. The easy way around that was not to
have too many, or too good. Thus no BMPs or Bradleys to be found anywhere..
This might also fit in with the 'Belgian Region' theme.. All the good units
have been chewed up and the fighting is generally being fought by
second-line troops. Fighting in 1986 also made it so that I could use
older, less devastating equipment.. i.e. No Javelins or AT-4s... Dragons
and M-72s for you!

NATO Setup:
NATO orders were as follows...

NATO information.   17th June 1986

You are a Lieutenant Colonel assigned to the Corps which has just been
given the task of checking the Rusian advance in this sector. You have been
sent to the town of Luzrene sur Vire with a small force to take command
of the forces in the area. Your orders are:

First: To hold the crossing points over the Vire river as long as
possible to allow as many units to escape across the river as can.
Second: To prevent the Russians from capturing any boats or bridges in
the area that would allow them to cross the river
Third: To hold the Vire River line for as long as possible.

You arrived in Luzrene sur Vire a half hour ago. As of the moment, the
following forces are in the area.

Task Force Ryan

Headquarters:
     1 Command Section
     1 HMMWV Platoon
     2 M577 TOC
     1 HMMWV w/LMG platoon.

47th Engineer Battalion:

Headquarters:
     1 Command Section (-)
     1 HMMWV Platoon
     1 Infantry Platoon
     1 Truck Platoon

2 Engineer companies, each with:
     2 Engineering Platoons
     2 Platoons M113

1 Engineer company with:
     2 Engineering Platoons
     1 Ferry

1 Security Company (attached)
     Basically a Rifle Company with trucks instead of APCs

318th Air Defense Battalion (Elements) with:
Headquarters:
     1 Command Section (-)
     1 HMMWV Platoon
     1 Infantry platoon
     1 Truck platoon

     2 Batteries, each with:
     1 Stinger Platoon
     1 HMMWV Platoon
     1 Infantry Platoon
     1 Truck

     2 Batteries, each with:
     1 Platoon M163 ADV
     1 Infantry Platoon
     1 Truck
___________

Russian bombers destroyed the bridges over the Vire lat week, Destroying
one bridge, and damaging the other to the point that no vehicles could
pass. The 437th Engineer Battalion arrived two days ago with orders to
repair the bridge, as well as operate a ferry service. As a result, the
battalion HQ and two companies are in Luzrene sur Vire, and one company
is downstream at la Madeleine, where it operates a heavy-capacity ferry.
(The ferry can cross one personnel section and one vehicle per 5 minutes)
The security company is based at Luzrene sur Vire.
The Flak Battalion HQ is at Dufayel, with two batteries deployed on the
hill SW of there. One battery is located between Luzrene sur Vire and la
Madeleine, the other is South of Luzrene between the two rail lines.

Notes on Terrain: The bridge is better, but not perfect. It'll take
about 5 minutes for a platoon to cross it. (Vehicle or infantry).
The River Vire has been heavily canalised over the years in this area.
As a result, it would be difficult to launch boats or amphibious vehicles.

As units arrive, you may press them into service as needed. It is now
07:00.. What are your orders?

Game Notes:  This is a scenario from a miniatures game which I have run
from time to time. There is a table to be rolled on with dice to
determine what units will arrive when and where, this is not a scripted
scenario!
There are two entry points on the map (A and B).. As long as the Opfor
doesn't control them, there will be a chance of new units arriving. Each
unit has a Victory Points total assigned to it. These points are awarded
as they exit the Western edge of the map. Units alive, but still on the map
at the game end will <not> contribute to the points total. (Opfor units to
the N and S off the map will simply envelop and capture/destroy them
anyway).
Game end is not a defined time.. We'll see how the game goes. You also
do not know how many victory points a particular unit will give you until
game end! In order to count, the unit must be some 66% intact. Your engineers
may deploy mines. Given the small size of the forces, you may split
companies up to Platoon level.You may, in dire circumstances, allow part
of a unit to be split off, and the infantry units left behind. (i.e. This
may affect your points total)

---------------------
Entry point A was 690980, Entry point B was down at 673920. You'll note
that the starting forces for NATO would hardly be the sort to inspire
confidence in a defense.. Engineers and Flak, generally transported by
truck. From what I gathered of the NATO plan, they intended to throw up a
screen with whatever units arrived first, and then any later units would
cross the river.. I'm presuming they were generally expecting combat units,
so it was with an evil chuckle that I rolled the first die for
reinforcements... For NATO, every 5 minutes or so a D6 was rolled.. On a
roll of a 6, a unit comes on the board at a random location. They would
then come under player control.. (Excepting the National Guard battalion,
see notes in the list)
Anyway, here's the list of forces that might have come in.. The points
value of each unit was not divulged to the team.. it was up to them to
decide how important it would be to get the units across. Obviously, the
bakery would be less points total than the Kampfgruppe

Die roll:

1:   Radio Intercept Company                    50 Points
     1 Command Element (-)
     1 HMMWV platoon
     1 Radio Intercept Truck Platoon
     1 M577 Platoon
     2 Trucks
     2 Infantry Platoons

2:   Canadian Infantry Battalion                15 points
     Batallion HQ:
          1 Command Element
          Land Rover platoon
          1 Engineer Platoon
          1 Truck
     3 Infantry Companies (each equivalent to:)
          1 Inf Company transported in Grizzly
     1 Support company
          1 LMG platoon
          1 81mm Mortar platoon
          1 Milan platoon
          2 Grizzly Platoons.
          Note: This is pre-Eryx. Canadian units use the 84mm Carl
Gustaf as an A/T weapon

3:   Panzer Workshop Company             35 points
          1 Land Rover Platoon
          2 Workshop Truck Platoons
          1 Truck Platoon
          2 Infantry platoons

4.   Light Mortar company                    5 points
          1 Platoon 81mm mortar
          1 Platoon 60mm mortar
          1 Infantry Platoon
          1 platoon trucks

5:   Field Bakery Company                    5 points
          2 Truck platoons
          2 Infantry platoons

6:   Light Infantry battalion                    25 points
          Standard US battalion using M113s vice M2, no M901.

