Recce Battle near Gagetown Trying for something a bit different - and stealing a number of ideas from Jerry Hall - I set up this CPX to focus on the recon battle prior to a major assault. As will become clear, the results were a little odd, though in the end pretty good. Canada: Matt Olhmer Opfor: Rick Nelson Orders to each side: ---------- Opfor Orders: You are in charge of recon in preparation for an attack on the Canadian lines on map 200. Your force is a combined force of your MR Division's, the lead MR Regiment's, and the lead MR Battalion's recon assets: MRD: 2 BMP-2 with 2 Inf Teams and 2 Sniper Teams 2 BRDM with 2 Inf Teams and 2 Recon Teams 3 T-80U 1 Ground Surveillance Radar on an MTLB MRR: 2 BMP-2 with 2 Inf Teams and 2 Recon Teams 2 BRDM with 2 Inf Teams 3 BRDM-AT MRBn: 2 BMP-2 with 2 Inf Teams and 2 Recon Teams 2 BRDM with 2 Inf Teams You will move EASTwards across 100 Easting after dusk (cross at 19:00) and must accomplish the following before 03:00: 1) You must provide targetting data for Division and Army prep fires (6 BM-27 rocket strikes and 6 batteries of 152mm ICM, which will use pre-planed fires.) 2) You must provide information on the enemy's front-line trace. 3) You must recommend the best route for the main attack to follow. 4) Optimally, you will also: - defeat any enemy counter-recon forces - decieve the enemy as to the axis and timing of our upcoming offensive. Our weather boffins regret to report that it will be a crisp, clear night with a crescent moon. You can expect full thermal visibility; normal visibility will extend out to 1 or 2 kilometers. [In game: eyeball visibility 1500m.] One battery of 152mm artillery will be on call for emergency fire support. Your forces have thermal sights and advanced warheads. ---------- Canadian Orders: You are to coordinate counter-recon efforts for the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battalion, which is defending in sector Map 200. The PPCLI has all the forces in a standard Canadian Infantry Battalion as provided by the TacOps Add Optional Units. PPCLI forces are to deploy EAST of the following front line: 180500 North along 180 to 180580 (meets woods edge) Follow woods edge North / North-West to edge of map (at 161659); include copses of trees vic 175585. Most of the details of the defense are up to you, except as noted below. PPCLI has had several days to prepare the position and may place up to 40 entrenchments. PPCLI must form a counterattack reserve off-map of at least company size. The exact composition of the reserve force is up to you. For forward counter-recon PPCLI may deploy its recon platoon (3 M-113, 1 HQ, 2 sniper, 10 LAV-25, 10 Infantry scout teams), plus your choice of 2 of: a rifle platoon (4 M-113, 3 Infantry Sections, 1 P4 HQ, 3 Eryx, 1 Milan) taken from any company you choose 4 Milan AT vehicles from your Anti-Armour Platoon 4 Leopard I tanks from Brigade [Matt chose to take a rifle platoon and 4 tanks.] Normal defense elements must deploy by platoon. Counter-recon units may deploy as individual units. Counter-recon units should be given a schedule on which they will move, or positions in which they will hide, from 18:00 through to 06:00. They may deploy EAST of 150 Easting. (In game terms, include at least 18:00 to 00:00. You do not know when (in real life, it would be if) there will be a recon probe tonight.) One battery of 155mm artillery will be on call for fire support. The weather is expected to be clear and cool, with good thermal visibility to 4km and a crescent moon providing normal visibility out to 1 or 2km. Opfor (being Canadian, you ought to call them Fantasian, technically) forces are well-equipped, and have thermals and advanced warheads. They are thought to be getting ready for a major assault in the near future. You must accomplish the following: 1) Prevent the enemy from gaining accurate recon intel on our front-line trace 2) Destroy or drive off any enemy recon attempts. Optimally, you will also: 3) determine what axis the enemy attack is likely to use 4) ascertain if recon activity tonight is an indicator of imminent enemy attack ---------- Matt deployed the Canadian defense along the deisgnated front line in a series of strongpoints. The recce force moved out to cover the road that runs N-S across map 200 (codename ANNA; runs from 145660 -> 140650 -> 140580 -> 123551 -> 100500), intending, if possible, to simulate this as a defense line and channel Opfor into attacking in the northern