Gary Wollbach’s Umpire’s AAR for November 14's CPX:

This was my first CPX as an Umpire.  I put into place several
things which I hoped would simplify my tasks.  The most obvious
of these simplifications was not having any dismounts.  I
basically stated that this scenario was a continuation of a
previous battle and replacements were in shortage.  I also choose
a scenario that I have some experience in - reconnaissance.  I
built the scenario as balanced; an attritted US Infantry Division
Cavalry Squadron against a Soviet Mechanized Infantry Division
Reconnaissance Battalion.  The scenario was conducted on Map 230.

The forces had the following compositions.

US (Basil and Brian R)
M113   20
M901   12
M60A3  12
Off Board 155mm Battery
Six TRPs
OH 58   2 (grounded by weather)
AH1     4 (grounded by weather)

Soviet (James, Corrine, and Rick)
BRDM       20
BMP2       12
BTR80       9 (radio intercept)
Motorcycle  9
T62M        4
Off Board 152mm Battery
Six TRPs
Hinds       2 (grounded by weather)

I gave both sides an area recon mission.  Reports received from
civilians had indicated that enemy forces had occupied some
towns.  The reports were considered unreliable and were to be
verified.  The Soviets entered the south edge and were to recon
Midway and Salem Church.  The US entered the north edge and were
to recon Haysville.  Forces were to pass forward of their main
line and conduct the recon.  After confirming the reports as true
or false, the units were to return back to friendly control with
at least 50% of their forces.

I envisioned the forces as moving toward their objectives,
passing each other undetected, and then returning to their lines.
To control the possibility of detection I put into place a very
restrictive observation limit using weather; a hoar fog.  At
startex the visibility was 200 meters.  For most of the scenario
the visibility remained less than 500 meters.  Once both sides
had gotten to their objectives the visibility gradually rose to
1000 meters where it remained for the remainder of the scenario.

The Soviets crossed in three teams, roughly moving north on grids
63, 67, and 71. The Soviets also had a small reserve in the
center.  The Soviets used a checkpoint system of movement control
with each checkpoint about 500 meters apart.  The center team
reached the high ground overlooking Midway without contact about
the time the east team reached Salem Church.  Civilians in Salem
Church said there was nothing in their town.  A quick check
around the town confirmed this.  It was about here that the
Soviet Commander ordered all his units to halt, shut off all
engines, set up the radio units, and listened.

The US forces all entered between 65 and 66 and split into two
routes, one heading west then south down the 63 grid and one
south through Midway to the high central ground.  The US had
assigned routes using phase lines and objectives for control.
The US forces had intended the center force to be the reaction
force, drawing off and distracting any forces around the
highlands and Haysville from the main recon effort, the west
force.  The west force was moving slow due to terrain.  The
center team was ordered to set up and overwatch Haysville while
the west team continued movement.

The Soviet commander ordered his reserve force (tanks and some
BRDMs) to move forward.  As they moved they were engaged by the
US center team.  ATGMs destroyed the entire tank platoon and the
BRDMs sought cover in the woods just north of Haysville.  Soviet
Radio units reported two enemy forces in sector.  The Soviet
center team reported hearing tracked vehicles on the high ground
and the west team reported forces nearly on top of their
positions.  The Soviet Commander ordered the center team to send
it's motorcycle unit into Midway.  Once in Midway the motorcycle
unit reported that the civilians had not seen anything until this
morning.  This morning at about 0710 the civilians reported they
had seen 6 tanks and a dozen PCs, some of the PCs with turrets,
travelling south.  The Soviet Commander reported to higher and
was ordered to halt the recon and return.

The US forces pushed forward the west team scouts into Haysville,
leaving the slower M901s and tanks to catch up.  In Haysville
they were greeted by cheering civilians thinking that their town
had been liberated.  The US scouts soon learned that there were
no enemy forces in the town.  The US Commander then ordered a
wider recon.  He sent scouts to Irvington then to Guston.  He
ordered the Troop on the high ground to sweep and clear the hills
eastward toward Salem Church.  As the US center moved they
destroyed 3 BTRs.  The US sent scouts south of the high ground to
enter Salem Church.  As the west team US tanks moved they
encountered the Soviet reserve BRDMs and in a short engagement
left the BRDMs burning.