7:   Admin Company                            10 points
          1 HMMWV platoon
          2 Truck platoons
          2 Infantry Platoons

8:   SP-Flak company                            15  points
          1 Jeep platoon
          2 M163 Platoons

9:   Heavy fuel column                            25 points
          1 HMMWV platoon
          3 Tanker Truck platoons

10:  Canadian Reconnaissance Company    20 points
          1 Grizzly 25mm Platoon
          2 Lynx Platoons
          2 Infantry platoons

11:  Artillery battery.                            15 points
          1 HMMWV platoon
          1 M109 platoon

12:  Tank Company                            25 points
          3 Platoons M60A3

13:  Postal Company                            5 points
          1 HMMWV platoon
          2 Truck Platoons
          2 Infantry Platoons

14:  Light Infantry battalion (National Guard) 10 points
     Battalion HQ
          Command element (-)
          HMMWV Platoon
     4 Infantry companies transported in trucks. Not a complete number
of Dragons or mortars

This unit is in no way interested in fighting.. The NATO commander would have
to give
it a direct order before they would go to appointed positions, and should they
begin to take
losses, they would break and runn (By the company). This is a reflection on
the fact that one
of the strengths of Command Decision is the reflection of morale.

15:  Light Supply Column                10 points
          1 HMMWV platoon
          3 Truck platoons
          2 Infantry platoons

16:  SP-AT Battery                        15 points
          1 Jeep Platoon
          2 M113/Milan platoons

17:  Headquarters Company            40 points
          1 Comand Section
          1 HMMWV platoon
          1 M577 Platoon
          1 Platoon motorcycles
          1 Kitchen truck
          2 Truck platoons
          1 Infantry Company

18:  Jaeger Battalion                        10 points
     Batallion HQ:
          1 Command Element
          1 M113 platoon
          1 Engineer Platoon
          1 Truck
     3 Jaeger Companies (each equivalent to:)
          1 Inf Company transported in M113
     1 Support company
          1 LMG platoon
          1 81mm Mortar platoon
          1 Milan Platoon.
          2 M113 Platoon.

19:  Signals company                    25 points
         1 HMMWV platoon
          1 M577 Platoon
          1 repair truck
          1 Infantry Platoon

20:  Kampfgruppe                        35 points
     Headquarters:
          1 Command element
          1 M113 platoon
          1 truck
          1 Engineer platoon
          1 Gepard platoon
     Panzer company:
          2 Platoons Leopard II
          1 Platoon Leopard I
     1 Infantry Company (Transported in M113)
          3 Infatry Platoons
          1 60mm Mortar Platoon
          1 Milan Platoon
     1 Support Company (Transported in M113)
          2 81mm Mortar platoons
          Two Truck platoons
          1 Engineer Platoon
          1 Platoon Land Rover w/ LMG.
          1 Milan Platoon

WarPac setup:
WarPac orders are as follows.

Soviet Information: 17th June 1986

You are a Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 114th Reconnaisance
Battalion. Most of your command has been detached and assigned to other units.
You
have been summoned to Corps HQ, and ordered to take what remains of your
command and form it into Task Force (your name here). Your mission is to
drive on the village of Luzrene sure Vire, and attempt to deny to NATO
to crossing points there. If possible, you are to cross the river and press
on. The following units are assigned to your command, however, not all
are present.

What you have right now:

114th Reconnaisance Battalion with:
     Battalion HQ:
          1 Command Element (This is you!)
          1 Jeep platoon
          1 ACRV-2 Platoon
          1 Jeep platoon with 1 LMG platoon
          1 BRDM-2 Platoon (With infantry section)
          1 ARV
          1 Ammo Truck
     Company B:
          1 Jeep platoon
          3 Platoons Jeeps with LMG
          3 Platoons BRDM-2 (With infantry sections)
          1 ZSU-23 Platoon

Company A, 775th Tank Destroyer Battalion
     1 BRDM-2 Platoon w/ Command Element (-)
     3x BRDM-2 AT platoons


Under orders to report to you are the following units.

3rd Battalion, 170th Motor Rifle Regiment (BTR-80)
          (Standard battalion)

Company A, 53rd Armored Engineer Battalion
     1 Command Element
     1 Jeep platoon, 1 LMG platoon
     1 ZSU-23 Platoon
     1 dump truck
     1 Truck with a boat.
     3 Engineer Platoons
     3 MT-LB Platoons

Artillery Battery, 170th Artillery Battalion
     1 Jeep Platoon
     1 Battery 155mm SP
     1 Ammo Truck
     1 Infantry Platoon

Company C, 753rd Tank Battalion
     1 Platoon T-80 ATGM
     2 Platoons T-72

Company D, 753rd Tank Battalion
     3 Platoons T-62

Battery B, 801st Air Defense Battalion
     1 Jeep platoon
     1 MTLB Platoon
     1 SA-7 Platoon
     1 ZSU-23 Platoon


The referee will advise you of the arrival of these units. There are
three points that you can enter the board, X, Y and Z. Your starting units may

enter the map at 07:10 at any or all of these locations.