part of the map. The north was heavier with ATGM teams, and the southern plain had the tanks. Rick misunderstood the nature of the operation at first, sending in his recon forces in a mechanized hasty assault. These ran into a series of ambushes and were essentially destroyed within 30 minutes. Opfor being completely clueless, this was a decisive Canadian victory. Since we had nearly all of our play time left, we decided to keep going in the following manner.... Two lurkers, Steve Althouse and Bill Nottingham, coached Rick on recon the slow and plodding way while I pondered on how to run the restart. In the end, we did this: I mentioned to Matt my understanding that in Israeli Army CPXes, when you do well, the umpires make the game harder on you. The longer you hold on against increasingly unfair odds, the better you do in the assessment. Then I took away his artillery and mortars. His forces were not replenished, and were not permitted to move about before we brought in the New Opfor. Rick got a new copy of his original force entering the map. The T-80s were upgraded to T-80ATGM, just in case. He also asked for and got a UAV, and was provided with an extra 3 BMPs and 3 BRDMs, each loaded with recon and sniper teams. Rick also kept the remnants of his old forces. Rick soon showed that he'd taken the advice to heart; and the game became the intended extended hide-and-go-seek. Rick's progress was best in the center, where the combination of numerous LOS breaks from trees and elevation lines (which allowed him to mix movement and overwatch well) and Matt's relative weakness in that area (forces having moved from it to reinforce N and S against Rick's earlier drives) resulted in Rick slowly but steadily cleaning out Matt's counter-recon force. In retrospect, we handed Rick too much in the way of extra forces; the extra BMP/BRDM and recon/sniper teams were probably a mistake. More on why later. Seeing this was happening, I gave Matt his off-map arty again. In the north, Rick kept moving his recon southwards. He never tried to get recon on Matt's forces north of 64 northing. In the south, Rick's early and fatal encounter with Matt's Leo Is slowed Rick to a crawl. A number of long sneak and peek operations, carefully covered by BMPs, were used to slowly discover that the Leos had gone elsewhere. None of Rick's forces got east of easting 15 on the southern plateau. Rick's GSR use was, as elsewhere in his activity, characterized by mistakes followed by quick learning. When a GSR was used, I rolled a d10 against the number of minutes it had been running; lower numbers than that time gained a direction-finding result for the Canadians. They were lucky to get a perfect fix on Rick's first attempt, which Rick compounded by leaving the GSR broadcasting after it had finished its intended scan. Matt expressed his music criticism via ICM, putting the GSR off the air. Rick's use of his other GSR was thereafter carefully controlled, with short broadcasts followed by km+ displacements. Matt and I were exhausted by game-time 02:10; it being by then ~04:00 GMT (06:00 local for Matt and 05:00 for me), so at that point we ended the game. Matt was convinced that a major Opfor attack was coming within 24 hours, but not within 1 hour (correct on both counts.) He expected that the Opfor main axis of attack would be along the 57 northing - which was incorrect, as Rick reccomended that the attack go along the northern edge of the map. Rick, for his part, had good recon data on the Canadian MLR from 64 northing to 57 northing, but nothing to the north or south of this area. His reccomended axis of attack was into an area he had no data on and thought was empty - wrong! - and falling into Matt's attempt to influence Opfor to attack in the north. Had the game continued, Rick could probably have gotten data on some of Matt's southern by using his remaining GSR and more aggressive use of the UAV. We skipped the arty targetting requirement, and Matt had clearly failed (in the second run!) to defeat the Opfor recon. In the end, we agreed this was a minor Opfor victory; and that the first run of the game had produced a complete Canadian victory. ---------- Lessons learned About running CPXes: Rick had too many things to control. With most of his forces out in single vehicles/teams or pairs of same, he was unable to keep track of them and had trouble keeping up with the flow of events, especially when I tried to push the pace when I got