The Soviet Commander ordered his teams to each consolidate and
prepare to withdraw.  The east and west teams were ordered to use
the same routes back.  The center team was ordered to move north
to Midway and then swing west through Fairmount School (6401) and
then south using the west team route.  As the east team moved
just south of Salem Church they were engaged by US scouts.  Five
M113s destroyed 4 BMPs, 2 motorcycles, and 4 BRDMs in an 846
meter engagement.  The US Commander ordered an immediate
withdrawal of all forces back to the west, disengaging from
contact.  The scenario was soon ended.

The Soviet forces completed all the assigned tasks and was
declared the winner.  The Soviets exited 53% of their forces.
The US player had only one task left to accomplish, exit.  The US
forces had 100% of their units remaining at endex.

The US could have won this scenario if they had understood
their orders from higher.  Here we have a clear case of problems
with interpretation of orders and, specifically, with definition
of words.  The higher orders stated to conduct an area recon of
Haysville.  The orders then continued by stating that an area
recon was similar to the point recon for dismounted operations.
The US team felt that the Umpire should have clarified the
mission.  An area recon (point recon) is a recon of a specific
objective, in this case Haysville.  As one of the US players
stated - "I thought it was so quiet I wanted to find *something*
so I sent one scout to Irvington - it's sort of in the area."
The US 'distraction' of trying to make something happened caused
the Soviets to complete the assigned tasks before the US player.
The US did not loose this scenario, it is just that the Soviets
finished first.

The US side had no idea what had happened although they knew they
had encountered Soviet recon units.  The Soviet side could report
the actions taken by and the composition of the US side.

I used 5 minute game phases.  For about the first hour the
scenario was very close to real time.  As things started
happening the time fell off.  I reported actions (such as
artillery, contacts, etc) as best as I could to each side.  I
also limited the amount of time I allowed each side to submit
orders.  Here I ran into a problem because I had not been
allowing enough time for Basil to type his orders (I apologize).
My biggest headache was keeping the SOP range for the OPFOR
matching the visibility.  The US side used an SOP of maximum
range through the whole scenario.  I also found that my temporary
directory for the SITREPs and Spot Reports filled up fast had to
be purged periodically to facilitate DCC of the reports.

As one player asked - "Your enjoying this aren't you?"  Yes I
was.  I plan on doing some more as soon as I can gin up the
scenerios.  I hope all the players enjoyed themselves too.

gary


James Sterrett’s Opfor AAR:

This is an Opfor side AAR for the CPX run by Gary Wollbach on Nov 14 1998.

  Opfor players:

    James Sterrett (CO and reserve)
    Bill Buckingham  (Western force)
    Corinne Mahaffey (Center force)
    Rick Nelson (Eastern force)


   The reserve had 4 T-64 and 4 BRDM.

   Each of the other forces had a platoon each of BMP, BTR (ELINT), BRDM,
and motorbikes.

   In theory we were to get 2 HINDs but the weather, a dense hoar fog,
never cleared up enough.  This probably spared us from facing US helos, so
it's just as well!

   None of our forces had dismounts.


	Our mission was to check out rumors of US activity in and near Midway and
Salem Church on map 230.  After a bit of discussion we decided to split
into three small forces, each of which would try to sneak in.  the Western
force was to take a long northerly hook to Midway, the Eastern force would
slide up the eastern map side to Salem Church, and the Central Force would
move up onto the central ridge and move from there as required towards
Midway or Salem Church.  All forces were to figure out a spot to deploy
their ELINT platoons so we could listen in on whatever there might be to hear.

	In the event, the Eastern force got to Salem Church without incident.  The
Central force got onto the central ridge without incident, and the Western
force had made it to about 625000, and our ELINT guys started getting
deployed (at 630988 and 679981).  The ELINT results built up a picture of
mobile radio sources passing between the western and central groups.  We
moved the reserve west to try to see if we could get in the way, but the
reserve got ambushed by M901s that had slipped past us.

