Tournament Finals -- After Action Report

Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 17:09:06 -0500
From: Rikki Tikki <johnmck@idt.net>

This is an After Action Report for the OPFOR side of the game for First
Place in the 1999 TacOps Tournament. The game was played using the
Motherland scenario, a custom scenario that I developed with the help of
many playtesters, one of them being the umpire, Matt Ohlmer. The
scenario was played on Map 515, a modified version of Map 15 made
specially for this scenario. (Both the scenario and the map are
available at http://www.battlefront.com/resources/tacops/HQ/)

Given my familiarity with the scenario I had told Matt some weeks prior
to the game that if I ever got so lucky as to make it to the finals that
I thought I should be given a handicap of some sort. Matt complied by
letting my opponent, Nick Moran, choose sides. He chose the U.S.

The Situation:

Exploiting a breakthrough at the front, the US has sent a task force
deep into OPFOR's rear area to destroy several large factory
complexes and refineries in hopes of crippling the OPFOR war effort. I
played the local garrison commander, responsible for the security of
some of the more critical targets in the region. It will be my job to
assess the size of the invading force and call for reinforcements, if
necessary. Calling for reinforcements carries severe penalties,
however, if it turns out the US was merely conducting a diversionary
attack, as there are (conceptually) other high-value targets located
off-map which would then be left undefended. (The US can choose between
two sizes of forces -- Main Attack, and Diversionary, the latter being
about 60% of the size of the former).

Potential targets included, from west to east, a large MiG factory
complex, an air base, an arms factory and a refinery. The refinery is split
between two general areas, one north and one south. To destroy a
factory the US had to insert a demolition team (engineer), which then
had to work (unattritted) for a specified amount of time to rig the area
with explosives, after which the fuse could be set (MRLS strike launched
over target, which is used to represent the detonation). Destroying any
two production facilities or capturing the air base would be regarded as
a minor victory for the US. OTOH, if the US chose a smaller,
diversionary force, it would only need to destroy 1 of these targets.
There were also a number of secondary targets in the area such as a
number of bridges and a supply depot which, if destroyed, could increase
the margin of victory or perhaps turn a potential loss into a draw.

My garrison consisted of an infantry company with trucks based at the
airfield and 4 mech (BTR) platoons which provided outer security for the
factories/refinery. Considering the wide area they had to cover, the
BTRs were obviously going to be spread pretty thinly and could easily
get taken out by overwhelming fires if any one of them tries to take on
a massive attack.

All aircraft had evacuated from the airfield (though I had a slight
chance of unplanned airstrikes) but I had two Hinds sitting at the
helipad at the air field. These are by far the most valuable units in
my command, but they take 2 minutes to launch once the shooting starts.

I also had some AT guns (100mm) and some mines. Most of the mines I
placed at the far west side of the map to act as a tripwire and relieve
me of some of the territory my BTRs had to cover. I placed the
remaining mines just north of the arms factory, which seemed the most
exposed and the easiest to approach with stealth. For this reason I
also placed several AT guns in this area, too, and scattered the
remainder of them around the refinery in the east.

For reinforcements, I had a choice between calling for a modest number
of Category B reserves (BRDMs, BTR80s and T-72 tanks) which were
presumed to be located 15 minutes away (off-map) to the south, or a
larger Category A force of BMP2s and T-80s, also 15 min. away, to the
east. The tradeoff is that the larger force arrives in strategic
(column) formation and will likely have a longer distance to travel --
especially if the main fighting is all the way over at the MiG factory.
The lighter force will likely arrive sooner, but like the BTR platoons
there was a wide expanse to cover and achieving mass fires would take
awhile. This choice must be made at game start. I decided to go with
the southern reserves, and added another T-72 tank company at a cost of
another 5-minute delay. (While I do not regard this as an error, I do
think it made the requirement of calling for them as soon as possible
much more critical).

The US can choose from two types of forces, a 4-company (half-armored,
half mech) task force with a company (-) of paratroopers, or a more
powerful armored cavalry squadron. Knowing my opponent is a real-life
cavalryman, I figured he would forgo the more risky paratroopers
(there's some "drift" modelled into the way they drop) and go with what
he is most familiar with. So I was slightly more prepared for an
armored onslaught than for the paratroopers, using a sprinkling of
machine gunners as outer OPs to detect early movement rather than
bolstering my defenses at the target areas.

