Umpires After-Action Report for the CPX on July 18, 1998. Participants on that day: Jamaicans: Steve Althouse: Local Forces Commander Rick Nelson: Presidential Guard Commander Tim Harmon: Presidential Guards 1st BN CO Brian Rock: Presidential Guards 2nd BN CO USMC: Jerry Hall Basil Burgess Jammer 6 was supposed to be USMC CO but a variety of technical problems got in the way. Map used: 323. This is Jamaican with the sugar canes cut. It comes with TacOps CE; there is a downloadable version of it on http://www.sterrett.demon.co.uk/ Other credits: Major H for convincing me that an amphibious landing was worthwhile as a scenario (by dragging my brain out of the Omaha Beach frontal-assault-on-prepared- defenses rut). Steve Althouse for the idea of the Local Forces / Presidential Guard split. Orders for each side: Amphib Assault CPX: July 18, 1998 15:00 GMT USMC Orders: The Jamaican President has ticked off the USA because he refused to lower banana and sugar prices, and the USMC is leading the effort to teach him the follow the American Dream of cheap sugar-coated bananas. Your Task Force of 2 AAV7 Battalions (+) is to conduct an amphibious and airmobile assault into area Map 323 of Jamaica, seizing key terrain in preparation for larger forces to follow. The enemy is believed to have a lightly-armed infantry company defending the objective area (probable equipments: small arms, light AT weapons, local air defense systems). This force may be reinforced in the next few days. Heavier forces of the Presidential Guard Regiment, including mechanized infantry (BTR) and tanks (T-72), will probably attempt to react to your invasion. Their location is not fixed at this time. The enemy air threat is believed to be minimal. The local population is thought to be friendly to the Jamaican president. Your primary objective is to gain control of a landing and assembly area for follow-on forces. 1) Gain control of the airfield at 56/79 2) Gain control of the docks at 46/76 (not visible on map) 3) Control a road route between these 4) Secure all of the above from enemy direct fires. In addition, if possible, attain the following in order to secure the wider area and prepare for the expansion of our beachhead: 1) Secure the Lionel Town area and exit a company off of the southern edge of that area. 2) Control a road route from our beachhead towards Kingston (roads to Kingston exit via 71/84 - 71/87) and exit a company in the direction of Kingston 3) Control the routes to the center and west of the island (these exit vic 50/89) and exit a company in that direction. 4) Control the entrances to the western highlands (these entrances are the westernmost 5-7 kilometers of the map) 5) It is preferable to avoid bombing or shelling towns and villages, in order to reduce civilian casualties. Your forces: 2 AAV7 Battalions HQ company 4 AAV7 2 HQ 3 Mech Inf Companies 10 AAV7 1 HQ(-) 9 Inf Squads 6 7.62 MG Teams 6 SMAW Teams 3 60mm mortars Weapons Company 10 AAV7 1 HQ(-) 32 Javelin Teams 8 .50 HMG teams 8 Mk19 AGL Teams 8 81mm Mortar Teams 6 7.62 MG Teams 8 CH-46 Helos 4 AH-1 Helos 1 UAV 2 Recon Teams from Force Recon 2 Recon Teams from SEALs Extensive air support (25% resupply rate on airstrikes with 6 to start out with) Extensive naval gunfire support (2 batteries of 155mm with 999 salvos of HE. Range limit: 20km of the NE corner of the white section of the map (in the SW corner). On the ships, there is a battery of 155mm howitzers you can fly in. The battery will need 2 8-ship CH-46 helicopter trips to get guns and ammo onto shore. Off- map time is approx 20 minutes for loading and turn-around. You can make a set of 8 trips to resupply a battery as well. While the guns will be on-map, and represented on- map, I'll actually use the off-map arty in TacOps. Initial ammo loadout will be 25/5/3 HE/ICM/Smoke. All these forces may enter the map at 0700 via the white sea squares in the south-west corner of the map. The SEAL teams may be landed early on any section of waterfront. The Force Recon teams may be inserted early by HALO drop anywhere on the map. Note the that the bluish areas (look like swamps) along the seafront are coded as woods/water by TacOps - can't see through them, and must be amphib to go over them. You should provide intel with 3 priority targets. These could be areas of the map, enemy TOE/OOB, or enemy unit locations. Smaller, tighter requests are more likely to produce good results than loosely defined ones ('what is in grid 56/71' will probably spot every enemy unit in the grid square and all of their bathrooms to boot; 'what is on the map' will likely produce very little concrete data at all.) ============ Jammer 6 was supposed to be the USMC CO. However, when he sat down on Friday to plan, the map wouldn't load, and then his system bombed. Eventualy, even after fixing the system crash, he gave up, unaware that others had had similar problems, resigned, and did not appear at the game. There's several lessons here. 1) Test the map early. 323 is an *enormous* graphic file, but many other seemingly innocent map fils have choked things in the past. 2) Tell people you are having problems!! The Jamaican team had trouble with the map, told me so 1 - 1.5 weeks early, and got a much less memory intensive version of the map made for them (should be on the web site by the time you get this.) 3) Tell people when general problems crop up! I should have told the USMC team that there was a smaller version of the map around. They hadn't piped up with trouble, so I assumed there wasn't any - while Jammer assumed that since he'd not heard of anybody else having trouble, it was local to him. Vicious circle. At any rate, this meant that Basil Burgess, who was a complete rookie to CPXes, appeared on game day and discovered to his horror that not only was he CO, but that he needed to get a plan together. I warned the Jamaicans that there would be a bit of a delay and tried to work with Basil on a plan. Fortunately, Jerry Hall happened to drop by, and took on the mantle of command for the Marines, after which the the game was soon underway. The Marines landed at the docks, and at the beach area vic 74/50 - 74/51 - one battalion each. The Force Recon teams landed to cover the airfield, and each of the SEAL teams covered a landing beach. The Cobras were held in reserve. ============ Jamaican Orders: The US has gotten ticked off at our glorious President's refusal to lower sugar and banana prices, and an American invasion is imminent. This is divided into two sections - for the Local Force, which begins on the map, and the Presidential Guard, which moves onto it during the game. The players for these two forces should do their planning *separately*. You should only get a briefing for the force you are part of. None of your forces have thermals or advanced warheads except where specifically noted. Mission (both of you see this): Optimally, you will throw the American landing back into the sea. If this is not possible, contain the American landing. Prevent their seizure of useful installations (note that there are docks at 46/76 which do not appear on the map) and prevent them from gaining routes from which they can move into the rest of the country. Most important of these is to prevent the Americans from gaining a route to Kingston (via the roads leading off the map via 71/84 - 71/87). Also important, however, are the roads leading to the west and north of the country via 50/89. Forces able to hole up in the Lionel Town peninsula or the western highlands (which begin on the westernmost 5-7 kilometers of the map) might provide useful bases for a counterattack or a popular guerrilla movement. Local Forces: These are the light forces that are normally in place to defend the region. You have: 2 Infantry Battalions 3 Companies 3 Platoons of 4 RPK Inf Teams 1 Weapons Platoon 3 PKM MG Teams 1 AT-3 team 1 SPG-9 Team 4 Trucks 1 122mm Artillery battery (towed, but SP in game engine - no towed available in game) 1 120mm Mortar battery (leg) 16 ZU-23 AAA 4 SA-7b SAMs 1 HQ (you) with a GAZ66 light truck These forces may deploy anywhere on the map. (Note that the bluish marshy areas along the margin of the water are coded woods/water by TacOps - you cannot see through them, and must have something that floats to move across them.) You may choose one of the following options: - Harder Defense: 40 entrenchents, but your locations will be more easily figured out by US intel - Maskirovka: 5 entrenchments, but your troops' efforts have concentrated on defeating US recon and are less likely to be spotted for US pre-game planning. ============ Steve really got into the role-playing of this role. As a result, while the air defense units were reasonably competently set up, the rest of the Local Forces were deployed with a new set of priorities not forseen in the scenario orders.... About 1/6 of the force was deployed as police roadblocks at various places on the map. One company was deployed in Zodiacs (rubber power-boats, though MTLBs in the game) along the seaward edge of the mangrove swamps on the western edge of the map. Most of the rest was deployed to ward off an invasion long enough for Steve's HQ, based in the Girl's School at Ashley Hall (vic 73/58), to be moved via truck to the airfield, from whence it would fly away and escape. Whether or not this role of a corrupt political officer bears any relation to Steve is left to the reader to judge. In the game, it did provide some spectacle, if not much in the way of serious resistance to the Marines. Steve chose maskirovka over digging in, and US intel did not gain much info on the Local Forces. ============= Presidential Guard: This is the force available to react into the landing area. In theory, you do not know where the Americans will land, and some of the planning rules exist to simulate this. Forces: T-72 Battalion: (these tanks have thermal sights) 4 companies of 10 T-72 each BTR-80 Battalion: 4 BTR Companies 14 BTR 9 Inf Squads 3 PKM Teams 2 AGS-17 Teams 2 AT-4 Spigots or 2 SPG-9 (2 coy with each) 1 82mm Mortar Battery (8 82mm leg mortars, 8 BTR-80) 4 Trucks towing 4 100mm AT guns SAM Company: 12 BTRs with 12 SA-16 (these may be split between the battalions as desired) Force HQ: 2 BTR-80 an 1 P8 HQ Towed Arty: (SP in game): 2 122mm batteries. These forces will enter the map after the American invasion is detected. How long after, and where they enter, depends on your decisions as outlined below: The force can enter through any (and potentially all) of the following routes: - from Kingston: the roads vic 71/84 - 71/87 - from the northeast: 62/90-67/90 - center north: 55/90-60/90 - northwest: 47/90-51/90 - highlands: west edge - Lionel Town peninsula: south edge - Centralized quick reaction force. Under this option, the entire force is based in one place and does not move about. You may select which of the above entry areas it will use, and be very likely to have it enter on that route and for it to begin movement right away. However, American intel is also very likely to discover the force's location and probable entry area. - Mobile reaction force. Under this option, you will build two 4-company battalions. These will move about the country in an attempt to confuse the Americans as to their probable location when the war starts. American intelligence will have a harder time pinpointing your reaction force in this option. However, the two forces will enter from a semi- random direction (the various northern and Kingston options are more likely), they may not respond as soon, and they probably will not arrive at the same time. - Scattered Under this option, your individual companies scatter and hide to avoid American intelligence. This is the option most likely to confuse their intel. However, your companies may be quite slow to respond, and each one will arrive from a random entry area. Their arrival is extremely unlikely to be coordinated. You should come up with a plan for the on-map employment of your forces based on the deployment you choose. ============ Rick, Tim, and Rocky rechristened their force the Ganja Guards, in honor of one of Jamaica's other famous products. Their initial plan was to subvert the US invasion with a massive distribution of free hash. After chuckles all round, they decided to form two battalions (Mobile Reaction Force option), each of 2 companies of tanks and 2 of BTRs. They planned to move these battalions towards the airfield as they arrived. ============ At the beginning of the game, a series of dierolls went well for the USMC, determining that they discovered Tim's Presidential Guard battalion while off-map; taking the opportunity to bomb it, a die-roll garnered a company of BTRs destroyed. However, importantly, the Marines did not get any info on Rocky's battalion, and while die-rolls put Tims battalions entering the east edge of the map near the main road to Kingston at 07:30 (vic 70/87), Rocky's arrived ten minutes later vic the Tollgate road (vic 49/90). This interaction of chances wound up having a major impact on the game. The US assault went off with few hitches. The battalion that took over the port lost 2 AAV7s to Local Forces mortar fires (called in by the troops in the Zodiacs) and then proceeded north to the road, and east to the clearing. Due to the rough terrain, this took some time. While 1st BN struggled through the woods, 2nd BN fought a somewhat confused battle against a succession of very small Local Forces units around Milk Spring and Springfield (52/76), taking light casulaties, then paused to let the 1st BN catch up. The Cobras eventually spotted and killed off the Zodiac patrols, and the US artillery battery was flown onto the map. Eventully both battalions were ready to move on, and they both pushed simultaneously and abreast for the airfield. The weapons companies gave up their Javelin teams to the CH-46s as a mobile anti-tank reserve. The US Force Recon team spotted Steve's escape helicopter waring up, and destroyed it with artillery fire. Then they destroyed his truck with artillery fire as he searched for an alternate aircraft, and eventually were allowed by the Marine command to kill "the guy with way too many medals".... ending Steve's desperate attempt to use his Club Fled cruise tickets. Meanwhile, Tim's battalion had entered the map. Tipped off to Tim's approximate avenue of approach by their intel, the Marines stationed their UAV to keep watch. When Tim's battalion was spotted going through the countryside, twice, it was slammed by 6 US airstrikes. The second of these, taking place near Darby's Ford (60/85), assisted by both naval gunfire and the Marine's land battery's ICM, effectively wiped out Tim's battalion. 2 tanks and 2-3 BTRs survived to wander about, and took little further part in the action beyond deploying a small defensive position vic 66/85 to resist any Marines attempts to move to Kingston. One freak event: Tim's forces did get a *hit* on the UAV, but it apparently did no damage, as it sailed on and still sent pback pictures.... At about the point that Tim's battalion was obliterated, the Marine 2nd Battalion was beginning to enter Gimme-Me-Bit just south of the airfield whiule 1st Battalion was crossing the Main Savanna to the west of it - and the Marines became aware of the existence of Rocky's battalion, moving in column down the road to Gravel Hill/Hopewell (vic 53/81) from the north. The Marines turned 1st battalion to face north and deployed in a defensive position along the main road between Pridees and the airport, and the CH-46s landed the Javelin teams as part of the line. The Jamaicans spotted the Javelins landing and directed all of their indirect fires onto them - suppressing them and eventually wiping them out. As a result, the bulk of the US long-range AT took very little part in the battle. This is partly due to my traditional weakness as an umpire - reporting artillery fires - but potentially there is not much the Marines could have done, as until the artillery ran out of ammunition, they had no vehicles that could safely move in to pick up the Javelin teams; and even once the arty was out of ammo, the suppressed Javelin teams were not very effective at preventing the surviving Jamaican tanks from beating up on any resuce force - or anything that moved! The US committed its Cobras to the battle as well, which did a lot of damage (half the tanks, more than half of the BTRs) until the Jamaicans were able to get Rocky's SAMs into the picture. The Cobra(&artillery) - SAM duel was narrowly won by the SAMs (1 of 6 SAMs outlived the 4 Cobras). The Cobras did expend most of their ammo before going down. At about this point (just after sending in the Javelins), Jerry Hall had to leave. A long sporadic firefight between 1st Battalion and Rocky's battalion inflicted mild casulaties on both - flaring up when anything moved (and was spotted). The Marines were hampered by the suppression/death of their Javelins (couldn't use them vs the tanks) and because they were not willing to lose victory points by unleashing artillery on the Jamaican positions in Hopewell. The US tried to protect its Javelins with smoke, which failed because the Jamaican tanks had thermal sights. As the Jamaicans clued in on this Marine limitation they began to use it. Meanwhile, 2nd Battalion cleared the airfield, and Rocky snuck 5 tanks and 7 BTRs through the woods into Pridees - by some freak of fate, not running into the Marine's 1st Battalion Weapons company also in Pridees. Some enterprising Jamaicans in the port managed to send a fireteam of Marines to another planet via specially loaded cigarettes, and Marine sergeants growled their men into greater alertness for such tricks.... Basil, while he had done fine as a battalion commander while Jerry ran the wider battle, was very much at sea trying to get a grip on his entire force after Jerry left and Jerry's plan had run its course. We took a break to let him try to get back up to speed; then, when he concluded that he could not attack, we ended the game since the Jamaicans had come to the same conclusion. The game was ruled a Jamaican victory, since the Jamaicans had kept the Marines from exiting the map, and, with their force in Hopewell, were able to keep the major highway from the port to the airfield under fire. In fact, some aggressive flanking maneuvers by elements of the Marine 2nd Battalion through Pass Side and the Hopewell Woods (~51/80) might have been able to dislodge the Jamaican force in Hopewell - though this would have taken a bit of doing to achieve ands might have been very difficult to do without the Jamaicans seeing it. Alternatively, 2nd Battalion might have sent probes into other sectors of the map to try to render Rocky's battalion in Hopewell less relevant. Instead, the Marine 2nd Battalion defended the airfield, and left the Marine 1st Battalion was effectively pinned in the Main Savanna. Lessons Learned: I went over the lessons learnt about keeping everybody informed about map problems earlier, but the conclusions are worth repeating: 1) Test the map early. 