	The western force started moving thinking it might get a chance to attack
an HQ at approx 640990.  The central force moved cautiously on Midway, and
the Eastern force checked the Salem Church area and moved towards Midway.

	It dawned on us as the radio sources moved that we were watching a US
force - probably an ACR troop - run a recon on the south side of the ridge,
west to east.  The surviving Reserve BRDMs reported the cheering in
Haysville a bit before the US killed them, so we assumed the enemy had
scouted it (and considered shelling it.)  The central force got into Midway
and reported it clear, but that a force of US vehicles - 6 tanks and 12+
APCs - had moved through.  We reported to HQ and were old to come home.

	Unfortunately, we did not completely follow our gut instinct at this point
- that the US force would continue west to east.  The western force went
out the way it had come; central force moved northwest to pick up the
western force's original route, and then followed it south.  However, the
eastern force backtracked east - in retrospect, a bad decision.  If we had
brought it west then likely it would have lived.  (Though it also had very
bad luck against the M113s of Death.)

	All of Westrern force got out and most - all but the Elint, caught south
of Midway by the US M113s of Death - of the Central force got out.  Gary
ended the game and declared us the winners, which seems a bit narrow - the
US didn't fail, after all.  In the debrief we learned that we knew a lot
more about the US than they did about us, so we figured that was good
grounds for handing us a marginal win, albeit rather tarnished by our heavy
losses!



	The thing that let us win this scenario was stopping to listen - with ears
and electronics.  We got a lot of information about what the US was up to
this way, and from it we were able to piece together what they were up to.
In the end, we did not use it perfectly, since we did not pull the eastern
force out via the west.  It was about 2/3 of the way to Midway from Salem
Church when it turned around and went back east.

	When we took losses, they seemed to be "bang, you're dead".  I'm not sure
there is much we could have done to prevent them (other than sending the
eastern group west for its exit.)


	Gary did an excellent job as umpire.  The game ran smoothly and quickly -
which is especially good for a first outing as an IRC CPX umpire.  We in
Scotland are looking forward to his next game!!


Brian Rock’s commentary:

>Umpire AAR for November 14's CPX

One quick clarification:

>The US team felt that the Umpire should have clarified the
>mission.  An area recon (point recon) is a recon of a specific
>objective, in this case Haysville.

No, no no - I felt *I* should have been clearer in my understanding of the
mission. The briefing was fine - the problem was I presumed a certain
outcome (running into OPFOR defenses), and failed to consider what to do if
the enemy wasn't where I found them. Hence:

>As one of the US players
>stated - "I thought it was so quiet I wanted to find *something*
>so I sent one scout to Irvington - it's sort of in the area."

>
>The US side had no idea what had happened although they knew they
>had encountered Soviet recon units.  The Soviet side could report
>the actions taken by and the composition of the US side.

Worse still, the OFPOR diversion (mainly dropping arty and smoke on
Haysville) worked. We were about to radio that the OPFOR was moving to
attack Haysville. :-\


One final note:

>As one player asked - "Your enjoying this aren't you?"  Yes I
>was.  I plan on doing some more as soon as I can gin up the
>scenerios.  I hope all the players enjoyed themselves too.

This was a *fabulous* CPX.  I believe the primary aim of a CPX is to have
the players biting their nails.  I certainly was - I think this CPX had the
lowest level of social chat that I can recall.  As long as there is plenty
to think about and do, players don't need huge forces. Lesson learned for
my future reffing.

Well done.

Rocky


And Basil burgess’ AAR:

Hi folks

Sorry this is a week late. I spent the time after the cpx prepping for a 
business trip, and was away all last week.

I don't mean to repeat what Gary and Brian Rock have already said, but 
do want to report things as I saw them.

In summary:

The US side composed of 4 pln of ArmCav and 2 of AirCav was ordered to  
investigate reports of eny activity in and around Haysville. The 
visibility was very limited, and the AirCav was grounded. Had it become 
available, the AirCav was planned to be reserve and fast recon. As it 
turned out, the AirCav was never activated due to visibility.