What happened:

On turn 1, I found out my hunch was wrong. He chose the paratroopers.
Ah well, so much for HUMINT and counter-psyops. <g>

The game opened with a paratrooper assault onto my arms factory
(right-of-center of map). Paras take a minute to start shooting (they
are busy collecting their chutes) so they are very vulnerable in the
beginning, but I was a little light in the number of troops I dedicated
to the factories due to my suspecting an armored cav squadron (even one
or two machine gunners would have helped). So my sentries were a bit
too outnumbered and outgunned to take advantage of that brief window of
opportunity. Fortunately a lot of the paras had drifted west of the
factory by 300 meters or so and were far enough away that they were
missing shots and were easily smoked. *Un*fortunately most of them
landed right on top of a pair of Spigot ATGMs just west of the
airfield. I only had 4 of these and they were my only long-range AT
asset other than the Hinds. These took a long time to die, which served
as a distraction so that I could rally my other defenders, but they
never really did much damage to the oncoming armor that arrived later.

7:04. Shortly after the paratrooper assault at the arms factory. Several paras are clustered just north of my AT4 units and in the factory, which are obscured by the smoke. The Hind can be seen firing rockets at several of them.

As expected, an armored-mech ground force appeared at the ridgeline
north of the factory a few minutes later. While the eastern half of the
ridgeline was guarded by mines, Nick of course chose to drive up the
western half. :-< Nick had also grouped his hummer ADs just behind
this force, so they would have range on my Hind if they should attack.
They did, and one Hind was blown away by a barrage of 3 SAMs. An early,
and critical loss!!! I was much more careful with the 2nd Hind, and
did manage to keep it alive long enough to empty its missiles and
rockets on the oncoming armor and the paras, respectively, but it died
later in the game in a risky attempt to load infantry from the air field
and insert it in the factory ahead of the tanks. If I remember
correctly, there were 3 hummer-ADs that fired which would have been a
tip-off that Nick was going with a Main Attack. (Diversionary Attack
only has 2, IIRC). Somehow I overlooked this fact and held off calling
for reinforcements, trying to be careful that I was not suckered by a
diversion. (Given Nick's self-proclaimed tendency for being
tricky/off-beat, I thought this kind of thing might suit him. Again,
poor call on my part! :-<)

One thing I did do well, I think, was in committing all my security
patrols early to simultaneously attack his forces from all sides once
they mounted the high ground. Using smoke to slow down his approach and
lessen his return fire accuracy, I was able to get simultaneous fires
from my BTRs, Saxhorns and remaining AT4s at the airfield and obliterate
a good number of tanks and Bradleys, plus a demolition vehicle (M113).
I was also careful to withdraw or move ATGMs and BTRs after firing one
time, before they could be overwhelmed (this took time in giving orders,
which I think greatly irritated Nick, since we were on IRC and it was
something like 3 am, his time. Sorry, Nick!) I would also do things
like turn firing ranges to zero on ATGMs that were suppressed to
conserve ammo until the enemy stopped shelling/firing on their position,
then reset it once they became unsuppressed. For the most part, this
worked well, and I got in at least a dozen kills and maybe much more (I
didn't count). The downside of using a lot of smoke, however, was that,
at least to my eye, I never glimpsed more than one or two companies of
tanks or Bradleys at any one time. This meant I never got a complete
look at all the forces he was bringing to bear, and it seemed to me I
was actually seeing the same units disappearing and reappearing, as
opposed to understanding that I was actually seeing lots of units. In
fact, I was still suspicious as late as turn 11 that this might have
been a diversion. Not ever seeing a 3rd M113 kept me suspicious, too, I
think. Plus, the fact that my defenses were doing well in attritting
his forces made me feel less urgency about calling for my reserves.

On turn 12, the urgency increased dramatically. As two of my BTR
platoons were about to mount the high ground for a quick hit-and-run, I
gave them a soft priority kill to a 2nd M113 that I'd spotted the turn
previous, knowing that without those vehicles it would take the
demolition teams longer to rig the factory with charges. (There's a
chart in the scenario brief that shows the time requirements for
demolition teams to stay on station, based on how many teams enter the
facility and whether or not an M113 is present.) The tanks got the jump
on them though, killing several BTRs, and instead of responding to the
tanks the BTRs shot at the M113 -- which they missed over and over again
(due to suppression, no doubt). By the end of the turn, both BTR
platoons were gone (though they did finally hit the M113). At this
point I called for reinforcements. This was done by alerting Matt, the
umpire.

7:12. A moment before my disastrous assault with my two BTR platoons, which are seen here about to mount the high ground east of the factory -- right smack in front of Nick's tanks.

I had guessed that Nick had probably not gotten a demolition team inside
the factory yet, but would do so in the next two minutes. I figured
that if he got two teams into the factory, the soonest that the building
would blow would be arround 7:41. My reinforcements would arrive on the
map at 7:33, and could make the factory in 5-6 minutes, if not smoked or
suppressed too heavily. If I could get in some kills of the demolition
team personnel while en route that would delay the detonation 1 minute
per person killed. So by my calculations it looked like I could still
win -- just barely! Plus, if it turned out that this was the Main
Attack (it was now looking more likely that it was) Nick would still
need to destroy a second target. If not, then he needed to destroy one
target so it all came down to a fight for the factory in any case.