tired. With more Opfor players this would have been a lot more workable. From a game balance point of view, Rick's extra load of snipers and recon was overkill. These easily mowed down Matt's dismounts in the center of the map, and the vehicles from these groups had retreated, ceding the center to Rick. A normal mix of mostly infantry and a few recon/snipers would have been rather better. Players were given an unprecedented (for any CPX of mine) level of control over units - freely setting and resetting engagement ranges, SOPs, and generally micromanaging their moves. I would not want to deal with this in a scenario any larger than this one! Matt's overlay map was very good; most woods and roads were named, as were over 50 numbered battle positions or intersections. The only problem with this was I occasionally had trouble finding a given BP! 8) Rick's overlay was designed to support his original assault plan; it was largely useless in the second run, and we had to stick to UTMs, slowing things a bit. Details on how I ran the GSR use: The GSR was assumed to need about 2 minutes to scan about 1 square km for moving vehicles (out to 10km) and infantry (out to 5km). Double that time was needed for stationary targets. GSRs had to use line of sight, and could not see very far into a treeline. Once the scan time was complete, I rolled a d10, with the following ranges: 0-3 exact data 4-7 approximate data 8 equipment trouble, no results 9 false data Running the GSR for longer than the necessary time increased the probability of a good result. Direction finding worked as follows anmd was a bit more loose: Roll a d10 and see if it was less than or equal to the time the GSR had been operating, in minutes, in the current location. If less, then a DF report was generated. The lower the die roll, the better the fix. The exact fix was generated on a roll of a 1 when the GSR had been running for 10 minutes; typically, the reports came when the GSR had been running for about 6 minutes, and a fairly vague 'GSR broadcasting in the southern central portion of the map', or 'within 2km of XXYY' was provided. I do not know much about real-life GSRs, so I'm happy to hear of how off-base all this was. It did have the intended effgect; GSRs were moderately useful, but not the be- all and end-all of recon, while still making the Canadians feel horribly naked and Opfor scared that they would be suddenly blown away. 8) Recon/counter-recon: Much of this is not exactly earth-shattering. Keep your GSR moving. 8) Not a surprise, but close, broken terrain is much easier to recon. Rick's success was much greater in the broken terrain above 58 northiung than in the open terrain south of it; in particular, getting anywhere on the plateau in the south posed major problems. Small groups of infantry sneaking forward, overwatching each other, and overwatched by their vehicles, can do pretty well against scattered enemy ambushes. On the other hand, those same ambushes will rip apart small fast-moving mechanized forces. Both players kept wavering back and forth between the two goals of sneaking and killing the enemy. Rarely was there a concerted effort to try to stay in sneak mode until the enemy hit a given point, then open up an ambush; the closest approach to this was some bait-and-hammer tactics by Rick in trying to flush out LAVs and (not-actually- there) Leos on the southern plateau. The spotting capabilities of Recon Teams (as opposed to scout teams) in TacOps are phenomenal. they can spot units at approx 3 times the normal maximum range. I'd sort of known this, but the game drove it home. Much of Rick's intel on the central section of Matt's line came from Recon Teams peeking about with binoculars. In addition, these teams are very hard to spot, even when they are moving. Lastly, everyone involved said they'd had fun. The game was agreed to be a nice change of pace from the usual mechanized meeting engagement. We discussed briefly how to fit this kind of recon into a normal CPX.... it's difficult because of time constraints. 8( Jerry Hall is currently doing MBX for the recon stage of a battle and shifting to a CPX for the main assault, which may be the best solution around; the only problem is that the defense knows the moment of transition from recon to assault. It is also possible to do a multi-session CPX, though those can be a pain to schedule... that said, I do have hopes of trying to run another multi-map multi-session CPX along the lines of the Divisional Assault CPX, sometime this summer. 