The US side players were myself as Sqn Cdr, Brian Rock, and Christian 
Simon, a team I have had good experiences and good times with. 
Unfortunately, Christian had to withdraw before the gameday, and I was 
sorry for that as I like playing these CPX's with Chris.  Brian and I 
split up the ground forces, and if and when the air element was 
available, I'd have put him in charge of it.

I worked on 2 plans. Both involved having a feint/demonstration force of 
one coy moving south thru Midway to draw out eny forces expected to  be 
occupying screen/defensive positions on the Central Highlands. And In 
both plans the other coy was the actual recon unit. The recon unit was 
codenamed Peeker, and the feint force was Poker.

In Plan Dick Turpin, Peeker was to come south along the eastern, more 
covered routes thru SalemChurch, then west thru the "back door" of 
wooded terrain.

In Plan Robin Hood, Peeker was to come down thru the covered country in 
the NW, and approach Haysville from the woods NW of the "front Door" of 
the valley.

I chose Plan Robin Hood because the distance was shorter, though heavier 
going, and gave better cover (I was constantly expecting the visibility 
to rise before I got my fly zipped up, in a manner of speaking.

I was late getting on, as I had to go in to work that day and decided to 
play from there. Brian got us going until I caught up. There was also a 
difficulty getting my sitreps, as I was behind a firewall and couldn't 
accept DCC's. Fortunately for me, Brian and Gary were very patient.

The plan went well, except for one thing: there was almost nobody there 
to be cautious about LOL. We expected that if there was an emplaced 
enemy in Haysville, that the central highlsands and the "front door" in 
the west would be covered. It wasn't until Poker (me) got right up on 
the highlands and Peeker (Brian) came down into the valley that we had 
any contact at all. When we did become engaged, we defeated the 
opposition almost before we knew we were in a fight. Things went so well 
that by the time we ventured into Haysville, we weren't sure what to do. 
Brian sent a scout pln down into Irvington, while Poker cleared the 
highlands. We shifted from cautious covert movement to a more aggressive 
cavalry scouting op. We did get a bit disorganized while we worked out 
how to shift our thinking. And the other side (inadvertently, I think) 
kept us off-balanced as a result.

We had 2 or 3 encounters with the eny by endex. They were pretty much 
deployed such that we could not be sure of their full strength or 
intent. We waffled between 2 or 3 theories of who and what they were, 
and were in the process of sweeping east and NE over the SalemChurch 
road when endex was called. They did a good job of keeping us confused.

As Gary said, the OPFOR force got off the map, albeit not scot-free, 
before we did. We achieved our objectives of clearing the Haysville 
area, but did not get back. As such, this was a game win for OPFOR, and 
rightly so. (Some day, James, some day... :)  ).

As anyone who've read my AAR's before knows, this is the point where I 
beat myself up. Well, I'm not going to, this time. My tempo was slow, 
yes, and cost us the game. But it was a good plan, careful of our 
limited resources and mindful of my commander's intent. We got as far as 
we did with zero casualties, the major objective achieved, and a 
retrograde in good order in progress. For once, I'm quite pleased with 
myself as commander. Of course, having the ever-crafty and experienced, 
not to mention patient, Brian Rock at my side made it work all the 
better. We planned for the worst, did a credible job of exploiting the 
best, and I think we did fine. 

The side of me that likes to whine wishes that we too had had some 
COMINT resources as well. I think the forces were balanced right but 
that (in my whiny opinion) OPFOR had a distinct advantage that they 
didn't have to see us to know who and what we were, whereas we were 
forced to eyeball them. Ah well, fog of war, right? We (actually I) 
could have done less talking on the orders channel and given them less 
intel. Enough whining.

I still can't believe this was a first CPX for Gary. It was tremendous. 
It totally engaged my attention. It was balanced, interesting, and gave 
both sides scope for creativity and fun. I can't wait for his next 
effort. Two thumbs and both big toes up.

And of course, my congrats and best regards to our very worthy 
opponents. It was a great game, well played.

My best to all, and thanks for another great game.

Basil