[NOTE: That last fact did not become clear to me until *the day after
the battle!* Had I realized this sooner I probably would have put
aside my uncertainty about the type of attack that it was and just
called for reinforcements immediately knowing that there was a good
chance of denying the US any targets at all. My slowness in realizing
this may be attributable to playing on IRC, where the pressure is far
more intense than playing PBEM.]

Shortly after calling for reinforcements I felt relieved that I had, as
I began to see how large Nick's forces were. Several of his tank
platoons headed east of the factory -- I thought to defend against an
eastern approach. Instead he kept going east and attacked the refinery,
where I had left a few infantry units to stand guard. Only then did I
finally dispell any doubt about this being a diversion. Obviously his
plan all along was to attack two targets, but in sequence, not
simultaneously -- the factory, then the refinery. But the way my
defenses were positioned at the factory (protected by but also blocked
by, small towns and buildings), and with the fair amount of smoke that
was used in the game, I was not able to definitively assess this fact
from merely sightings alone.

For the next 10-15 minutes, I pecked away at tanks and Brads which
strayed too close to my remaining ATGMs at the airfield and orchestrated
some minor attacks with my one remaining BTR platoon which had finally
arrived from the western factory. Being adroit and using quick,
hit-and-run attacks at key locations, this platoon was able to expend
its entire ordnance of ATGMs and still survive until the end of the
battle. (It's little facts like that that you cling to for consolation.
<g>). Meanwhile, Nick's tanks marauded through my refinery,
simultaneously attacking both northern and southern areas. To Nick's
amazement, a "Rambo-like" infantry team managed to hold out an amazingly
long time in the north refinery and even took out some 4 tanks with
LAAWs, had it held out a few minutes more, in fact, I might have gotten
my reinforcements into the area to kill the tanks before they could blow
up the remaining refinery tanks. (Nick evidently missed the discussion
some time ago about infantry being able to abstractly maneuver to your
rear if the marker is within 50 meters. <g>)

At last, 7:32 arrived, and I gave my marching orders to my
reinforcements as they entered the map. Suddenly the whole tempo of the
game picked up, blood was spilling everywhere as my T-72s, BTR80s and
BRDMs converged from three locations on the factory. I managed to take
out the Brads one by one, but Nick made good use of his Javelins (which
I forgot about after killing the M2s that carried them) and together
with his tanks -- which had now returned from the refinery area in the
east -- he was able to whittle two of the three prongs of my attack down
to about half size. But the size of my forces (helped by the added tank
company) -- or more imporantly, the significantly reduced size of his --
gave me the greater momentum, and helped by my newly resupplied
artillery I was able to suppress or kill off most of his Javelins. As
my lead battlegroup approached the southwest corner of the factory
(where I had last seen a demolition team enter) it looked like the final
swing of the pendulum was swinging in my favor.

Sure enough, at 7:39 my lead tanks entered the factory complex and by
the end of the turn I had spotted and engaged one of the demolition
teams, which I assumed froze the countdown. The team was completely
killed off by 7:40. A minute later, as my T-72s prowled into the
factory looking for any other units, I was shocked by the very thing I
thought I had succeeded in preventing:

The factory blew.

The MRLS hit, and the game was over. With two targets destroyed, the
U.S. had now succeeded in an irrevocable Minor Victory.

My surprise over the detonation was resolved when I learned that a
demolition team had dropped with the paratroopers, and that it had much
better luck than the other airborne troops and landed right on the
target. Nick kept its weapons restricted which was a smart thing, so I
wouldn't notice it, which I didn't. Also, while dropping a demo team
with the paras is one of the provisions in the rules it was not done
very often in playtesting (hardly anyone ever tried it) so I was not
predisposed to thinking there was a demolition team already in the
factory. This gave Nick a head start in setting the charges, and
without my knowledge. Actually, according to Nick the factory was
already set to blow by turn 34... he just waited so he could take out as
much of my forces as possible. Have to admit, that was a classy, if
sneaky, move. :->

In retrospect, then, I had really lost the game back around turns 9 or
10 or so, since I would have needed to call for reinforcements at least
by that time to prevent the detonation. By not seeing or suspecting the
demolition team was already at work and because I waited until after
turn 12 to call for help, I had already sealed my fate without knowing
it.

One really dumb thing I did, apparently three times, according to Nick,
was drop mortar and arty on his units already in the factory. (One time
I recall eagerly targetting a Javelin team and not remembering the rule
until after I hit Send Orders... another time was due to lack of
accuracy in targetting something nearby. I don't recall the third time
but I'll take his word for it.) This helps destroy the factory and is
explicitly penalized in the rules, causing the time needed to destroy
the building to *shorten*! I did make up for this later on, however, by
killing a couple of members of the demolition team from 1200 meters or
so with a pair of ZSUs. I lost the ZSUs to return-fire, which I knew I
would, and they only killed two crew members, I think, but that was 2
more minutes delay to help counter the 3 minutes of acceleration I
caused earlier with the mortar/arty.