323 is an *enormous* graphic file, but many other seemingly innocent map fils have choked things in the past. 2) Tell people you are having problems!! The Jamaican team had trouble with the map, told me so 1 - 1.5 weeks early, and got a much less memory intensive version of the map made for them (should be on the web site by the time you get this.) 3) Tell people when general problems crop up! I should have told the USMC team that there was a smaller version of the map around. They hadn't piped up with trouble, so I assumed there wasn't any - while Jammer assumed that since he'd not heard of anybody else having trouble, it was local to him. Vicious circle. Hopefully we can avoid that particular set of errors in the future. Game/tactics lessons: If your enemy has overwhelming firepower advantages, avoid attacking, and avoid meeting engagements.... at least grab the opportuinity to hurt the enemy in ambushes. The Jamaican Guards units lost a lot of punch because they had to move into position to fight the Marines. As Rocky's force showed, they were better off when they were stopped, and best when sheltering in towns and using the US ROE for shelter. Dug- in is even better. None of this is exactly shocking stuff, but it was shown in the game. The Marines may have lost the game - or at least let it end (though this was partly due to the time) by a failue to maneuver. 1st Battalion effectively let itself get pinned by a Jamaican force smaller than itself - though potentialy deadlier given the freedom of operation of the Jamaican tanks. 2nd Battalion got wrapped up in another mission, and on completing it did not move to assist 1st Battalion. 1st Battalion also had no reserve it could use to try to work its own way out of trouble. By contrast, Rocky's force battalion largely succeeded in maneuvering against 1st Battalion. While Rocky had not yet unleashed an assault against 1st Battalion's left flank (and a quick test during the debrief cast doubts on how well it would work), a force of moderate power had nonetheless been positioned so as to potentially greatly discomfit 1st Battalion. Scenario design: People seemed to enjoy the game, and, as usual, seemed to like having a few either/or choices thrown at them in the setup. The map is humongous and it gave a lot of trouble. I developed a love/hate relationship with it - disliking its size and the problems that caused, occasionally disliking the complexity of the terrain - but also liking the sheer size, the complexity, and the variety of terrain types on offer. We really only used about a 10x20km strip of it for the game, though that might have changed with different plans - potentialy this game could have had battles all over the map. Several players commented that they like maps of real places with lots of place names; so do I. Players seemed to like the communications split between the Local Forces and the Presidential Guard, and the Marines grudgingly liked the restrictions on their firepower. While it didn't turn out to be, this was potentially a very freewheeling scenario. I liked that aspect of it, and the see-saws in fortunes that occured as a result. Jerry Hall�s AAR: Amphib Assault CPX AAR: July 18, 1998 15:00 GMT This AAR will cover the part of the CPX I participated in (basically the first hour or so of game time). I logged on just to see what was happening, and was drafted to fill in on the US side. I scanned the following briefing and with Basil came up with a basic plan: USMC Orders: The Jamaican President has ticked off the USA because he refused to lower banana and sugar prices, and the USMC is leading the effort to teach him the follow the American Dream of cheap sugar-coated bananas. Your Task Force of 2 AAV7 Battalions (+) is to conduct an amphibious and airmobile assault into area Map 323 of Jamaica, seizing key terrain in preparation for larger forces to follow. The enemy is believed to have a lightly-armed infantry company defending the objective area (probable equipments: small arms, light AT weapons, local air defense systems). This force may be reinforced in the next few days. Heavier forces of the Presidential Guard Regiment, including mechanized infantry (BTR) and tanks (T-72), will probably attempt to react to your invasion. Their location is not fixed at this time. The enemy air threat is believed to be minimal. The local population is thought to be friendly to the Jamaican president. Your primary objective is to gain control of a landing and assembly area for follow-on forces. 1) Gain control of the airfield at 56/79 2) Gain control of the docks at 46/76 (not visible on map) 3) Control a road route between these 4) Secure all of the above from enemy direct fires. In addition, if possible, attain the following in order to secure the wider area and prepare for the expansion of our beachhead: 1) Secure the Lionel Town area and exit a company off of the southern edge of that area. 2) Control a road route from our beachhead towards Kingston (roads to Kingston exit via 71/84 - 71/87) and exit a company in the direction of Kingston 3) Control the routes to the center and west of the island (these exit vic 50/89) and exit a company in that direction. 