BlackMoria

I am not surprised actually. One of the guys in the IT department where I work is Russian. From what he says, the Soviet military is a paper tiger. Sure, a lot if their equipment is top shelf but their training is pathetic. When he was conscripted for obligatory service, he fired 20 rounds through his weapon in a training year. 20 rounds. Tank gunners fired one round a year. Soldiers not knowing how to maintain and use their equipment was a common problem. Sure, the Russian military is learning lessons from the Chechnya wars and from the invasion of Georgia but the lessons are hard learned and come slow and often such lesson don't amount to any real reforms in military thinking or doctrine. Russia should have learned and retained some of the lessons of 10 years in Afghanistan about fighting an insurgency yet their initial days during the first days of the first Chechnya conflict where their armor and infantry ran afoul of Chechnya tactics not much different that insurgent tactics in Afghanistan, it displayed that change comes slow and appears not to be lasting. The Georgian conflict where their usage of night vision equipment and training was lacking is a solid case in point. Fighting at night is nothing new. In fact, it is expected in conflicts in the 21st century. You would expect that that is something the Russians would have down pat by now and yet the Georgian conflict showed that it lacking. Needless to say, I, among others, is watching the Ukraine situation unfold, to see if the Russian military had implemented any meaningful changes in training standards and military doctrine.

Not what I was about. My comment was the cold war could be back, with Russian/US posturing over Syria and now the Ukraine. Putin is old guard. Sure, the thaw of the cold war and reforms have changed Russia and enriched him but the loss of so many countries from when Russia went nearly bankrupt sticks in the craw of the old guard Soviets who lament the loss of 'empire'. I think Putin dreams of putting Russia 'on top' again and to do that is get the countries that declared independence back under Russian dominance, either militarily or politically. I remember the axiom of my cold war days was 'never trust the Russians'. Recent events seem to confirm that there is some truth to that.

And now that Russia has invaded the Crimea, timely. This old 'cold' warrior is watching how this plays out. Things look right frosty right now, and I am not talking about the view out my window...

I believe there is a newer version of Afternoon Delight (I think in the respository). Afternoon Delight has wrong victory conditions and it is impossible to get any sort of win without the newer version which fixes the victory condition issue.

Well done Erwin! That is impressive for WEGO, a game mode that I am terrible at. RT are large maps is not that hard once you develop a knack for it. I typically watch my forces moving around with the map zoomed out so I can see all my forces and I watch for red markers to appear or for the sound of gun fire then I pause, zoom in and develop a read of the situation that is unfolding, issues orders, zoom out and unpause and watch the action unload until something else gets my attention, where upon it is pause, zoom in, assess and evaluate, issue orders, zoom out and unpause. Repeat ad nauseum until victory. I do admit that I do lose out on the beauty of watching the action unfold right in the thick of things at ground level with the ability to watch the same action from different perspectives as much as one likes. But as I said, I am not that good at WEGO and RT works very well for me. Splendid job at CIMIC House. But I hear the Operation Market Garden enemy forces are spoiling for a rematch...

I have played this scenario three times now from start to finish and solely based on those three play throughs, I have parked numerous vehicles on the dam bridge and have yet to have any air power attack them. I usually get the vehicles beside the dam 'building' sides and keep the middle of the road clear. I have had vehicles in the LZ 1 trees (beside the LZ) and in trees at the Hassan compound. They usually aren't spotted but I have been lucky in the few times that they were spotted, the rocket attacks are inaccurate, as well as the bombs from the Syrian jets. I don't know what goes on in the calculations made by the game engine but it seems being in trees helps somewhat - at least that is my perception. At LZ 2, putting vehicles in the narrow lanes in the building complex across the road from the initial buildings the LZ 2 forces initially assault into seems to help as well. I have had the vehicles in that area spotted only once and rocket attacked and the buildings soaked up all the rockets, preventing the vehicles from being hit. What seems to be key is once you hear the helo blades sound effect or the jet engine noise is to STOP moving forces around and sit quietly until the air assets stop buzzing around. My experience is they really key on 'movement' or units 'firing', most likely getting spotting bonuses for your forces moving or firing while they are overhead. I have done the 'keep the head down and don't move' in all three play throughs and I have had the Syrian helos buzz around about three or four passes and then leave without them firing a shot because they couldn't spot any of my forces. If you do have forces in the open when the hostile air arrives, keep them moving - quickly. While this seems to contradict what I said above, chances are that vehicles would be spotted in the open anyhow and your forces take less direct hits by rocket, missiles or bombs due to them getting moving bonuses against weapon systems instead of getting no bonuses at all by being static. So far, the only vehicles I have lost were empty Humvees where I parked them in the open in dead ground to dismount the TOW launchers or the Mk19 - vehicles sitting static in the open. That said, I could be the luckiest SOB around since in three play throughs, the only vehicles I lost were empty, parked in the open Humvees - so either I am extremely lucky or there is some truth to the tactics I outlined above.

