>The scenario opened with a US tank battalion approaching the town at 06/02
>along the road from the SW, a mech company nearing the 075055 woods from the
>west, and a tank battalion in reserve at 01/03.  The US scouts (2x 6 M-3)
>were on the eastern central ridge at approx easting 9-10.  Opfor was
>deployed in mirror image; it had a mech company headed to the southern spur
>of the central ridge, a tank battalion headed to the north central woods,
>with a tank battalion and a BMP battalion in reserve just south of the
>eastern city.    Opfor's scouts (6x BMP and 6x BRDM-AT) were on the western
>central ridge at apoprox easting 04-05.  Both sides were told to exit forces
>off the far edge of the map while preventing the enemy from doing the same.

Just a sidenote: the fact that I had a large tank battalion approaching
that big central valley from turn 1 without any idea of whether the area
was secure had me agonizing over my first moves.  Since it was roughly
halfway along the map, I wondered whether OPFOR was approaching the
valley in force from somewhere else.  If so, I envisioned getting
toasted bigtime from long-range missiles in the north before my northern
mech company could set up and spot for them.  This is why I took the
town, so that I would have the overwatch of the valley first.  But then
when a skirmish broke out just northeast of the town from a couple of my
lead tank companies I got nervous and went on defense for quite awhile
before continuing my advance.  This was indicative of my style of play:
bold moves forward until making contact, at which point I would perceive
much larger forces ahead than I was actually engaging, which made me
nervous and hunker down, quite often needlessly.

>The US began with a very tank-heavy force,
>
>M3 Bradley             24
>M1A2 Tank             116
>M2 Bradley             13
>        Total: 153
>
>and Opfor was a bit more balanced:
>
>T80U Tank              75
>BMP2 IFV               87
>BRDM2 AT                6
>        Total: 168
>
>In fact, this is one of sources of the imbalance in the game.  Because the
>US tanks kept firing while the BMPs reloaded, the BMPs tended to get much
>the worst of the exchanges they had.  While missile-firers have a long range
>advantage over tanks, this never happen for Opfor an on a few occasions
>happened against it.

Personally, I think this had more to do with the ranges involved rather
than an equipment imbalance.  I tried to engage at the shortest ranges
possible (staying out of the wide open terrain), thus taking away the
advantage of those missiles vs. main guns.  If OPFOR had shown up with
a lot of BMPs in the far northeast part of the central valley as my
tanks approached the town, for example (as I was afraid of) I would
think the balance would have tipped the other way.

>The US kept its lead battalion trucking up the road to the NE while Opfor
>sent its flanking mech coy forward over the hill; the US flanking company
>edged forward through the north woods and set up an ambush position,
>dropping off the Javelins and setting the M-2s to an engagement range of 150
>meters.  Every time the Javelins fired, RT mpicked them up with the Bradleys
>and moved them a few hundred meters.  While Rocky pounded the north woods
>with mortars and arty, a combination of failure to spot the Javelins, and
>bad luck, kept this company from losing more than a single Javelin gunner
>during the course of the game.  In the meantime, it launched repeated
>ambushes against companies from Opfor's lead tank battalion as they tried to
>maneuver in that area.

Well, now that that proceedure has been so well documented I guess I
can't use *that* tactic again!<g>  But then, this would be true in real
life, too, I guess, once a tactic has been analyzed by the other side.

>The lead company of Opfor's lead battalion spotted the US company clearing
>the town at 06/02 and opened fire.  It scored no kills, and the return fire
>from the US battalion's scouts and lead tank companies destroyed the Opfor
>tanks.  The US stopped, pulled back, and considered its options, defending
>the north-east approach to the town.  At the same time, Opfor's flank mech
>coy and its accompanying tank platoon crested the southern spur of the
>eastern ridge (075010) - and were spotted by the US scout groups, by then at
>easting 10.  The BMPs and tanks were quickly dispatched; much of the
>infantry survived and held the southern section of the spur for the rest of
>the game.

That was complete luck.  As I recall, my tanks were just emerging from
the woods on that southern spur as those mech units came up over that
hill.  The range was short, so the tanks won out.  Had the enemy been
laying in wait from the woods farther away...

>Though RT didn't realize it, he'd won the opening exchanges.  A combination
>of lucky scouting rolls in the south and clever tactics in the north had
>soon inflicted nearly a battalion of losses on Opfor for virtually no US
>losses in return.  Rocky chose to move his reserve forces south, sending the
>BMP battalion into the southern valley (vic 09/01) and the tank battalion up
>the ridge.  The tank battalion swiftly lost a company to the scouts by then
>emplaced in the 100015 woods, though those were in turn killed.  A BMP
>company from the tank battalion, sent north, traded shots with the second
>M-3 group (098034) and eventually won the fight.

I did realize I'd won the opening exchanges, I just never had a proper
concept of the proportions of the victories.  I was continually getting
good news about each skirmish, but since they usually involved no more
than eliminating a company or maybe a few tanks or mech units here and
there, I never really made note of them or added them up.  In the end I
figured I had an *edge* in the final tally, but not an overwhelming
victory.  Chalk it up to forgetfulness I suppose.