4) Control the entrances to the western highlands (these entrances are the westernmost 5-7 kilometers of the map) 5) It is preferable to avoid bombing or shelling towns and villages, in order to reduce civilian casualties. Your forces: 2 AAV7 Battalions HQ company 4 AAV7 2 HQ 3 Mech Inf Companies 10 AAV7 1 HQ(-) 9 Inf Squads 6 7.62 MG Teams 6 SMAW Teams 3 60mm mortars Weapons Company 10 AAV7 1 HQ(-) 32 Javelin Teams 8 .50 HMG teams 8 Mk19 AGL Teams 8 81mm Mortar Teams 6 7.62 MG Teams 8 CH-46 Helos 4 AH-1 Helos 1 UAV 2 Recon Teams from Force Recon 2 Recon Teams from SEALs Extensive air support Extensive naval gunfire support On the ships, there is a battery of 155mm howitzers you can fly in. The battery will need 2 8-ship CH-46 helicopter trips to get guns and ammo onto shore. Off-map time is approx 20 minutes for loading and turn-around. You can make a set of 8 trips to resupply a battery as well. While the guns will be on-map, and represented on-map, I'll actually use the off-map arty in TacOps. Initial ammo loadout will be 25/5/3 HE/ICM/Smoke. All these forces may enter the map at 0700 via the white sea squares in the south-west corner of the map. The SEAL teams may be landed early on any section of waterfront. The Force Recon teams may be inserted early by HALO drop anywhere on the map. Note the that the bluish areas (look like swamps) along the seafront are coded as woods/water by TacOps - can't see through them, and must be amphib to go over them. You should provide intel with 3 priority targets. These could be areas of the map, enemy TOE/OOB, or enemy unit locations. Smaller, tighter requests are more likely to produce good results than loosely defined ones ('what is in grid 56/71' will probably spot every enemy unit in the grid square and all of their bathrooms to boot; 'what is on the map' will likely produce very little concrete data at all.) Taking a few minutes, we decided that KISS would be in effect. We decided to land one bn at the docks and the other a few kilometers to the east. Intel reported that the Pres Guard was off-map to the east, so we committed our air to interdict these forces. We sent the UAV to patrol the east edge of the map to pick them up when they entered. We inserted the SEAL teams, one at each beach. We inserted the Force recon to cover the AF, one on it and one to the NE to watch for any reinforcements. Our plan was simple: after 1st Bn (Basil) took the docks, both Bns would advance abreast NE to the AF. Once we secured the AF, we would look at secondary missions. The CH46s would load the artillery and land them at 2nd Bns beachhead after it was secured. The AH-1s would be the reserve. Our harriers found a battalion sized armor formation off the map to the east and attrited it. Based on their reports it appeared that the armor would enter the map in the NE corner, so our UAV focused its efforts there. The landing went almost unopposed: 1st Bn lost 2 AAVs to what appeared to be unobserved mortar fire at the docks. At this point some zodiacs were sighted approaching the docks from the west, but the cobras made short work of them. Both Bns advanced; 2nd Bn took up positions vic Springfield to wait for 1st Bn to clear the rough terrain and woods and the defile east of the docks. Once both Bns were on line, we proceeded to move NE toward the AF. The enemy armor formation was picked up again entering the map from the NE. It was out of arty range and our air was not back on station, so we tracked its approach. Our Frecon teams in and near the AF gave us good intel, and we used arty to kill a HIP helo and truck with a leader we assume had some importance; the FR sniper killed him with one shot. As the enemy armor continued its approach, we used arty ICM and our remaining air to kill it. We continued to close on the AF thru light resistance. We had the weapons companies trail the lead Bns, using them for route security to keep the roads clear to the dock and the arty battery on 2nd Bns beach. This also kept the javelins out of the fight so that we could use them as an anti- armor reserve. After the CH46s finished moving the arty bttry and its ammo, we loaded the javelins and had them stay behind the Cobras, who were trailing center sector behind the Bns. At this point we sighted a tank company and a BTR company approaching from the N. 1st Bn went into a hasty defense, we called smoke on the advancing armor, and sent the Cobras up to deal with them, hoping their thermals would play a decisive role in the fight. We were still holding the Ch46s with the javelins back at this point. The plan was to have 1st BN defend while 2nd secured the AF. Then we would look at other options. At this point, I unfortunately had to leave the game. This was a lot of fun, mostly because I just jumped right into an unknown situation, which made it challenging. Due to this, we kept things as simple as possible. I did not even consider using an air assault to start because of the complexity it would have added. I'm sure this made things easier for James, as well as the enemy! As usual, James' scenario included lots of options while keeping things relatively simple, which is a trademark of sorts for him. I would almost recommend that he run some "come as you are" CPXs; you just can't beat the excitement! I can email our planning and orders logs to anyone who likes to read that stuff. Let me know. Jerry Hall And Basi; Burgess� AAR: Hi folks I'm not going to quote Jerry's AAR, 'cause you all got it. But as he had to leave, I thought I'd finish the story. As he said, when he had to leave, 1BN (me) was wheeling to face a counterattack from the north thru the town of Hopewell. This force was a balanced team. I brought in the Cobra's, and they pared the tanks down to about 5 before being shot down. I'd have rather kept them out of it, but my ROE was heavily against bombing or shelling a town. I tried to bring in the javelin teams, but the arty got them before they could finish the tanks. 