My observations about the type and number of AT weapons the US forces have is similar. I found the SRAWs ineffective against the armor for the most part but I had better luck than you using them to bust bunkers. Some insight from my playtesting for Snake_eye concerning the US Airborne forces. This is more for everyone than specifically directed at Erwin but these insights and suggestions will make a difference. For both LZ1 and LZ2, it is prudent to pick a defensive area in or near your LZs and sit tight until the Brits arrive. The reason is principally of economics - your AB forces don't have the AT weapons to defeat all the enemy armor and you don't have the small arms ammunition to do much more than hold the LZs and perhaps push your perimeter out a bit. The bunkers might seem to be a concern but in reality, you can place your forces so the bunkers can't engage them and allow the Brit armor to take care of them. It is easy to caught up with thinking you have to deal with the bunkers but with them having interlocking fields of fire with each other, trying to take them out will result in casualties. My suggestion - let the Brit reinforcements do the bunker clearing. Conserve on the Javelins. That means, give them very short firing arc so they don't fire. With four missiles, you need to prioritize on targets. It is tempting to see static T-55 and ZSUs and think you need to take them out but my advice is keep the Javelins to defend your airborne forces. Let your airpower and the Brits deal with static armor. Your targets for the Javelin should be tanks first and foremost. The LAWs and SRAWs have better chances taking out the BMPs and the BRDMs than tanks. Your TOW launchers can be put in creative places that have good lines of sight and are safer than hill tops. You just need to find them and sneak the launchers in. I have in both AI plans been able to stop the armor counter attack cold with just the Javelins and TOWs. Careful placement and micromanagement is key here. Get some of your forces high but this is important, DON'T fire them as they will reveal themselves and then you will have all sorts of armaments being shot at you and artillery raining down. One or two headquarter units and the FO is sufficient. You will see lots and can see the enemy moving around. Intel and the ability to see what is coming is more important than a MG team being able to kill or suppress enemy infantry because that hill top MG team of your isn't going to last long once it becomes spotted. The Syrian artillery is powerful once it adjusts onto you but is it slow to acquire and get on target. Once adjusting rounds start to come in, get you forces out of the way! It usually be be apparent what the artillery is trying to engage so don't be there when they go into fire for effect. Syrian air - keep under cover and dispersed as much as you can. There is nothing you can do except try not to get spotted and hunker down once the rockets and bombs start falling. If your vehicles are not someplace for a critical reason, keep them beside and between buildings - this makes them hard to spot and hard to hit if they are spotted. Under trees works nearly as well. Your artillery - don't go after bunkers or vehicles as it is costly in ammunition. Use your artillery on the enemy infantry. You can enough to really punish the enemy infantry if you catch them static in trenchworks or when they mass for attacks. This scenario really plays best on real time because the one minute WEGO can introduce surprises that can unfold rapidly and get a player 'back on his heels' very quickly, making for a tough uphill fight if you are just reacting to the enemy. You want to set the tempo and the prep the ground and fight on your terms, not the enemy's. Be aware of your orders and your objectives and stick to them. It might be tempting to fight the entire map but you don't HAVE to. I have bypassed and ignored significant enemy forces simply they had little to no impact on what my forces were doing and where my forces are. You can win by literally, like the Bridge Too Far of old, putting forces along the road to the airfield and ignore forces who can't see or can't fire effectively onto the road. In short, use your forces to hold the LZs and blunt the counterattacks you can get and wait for the Brits to arrive. The Brits have the firepower to deal with everything the enemy puts in their way so they can force the roads to the airfield if need be. Use the Brits to kill the static armor and bunkers and pound any forces in the way.

I wait with bated breath. I am sure it will be sterling like Fallujah Hospital and CIMIC House.

Sure Combatintman, I can send a PM but it will take a day or two as my household is infested with grandchildren and family. Erwin: I intend to do up a proper AAR as my post was more of a 'sales pitch' to get people to play this wonderful scenario instead of a more detailed AAR but will give it a few days so people can enjoy the scenario without me being all 'spoiler' about how my game turned out. Stay tuned. Combatintman: About the comment about vehicle casualties. Incredible luck. One of my tanks was hit about 5 times by RPGs alone and got nothing worst than three or four sub-systems with small green crosses. One of the Warriors was hit three times without anything moving any sub-system out of the green. I don't want to give the impression that I am the Teflon man and AT rounds don't stick to me. More likely the luckiest SOB around... that and the fact that RPGs fired at me rarely get a second shot at me because they are killed or I quickly clear out of the line of fire.