8) Rick Nelson’s Reply: > Recce Battle near Gagetown > > Trying for something a bit different - and stealing a number of ideas from > Jerry Hall - I set up this CPX to focus on the recon battle prior to a > major assault. As will become clear, the results were a little odd, though > in the end pretty good. I would say very good. It was a pretty intensive and occasional painful learning experience. Completely different than any of the scenarios in TacOps. > Rick misunderstood the nature of the operation at first, sending in his > recon forces in a mechanized hasty assault. These ran into a series of > ambushes and were essentially destroyed within 30 minutes. Opfor being > completely clueless, this was a decisive Canadian victory. > "Clueless in Fantasia", you might say. > Since we had nearly all of our play time left, we decided to keep going in > the following manner.... > > Two lurkers, Steve Althouse and Bill Nottingham, coached Rick on recon the > slow and plodding way while I pondered on how to run the restart. > They did a very good job of coaching. I was completely green. Before this CPX, my idea of recon was to send a BRDM down the road until somebody shot at it. :-) > > In the north, Rick kept moving his recon southwards. He never tried to > get recon on Matt's forces north of 64 northing. > That was an oversight. I was so busy keeping track of what was happening that I didn't take time to look at the overall objectives again. When my units started running into his line, I turned them south (which was already well covered) instead of north. > In the south, Rick's early and fatal encounter with Matt's Leo Is slowed > Rick to a crawl. I tried to attack the Leo by bringing 3 T80s and 3 BMPs over the edge of the plateau to overwhelm him. Result: Leo 6 OPFOR 0 :-( > > Rick's GSR use was, as elsewhere in his activity, characterized by > mistakes followed by quick learning. The addition of the GSR added an interesting element to the game. I liked the way James modeled it. In a CPX a few weeks ago (OPFOR vs Belgian and Dutch) the we spotted a Dutch GSR, but there was never any indication that we had detected its emissions. Perhaps the umpire or one of the NATO players could remark on its use. > > Rick had too many things to control. With most of his forces out in > single vehicles/teams or pairs of same, he was unable to keep track of them > and had trouble keeping up with the flow of events, especially when I tried > to push the pace when I got tired. With more Opfor players this would have > been a lot more workable. This could work well with three OPFOR players. The battalion recon might be a good place for a newcomer to CPXs. I think this CPX has a good deal of replay value. A little alteration of units and locations could produce another CPX that still has a lot of uncertainty. I'd do it again. Rick This is Matt Ohlmer's AAR of the CPX on May 30: ------------------------------------------ This AAR got a bit lengthy... . Hope its entertaining nevertheless... The CPX of may 30th saw me in the seat of Cdr of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battalion, defending on TO map 200 against OPFOR coming from WEST. OPFOR was commanded by Rick Nelson UMPIRE was James Sterrett -------------- SETUP: (quotes BDE) a) Forces: >>... The PPCLI has all the forces in a standard Canadian Infantry Battalion...<< thats basically: 3 rifle coys in m113 of 4 plts each (HQ + 3 rifle plts) with fair nums of close range and moderate of mid range ATGM, mortars wich each coy; add to that 4 plts mid-range AT-vehicles, recce forces, a mortar section and some support vehics. >>... For forward counter-recon PPCLI may deploy its recon platoon (3 M-113, 1 HQ, 2 sniper, 10 LAV-25, 10 Infantry scout teams), plus your choice of 2 of: - a rifle platoon (4 M-113, 3 Infantry Sections, 1 P4 HQ, 3 Eryx, 1 Milan) taken from any company you choose - 4 Milan AT vehicles from your Anti-Armour Platoon - 4 Leopard I tanks from Brigade...<< I opted for the BDE tanks and a rifle platoon from A coy, leaving the AntiArmor plt intact. >>...PPCLI must form a counterattack reserve off-map of at least company size. The exact composition of the reserve force is up to you...<< I made C-coy + half of my AntiArnor plt the CounterAttacForce >>...PPCLI has had several days to prepare the position and may place up to 40 entrenchments...