The River Vire has been heavily canalised over the years in this area.
As a result, it would be difficult to launch boats or amphibious vehicles.
(Exception: The Engineer’s boats)

Game Notes:  This is a scenario from a miniatures game which I have run
from time to time. There is a table to be rolled on with dice to
determine what units will arrive when, this is not a scripted scenario! Game
end
is not a defined time.. We'll see how the game goes. Given the small size
of the forces, you may split companies up to Platoon level. None of your
units have Advanced Warheads nor Thermals.. this is a pseudo-historical
scenario.
155mm smoke <may> block thermals. (Availability will depend on game
status at the time!!!)

-------------------------------------------

Entry points X, Y and Z were at 620974, 620955 and 620932 respectively. Now
if the NATO forces might have thought that they were underquipped to deal
with an attack, I only wonder what the WarPac people thought.... They were
outnumbered, outgunned, and <attacking>. Their main advantage was that NATO
had to defend two fixed positions. Basically, on the map, they started out
with a HQ company (a few trucks, ACRVs and some infantry and BRDMs), two
recon companies (One of trucks, one of BRDM-2s) and a Tank Destroyer
company of BRDM-ATs. This last group seemed to give NATO a lot of concern,
although I had my doubts about how long they would last against missile
teams. To even this out, I decided to give WarPac an extra 152mm battery
offboard at game start. I think this was a good idea in the end. After NATO
got all their forces, I decided to also give them a few airstrikes, mainly
for spotting purposes. (With the AD NATO had, they weren't liable to get a
bomb-run in) Again, this was more for play balance than because it was
scripted. The other problem the Pact had was that whilst they knew what
their reinforcements would be, that had no idea when they would get there.
Indeed, according to the scenario, the first chance of help arriving would
be an hour and 40 into the game. (After the massive NATO reinforcement, I
kicked this up to about an hour) At that point, the procedure is similar to
the US... every five minutes, roll D6. On a 6, a company (random) arrives.
Russia didn't do too well here...

Play commences:
NATO went for a pretty logical starting plan.. Engineers laid mines at the
NW approach to Guston, another company manned the bridge, another the
ferry. Air defense was two batteries of Vulcans just W and NW of Guston,
the Stingers were on the E side of the river. And they sent out the
security company in three different platoons to forward positions, one to
Hayesville, one to the 'Radio Woods' (667942), and one to the woods at
658928. After getting there rather uneventfully, they decided to detach a
single truck and infantry squad from each platoon to move to forward OP
positions... All fairly sound so far.

At ten minutes past the hour, the Warpac forces arrive. (Actually, they
were on the map at game start, but I just didn't move them) The HQ company
splits into two, The ACRV and command element heads for 649973, and the
BRDMs/Trucks head for 668974.. (Which, if you ask me, I thought was a
fairly useless position... they could see nothing.. How wrong I was!) All
the other units started at Y, and went in the direction of the woods at
648958 (Coincidently where one of the NATO trucks was heading) and 655945
(Which would have to cross paths with a second truck) The artillery is sent
on a spotting mission around La Madeleine, but with rounds falling all over
the kip, NATO wasn't distracted by it.

The first contact occurred as trucks and BRDMs met each other at about 300m
range.. Trucks didn't last long. Neither did the infantry inside, excepting
a team which spent the rest of the battle cowering behind the wreckage of
the truck at 650941.. WarPac seemed to forget about this unit, and it's
fortunate that none of the movement orders took them over it... That squad
made quite a useful O/P. WarPac's A/T company in the clearing just South of
there halted for a bit, took up denfensive positions, then backed out to
join the units further North. As they took off, they nabbed the third truck
which was heading for an OP under the 'T' in Irvington.

Warpac then sent two platoons (one truck, one BRDM) into Hayesville, and
Dragons in the town opened up to good effect. they brought their artillery
down on the town, with good accuracy, but little effect. WarPac holds off
on the attack, brings back the remaining vehicles (2 BRDMs basically) and
decides to head back South again, just as the A/T company gets there. An
interesting little thing to watch there was as BRDMs on the ridgeline
pumped HMG fire into Hayesville out of range of return fire. Not often you
see that. They missed though.

Around this time (Half past, or a little after) NATO started an amazing run
of sixes... The first item they got was a tank company of M60A3s at Point
A. They immediately took up defensive positions on the hill in the trees.
Five minutes later, another six.. Worse, this time they got the Canadian
Infantry battalion. Game stopped for a while as I input all of these. Cor
set up a defense in depth all over that area, and as the tanks were
relieved, they got pulled back to the ferry.  Five minutes later, another
6... This time the EW warfare company. This was another gift for NATO, as
since it wasn't a combat unit, they would immediately send it across the
river, thus getting the points for the most valuable unit in the game. (And
indeed half the required to win) Now it was the guts of two good battalions
defending against probes by two companies.. If only they knew the disparity
of forces... At this point, I gave the WarPac the airstrikes, because I
felt that if they didn't get a clue that they were seriously outnumbered,
they would charge valiantly forward and die.