1BN settled down in and around Pridees, west of the AF, while 2BN continued to secure the AF. The Jamaican's settled into Hopewell. I had 2 of my objectives (the docks and the AF) but couldn't really claim I could keep them or the road out of direct fire. We settled on a stalemate. Without knowing their victory conditions, I felt I could have talked them into a surrender or withdrawal, as they couldn't move without getting pasted by the arty. In later analysis, they were much closer to their victory conditions; they had halted my advance and I wasn't ready to spend more blood to dig them out. However, they didn't have the strength left to oppose me or drive me back, so it was a draw of sorts. The kind of situation where you throw in the reserve - politicians and diplomats :) One interesting twist came out in the AAR. The Jamaicans sneaked a force into Pridees behind 1BN. Surprised the heck out of me. That'll teach me to keep my recon active and my backside covered :) We had James game that attack out, but the Marines' Weapons Company beat them off. I had figured either group of tanks would have chewed me up, given a chance. Another lesson: I'm too easily intimidated by tanks and underestimate the value of infantry with short-range a/t weapons. Someone once pointed out that the Marines are a hard unit for a beginner to use to optimum advantage in Tacops. I certainly won't underestimate a weapons coy or pln again :) A great first CPX for me. Thanks again to everyone. Cheers Basil Turning to the other side, we have Rick Nelson�s AAR: CPX - Invasion Jamaca or "Hey mon, the Yanks are comin'" I had a lot of fun with this CPX. It's the first one in which I've been C.O. I found it was a lot easier to keep track of what was going on than when I was giving orders to the umpire for a battalion. It also helped to have two good battalion commanders :-). The other two members on the Jamacian side were Brian Rock and Tim Harmon. Each had command of a combined arms Task Force. We all had compatable senses of humor, so we got a lot of mileage out of being the "Ganja Guards". I'll leave the details off the list, if anyone's interested, e-mail me. :-) So...to the details: =============================================================== ========== Jamaican Orders: The US has gotten ticked off at our glorious President's refusal to lower sugar and banana prices, and an American invasion is imminent. This is divided into two sections - for the Local Force, which begins on the map, and the Presidential Guard, which moves onto it during the game. The players for these two forces should do their planning *separately*. You should only get a briefing for the force you are part of. None of your forces have thermals or advanced warheads except where specifically noted. Mission (both of you see this): Optimally, you will throw the American landing back into the sea. If this is not possible, contain the American landing. Prevent their seizure of useful installations (note that there are docks at 46/76 which do not appear on the map) and prevent them from gaining routes from which they can move into the rest of the country. Most important of these is to prevent the Americans from gaining a route to Kingston (via the roads leading off the map via 71/84 - 71/87). Also important, however, are the roads leading to the west and north of the country via 50/89. Forces able to hole up in the Lionel Town peninsula or the western highlands (which begin on the westernmost 5-7 kilometers of the map) might provide useful bases for a counterattack or a popular guerrilla movement. Presidential Guard: This is the force available to react into the landing area. In theory, you do not know where the Americans will land, and some of the planning rules exist to simulate this. Forces: T-72 Battalion: (these tanks have thermal sights) 4 companies of 10 T-72 each BTR-80 Battalion: 4 BTR Companies 14 BTR 9 Inf Squads 3 PKM Teams 2 AGS-17 Teams 2 AT-4 Spigots or 2 SPG-9 (2 coy with each) 1 82mm Mortar Battery (8 82mm leg mortars, 8 BTR-80) 4 Trucks towing 4 100mm AT guns SAM Company: 12 BTRs with 12 SA-16 (these may be split between the battalions as desired) Force HQ: 2 BTR-80 an 1 P8 HQ Towed Arty: (SP in game): 2 122mm batteries. These forces will enter the map after the American invasion is detected. How long after, and where they enter, depends on your decisions as outlined below: The force can enter through any (and potentially all) of the following routes: - from Kingston: the roads vic 71/84 - 71/87 - from the northeast: 62/90-67/90 - center north: 55/90-60/90 - northwest: 47/90-51/90 - highlands: west edge - Lionel Town peninsula: south edge - Centralized quick reaction force. Under this option, the entire force is based in one place and does not move about. You may select which of the above entry areas it will use, and be very likely to have it enter on that route and for it to begin movement right away. However, American intel is also very likely to discover the force's location and probable entry area. - Mobile reaction force. Under this option, you will build two 4-company battalions. These will move about the country in an attempt to confuse the Americans as to their probable location when the war starts. American intelligence will have a harder time pinpointing your reaction force in this option. However, the two forces will enter from a semi-random direction (the various northern and Kingston options are more likely), they may not respond as soon, and they probably will not arrive at the same time. - Scattered Under this option, your individual companies scatter and hide to avoid American intelligence. This is the option most likely to confuse their intel. However, your companies may be quite slow to respond, and each one will arrive from a random entry area. Their arrival is extremely unlikely to be coordinated. You should come up with a plan for the on-map employment of your forces based on the deployment you choose. =============================================================== ========== After some discussion, we opted for the mobile reaction forces. I divided the Guard into two Task Forces, each with two coys of T72s and two coys of BTRs. I also divided up the SAM and AT guns. We figured that the location of one large force would almost certainly be known by the USMC, while the setup of separate companies would be impossible to coordinate into an effective force. This turned out to be the right decision. They found, and decimated Tim's force, but Brian's was able to approach undetected. The UAV that was watching Tims force stayed vic 59/85 for all of the game. =============================================================== =========== Orders for the Presidential Guard Mobile Reaction Force An attack from the United States is imminent. We anticipate that this attack will take the form of an amphibious attack by a United States Marine Corps expedetionary force. The size is unknown but a likely force would be a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) consisting of infantry, armor and air assets. 