< To dig in I had two thirds of A-coy + B-coy + half AT-plt + mortar + support left, a total of 15 mech plts + roughly 30 inf plts. >>...One battery of 155mm artillery will be on call for fire support...<< >>...In the event, I may well toast off some of the support units - the M-548s (recovery vehicles) and some of the HQs and their M-113s....<< (Had me worried, but didn´t take place ) b) BDE orders BDE orders were simple and clear: >>...Canadian Orders: You are to coordinate counter-recon efforts for the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battalion...<< Mission: >>... 1) Prevent the enemy from gaining accurate recon intel on our front-line trace 2) Destroy or drive off any enemy recon attempts. Optimally, you will also: 3) determine what axis the enemy attack is likely to use 4) ascertain if recon activity tonight is an indicator of imminent enemy attack...<< c) Deployment PPCLI DEFENSIFE forces were to deploy EAST of the following front line: N/S Treeline WOODS EAST of EASTING 160, then EASTING 180 to the SOUTH map EDGE PPCLI counter RECON forces were to deploy EAST of EASTING 150 >>...Normal defense elements must deploy by platoon...<< >>...Counter-recon units may deploy as individual units. ..<< ---------------- PLANNING: a) Situation Friendlies A quick look at the MAP showed it is very high, meaning my defense front-line would have to stretch over 16 km. (In fact the map was so large (10x16km) that I only managed to see a portion of it on my monitor (8x6km). 8(. SitMap option of TacOps was no help here, wouldn´t display full map (Major?). Only at the day of the cpx did I see the map 1:1 for the first time, this was a real problem during planning and I might have done things different.) All the TERRAIN is ROUGH, but it is criss-crossed by a number of ROADS. Prominent feature is one (and only) NS ROAD connecting all other roads. The CENTER and the SOUTH are mainly open high ground, the NORTH broken low ground. >>...The weather is expected to be clear and cool, with good thermal visibility to 4km and a crescent moon providing normal visibility out to 1 or 2km....<< We would plan for 1 km normal visibility. Some questions remained open: we requested BDE info on friendlies in other sectors, CAS availiabilty >>...Your neighbors to the north and south have effected communications and planning links to your flank units; these forces are conducting missions as yours (digging in, counter-recon)...<< >>...We are trying to conserve strength for the main battle - none...<< b) Situation Enemy >>...Opfor...forces are well-equipped, and have thermals and advanced warheads. They are thought to be getting ready for a major assault in the near future....<< Requested more intel on enemy from BDE. >>...The enemy front line is thought to be at approx easting 08; its strength is not know though at least an MRR is in your sector...<< >>...The enemy has been conducting deliberate assaults, apparently trying to achieve a breakthrough. In the immediate past, there has been a pause in their operations, presumably to reconstitute and resupply. The enemy commonly conducts major recon operations shortly before an offensive - both on the main axis of attack, and on both secondary and diversionary axes of attack...<< >>...We expect that somewhere along the line the enemy will attack, within the next 48 hours. the exact location of the attack is not known; it may or may not be in your sector. We do not know when or in what strength the enemy will attack. Hopefully, you might be able to pick up indicators of this....<< >>...This means that, unless you are so unlucky as to face that attack during the timeframe of the game, you can expect to face several Recce units; these usually consist of a mix of BMPs and BRDMs carrying infantry and specialized scout units. Ground Surveillance Radar is possible, as are small numbers of heavy forces attached to the Recce units - tanks or missile carriers...<< >>...Should the enemy attack, you can expect at least a full Motorized Rifle Regiment with extensive support from Division and Army...<< c) Evaluation Requested some mission clarifications from BDE: Q: b) Is this my top priority (mission accomplished if enemy can´t describe front-line trace at end of cpx)? Q: c) does this mean, defense is seccond priority only? >>...B is correct. C is important in terms of the 'wider mission'; ie make a defense line that's realistic, or it will count against you in the final reckoning. In any event, there has to be a front line for the enemy to find! 8)...