I get the feeling that WarPac forgot about their lead HQ unit, but they
were reminded of them when a Canadian company cme over the crest, and the
two platoons of Russians opened up at under 400 meters. Two Grizzlies
destroyed, two damaged, and assorted infantry losses. WarPac pulled their
HQ unit back, losing the trucks on the way, but pulled back towards the
entry point, also pulling back the very well situated ACRV. Canada, in the
meantime, dismounted the rest of the company, and waited, though they saw
the trucks retreating. Incidently, most of the spots of this game were of
enemy units heading <away> from the battle. In the meantime, NATO rolls
another six, this time in the South..A mortar unit, of 81mm and 60mm. They
head for the bridge and start to cross it.  First airstrike arrives over
Guston, aborts due to ground fire, but spots a lot. (actually, the request
was to hit La Madeleine, but I misread my map :( ) The NATO engineers had
finished minelaying the road, and by now had moved on to mine the East of
the woods just W of Guston. (A very good position for mines, actually)

At this point, WarPac decides to shift its axis of attack to the Radio
Woods.. the HQ unit moves to the woods on the hill W of Hayesville, the
other units head South.. Being a tad more cautious, only a few vehicles
venture out into the open, before getting hit by Dragons. An artillery
response is swift and accurate killing off two of the three teams. At this
point, Christian tries a novel defensive maneuver.. Sit still, and don't
shoot, in the hopes that you will 'disappear' I'm not sure about the wisdom
of that move, but by that point, the remaining Dragon team had run out of
missiles. The two BRDMs polish off the dragons, not knowing about the
infantry platoon at the NW corner of the woods. (Dragons were at the SW).
The A/T company of BRDMs then goes doubles back towards the SE edge of the
map, in a 'confusion' tactic.You ask me, this took them out of the game,
they'd have been far better off sitting vic 655945, they'd have had a field
day at long range against Grizzlies and M60s... In fact there would
probably have been more targets than the BRDMs had missiles to kill them
with. Surviving infantry in the original attack against Hayesville decide
to move in on foot, it's kinda quiet.  Dragons at 656938 decide to move to
the N edge of the woods.  Another six for NATO (Down South) and finally,
something useless arrives.. a Field Bakery Company. Ordered across the
bridge, and off the map. (Actually, it was another Infantry battalion, but
I figured enough was enough) Meantime, NATO gets a tank platoon across the
river, it heads for 680930, a very useful position.

A small firefight breaks out between the dragon team in Hayesville and the
infantry platoon attacking it, Hayesville is cleared of defenders. Just to
the South, the recon company hops across the open ground, discovering the
infantry platoon and its trucks. The battle of the trucks commences, with
US trucks performing rather poorly against the GAZs. After an initial bout
of damage, the infantry platoon succumbs to the power of a couple of
platoons worth of 14.5mm fire. (I must learn not to underestimate
BRDMs....). US tanks at 680968 try plinking at a few trucks that get in
range, from clear across the valley, generally missing. All this with a
Canadian mortar dropping smoke on the whole proceeding. In the meantime,
WarPac finally rolls a 6, the only one for them in the game, getting a BTR
company. They decide to slow up the BRDM-ATs and wait for the infantry to
come with them.. One of their better moves. (Incidently, as this unit moves
forward, WarPac dropped some artillery on suspected enemy positions,
including right on the OP that one of the US trucks was heading for when it
got hit at the beginning of the game. I wonder if this says anything about
picking the best positions?) US gets more tanks across the river, heads for
688952,.

As the WarPac infantry enters Hayesville, the truck unit in the woods to
the North opens up on them.. This truck was a good shot.. consecutive M-16
hits wipe out one team for no loss.. However, once the PKM teams opened up,
the trucks died off. Some Grizzlies from ENE try to add their weight,
generally ineffectively. Warpac decides to race its HQ unit E to the woods
at 665962, Vulcans from Guston, Grizzlies from 681958 and tanks at 687952
try to stop them.. Two BRDMs and a Vulcan are lost.

At this point, I'm still rolling the dice (probably more frequently than I
should have, but from now 'till game end, there were no more 6s rolled).
Warpac decides to hop over to the next set of woods, the ones just W of
Guston that the engineers were busily mining. At this point, things started
to go amiss for our intrepid adventurers... A Vulcan unit opens up at just
under a kilometer, those tanks up North try long range plinking with
Grizzlies, and the tanks finally arrive at the treeline South just that
minute, and open up at a kilometer or so too. To the attacker, it would
look like a perfectly planned, 3 sided ambush. Actually, I think the
American tanks were lucky to get into position for the shoot.. If they had
been delayed another two minutes, they'd have missed the attack entirely.
By the time an artillery smokescreen lands, the two companies are down to
an infantry platoon, one LMG platoon (and a few trucks) of which only the
LMG platoon has made it to the next set of trees. (the other platoon is
still in the Radio Woods and decides to hold up for a bit). After a slow
advance, the LMG platoon meets up with the Engineer's M113s, some losses
both sides. NATO, presumably thinking there's more than just that group
there, pulls up shop, and heads for Guston. WarPac interprets this as a HQ
unit retreating. They also order the Dragons at 657950 to move to the east
of the woods.. They get there in time to see the BTR and A/T companies
driving by within 500 meters. (following near the rail line). An initial
salvo of Dragons kills two BRDM-ATs (out of three shots), return fire is
devastating. 14.5mm and 7.62mm from the vehicles destroys the teams in a
minute flat, to no further loss. In the meantime, artillery hits the tanks
in the South, tanks take a loss, move and the arty spends the next 5
minutes pounding an empty location. However, when that last platoon leaves
the radio woods in a few minutes, (under smoke cover this time) and the
tanks open up, the artillery shift onto them, and basically neutralises
them (One FD, the rest destroyed). I have a feeling that at this point,
NATO were under the impression that the attacking forces were much stronger
than they actually were, they started a full scale withdrawl to get as much
equipment across the bridge as possible before blowing it. (The M577 unit
was spotted running away as well, WarPac were really wondering what was
going on by now).