The AAR for the second AI plan that snake_eye developed based on comments from the first AAR. Again, copy and pasted from emails and again, contains **spoilers** AAR of the second AI plan. ** Spoilers within** Nice variation of a AI plan as I didn’t know what to expect so my all around defense in the trenches in LZ 1 (which I did first game as well) defeated the flanking attack off the road without any casualties. A bit of a surprise with two BRDMs showing up in the rear area of LZ 1 as my infantry where moving from the drop off point up to the trenches, but I killed both without taking any losses since four of my squads got caught in the open but killed both in the first return fire salvo. The HQ in placed on the high ground near LZ 1 spotted lots of trucks heading into the Hassan village area and compound. Spotted several trucks in the trees and hit them and the surround area with mortar fire. I look forward to the end of game to see if I caused any casualties to the dismounts. At the one hour mark, spotted a large amount of infantry moving out the trees at Hassan compound towards the edge of the gully where they appear to be massing near my insertion point. All in plain view of my higher ground HQ, who is just now ordering the mortars into action, so it will be interesting the next few minutes to see if I can nail the infantry before they move out. I also spotted some armor moving out the airfield area along the MSR towards Hassan village area but lost sight of them, which is a huge concern to me right now as I don’t know if the anti-armor resources I have at LZ 1 are sufficient to deal with a significant armor attack right now. I am trying to deploy my TOW launcher in the LZ 2 area somewhere I can see into towards Hassan village. One hour in and no Syrian air assets have appeared yet. I don’t know if that is by design or not but I have been dreading to hear the sound of rotor blades at any time now. Hope to play another hour or two tomorrow to see what develops as I am expecting perhaps a coordinate armor and infantry attack into LZ 1 area very shortly since I can see infantry massing near Hassan compound and the few armor I spotted disappeared near the airfield side of Hassan village. That would be interesting to say the least since my main long range anti-armor is near LZ 2 and may not be in a position to assist if an armor attack happens very soon. My estimate was right. The armor my HQ on the ridge spotted looked like it was still on the move, so I pulled my LZ 1 defenders further back into the trees and the trenches. The HQ on the ridge rained death down in the form of mortar fire onto the infantry massing on the edge of Hassan compound area and my initial insertion point and that infantry withdrew back into the shelter of the trees at Hassan compound. My Apache and other TOW unit arrived. I immediately called an area mission for the Apache for the majority of LZ 1, a very risky move considering I had a few squads still within the danger zone but I was trusting on the copter being more interested in tank busting than trying to spot infantry in trenches beneath trees. In the meantime, near LZ 2, I dismounted a TOW unit and with the Javelin unit at LZ 2, I moved them up the hill to look into LZ 1 as much as they could see. They came under small arms fire from the Nira ridge area but my observer got all the mortars working against enemy in the buildings and trenches there. Sure enough, tanks, BMPs and a BRDM showed up and skirted the edge of the trees on LZ 1. One BMP tried to enter the treed area but was killed in a volley of LAW fire from one of my squads. It seemed the armor was more interested of pausing briefly in LZ 1 and was posed to head off to the DAM bridge and LZ 2 given their positioning. The Javelin and the dismounted TOW crew on the hill shot all their missiles and killed 4 armor but got pinned down by return fire from two tanks. In the meantime, enemy helo attacks started peppering the LZ 2 area with rockets but none of my troops or vehicles took any casualties. My Apache showed up and worked over the enemy armor in LZ 1 but strangely they RTBed after a few passes despite two tanks still sitting in the open in LZ 1. I ordered another attack helo mission into the same area but it going to take time to arrive and two tanks have my Javelin and dismounted TOW pinned down. Every time I try to order the two squads to withdraw to the safety, the tanks suppress them. The TOW crew never manages to withdraw (I had a real problem trying to get them to move and I suspect it was because the AI has them packing up the TOW launcher with takes time) and take casualties from tank fire and is finally finished off by Syria artillery. My Javelin team finally gets moving but a tank round wounds one man and the other man must withdraw to safety due to incoming Syrian artillery. The two tanks finally are on the move and look like they are going to cross the bridge. In the meantime, the other recently arrived TOW dismounts and places the launcher on top of one of the three story buildings in LZ 2, in anticipation of the armor perhaps making a rush to LZ 2. One of my squads in LZ 1 spots one tank crossing the bridge and the other is sitting beside the bunker in the mined trench works just before crossing the bridge. Is it immobilized? I cancel the area mission for my helo since both tanks have left the area template and re-order the attack helo to take it out possibly immobilized tank. My surviving TOW crew gets a brief peek of the tank coming up the hill towards LZ 2 but it abruptly turns side on and disappears from view before I get a shot. Where did it go? I got a Total Victory without having to take the airfield. The first wave of Brits arrived and moved off to Hassan village, taking care of the few remaining bunkers and the two enemy tanks along the way. Elements of the LZ 2 force took the observation ridge while being harried by Syrian air attacks, resulting in the loss of the Mk 19 Humvee but without any casualties except the vehicle. The Brit tanks took overwatch positions forward of Hussan village and compound while the Brit Javelin teams took the high ground and building in Hussan village. The tanks and the Javelins teams killed several more tanks, two ZSUs, two BRDMs and a few trucks, and shot back at revealed enemy AT resources, resulting in enemy casualties. In the meantime, the newly arrived A-10s worked the area between the ridge beside the airfield and Hussan compound, with many bombs dropped and cannon strafe attacks against concealed enemy infantry positions. Syrian jets dropped bombs near my tanks and the tanks were rocket attacked repeatedly by Syrian helos but all my tanks survived the assault from the air, but all were immobilized eventually by the seeming endless attacks from the air. Syrian artillery reduced Hussan village to rubble (literally) but my forces in Hussan village withdrew to the compound once it was apparent what the Syrian ranging rounds were trying adjust fire for. Before the second wave of Brit reinforcements arrived, I got the Total Victory message. The Butcher’s Bill My Losses - 2 KIA, 5 WIA, 2 Humvees destroyed (3 Tanks & 1 Humvee immobilized) Syrian Losses - 255 KIA, 142 WIA, 38 MIA, 9 Tanks, 10 BMPs/BRDMs, 5 Other Vehicles Very fun to play and very challenging. Once again, I got lucky with Syrian rocket attacks from the helos not causing casualties on my infantry but this time, most of the air attacks went against my vehicles, which was good since it spared my infantry from being attacked. My tanks alone were bombed 3 times (all near misses) and rocketed 5 times, and strafed twice, but all three survived despite being immobilized. I like the new AI plan. The early armor attack was unexpected and had the potential to be devastating if it wasn't for the early warning my HQ on the hill provided me by spotting them moving up towards LZ 1. Once the armor hit the edge of the LZ1, my SRAW teams which I kept forward literally saw the first tank at 10 meters away, followed by a BMP at about 25 meters, which allowed them time of only one shot and to haul ass out of there further back into the trenches. Basically, if one sticks to the trenches, without forewarning by having someone observing from the hill beside the insertion zone, the only warning of the armor attack is literally when the armor is very close range. Devious. I love it. If other players get sloppy and inattentive with this AI plan, they will get their asses handed to them when the armor attacks the LZ 1 area. SRAWs are terrible weapons to fight off armor - my SRAW teams fired off 4 shots, I got 2 hits a piece on a tank and a BMP at short range and DID NOT KILL them. It was only volley fire of LAWs which killed off one BMP and the rest of the armor was killed by my Apache, Javelins and the TOW launchers.