<< >>...We're modelling the recon/ctr-recon battle in the CPX.... but the success/failure of it is only relevant in terms of an eventual assault (or deception regarding same). Q: "recon attempts" literally by recon units only or FSE attempts as well? >>...Well, in real life you wouldn't know. In the CPX, prolly only recce units...<< In hindsight I can now see that James was not stating/indicating anything like this, quite to the contrary, rather, but somehow (self-hypnosis? ) I led myself to believe I was in the CPX actually facing a major MRR recon operation possibly involving an FSE + divisional support. (This persisting expectations haunted me throughout the whole cpx and was the reason for some strange decisions in the latter part...) I was the only player (as was my opponent), rather unusual for a cpx, and that meant a lot of units to control. I was looking for a plan that allowed for recon-micromanaging and defense-by platoon, so as to reduce the guiding workload in case of an attack. Against an MRR with the given visibility I would have preferred to defend in 1 km depth around the frontline (inf ambushs covered by ATGM´s/M113´s), but BDE orders were not to move the defense units during CPX. So I set defense up along the front-line, dug in in strong-points. Latter because of the deploy-by-platoon rule as well as because of the easy loading and moving possibilities in case of an attack in the extreme sector flank and subsequent permission from BDE to move them. Because of the rough terrain I figured an attack and the connected recon tries would be road-bound in the majority. From OPFOR cdr point view three routes for attack seemed attractive to me: - The only straight WE-road in the CENTRE vic NORTHING 57/58 (crossing high ground in the centre) - The low ground route in the NORTH along NORTHING 63 - a straight crossing in the SOUTH using the roads vic NORTHING 53/54 Since the rather "open" SOUTH high ground seemed hard to recon and hard to defend at the same time, I decided to concentrate on the CENTRE and NORTH approach and WEIGHED deployment of my defenses to the NORTH, leaving only two strongpoints in the south to defend road intersections vic 180540 and vic 185517. The CENTRE high ground I defended with my remaining AT plts + one strongpoint, deploying the majority of other units NORTH of NORTHING 60. After thinking up (and rapidly) dismissing again a few approaches to counter-recon that included a blocking line in the center combined with *very* forward observers I finally decided to settle in a deceptive approach: My recon elements, together with the rifle platoon and the recon supprt tanks would try to give the impression our front-line was in fact traced along the NS road metioned before (This road will have to be used by OP at some stage if trying to cross the map quickly). They would have also to try and channel enemy recon/attack to the north towards my somewhat stronger defenses, by providing a rather aggressive defense in the south which hopefully would make enemy reconsider taking the trouble of crossing high ground. Arty would support that plan by visibly adjusting/smoking along the NS road. d) Orders Since I had jumped on the CPX train fairly late (expecting a week of low workload that changed into one with a work overload...) I could foresee I would not have a lot of time to put my orders in writing. Because of the large number of units involved I asked permission to submit a TacOps saved-game-file instead, which was granted. This gave me the possibility to micro-manage, i.e. set SOP, target priorities, etc. to detail. (I know that might have put an extremely high workload onto the ump, but James coped perfectly...) I ordered the majority of my recon vehicles (RV) together with three tank recon supt (RS) to the west borders of southern high ground, dropping off their inf close to all intersections of the NS road, and taking overwatch positions with LOS westwards both high and low ground. The other recon elements + the rifle plt would spread along the NS road in the north (again dismounting close to road intersections) and try to ambush advancing recon/FSE units there. Target priority red BMP´s was set for the RV´s, their range to 600-1000mtr. Recon teams (RT) were yellow prioritized against tanks with 200mtr range. RS, the tanks ranges were set to zero, to fire on demand only. Defensive units ranges were set to 500-600 in overlapping kill-zones. I produced a map overlay where all the roads