1. Situation a. Terrain The central plain provides open sight distance, however there are many towns that allow concealment and block sight lines.. In many places the Rio Minho is not fordable, and armored vehicles can only cross it via the roadway bridges. Attached is a map indicating road numbers on principal roads. In most cases these offer high travel speed (clear/road), but there are instances in towns where travel is faster by bypassing the town. Many of the other roads offer "clear" travel in an area of rough. Also attached is a map showing where the Rio Munho is not fordable by armored vehicles. They are only able to cross on bridges. It is not known if the opposition has bridging capability. Be aware that other vehicles (LAV and AAV7) are amphibious. b. Enemy Forces: (1) A likely landing force, although not the only possibility, would be a MEU. Expected would be infantry, LAV25s, HUMMWVs equipped with TOWs, and a few armored vehicles (most likely M1A1s). The infantry could be transported in helicopters or AAV7s, or a combination. (2) The enemy will be equipped with thermal sights on their armored vehicles and ATGMs. They will have air superiority. (3) A probable air component of the landing force would be Cobra attack helicopters and Harrier attack jets. Be aware of the presence of enemy air power. Be aware that SAM-16s will not engage if located in a wooded area. If located in towns, they will deploy on the rooftops. Situate ADA assets dismounted in open, or in towns. (4) It is possible that the landing will be supported by naval gunfire. c. Friendly Forces (1) In order to attempt to confuse the Americans, the Presidential Guard will be divided into two Task Forces. The disadvantage will be that they will not necessarily arrive at the landing area in a coordinated manner. (2) The two forces are as follows: Headquarters (Rick Nelson) Force HQ 2 122mm arty batteries Task Force Trelawny (led by Brian Rock) Apple Company 10 T72 Beer Company 10 T72 Charlie Company 14 BTR Dog Company 14 BTR 82mm Mortar Battery 2 Trucks towing 2 100mm AT guns 2 SAM Platoons 6 BTR w/ 6 SA-16 Task Force Clarendon (led by Tim Harmon) Edward Company 10 T72 Freddie Company 10 T72 George Company 14 BTR Henry Company 14 BTR 2 Trucks towing 2 100mm AT guns 2 SAM Platoons 6 BTR w/ 6 SA-16 The forces will most likely enter the area at different locations and times. Headquarters will initially travel with TF Trelawny until it's entrance onto the map area. 2. Mission Throw the American landing force back into the sea. If this is not possible, contain the American landing. Prevent seizure of useful installations - docks at 46/76 and airport at 56/79. Prevent Americans from gaining routes to Kingston or to the west and north. 3. Execution The execution will depend on the size of the landing force, and the success of the local forces in resisting them. Plans will have to be made at the time of entrance to the map area. In general,he first task force to come in contact with the enemy will attempt to pin them, and allow the second to attack on a flank. =============================================================== ========== I don't have the orders for the local forces. Perhaps Steve Althouse, the local force commander can provide them. One of the more interesting components of this CPX was the uncertainty of the time and location of the Presidental Guard. Brian, Tim, and I were not on the opfor orders channel until our units entered the map. And we didn't see sit reports and spot reports. Steve would give us reports on the opfor channel as he had a chance. Like "three coys AAV7s at 45/73" and the like. We were really chomping at the bit by the time our forces got on the map :-). Tim's forces were hit by an off map air attack, and he lost one BTR company. He entered from the NE at 71/87. He spotted the UAV and shot it, but unfortunately, it survived. He advanced west under constant air and artillery attacks. By this time we'd determined that we faced (so far at least) two battallions. One landed at the docks. and the other vic 51/74. When the force at Springfield reached the road at 53/76, they turned east. For a while it seemed they might be making towards Lionel Town, and we did a lot of speculating about their objectives. But they soon turned north towards the airport. We decided that their objective, or at least one of them, was the airport. By this time Tim's force entered near Tollgate 50/90. I told Tim and Brian to both move to the airport. The intention was to contest the occupation of the airport and still remain in a position to prevent them from moving north or northeast. Tim's force was practically eliminated by the time it got to Priddy's Ford vic 60508480. I told him to take a defensive position with the rest of his infantry there. By the end of the game they were almostly completely eliminated by artillery. He was able to send 2 T-72s down the road to Hayes 62/77 to observe. Brian's force got almost to Gravel Hill before he was spotted. Fortunately, we saw the Javelin teams being dropped of and dumped all our artillery and mortars on them. For a long time. By the end we had eliminated all but one of the teams. The Marines had taken the airport. Killing the Local Forces Commander as he made a run for his escape helicopter. USMC units on the east side of the airport came under fire from local forces at Gravel Ground 59/80. At this point we had a decision to make. Brian's forces had occupied Hopewell 53/81, The Javelins appeared to be supressed, the Cobras had died to SAMs, and we had not seen any M1A1s, LAVs or HUMMVWs. We discussed assaulting the airport. I decided not too, and ordered Tim and Brian to deploy in a defensive posture. Tim was to select good ambush locations on the road to Kingston for his few remaining T-72s, BTRs, and AT guns. Brian was to deploy around Hopewell. Brian asked to sent a platoon to Pridees, going east of the woods and staying out of view of the airport. I agreed. There were several reasons I decided not to assault. 