Sure, I would be most happy to post the AARs. For the original AI plan, copied and pasted from my emails with snake_eye. **Be aware that what follows has some spoilers**: AAR as follows. First off, a very enjoyable scenario. I like in particular the defense of the first LZ. Very intense, particularly when I noted a number of squads were getting down to 2 to 3 bars of ammunition. I actually thought I might run out of ammunition before I stopped the counter attack on the first LZ. Surprises - the fact you mined some of the trench works in front of some of the Bunkers. Took some of my assaulters by surprise but I only took one or two casualties. Second nasty surprise - the Syrian helo attack on the forest beside the first LZ. Took three rocket strafe attacks but thankfully, only a few casualties. Third nasty surprise - Syrian jets. Very surprised that I didn’t lose any vehicles to them - their bombs were off target every time. Outline of Events during my Play Through On game start , sent half my troops into the LZ proper, the other half to the high ground to get a good look at the area. Troops in LZ discovered the two bunkers near LZ 1 without taking casualties. Troops on high ground saw a ZSU and several tanks and bunkers towards the airfield, and two bunkers near LZ 2. Decided to wait for reinforcements before pushing on with the operation. Once the rest of the force arrived in LZ 1 and LZ 2, I started securing the LZs. A Javelin team from LZ 1 went to the high ground and killed the ZSU and one tank. LZ 1 forces pushed into the trees beside and prepared for the counterattack as well as started to sweep through the trenches there. The counter attack came in and was stopped with very little casualties by my forces, though ammunition was very low for about half the LZ 1 forces. LZ 2 was quickly cleared but it took a while for my forces to knock out the bunker complexes and the one strong point to secure that entire area. The two TOW vehicles took to the high ground and came under fire from the Nira Strongpoint. The FO eventually spotted infantry in the several building and adjoining trenches and hit each location with mortars. In the meantime, Syrian helos appeared and strafed and rocket attacked the woods holding my forces at LZ 1 but inflicted very little casualties due to my forces taking cover in the trenches. In the meantime some minor Syrian forces (probably stragglers from the counterattack) tried to push into the woods and my small arms fire stopped them just inside the edge. That is when the first ‘mistake’ made by the Syrians. Syrian artillery fire started to come in on the edge of the trees and I withdrew my forces further into the woods and was ineffective due to my timely repositioning of my troops. However the Syrian artillery fell upon their own troops pinned down by me on the edge of the tree line and the Syrian artillery decimated their own troops! My two TOW Hummers worked their way around to the Nira stronghold with the FO and one squad, one MG team and one AT team, and took the position with no casualties. It appeared my mortars were very effective on the Syrian troops due to the number of dead my forces found in the trenches and roof tops. My forces took fire from the Darya pass area and the FO bought mortar fire on those revealed positions with deadly effect. Syrian helos attacked the Nira stronghold and very surprisingly to me, failed see the two TOW vehicles to the rear and rocket attacked the trenches but my forces took cover within the several building in the stronghold so I took no casualties. Once the helos departed, my forces (including the two TOW vehicles) left the FO and a few teams behind to secure the Nira stronghold and made their way to Darya pass. In the meantime, the Marines at LZ 1 pushed towards Hassan village and secured the area and the compound without a single shot being fired - either the Syrians pulled back or all rushed in the counter attack to their doom. One the most surreal moments in the game came from the clearing of Darya pass. My forces cleared the pockets of enemy and the two TOW vehicles took up position on the other side of the pass. They spotted and killed a few static tanks and bunkers. Then the Syrian attack helos showed up and strafed the two TOW vehicles, immobilizing both of them. I suffered one KIA and several light wounded. I bailed out the vehicles and withdrew the crews to the protection of the narrow walls of Darya pass itself. What happened next was surreal. The attack helos continue to strafe the empty vehicles. Then Syrian jets showed up and dropped a total of 4 bombs on the disabled vehicles but all missed. Finally, Syrian artillery hit the empty vehicles and fired a total of 50 rounds of HE and destroyed the vehicles and kept firing at them even when the first few rounds destroyed the already damaged vehicle. Talk about OVERKILL. Some of my troops spotted what looked like a tank moving in A Farouk village and my FO called an Thunderbolt area strike on the entire area of A Farouk village and the immediate surrounding area. Once the Thunderbolt arrived and attacked, he did repeated passes on the village and each pass resulted in another smoke plume of a burning vehicle. Once the Thunderbolt left the area, I counted 9 smoke plumes, a testament to the deadly and ruthless efficiency of the A10. Seems like there was a company of armor in the village! The Brits finally arrived and I quickly got them underway and moving towards the airfield, fearfully that the Syrian air force might return and hit me while they were bottlenecked at LZ 2. The Marines pushed carefully out from the Hassan compound to get eyes on but saw little except for a bunker or two and some infantry, which was dealt with while the Brit proceed down the highway to the airfield. After taking up some overwatch positions with the tanks and the Scimitar and killing a few bunkers and a ZSU, the artillery killed several positions in which anti tank fire was spotted. Then nothing. I was not getting eyes on, despite rolling my vehicles up onto hull down positions on ridges and high ground and try to goad the enemy to shoot at them. No contacts for 15 minutes. Could the Syrians be hiding behind the ridge beside the air field? Did they have anything left to oppose me as they took heavy casualties by my estimate. The indecision weighted heavily on me. My forces had not moved in 15 minutes except to expose vehicles to goad the enemy and there was the danger of Syrian air power showing up if I continued to delay. I decided to do a dangerous ‘Thunder Run’, gambling that the Syrians were decimated and demoralized. I established overwatch positions with two platoons of Brit IFVs and the Marines and decided to ‘Thunder Run’ with the three tanks and a mounted platoon of Brits, trusting in the firepower of the tanks and the mounted infantry platoon to deal with whatever was on the airfield. My forces launched out from the Sidi Bou Said defensive line that I had secured and ran hell of leather along to the highway, crossed the bridge and into the airfield, taking some small arms fire, and a few missed RPG shots. Once I hit the airfield, my forces spread out and started decimating a whole bunch of trucks when the game ended. The outcome - Marines Total Victory My losses (very light considering) 3 KIA 15 WIA 2 Other Vehicles (my two TOW vehicles) Enemy losses 254 KIA 140 MIA 46 Missing 8 Tanks 10 Armor 6 Other