got female names (NS road was ANNA), the intersections were C-numbered (C15, etc.), woods had male names, and that displayed a number of battle/observation points by plain number (around 50). (In the CPX it showed that I should have them organized better numbering them in a top-to-bottom/left-to-right manner, because I sometimes had difficulties finding them ...a lesson learned) ------------------- EXECUTION: Given the extensive game time frame of 12 hrs I had expected a slow/careful recon operation, followed by recon-in-force/attack from the FSE. Actually things went different: >JSterrett: 0705 >JSterrett: contact >JSterrett: one of your tanks opens up on a BRDM >JSterrett: US Spot Report - Time: 0705 >JSterrett: 1xBRDM2 APC at UTM 121551 *Moving northwest >JSterrett: 1xInf Team at UTM 121551 In the south some units tried to crawl up to high ground plain, my own recon units were half way to their positions there. I had them stop, smoked the place and went on, in the course loosing some of my southern recon units. >JSterrett: 0706 >JSterrett: your lav near 16, on RITA, blown away - firing unit not spotted >0707 >JSterrett: smoke fell >JSterrett: lost a lav >JSterrett: killed another BRDM at 18 In the north things started to develop fast as well, but there my units had had time to get to there required positions. >JSterrett: 0711 >JSterrett: spotted: >JSterrett: US Spot Report - Time: 0711 >JSterrett: 3xBRDM2 AT at UTM 129639 *Moving northeast >JSterrett: orders? >Rattler: mortar DF/B/hq smoke them or their path About 0715 some scharmutzels North were well underway, we had spotted and lost three tanks and a number of bmps in the south and centre: > JSterrett: 0717 JSterrett: slammo! JSterrett: US Spot Report - Time: 0717 JSterrett: 2xBRDM2 APC at UTM 136627 *Moving north JSterrett: 1xInf Team at UTM 137577 JSterrett: 1xInf Team at UTM 136577 *Moving north JSterrett: 1xInf Recon Team at UTM 137577 JSterrett: 1xInf Recon Team at UTM 137577 JSterrett: just west of C5, 2 bmps appear JSterrett: the bmps are dead, inf battle still going on the inf battle continued for a while, then thins changed to north again. >JSterrett: 0719 JSterrett: US Spot Report - Time: 0719 JSterrett: 1xInf Team at UTM 139632 JSterrett: 1xInf Team at UTM 137577 JSterrett: 1xInf Recon Team at UTM 137577 JSterrett: you ambush 2 bmps just south of 3 JSterrett: blam blam boom 8) JSterrett: orders? Rattler: mortars north register and adjust to c2 JSterrett: ok Rattler: check RS 3+4 (#53 #54) for LOS out of the woods? expect OP tanks to come high ground, fire on 1500 This latter order was for my leos south high ground, a wise provision, as it turned out a few later... >JSterrett: 0730 JSterrett: you got smoked on in the south; then 3 t-80 and 2 bmp popped up vic gbetween 19 and C6 - killed one bmp, one T-80 so far with one tank at 29 JSterrett: US Spot Report - Time: 0730 JSterrett: 1xBMP2 IFV at UTM 117544 JSterrett: 2xT80U Tank at UTM 115544 *Moving JSterrett: 2xBRDM2 APC at UTM 134577 Things went fast and I got extremly lucky for a moment... >JSterrett: 0731 JSterrett: leo is slaughtering T-80s Rattler: 8) JSterrett: leo at 29 kills all the T-80s and BMPs without a scratch! 8) Rattler: 8)))) Then for a long time nothing happened, I started getting nervous, waiting for the FSE units to appear somewhere. Did some provocative moves with vehicles quite in the open, no action answered... At about that time James asked me a somewhat unexpected question: >JSterrett: ever hear of how the Israeli Army does CPXes? Rattler: no re Israel JSterrett: When you start doing well, they try to make things worse. Rattler: 8) JSterrett: So the better you do - longer you live- the wrose it gets. JSterrett: FYI: you are now in an Israeli CPX. After nothing happened for a while I was informed that enemy was to start over with new units given to him + a new plan: >JSterrett: still working on the restart JSterrett: Rick says he needs c. 30 minutes for a new plan. JSterrett: looks like a restart - for him not you, 8) JSterrett: ok... JSterrett: orders are same JSterrett: he's getting another force like the first one, to try it again JSterrett: he'll retain forces currently on the map as well JSterrett: life is *not* fair 8) >snip< > Rattler2: ok, our plan was against an MRR, so we´ll stick to it: We wanted to channel him north, we´ll try to do it. Interpret orders under that intent. I think after his recon forces an FSE will most probably arrive, we want to know the