A quite spirited fight breaks out between some entrenched infantry and
trucks in the S of Guston, the two Vulcan batteries to the W, and Grizzlies
to the North, against the BTR company and BRDM-AT company. The vulcans
don't last too long, and the AT-6s start to make inroads on the Canadians
APCs to the North, whilst the NATO forces were giving a <fairly> decent
response of their own... i.e. initial defensive salvoes were effective, but
as more more WarPac munitions could be brought to bear, the more suppressed
they became. Once Warpac units started to get a foohold in Guston, the
order came to blow the bridge, trapping two Engineer companies on the wrong
side. They start to head North for La Madeleine, but AT-6s knock off a
platoon before they change their minds... it's probably safer to sit in the
towns and fight it out. In the long term, there's little difference, they'd
have been surrounded and forced to surrender anyway. At this point, it was
getting hideously late, and the game was called.

Victory: It was a close one.. byt the exact terms of the cirteria, Opfor
won, for under 100 points of NATO stuff left the map. (The EW company (50),
the Bakery (5) the mortars would have done it too... (15). By blowing the
bridge, instead of trying to defend it, NATO lost the fastest crossing
point. and while the ferry to the North was slow, it was well defended by a
fairly intact infantry battalion and two tank platoons. I can understand
NATO's reasoning behind it, but I personally would have waited to see how
effective the Guston defense was before blowing. As for defending up North,
NATO would have been suffering from a lack of ranged A/T weapons, without
good reinforcements.. In the attack would be a pretty much a BTR battalion
with two tank companies and a tank Destroyer company in support. There
would really only have been three useful rolls for NATO on the
reinforcement table at that point.. The KampfGruppe with its tank company
and infantry, the Tank destroyer company with the Milan M113s, or the Light
Infantry battalion with Dragons. Anything else would have had difficulty
standing up to them (I suppose the Postal Company could always throw wet
stamps at the enemy and hope to block the vision blocks.), and there were
many more reinforcement possibilities on the US side than the WarPac one..
At least everything WarPac would get would be combat suitable. I wouldn't
have liked to placed money on either side.

Scenario obersvations.. I like it.. It seems to work well in TacOps, if you
can find people on each side who don't know what's going to happen. you
need a little more time than I had anticipated, however, it seemed to run
slower than my multi-regiment game I ran last time. NATO kept proposing
that WarPac's mission was a recon in force, actually, it was more of a 'get
the bridges' kind of deal, but since they didn't have the forces to do it,
they just probed around until reinforcements turned up. To be honest, I
really like that concept... It takes a while to get to the main event, but
allows simulation of proper recon, as opposed to sending forward tank
companies, you've got to be careful, because that which you're sending
forward can't stand up to a complete fight. As for the dice-rolling, well,
NATO were fortunate enough to get two top-notch units so quickly... It
really calmed their 'Northern Flank' fears. At this point, (and far too
early in the game for my liking), I was forced to make that decision which
I always hate as a GM.. Do I help the Opfor forces out a little for the
sake of 'play balance' or do I just leave things be to the letter of the
scenario? Once the HQ unit hit the Grizzlies and ran, I became worried
about the possibility of a NATO counterattack, which would have really
screwed any chance Opfor would have, so I decided to start rolling for
Opfor units a little earlier than I should have.  As it happened, since
Opfor rolled so badly, I needn't have bothered!

I have to say, I <do> like map 230.. Much more interesting than any of the
others. Since I had played in the exact same half of the same map in the
last game, I had been reluctant to play the same place again. That said
that part of Map 230 seemed to be the only one with a suitably placed town,
roads, approaches, and a place to lay out a river... I hope more of the
same turns up...

Operations.. I have to say, I really did like the Ops map that NATO came up
with... woods were outlined in yellow with names in yellow, there were
clear indicators for OPs BPs and so on, and there were plenty of them..
Roll on!

A few days ago, someone asked for a 'formation editor' feature for next gen
TacOps.. That would have been <very> useful in this game, as I spent as
much time creating and deploying the NATO reinforcements as I spent running
the game! (Slight exaggeration)

Short of getting everything in place beforehand, I don't think that there
were that many observations that I could quantify as regards the mechanics
of the game.

Observations...
     NATO was right, if well handled, those BRDM ATs would be an extremely
potent force.. they had ordered immediate smoke missions on any that
appeared. However, instead of being out back with good fields of fire, they
were bouncing around reverse slopes of hills.
     I wonder if NATO wasn't aggressive enough.. They seemed content enough
to sit back and let the enemy come to them. However, I can't really fault
that, they had the equipment to do it! But they could have really spoilt
OPFOR's day with a spoiling attack up north... (But did they have the units
to do <that>... With hindsight, yes, at the time, no).  What failed them
was that they didn't try to hold on to the town.. They had lots of
equipment, I'd have stayed and fought.
     WarPac suffered, I think, from a slight lack of co-ordination
overall... I think that their force was small enough that they should have
left a few outriggers for flank security, and simply used all their
equipment in one axis. Instead, the attack on Hayesville was more of a
dithering affair. On the other hand, they were very agressive overall, and
presumably made NATO think that there was a lot more out there than there was
actually.

Anyway, I think that's about it....

NTM

Forget the bullet with your name on it, it's the one addressed 'To Whom it
concerns' that you should worry about.