The AAR for the second AI plan that snake_eye developed based on comments from the first AAR. Again, copy and pasted from emails and again, contains **spoilers** AAR of the second AI plan. ** Spoilers within** Nice variation of a AI plan as I didn’t know what to expect so my all around defense in the trenches in LZ 1 (which I did first game as well) defeated the flanking attack off the road without any casualties. A bit of a surprise with two BRDMs showing up in the rear area of LZ 1 as my infantry where moving from the drop off point up to the trenches, but I killed both without taking any losses since four of my squads got caught in the open but killed both in the first return fire salvo. The HQ in placed on the high ground near LZ 1 spotted lots of trucks heading into the Hassan village area and compound. Spotted several trucks in the trees and hit them and the surround area with mortar fire. I look forward to the end of game to see if I caused any casualties to the dismounts. At the one hour mark, spotted a large amount of infantry moving out the trees at Hassan compound towards the edge of the gully where they appear to be massing near my insertion point. All in plain view of my higher ground HQ, who is just now ordering the mortars into action, so it will be interesting the next few minutes to see if I can nail the infantry before they move out. I also spotted some armor moving out the airfield area along the MSR towards Hassan village area but lost sight of them, which is a huge concern to me right now as I don’t know if the anti-armor resources I have at LZ 1 are sufficient to deal with a significant armor attack right now. I am trying to deploy my TOW launcher in the LZ 2 area somewhere I can see into towards Hassan village. One hour in and no Syrian air assets have appeared yet. I don’t know if that is by design or not but I have been dreading to hear the sound of rotor blades at any time now. Hope to play another hour or two tomorrow to see what develops as I am expecting perhaps a coordinate armor and infantry attack into LZ 1 area very shortly since I can see infantry massing near Hassan compound and the few armor I spotted disappeared near the airfield side of Hassan village. That would be interesting to say the least since my main long range anti-armor is near LZ 2 and may not be in a position to assist if an armor attack happens very soon. My estimate was right. The armor my HQ on the ridge spotted looked like it was still on the move, so I pulled my LZ 1 defenders further back into the trees and the trenches. The HQ on the ridge rained death down in the form of mortar fire onto the infantry massing on the edge of Hassan compound area and my initial insertion point and that infantry withdrew back into the shelter of the trees at Hassan compound. My Apache and other TOW unit arrived. I immediately called an area mission for the Apache for the majority of LZ 1, a very risky move considering I had a few squads still within the danger zone but I was trusting on the copter being more interested in tank busting than trying to spot infantry in trenches beneath trees. In the meantime, near LZ 2, I dismounted a TOW unit and with the Javelin unit at LZ 2, I moved them up the hill to look into LZ 1 as much as they could see. They came under small arms fire from the Nira ridge area but my observer got all the mortars working against enemy in the buildings and trenches there. Sure enough, tanks, BMPs and a BRDM showed up and skirted the edge of the trees on LZ 1. One BMP tried to enter the treed area but was killed in a volley of LAW fire from one of my squads. It seemed the armor was more interested of pausing briefly in LZ 1 and was posed to head off to the DAM bridge and LZ 2 given their positioning. The Javelin and the dismounted TOW crew on the hill shot all their missiles and killed 4 armor but got pinned down by return fire from two tanks. In the meantime, enemy helo attacks started peppering the LZ 2 area with rockets but none of my troops or vehicles took any casualties. My Apache showed up and worked over the enemy armor in LZ 1 but strangely they RTBed after a few passes despite two tanks still sitting in the open in LZ 1. I ordered another attack helo mission into the same area but it going to take time to arrive and two tanks have my Javelin and dismounted TOW pinned down. Every time I try to order the two squads to withdraw to the safety, the tanks suppress them. The TOW crew never manages to withdraw (I had a real problem trying to get them to move and I suspect it was because the AI has them packing up the TOW launcher with takes time) and take casualties from tank fire and is finally finished off by Syria artillery. My Javelin team finally gets moving but a tank round wounds one man and the other man must withdraw to safety due to incoming Syrian artillery. The two tanks finally are on the move and look like they are going to cross the bridge. In the meantime, the other recently arrived TOW dismounts and places the launcher on top of one of the three story buildings in LZ 2, in anticipation of the armor perhaps making a rush to LZ 2. One of my squads in LZ 1 spots one tank crossing the bridge and the other is sitting beside the bunker in the mined trench works just before crossing the bridge. Is it immobilized? I cancel the area mission for my helo since both tanks have left the area template and re-order the attack helo to take it out possibly immobilized tank. My surviving TOW crew gets a brief peek of the tank coming up the hill towards LZ 2 but it abruptly turns side on and disappears from view before I get a shot. Where did it go? I got a Total Victory without having to take the airfield. The first wave of Brits arrived and moved off to Hassan village, taking care of the few remaining bunkers and the two enemy tanks along the way. Elements of the LZ 2 force took the observation ridge while being harried by Syrian air attacks, resulting in the loss of the Mk 19 Humvee but without any casualties except the vehicle. The Brit tanks took overwatch positions forward of Hussan village and compound while the Brit Javelin teams took the high ground and building in Hussan village. The tanks and the Javelins teams killed several more tanks, two ZSUs, two BRDMs and a few trucks, and shot back at revealed enemy AT resources, resulting in enemy casualties. In the meantime, the newly arrived A-10s worked the area between the ridge beside the airfield and Hussan compound, with many bombs dropped and cannon strafe attacks against concealed enemy infantry positions. Syrian jets dropped bombs near my tanks and the tanks were rocket attacked repeatedly by Syrian helos but all my tanks survived the assault from the air, but all were immobilized eventually by the seeming endless attacks from the air. Syrian artillery reduced Hussan village to rubble (literally) but my forces in Hussan village withdrew to the compound once it was apparent what the Syrian ranging rounds were trying adjust fire for. Before the second wave of Brit reinforcements arrived, I got the Total Victory message. The Butcher’s Bill My Losses - 2 KIA, 5 WIA, 2 Humvees destroyed (3 Tanks & 1 Humvee immobilized) Syrian Losses - 255 KIA, 142 WIA, 38 MIA, 9 Tanks, 10 BMPs/BRDMs, 5 Other Vehicles Very fun to play and very challenging. Once again, I got lucky with Syrian rocket attacks from the helos not causing casualties on my infantry but this time, most of the air attacks went against my vehicles, which was good since it spared my infantry from being attacked. My tanks alone where bombed 3 times (all near misses) and rocketed 5 times, and strafed twice, but all three survived despite being immobilized. I like the new AI plan. The early armor attack was unexpected and had the potential to be devastating if it wasn't for the early warning my HQ on the hill provided me by spotting them moving up towards LZ 1. Once the armor hit the edge of the LZ1, my SRAW teams which I kept forward literally saw the first tank at 10 meters away, followed by a BMP at about 25 meters, which allowed them time of only one shot and to haul ass out of there further back into the trenches. Basically, if one sticks to the trenches, without forewarning by having someone observing from the hill beside the insertion zone, the only warning of the armor attack is literally when the armor is very close range. Devious. I love it. If other players get sloppy and inattentive with this AI plan, they will get their asses handed to them when the armor attacks the LZ 1 area. SRAWs are terrible weapons to fight off armor - my SRAW teams fired off 4 shots, I got 2 hits a piece on a tank and a BMP at short range and DID NOT KILL them. It was only volley fire of LAWs which killed off one BMP and the rest of the armor was killed by my Apache, Javelins and the TOW launchers.