axis of attack to be sure if and when an attack will occur Rattler2: (our secondaries) JSterrett: FYI JSterrett: because life is unfair (tm) JSterrett: all your indirect fire assets are out of ammo JSterrett: 8) Rattler2: on map as well? JSterrett: yes Rattler2: ok JSterrett: 8) JSterrett: Smile! That was the israeli cpx bit... Again, in hindsight I can see James actually stated Rick was going to get a force *like the first to try again*, but in the game my self-hypnotizing abilities were stronger then the literally written out info , it never got to me (or my brain, rather...). I completely lost track of the game there, since I was now convinced (the recon phase was over, no?) that an FSE was the next units to come into play to probe my defenses. So I decided to pull all my forces back and north do get a defensive position 1-2 km out of my front-line to prevent enemy from getting info on it (my primary mission). In the course of the next game hour my inf got heavily sniped, probed in the south and a minor battle evolved in the woods north vic 153627. I decided to not use smoke with my inf because I wanted them to be able to spot the advancing FSE units... They subsequently more or less got killed off. After a while two GSR´s appeared in the game centre and south, one got located by BDE and with a lucky ICM killed. The other remained active on and off. I asked BDE about info on GSR, something I had not done before the game, a big mistake: It could detect all my front line fairly well, I had completely underestimated its effects (I had assumed it sort of would proviude higher arty accuracy...8( ) At local 5:30 a.m. I got really tired and asked permission to end the game. By that time I had lost almost all ovf my recon units, no spotters left in the south but going after the GSR there with a two tanks and a m113 as bait. I had managed to hold the wood in the north, killing off a few BMP´s. No attack had occured, and I was still waiting for that FSE. ------------ FINALs > JSterrett: nature of Opfor operation is what? RickN: Matt, where exactly are you located? Rattler: major recon JSterrett: attack imkinent? JSterrett: er imminent? Rattler: main force not within the hour JSterrett: Main force: within next 24? Rattler: = not imminent, max FSE wqhxixh we can cxope with JSterrett: Main force attack within next 24 hours? or is probe not an indicator? Rattler: next 24 no clue, might, might not, GSR might be the only incicator yes, within the next 24 JSterrett: is that a yes? or a no? 8) Rattler: I have no idea how common use of GSR is for OP units JSterrett: div level asset Rattler: attack 24 yes JSterrett: 8) JSterrett: axis? JSterrett: Rick: Suggested axis for attack to use? JSterrett: Understanding of ensmy FL trace? Rattler: Elsa/karin best guess JSterrett: and.... explain by when you had to report on all this. RickN: north edge of map JSterrett: ok JSterrett: (Elsa-Karin is in the center) RickN: looker like 165630 was right flank JSterrett: Rick is reccomending north edge for opfor main force attack Rattler: 8( JSterrett: wrong 8) re 165630 RickN: had to report by 300 JSterrett: suggest he by happenstance has fooled you on axis JSterrett: you have sussed attack is coming Rattler: well, so I am bad at my secondaries...8( JSterrett: his frontline trace is not awesome JSterrett: 8) JSterrett: though frontline trace in S likely to get a bit better with the GSR working you over in the next hour, other things being equal JSterrett: so, overall, second run is a minor opfor win Rattler: ...8) JSterrett: first run is a decisive Cdn victory though! 8) RickN: first run, however :-( RickN: very decisive I had a few problems to state the axis, still have no clue how I could have figured: My only idea was that since his GSR´s had figured my southern front-line quite well he would not fall for my channeling attempt but go there with his attack. LESSONS learned: 1. (the oldie): Don´t assume! My assuming GSR capabilities without asking info and the persisting FSE assumption cost me the second part of the CPX. 2. Keep a reserve: One of my problems was that I could not move my snipers with their improved spotting capabilities in time to where I needed them nor close the recon gaps Ricks actions had created. Had I kept two RV´s and one sniper team in reserve I could have used them well. Overall it was a lot of fun, James did an excellent job and I really liked the type of engagement which has not been modelled so far... Bye, Matt