7:39. My reinforcements break through the hail of Javelins (not visible here, but they are strewn about south and west of the factory) and begin shooting at and killing the demolition unit (Engineers) at the southwest corner of the factory.

Okay, now for the hard part...

Lessons Learned:

1. Keep track of any sightings you make, and the number of units
spotted. Take the time to click on units and see if there are stacks
of them underneath each other. Count them. Estimate their path, and
note any discrepancies that might suggest you are spotting different
units each turn, not the same ones. At the very least, this will help
inform you how many of a certain unit he has, or how many he has left.
In this game in particular it should have also provided signs that I was
facing the larger of the two forces. This is especially embarrassing in
my case, since I *wrote* the brief!

2. Do your homework. Study your opponent's OOB, so when you see a
certain number or type of unit you will know instantly what you are
dealing with. (The 3 hummer ADs, for instance). If the rules are
lengthy or complex, review them shortly before the battle. Our game had
an impromptu start and I did not bother to read through it simply
because I thought I'd remember it. (After all, I authored it). Had I
done so, I might have remembered not to drop arty or mortar on my
factory (a rule that was added near the end of the playtesting period,
so it wasn't as familiar as most). Having that OOB fresh in my mind
would have been helpful, especially in an IRC game where there usually
isn't time to refer to documents while playing.

3. Be decisive. This scenario, above anything else, tests a player's
sense of initiative. I think I did well in this regard in the first 2-3
minutes by committing all of my BTR patrols to the center, but failed
later when it really counted. My primary mission, after all, was to
correctly assess the level of threat in my sector.

4. Come up with a trigger point for yourself to help make decisions
happen, even if you only have scanty intel. Only after I called for
reinforcements on turn 12 did I realize that the fight would come down
to a struggle for the factory, whether I was right or wrong about the
diversion. This being the case, I might as well have called out the
reserves earlier. Poor thinking on my feet on my part, which may be in
part due to the real-time nature of playing on IRC. An list of
"if/then" type decision helpers would have aided me in committing forces
earlier.

5. Check LOS. Several of my losses during the game resulted from lines
of fire that I did not expect would be possible. Again, something that
I may have been less apt to do during an IRC game, especially one where
my opponent was constantly chiding me for taking longer than he did to
send turns. <g>

6. Learn how to handle helos. Seems like every game where helos are
involved, I end up losing them -- and often very early. Maybe if I
plough through the TacOps Gazette...?

7. Remember that just because you kill an APC, doesn't mean you killed
what's inside. In the case of a US mech force, that means Javelins.
And Javelins can be much harder to kill than Bradleys in the defensive
role. Therefore it is a good idea to devote some artillery to that
flaming wreck you just created, to insure that what's inside is killed,
too.

8. Resist teasing taunts from your opponent about sending your turns in
quickly. I did, for the most part, and I'm glad of it. I think my
attention to detail is what helped attrit Nick's forces enough to *be
able* to retake the factory. (The fact that I re-took it so late is
another story). Just because a game is played on IRC is no reason to
get sloppy. I think Nick was trying to keep things moving for time-zone
reasons (he was up at ungodly hours) and once h e committed his forces
on turn one there was undoubtedly less decision-making about where to
send things. But I also think he failed to understand that having fewer
forces doesn't necessarily mean giving fewer orders. Unfortunately, the
heat of battle is hardly the time to explain this. :->

Conclusion:

If I have to lose a game, particularly a tournament game, it's nice to
feel like I lost justifiably. Which I do. I think Nick definitely
played the better game -- if not for reasons of finesse or trickery (as
I expected) then for making far fewer or at least far less critical
mistakes than I did. I think my constant harrassing and
semi-micro-managing paid off in terms of reducing his forces, but in the
end it did not outweigh my larger error of simply not committing forces
at a critical moment. An error in judgement, and a crucial one, which
is exactly what the scenario attempts to test: judgement under
pressure. This loss may reflect more on my inabilities as a player in
real-time CPX-type games than classic PBEM, since this was an IRC event,
but I agreed with Matt's decision to play the game this way. It was a
true test of both tactics and thinking under pressure, which overall
Nick rightly won. My hat's off to him.

I want to thank Nick for a great game, and for plugging away at
ridiculous hours so we could play the game during our brief period of
mutual free time. I also want to give Matt Ohlmer a huge pat on the
back to thank him for putting this whole event together. It was a
great, exciting event, and for me, had an equally exciting conclusion.
I look forward to another such contest in the future.

Riki