------------------------------

James and Corinne’s AAR:

This is an AAR by Corinne Mahaffey and James Sterrett of the CPX run by
Nick Moran on 21/3/99.

We were two of the players on the NATO side; the side CO was Rick Nelson.
Opfor was run by Christian Simon and Matt Ohlmer.  The map used was 230.

Nick edited map 230 to have a river running from north to south, roughly:
from the south edge at 675, through the middle of Guston, north to 686954,
then NE to the corner of the hill at 698963, and then following the road
north.  The map was truncated along the 98 northing.

Opfor came from the west in this scenario.  We were told to hold the river
crossings - a ferry at 698963 and a bridge in Guston - and get whatever
units might happen to arrive across them.

Our forces were pretty thin, we felt.  An air defence battery was in the
area, and we had a number of engineers, but the only real combat troops
were a security company - infantry, Dragon missiles, and trucks.

The engineers were at the crossings, with a detachment about 200 meters NW
of Guston laying mines on the road.

The security company was broken into platoons, each with 3 Dragons.  One
platoon went to Haysville and the three small woods north of it (CHESTNUT);
one went to the woods at 667940 (ELM), and one to the woods at 658927
(GINKO).  As the game began, we dispatched a single truck with one infantry
squad from each of these, trying to move them into OPs on the western ridge.

We planned to use whatever combat units arrived first - from either the
North point (690980) or the South point (674920) to set up a local defence
and screen the crossing of later units.  We did not have a lot of faith in
the longevity of the security company!!  <grin>  Rick took command of the
units which began the game on-map plus any air and arty we might get;
Corinne was to command any units arriving from the north, and James any
units arriving from the south.  The appearance and nature of arriving units
was randomly chosen from a table Nick had.

(In fairness:  About 98% of the above planning was done by Rick; we were
pretty busy and had little time to get involved, unfortunately, other than
agreeing that his ideas looked good to us.)

Opfor came at us, soon spotted by various forward units, and we noted they
had a number of BRDMs - looked like about 12 total; the same number of
BRDM-AT, and an unknown number of GAZ-66 light trucks.  

The first Opfor push seemed to come through the center, towards CHESTNUT.
This coincided with the killing of the trucks carrying our OPs forward; in
some cases the infantry survived this and turned out to be pretty useful in
watching Opfor movements.  

After the push on CHESTNUT, a few OPFOR units moved forward in the north.
We lost track of them at the 665 easting and were a bit worried.  However,
at that point our first units arrived - both in the north (Cor had all the
luck.  <grin>)  The first, a company of tanks, we deployed in fairly close
defense of the ferry.  When it was followed in close succession by a
Canadian mech battalion, elements of the battalion took over the main
defence (of the entire northern ridge) and we began to shunt the tanks
across the river.  In the middle of this, we also moved a radio intercept
unit across and off the map.

The forward Canadian company ran into enemy units while we were vic 670975
and despite initial reverses, saw them off.  We found out later that this
was the Opfor HQ.

After this, Opfor's movements were entirely southwards, and it became
obvious that the next push would come through either ELM or GINKO towards
Guston.  This was problematic.  We had only the security company in the
way, the ferry (in the north) moved units across the river at a glacial
pace, and we did not dare move units southwards west of the river for fear
of the BRDM-AT, which easily could have mowed us down from the western
ridge.  However, when the engineers making the minefield near Guston
finished, we set them to mining the eastern part of the woods just west of
Guston (FIR).

In the south, two units arrived; a mortar company (a battery each of 60mm
and 81mm mortars, which were moved across the bridge and then pressed into
service), and a bakery unit, which was stripped of its fresh bread and
chocolate before being sent on its way.  (It turns out that the bakery was
an umpire's downgrade from a Light Infantry Battalion, which we could have
used!!)

To reinforce the southern defence and keep the Guston bridge open in
expectation of furture arrivals in the south, we moved the two platoons of
tanks we had ferried across the river down to 680930 (Point 5) and 686952
(Point C).

Opfor sent around 10 BRDMs, a company of BTR-80, and a company of troops in
GAZ-66 attacking down the ridge into ELM and then into FIR; this overran
the security unit there.  Our tanks apparently did some good, butb it was
not clear how much, and they took heavy losses to enemy artillery.
Eventually, enemy troops entered Guston; we ordered the bridge blown, and
the game ended - in large measure because, at 01.30AM GMT on a Sunday
night, it was high time for it to be over for those of us in Europe.


  NATO was judged the loser because we had failed to move sufficient troops
across the river by the end of the scenario (70 points, instead of 100
points, we were told, for the mortars, the bakery, and the radio intercept
unit; the tank platoons did not count because of their losses).  Nobody on
the NATO team felt that NATO had lost.  <grin>  We still held one crossing
in force and were able to at least contest the use of the river line.
Given more time, we could probably have securely, if slowly, moved more
units across the ferry.

  Lessons:

	- Recon helps!  Even though the movement of OPs westwards was not entirely
successful, we did have a pretty good idea of where Opfor was for much of
the game.  It helped in identifying the move south early enough to dispatch
the two tank platoons to try to shore up the security company's defence.

	- Don't overestimate enemy strength.  We did, nonetheless, keep on
expecting a much larger enemy force to appear - in the debrief, we learnt
that they were to get, randomly, a BTR battalion and 2 companies of tanks,
of which only a single company of BTRs arrived - but we were constantly
waiting for a large force to pour over the ridge and swat the security
company out of the way.  Then again, the fear kept us closely attuned to
what was going on.