Sure, I would be most happy to post the AARs. For the original AI plan, copied and pasted from my emails with snake_eye. **Be aware that what follows has some spoilers**: AAR as follows. First off, a very enjoyable scenario. I like in particular the defense of the first LZ. Very intense, particularly when I noted a number of squads were getting down to 2 to 3 bars of ammunition. I actually thought I might run out of ammunition before I stopped the counter attack on the first LZ. Surprises - the fact you mined some of the trench works in front of some of the Bunkers. Took some of my assaulters by surprise but I only took one or two casualties. Second nasty surprise - the Syrian helo attack on the forest beside the first LZ. Took three rocket strafe attacks but thankfully, only a few casualties. Third nasty surprise - Syrian jets. Very surprised that I didn’t lose any vehicles to them - their bombs were off target every time. Outline of Events during my Play Through On game start , sent half my troops into the LZ proper, the other half to the high ground to get a good look at the area. Troops in LZ discovered the two bunkers near LZ 1 without taking casualties. Troops on high ground saw a ZSU and several tanks and bunkers towards the airfield, and two bunkers near LZ 2. Decided to wait for reinforcements before pushing on with the operation. Once the rest of the force arrived in LZ 1 and LZ 2, I started securing the LZs. A Javelin team from LZ 1 went to the high ground and killed the ZSU and one tank. LZ 1 forces pushed into the trees beside and prepared for the counterattack as well as started to sweep through the trenches there. The counter attack came in and was stopped with very little casualties by my forces, though ammunition was very low for about half the LZ 1 forces. LZ 2 was quickly cleared but it took a while for my forces to knock out the bunker complexes and the one strong point to secure that entire area. The two TOW vehicles took to the high ground and came under fire from the Nira Strongpoint. The FO eventually spotted infantry in the several building and adjoining trenches and hit each location with mortars. In the meantime, Syrian helos appeared and strafed and rocket attacked the woods holding my forces at LZ 1 but inflicted very little casualties due to my forces taking cover in the trenches. In the meantime some minor Syrian forces (probably stragglers from the counterattack) tried to push into the woods and my small arms fire stopped them just inside the edge. That is when the first ‘mistake’ made by the Syrians. Syrian artillery fire started to come in on the edge of the trees and I withdrew my forces further into the woods and was ineffective due to my timely repositioning of my troops. However the Syrian artillery fell upon their own troops pinned down by me on the edge of the tree line and the Syrian artillery decimated their own troops! My two TOW Hummers worked their way around to the Nira stronghold with the FO and one squad, one MG team and one AT team, and took the position with no casualties. It appeared my mortars were very effective on the Syrian troops due to the number of dead my forces found in the trenches and roof tops. My forces took fire from the Darya pass area and the FO bought mortar fire on those revealed positions with deadly effect. Syrian helos attacked the Nira stronghold and very surprisingly to me, failed see the two TOW vehicles to the rear and rocket attacked the trenches but my forces took cover within the several building in the stronghold so I took no casualties. Once the helos departed, my forces (including the two TOW vehicles) left the FO and a few teams behind to secure the Nira stronghold and made their way to Darya pass. In the meantime, the Marines at LZ 1 pushed towards Hassan village and secured the area and the compound without a single shot being fired - either the Syrians pulled back or all rushed in the counter attack to their doom. One the most surreal moments in the game came from the clearing of Darya pass. My forces cleared the pockets of enemy and the two TOW vehicles took up position on the other side of the pass. They spotted and killed a few static tanks and bunkers. Then the Syrian attack helos showed up and strafed the two TOW vehicles, immobilizing both of them. I suffered one KIA and several light wounded. I bailed out the vehicles and withdrew the crews to the protection of the narrow walls of Darya pass itself. What happened next was surreal. The attack helos continue to strafe the empty vehicles. Then Syrian jets showed up and dropped a total of 4 bombs on the disabled vehicles but all missed. Finally, Syrian artillery hit the empty vehicles and fired a total of 50 rounds of HE and destroyed the vehicles and kept firing at them even when the first few rounds destroyed the already damaged vehicle. Talk about OVERKILL. Some of my troops spotted what looked like a tank moving in A Farouk village and my FO called an Thunderbolt area strike on the entire area of A Farouk village and the immediate surrounding area. Once the Thunderbolt arrived and attacked, he did repeated passes on the village and each pass resulted in another smoke plume of a burning vehicle. Once the Thunderbolt left the area, I counted 9 smoke plumes, a testament to the deadly and ruthless efficiency of the A10. Seems like there was a company of armor in the village! The Brits finally arrived and I quickly got them underway and moving towards the airfield, fearfully that the Syrian air force might return and hit me while they were bottlenecked at LZ 2. The Marines pushed carefully out from the Hassan compound to get eyes on but saw little except for a bunker or two and some infantry, which was dealt with while the Brit proceed down the highway to the airfield. After taking up some overwatch positions with the tanks and the Scimitar and killing a few bunkers and a ZSU, the artillery killed several positions in which anti tank fire was spotted. Then nothing. I was not getting eyes on, despite rolling my vehicles up onto hull down positions on ridges and high ground and try to goad the enemy to shoot at them. No contacts for 15 minutes. Could the Syrians be hiding behind the ridge beside the air field? Did they have anything left to oppose me as they took heavy casualties by my estimate. The indecision weighted heavily on me. My forces had not moved in 15 minutes except to expose vehicles to goad the enemy and there was the danger of Syrian air power showing up if I continued to delay. I decided to do a dangerous ‘Thunder Run’, gambling that the Syrians were decimated and demoralized. I established overwatch positions with two platoons of Brit IFVs and the Marines and decided to ‘Thunder Run’ with the three tanks and a mounted platoon of Brits, trusting in the firepower of the tanks and the mounted infantry platoon to deal with whatever was on the airfield. My forces launched out from the Sidi Bou Said defensive line that I had secured and ran hell of leather along to the highway, crossed the bridge and into the airfield, taking some small arms fire, and a few missed RPG shots. Once I hit the airfield, my forces spread out and started decimating a whole bunch of trucks when the game ended. The outcome - Marines Total Victory My losses (very light considering) 3 KIA 15 WIA 2 Other Vehicles (my two TOW vehicles) Enemy losses 254 KIA 140 MIA 46 Missing 8 Tanks 10 Armor 6 Other