>As the BMP battalion finished getting into place, RT sent 2 tank companies
>over the southern spur of the ridge.  Through a combination of factors,
>these managed to engage the BMP battalion piecemeal and mostly wiped it out.
>The tanks also did extensive damage to the tank battalion moving up the
>ridge before being killed by ICM fire, the tank battalion, and the remnants
>of the BMP company that had gone north.

Somehow, all those discussions on the list about treating these game
units as real soldiers must have sunk in.  When I lost those two
heroicaly successful tank companies, I felt, well, kind of guilty.  I
felt "not fit for command" because I took one too many chances and
destroyed a crack outfit in the process.  Okay, maybe I'm being a
little dramatic, but I definitely recall changing my style from that
of "advance, stop, look, destroy, advance" to "pull back, hunker down,
spot and destroy if possible, and hunker down again."  Only later did
I realize how little resistance was left to keep me from exiting the map.
Interesting how the mind can be your biggest enemy.

>By this point, Rocky had a BMP platoon and 2 tank companies still mobile.
>RT's forward battalion had lost two companies, and his rearward battalion
>had lost a handful of tanks killing off the Opfor scouts.  While RT was
>still quite fearful of a massive Opfor onslaught, Rocky was preparing his
>last-ditch defence - fog of war in action.  We ended the game because people
>had to go.

So it was a good time to end the game.  Both of us would have been
waiting for the other to make a move, which wouldn't have been the
most exciting thing in the world.  As I mentioned during the game,
yes, the fog of war in a CPX seems as dense as a brick.  But then,
that's exactly what makes a CPX (and AARs) so much fun!

>The result was a clear-cut US victory, with the Opfor force gutted for
>relatively light US losses.  Part of this was due to good US tactics
>(especially in the north) and part of it was due to luck - the US got good
>spotting rolls and practically always got in the first shot, an advantage
>that cascades in the first-firer's favor because of the suppression of the
>target and the reduced number of things firing back.  In addition, the plans
>of each side interacted badly for Opfor.  Opfor would often move at times
>that, unbeknownst to it, fitted nicely into the times that the US was ready
>for such moves, though the US was not planning such a result.  In the south,
>for example, some of the BMP units were caught moving to new positions as
>the US tanks came over the spur - a combination of moves not planned on
>either side but resulting in a US advantage.

To illustrate this point about fog-of-war and how luck affects plan
interraction: near the end of the battle I thought I spotted a single
tank company at two different times, when in fact I was dealing with two
different tank companies.  I thought I was going to maul those lead
tanks as I sent my own tank company up the hill in pursuit from the
rear.  I was shocked to hear that they were blown to scrap metal in
about a minute -- the report was sketchy enough that I thought that
the tank company I was attacking from the rear had fired first and won.
I thought, how unfair!  After the game, I found out that there was a
second tank company farther east, stationary and protected by woods,
so with my tanks parading in front of them showing their asses to them,
that other tank company obviously had a field day!  Great example of
confusion of data on the battlefield.

>The US tanks turned out to do very well.  Most of the engagements were at
>short ranges (<2km) where they hold an advantage over missile-firers in the
>number of effective shots they get off.  Opfor's BMPs, when they got a
>chance to fire at all, tended to get off one shot and then died under the
>hail of return fire while trying to reload.

The fact that the engagements were short-range was I think half-luck
and half-intended.  With all of my units, I tried to use cover while
maneuvering and to keep out of the obvious long range kill zones as
much as possible.

>Finally, the use of M-2s in the north was interesting.  RT did not permit
>them to fire their TOWs, using them instead as taxis for the Javelins.  This
>kept the M-2s hidden (no Opfor spotters close enough to see them moving in
>the woods) and helped retain the mobility of the US strike team.  Continual
>shifting of position helped dogde the incoming mortar and artillery fire.
>While this style of defense would probably not have fared well trying to
>hold ground against a determined attack, it did quite well in the sniping
>role that it was assigned, and was lucky to find that role to be the one the
>tactical situation demanded

I should point out that I gave general instructions to continue this
tactic as long as OPFOR was sending units through that clear terrain
in relatively small numbers.  I ordered the M2s to fire only when "large
numbers" of BTRs showed up, and left it to James' discretion to decide
what "large" meant.  At which point I would have reversed and buggered
out of there after only one or two salvos to set up a new line of
defense.

The only other thing I want to report is this: I had a total blast!
The size of the forces and scope of the mission was well conceived and
challenging, but still graspable for someone like myself who has never
been a CO in a CPX before.  And both James and Rocky were so good-natured
and patient about my many screwups and techinical problems, especially
early on.  They made sure I had fun, rather than feel guilty or anything.
I only wish I had some other teammates (for the whole game) on my side to
share in the taste of victory!  Oh well, maybe next time...

John/RT