	- Ferries are too bloody slow.  8)

	- Had it been safe to do so - debateable, given the battery of BRDM-AT -
we would have been able to shore up the southrn defence a lot more easily.
We discussed using smoke to cover the march, but decided that it would need
more smoke than we had mortar ammo (about 2km of smoke for up to 20 minutes).

	- Not knowing what we were going to be faced with next was lots of fun -
kept the scenario different!

------------------------------------
	
Christian Simon’s AAR:

Here's AAR OPfor side Nick's CPX March 21th


Players NATO : James Sterrett+ Corinne M. ( sorry Cor can't spell your name)
               Rick Nelson
Players OPFOR : Matt "Rattler"Olhmer
			 Christian Simon


First thing I have to say is that we didn't much coordinate before the
game, I took some measures ( naming battle points and some routes)
fortunately rattler put some order i all that mess.

The forces were at the beginning :
>114th Reconnaisance Battalion with:
>     Battalion HQ:
114-HQ1>          1 Command Element (This is you!)
114-HQ1>          1 Light Truck platoon
114-HQ1>          1 ACRV-2 Platoon
114-HQ2>          1 Jeep platoon with 1 LMG platoon
114-HQ2>          1 BRDM-2 Platoon (With infantry section)
114-HQ2>          1 ARV
114-HQ1>          1 Ammo Truck



>    Company B:
114-B/1>          1 Light Truck platoon
114-B/2,3,4>          3 Platoons Jeeps with LMG
114-B/2,3,4>          3 Platoons BRDM-2 (With infantry sections)
114-B/1>          1 ZSU-23 Platoon


>
Coy A>Company A, 775th Tank Destroyer Battalion
Coy A>     1 BRDM-2 Platoon w/ Command Element (-)
Coy A>     3x BRDM-2 AT platoons


>

>Under orders to report to you are the following units.
>
>3rd Battalion, 170th Motor Rifle Regiment (BTR-80)
>          (Standard battalion)
>
No matter here, as nick explained we only got Some BTR coy.

Here follows the ref points we put
Battle points
BP1 656975
BP2 667968
BP3 680966
BP4 703964
BP5 666960
BP6 675954
BP7 649954
BP8 658942
BP9 674942
BP10 688943
BP11 704956
Forming three lines BP1-> BP4 Line North
						BP5-BP6-BP11 Line Center
						BP7-BP8-BP9-BP10 Line South
GUSTON = MAMA
MADELEINE = PAPA
HAYSVILLE = SON
IRVINGTON = DAUGHTER	
Road Connection DAUGHTER-MAMA = route FATE
Road Connection pointx-MAMA = route HOPE
Road Connection PAPA-MAMA = route DESTINY

Rattler and I agreed that we missed road "GLORY" <g>
Maybe it has already been said, maybe it's obvious, but that method allows
easy routing. and if we use the wrong channel ( after 3-4 hours game that
may arrive...) that doesn't give info to the ennemy team.


The main idea was :
1st carefully scouting especially the clear zone in the middle of the map
HQ deploys north line and stays BP1. 656975
Comp A goes BP8
Comp B goes BP7

All SOP stop aif fired on.

2 nd The reinforcements will be given orders later. he main idea was to go
the most directly to Guston ( MAMA)

We learned at the beginnig of the game that we had a 152 available which
was first put on to Madeleine.

<Trooper> 07:16, light combat...
<Trooper> OPFOR Spot Report - Time: 0716
<Trooper> 1xInf Team at UTM 649941
<Trooper> 1xInf Team at UTM 647958

rattler decided to put coy in defensive position and smoke inf then HE,
where we had some lucky shots on trucks.

Then coy A moved to BP7 649954

At that time feared an attack or a convoy passing south.So I began a kind
of square dance and ask B coy to go south along a W-E line to scout either
high ground and low ground.

rattler ordererd to scout haysville with on foot troops , protected by the
vehicles i sent 114 B 2 plt inf
HQ was moved south east to have a better LOS.

<Trooper> Missile fire from Son ( haysville)
<Trooper> Takes out most of B/2 ( in fact we had some strong survivors) 
<rattler> arty, fee HE SON where missiles came from
<Trooper> OPFOR Spot Report - Time: 0729
<Trooper> 3xDragon2 ATGM at UTM 663951
<Trooper> 3xM167 Vulcan AAA at UTM 679938
<Trooper> Arty roger
<Trooper> Team B/2 now on foot
<Trooper> BRDMs on ridge are engaging missileers

the maneuver went on the A coy and B coy '*(except the plt who were
scouting Haysville). I fact there was some confusion with B coy ( the
square dance went on ...)

A coy went to irvington to simulate an attack coming SW to Guston (PAPA)

We  were given 2 air strikes which didn't hurt NATO much but saw much ( big
forces in Guston)
<Trooper> Airstrike gets good spots
<Trooper> OPFOR Spot Report - Time: 0745
<Trooper> 1xCommand Element at UTM 683938
<Trooper> 4xHMMWV at UTM 683938
<Trooper> 2xM577 Command Post at UTM 683938
<Trooper> 4xHMMWV w LMG at UTM 683938
<Trooper> 4xHMMWV at UTM 682940
<Trooper> 4xTruck at UTM 682940
<Trooper> 4xM113 APC at UTM 683939
<Trooper> 4xM113 APC at UTM 684940
<Trooper> 1xInf Team at UTM 682938
<Trooper> 4xTruck at UTM 680937
<Trooper> 1xGrizzly IFV at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xGrizzly IFV at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xInf Section at UTM 671973

HQ killed a few Grizzlies which confirmed for us an attack in the North.
<Trooper> OPFOR Spot Report - Time: 0743
<Trooper> 1xGrizzly IFV at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xGrizzly IFV at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xInf Section at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xInf Section at UTM 671973
<Trooper> 1xInf Section at UTM 671973
<Trooper> They came from NE

that was the first turn of the game for us. We feared that the south convoy
was only to make us think the main force would come form south and that the
goal was to kill our HQ. So HQ was sent back to point X

B coy went SE and was attacked by forces in Radio Tower Woods 665940
B coy and plt A1 charged the wood and cleared it from enemy force


A Coy began to move on road fate undetected
A least we were given a happy dice roll and got a BTR Coy , they were
ordered to join A Coy and go to Guston

Some fight happened in Haysville , but it seemed we cleared the town.