I finished CIMC House this evening after downloading earlier today. The map is wonderful and offers lots of avenues to meet your aims through fire and maneuver. It is big and bold in all aspects and I am inspired to try it again to see the other AI plans as well as to explore several other options. The force mix is not so large that you will be overwhelmed with a huge array of forces to juggle. It is a MOUT fight but not in the classical sense of fighting through block after block of strongpoints and ambush points. The supply/relief force offers lots of avenues for maneuver in vehicles. Surprising, the CIMC House forces have lots of vehicles allowing you the option to bunker down and wait for the relief column, or your can punch out your perimeter as far as you are comfortable and take control of as much real estate as you dare. I got nothing but praises for the scenario. Normally, with two forces separated in different parts of the map, it can be a real headache to juggle giving orders to both forces and trying to focus on two fights but the AI plan I got allowed to me focus on fighting the battle in both locations without being driven insane with trying to maintain situational awareness in two map locations at the same time. I played Elite RT. I achieved a British Tactical Victory with about 35-40 minutes left on the clock of a initial 2.5 hours time limit, so there is plenty of time to meet all objectives as long as you are not too cautious with moving the relief force. My plan was to follow the orders as given and the historical route, though I was scratching my head as to why historically, the Brits eschewed a bridge near CIMIC house and close to re-supply by taking the absolute longest way around as was possible, but I didn't read any books about the CIMC House battles so there was probably a reason for it. The scenario notes states there is three AI plans so I do plan to replay this puppy a few times to see what they are like. I also intend to experiment with other tactical options, which this scenario allows one to explore. As I stated, my game play was RT Elite setting. I got a British Tactical Victory and given the drubbing I gave the insurgents, I was surprised it wasn't a Total Victory, so I don't know if a Total Victory is possible or not, as I meet all objectives. Anyhow, here is the Butcher's Bill My losses - 1 WIA Insurgent losses - 242 KIA, 114 WIA, 11 MIA If anyone wants any insights as to how I pulled this off, feel free to ask. I have game saves for every 15 minutes of game play which I intend to do screen shots from (I haven't figured out how to do screen shots yet) to do up a proper AAR if people are interested. I give this scenario five stars all around, because for me it is a near perfect for force composition and size, for map size and the wide range of options the map provides and for three AI plans. **Warning** - this is not a spoiler but some critical advice. The Brit vehicles are not well endowed with HE or HEPD like US vehicles are, so ammunition WILL be a factor you need to consider. I achieved all objectives but 75% of my vehicles had exhausted their HE stocks by scenario end. Trying to shoot insurgents out of buildings with AP and vehicle MGs is not suggested due to its ineffectiveness compared to HE rounds. If you haven't played a lot with British forces, you probably aren't aware of this, so you need to pick your fights with care and watch your ammunition usage.

I look forward to the challenge.

Hmmm. I check my email and junk folder and got no new file from you. The last email I received was talking about the value of doing new scenarios. Please sent the file (again if you did send it previously) to my email address you have.

GRRRRRR :mad: How about not as well. My success is co-current, mutually supported activity. Without the pauses, co-current activity kind of goes out the door with the usual predictable results. At least with WEGO you can do concurrent activity but I have discovered that a lot of 'unexpected' things can happen in the one minute turn what you are powerless to control - the AI can do wonky things at times during moves, the seemly suicidal tendency for troops exposed to effective fire to sometime withdraw to a place that is far worst (the number of times that troops withdraw out of building and drop prone in the middle of a street instead of moving another 5 meters into another building), etc. are the reasons I don't like WEGO. With real time, I can intervene and stop such stupidity.