1. I didn't think it was possible to take the airport. There were still a lot of Marines with LAAWs, M203s, and SMAWs in there. 2. We could make it very difficult for them to go north or northeast. Especially since they didn't seem to have any armor. 3. I told Tim to move in closer to the airport with the SAMs he had that still had ammo. It would be very risky for them to try to use the airport for supply or reinforcements. I didn't think they'd risk losing a troop transport to a SAM. 4. The Marines were a long way from home, and we blocked their supply line with the T-72 platoon in Pridees. 5. There was no doubt that they could bring in more troops and armored vehicles to the docks and force their way, but it would be expensive for them and very bad press. At this time the ref called the game and we broke to discuss the results. =============================================================== ========= Incidental comments: This was a *big* map. I was able to load it in TacOps, but I didn't have enough memory to load it into my paint program. James sent me two halves and I shrunk each before I could put them together again. For a plotting map I ended up taping screenshots of the TacOps views together and covering it with plastic to write on with markers. Worked great, even though it was 3' x 4' . It made it more interesting to play on a map of an actual place. Worth the trouble of the large map. Great CPX and lots of fun. :-) And finally Tim Harmon�s AAR: Commander's AAR: Jamaican Forces - 2nd Battalion, Presidential (Ganja) Guard This was my first full (kind of) CPX and my first attempt at an AAR. The map was huge and a little intimidating. I thought that the variety of terrain and the number of populated areas, especially along roads, provided possibilites for both concealed movement and multiple ambush opportunities. Game restrictions made detailed planning impossible and required tentative plans for a number of different entrance possibilities. This was interesting and probably good for me as I tend to micromanage a bit. Going into action it was assumed that the US would have complete air superiority and superior firepower. The expected heavy armor never materialized. Keeping in mind that I should never ever venture to Las Vegas to try my luck, US intel discovered 2nd Battalion in column march on the way to the invasion area and promptly launched an interdiction strike which destroyed a BTR coy before the Battalion entered the map. Upon reaching the map, I had planned on separating my SAM platoons, advancing one with the column and leaving one behind on overwatch. Unfortunately, I gave the stop coordinates for the southern Kingston Road contingency instead of the northern Road. Instead of immediately stopping and deploying SAMs, the platoon was still enroute to position when 2nd Bn. was hit by a second massive airstrike. A tank coy, the AT gun transports and the other SAM platoon were all hit hard. The AT guns were stranded but could have made a couple of kills if the marines went toward Kingston. The tank coy was decimated and the SAM's were left hoofing it. I had expected possible Cobras to contest my entrance, but the road has a lot of small towns or rough terrain along it and I felt the bulk of the Bn. would make it through while maybe taking out a couple of choppers. After the second airstrike, I became suspicious that the sky had eyes! That was confirmed a few minutes later when an UAV was spotted, engaged and hit but unfortunately not downed. While the column regrouped west of Breadnut Bottom vic 67/87, I dropped the mobile SAMs on the highlands to the east overlooking the column and sent their BTRs to pick up the other SAM platoon. Those BTRs began performing a shuttle service, setting up one SAM platoon in overwatch, backtracking to pick up the other SAMs and then bounding forward to establish another overwatch position. Initially, the plan was to set up defensive positions. We knew that there was little we could do about the docks and we expected the Marines to take the airfield early, also. When the Marine Bn. south of the airfield turned to the east and then seemed to stop, it was decided that a hard push into the airfield from the NE might make it into the northern edge before the marines could advance that far and set up their Javelins. While the remaining two tanks of the second tank platoon were sent to Hayes vic 62/78 to guard the flank, the column advanced on the airfield. Due to the urgency of beating the Marines to the north edge, it was necessary to move out before the SAMs had caught up. That proved fatal for the 2nd Bn. Although hit, the UAV continued to observe and transmit. ICM and a third massive airstrike caught the column at Derby's Ford vic 60/85 eliminating all vehicles except two BTRs, one with weapons damage. When the UAV was noticed to hover in one location for an extraordinarily long time, the two BTRs went for revenge, sat under it firing for ten minutes and still couldn't bring it down. I eventually deduced that the UAV was spotting for arty which was pounding the surviving infantry (no arty fire reports, they just disappeared). Shortly before the third airstrike, I began having problems dropping off the chat server. Not too long after, I lost my internet connection and couldn't sign back on for about 25 minutes. Guess the last airstrike shock was too much! (Utility company dug through the town's main fiberoptic line knocking out all long distance service for about 6 hours last week. Don't know if related or not.) After returning to the game, I was in the process of withdrawing the two tanks from Hayes to defend the Kingston roads and trying to sneak a SAM platoon into range of the airfield from the east when the game was called. I complement my fellow officers and thank James for an interesting, although frustrating, game. Look forward to the next time around. Tim Harmon