Then second turn of the game the general idea was to rush to Guston for B Coy 
A coy and BTR coy go 673920 

Some nato elements were seen running away ????

Then the ref called the game.

At that time ( maybe due to late evening i really wondered who was the
winner )

We were given the victory, that was the 1st CPX the team i began won , i
was 37 that day nice present...

Some points i wish to stress:
- The operation map , i wanted to send a nice map with nice graphics to
Nick, but rattler and i weren't able to meet . Nick was kind enough to put
our latest orders at the beginning of the game.

Maybe some discussion about your tools to prepare maps on the list? Maybe a
small utility in Tacops 2.x.x? A little shareware/freeware ?

- The strategy : the general thing was we only scouted in that game (
except the last charge to guston )
the idea was to make them think we were a stronger force ( thanks to
rattler for the idea )
Due to my own confusion, B coy has made the noise of a regiment and lost
time in Haysville ( we thought they were looking for our HQ)
have have ahhappened

-Reenforcements: maybe 1/6th proportion wasn't enough( we weren't very
happy with the dice), but I wonder what may ahve happened if all the forces
have arrived on the map ... Blood sweat and tears surely.

- Duration i really believed dit was a small CPX so wasn't prepared for
such a long one.


Actually I learned-I had fun isn't it what matters... . I hope all the
gamers and lurkers had fun too.

Thanks to rattler I was the Co, he did the job :)

Special thanks to NTM.

Next AAR will be more conform to FM's i'm working on MRLV1 :).


Please excuse poor english.

BTW I'm thinking of running a CPX in french ( yes you know the litlle
country Caesar invaded <g>) Any thoughts?

Waiting impatiently for TO 2.x.x

Best regards
Christian Simon

--------------------------------

And Rick Nelson’s AAR:

This was a difficult CPX to plan for.  No idea what the enemy
was, or what our forces would be.  Made it pretty fun.

I tried to think in the worst case scenario.  Massive OPFOR
advance at the start, and a lot of disorganized units to get over
the river.  We set up two assembly areas (James' idea) and made a
rough priority of units to cross first.  Any arty units would go
first so they could set up across the river, and the first
combatant unit initially would be sent west for a screen.  I
thought about pulling up the Vulcans, which were on the rest side
of the river, at the start and sending them across.  I didn't,
but I wish I would have.  Of course they did a pretty good job on
the trucks and inf.

We planned to initially send the security company out in platoons
as OPs and to ambush any OPFOR scouts.  I didn't expect much
time, so I planned to send them only out to about 660 easting,
and not much farther north than Haysville.  Before the game
started, James suggested we set up some OPs further west, so we
designated some around 640 easting.

We had more time than I expected.  The security platoons got to
their locations without seeing anything.  After a little
discussion, we sent a truck and inf team out from each platoon to
go further west.  Next time I'm going to plan for OPs clear to
the edge of the map :-).

The rest of the CPX has been pretty well described, so I'll just
add a few observations.

I put in more BPs than I have done before, and I still could use
a few more.  It's much easier saying "move A coy to Chestnut 3",
than "move A coy to the woods vic 664954".  

Don't sit and wait.  We could have put OPs further west if we had
planned to do so from the beginning.  

We planned to blow the bridge as soon as the fighting got to the
town of Guston.  Our first order was to allow as many units as
possible to cross the river, second to prevent the Russians from
capturing the bridge, and third to hold the Vire river line as
long as possible.  Once they got to Guston, the route to the
crossing from the south entry was lost, so blowing the bridge
satisfied numbers two and three.  We couldn't count on the Army
Air Force to come along at the last minute and save the day :-).
Our initial force was called "Task Force Ryan" by the way.

On question I had was if OPFOR ever ran into any of our
minefields.  There were two across the road to the NW on the edge
of Guston, and several more inside the woods vic 676939.

The addition of a river added a new dimension to the map. Nice
idea.  Good game Nic!


Rick

------------------

Plus a comment from Nick:

> On question I had was if OPFOR ever ran into any of our
> minefields.  There were two across the road to the NW on the edge
> of Guston, and several more inside the woods vic 676939.

No, they didn't actually.. From what I can tell, after you pulverised
their first force with the tanks, the attack came from further South.

As for the (understandable) comments that NATO doesn't feel that they
lost, my first inclination was to award a draw. But what blew it in
OpFor's favour was when you blew the bridge. At that point I realised that
OpFor probably did a fairly good deception job, making NATO think that
there was a lot more out there than there actually was, and I figured that
agressiveness had to be rewarded... NATO always seemed to be afraid.. "As
soon as Opfor gets to the woods, pull the engineers back" "As soon as
Opfor enters Guston, blow the bridge" sort of thing.

NTM


----------------------