Hey Buzz, have you managed 'to see the doctor' yet?

Finished up Bomber Takedown. A delightful fast playing, principally infantry fight. The map is very much open with limited terrain but the environmental lighting allows for movement through fields and the limited low ground to close on the objective. This is one scenario in which interlocking zones of fire and mutual fire support will pay dividends. One can using bounding overwatch and other fire and maneuver tactics to pin and suppress the enemy and move the assaulting elements into position. Use the limited artillery support to best advantage and go to town on the bad guys. The scenario length is 30 minutes and given the open terrain and the distance to fire and maneuver over, it might seem like not enough time (my initial impression) but as long as one doesn't get bogged down in a protracted fire fight without moving forward, the scenario is winnable in the time allotted. Head long rushing forward without suppressing the enemy and pinning him down will be punished, making this scenario an excellent scenario to hone one's infantry tactics in the face of a determined enemy.

I finished up Copperhead Road and I have mixed feelings about this one. The good is a nice size map (without being overally large) which is exceptional for its layout with three distinct urban strips separated by a large double lane highway and a canal/wadi/river. There is a nice mix of open and urban terrain and the scenario setup with a IED exploding just prior to scenario start under an overpass is visually engaging once you come in game. The forces are balanced and a good mix, so one does have options to hide up the vehicles and do a traditional infantry MOUT clearing operation or one can do a mounted/dismounted mechanized infantry action. Why the mixed feelings? The large and heavy artillery salvo within the first minute of game start seemed strangely out of place for IED attack. The volume of fire coming in suggests a major assault is coming yet when the bad guys start showing up near where the supposedly besieged engineers are hunkered down, it is only a few squads at most and if one is set up correctly, not a creditable threat. Given that the orders are to hold the position until the relief column shows up, I expected the engineers to be fairly in for a fight of their life until the cavalry shows up and for me, the engineers just sat around for most of the game as a few more enemy squads trickled into the engineers defensive area and got shot up. The real fight is the relief column appearing and pushing into the heart of the map. I really didn't understand why the forces spawned in where they did and in many cases, right into the sights of enemy forces armed with RPGs and a tank which shot one of my Bradleys seconds after it spawned in. Having two vehicles shot up upon spawning in before one can do anything with them except pop smoke and try to run for cover is a bitter pill. In a second playthrough, I actually managed to save my vehicles upon spawning in but it takes no small degree of vigilance and luck to do so. This may frustrate some players and seem rather heavy handed but if one can look beyond the frustration of having your vehicles spawn into the sights of enemy forces, the scenario actually plays quite well, and as I said, the map does allow for a variety of routes and methods to achieve victory. In the end, I still liked this scenario despite a rather underwhelming attempt by the enemy to destroy the engineers (I expected more a fight for the engineers) and the frustration of where your reinforcements spawned in. Still a good and intense scenario despite the issues I outlined.

I heard of some people using the board game Air & Armor by West End Games for the operational gaming of a CMSF campaign that was in development. Alas, it got too ambitious for the principal people developing the framework for the campaign and it fell by the wayside, but the concept was sound.

Hmm. I am unimpressed. I wanted a full blown on Battlemech, aka Battle Tech game. A four legged pack mule? Meh. Now something like this... Now yer talking!!

There is supposedly going to a be an update to the current CMSF engine to bring it up to date with the CMBN engine. No word on ETA. The developers are tight lipped about CMSF 2 so all that is known for sure is the game is 'far along the development cycle'. 2014 for sure but when, no one is saying...

I played Lyin' for War and Pilot Rescue. I must say, both are very intense and fun scenarios. Lyin' for War is a very nice size MOUT battle on a small map that given the focus of the battle, doesn't feel constricted and limiting. Very nice that. Intense fights and sudden death which characterize MOUT are plentiful even for platoon sized engagement. Well done, Chops. Pilot Rescue was a surprise for me, being not what I expected from the name. I expected a rush to the pilot with guns blazing in fine cinematic style and an equally cinematic extraction with bullets flying. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a covert extraction on a very tight deadline. The deadline gives a sense of urgency that keeps you moving, even while your forces are fatigued and it is important to limit your engagements as they hold you up and bring very unwelcomed attention from the multitude of forces searching from you. Time for this one is nearly too short and I barely made the extraction zone with all my forces (with zero casualties), as the time forced me to take considerable risks of trying to skirt enemy forces that were a little too close for comfort. Another 5 minutes on the clock would have let me feel a little more comfortable. Probably the most intense scenario I played in a while. On two occasions, I literally had enemy squads pass by me at ranges between 10 and 20 meters and I had a BMP pass over a bridge while one of my squads hid on the other side of the bridge guard rails, a distance of only meters!! Now, that is a scenario worth playing. Both scenarios are gems and I look forward to try the rest. Kudos, Chops!

If it helps, my plan was to use the berm of the highway running down the center of the map from the highway junction objective to the north bridge objective for cover. Once darkness sets in, almost nothing can see your vehicles moving behind it and you can move freely your forces west and east without being spotted. I only crossed the berm at the far left to seize the highway junction with scouts, at the center to move a platoon into the factory complex to seize that, and the rest of my forces went up the right side through south bridge objective to north bridge objective and finally onto the hospital complex. Most of the objectives are hold so you will need to leave some forces at each (hint: you do want to leave forces at the south and north bridge areas for certain for reasons that will be apparent towards the end of the game ) If you use the route I outlined, you will avoid the largely unproductive fights with multitude of insurgents that are between the highway junction and the factory and the factory and the hospital complex. If you move carefully and skirt out for possible occupied buildings once darkness is fully set in, you will be surprised of how close you can sneak your forces forward without being seen and engaged.