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Scenario: Opportunity Knocks (spoilers)


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Playing through the smaller scenarios in order (and playing an occasional QB). Played "Opportunity Knocks" yesterday. This is a "stealth" scenario where a U.S. night patrol is tasked with eliminating some AA guns. Well done, Ian!! I really enjoyed this one. Managed a Draw. This was my first time using the Javelin. Very impressive.

 

 

 

Major Spoilers Below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Used a combination of Hunt & Move to try to sneak up along the stream to the Russian emplacement. Encountered some small arms fire from enemy troops after a few turns, but it seemed to me that my soldier's fire was more accurate than that of the enemy. I know my troops were equipped with night vision gear. Did the Russians also have it? Finally got far enough that I was able to spot the AA guns. Wasn't sure how to actually use the Javelin, so used the Target command and took one out. Then another AT team took a second one out without the Target command, so it seems that the Javelin is automatically used like the zooks in WW2 CM (no, I haven't read the manual).

 

Thinking there were only two AA guns, I started heading back to the exit zone, but got sloppy and didn't use much stealth. Big mistake. Was ambushed by enemy troops and some sort of APC that took out half my guys in about two turns! Much nerd rage at my own carelessness ensued. Finally managed to herd the survivors out of the exit zone. I took about 50% casualties, caused a few enemy casualties, and destroyed 2 out of 3 AA guns. The game gave me a Draw, but I doubt my company commander would be pleased.

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This was great, indeed. Well done Ian!

I didn't find the engagement with the Russian infantry to be a turkey shooting - got a couple casualties from long range shooting. And my right flank stumbled upon a Russian squad which was patrolling the perimeter... That did not end stellarly.

As I got my second SAM vehicle, a very lucky Russian marksman fragged the Platoon CO, and I decided that discretion is the better part of valour.

BTW when the platoon co fell, the HQ support team became the Platoon Hq - changing the icon and all. I think this is new, either the engine is showing us something it didn't up to CMRT 1.03 or this was brand new feature.

Edited by BletchleyGeek
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******** WARNING, MAJOR SPOILERS********

 

 

I splitted my american patrol in two. One side with the HQ continued on the left side of the river, sneaking up along the wood line of the river. Its goal was to take on the russians behind the walls from the flank. The other part part of my force crossed the river at a fording point and their task were to sneak up in the lightly sloped cabbage field until detecting the SAM vehicules and kill them with Javelins. Worked very well. The left side detected the russians behind the wall and the russian patrol on the road leading up to the bridge and massacred them without any casualties. My right side detected two out of three SA-13s and killed them pretty fast. The third SAM was hidden behind the barn. I send one javelin back to withdraw and keep the other to kill it. It fires.... and the javelin drops to the ground  70 meters in front of them.. a DUD ! that was their last missile, out of ammo !!!! %%?%?%&?%& I have to reorder the Javelin team that was going to withdraw to go back to its firing position, it took 2 turns. It fires and kills the last SA-13.  I pop smoke and withdraw all the javelin teams with a quick movement order. So far NO casualties and mission accomplished. Then disaster. That DUD costed me a lot of time and messed up the timing and surprise. As the troops were quickly getting out of harm's way, suddenly BAM BAM BAM ! An airburst of 30mm cannon fire kills a few of my guys. Then, my other team gets ambushed by a russian patrol that flanked me on the right side of the map. Total: 9 casualties, all left on the battlefield for the russians to pick up.  I managed to withdraw the survivors. US tactical victory but it doesnt feel like it. If it wasnt for that Dud it would have been a resounding success with probably no casualties.  That's Murphy's law for you  and what makes this game so great !

Edited by antaress73
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I liked this scenario, tried it a couple times and just couldn't get what I deemed a satisfactory result.

 

My basic plan both times was to line up as many shots on the SAMs as possible and take them basically simultaneously, without being detected first. My forward team identified some Russian LMGs and I knew my handful of rifles probably wasn't going to win any firefights. First time I tried this plan I sneaked troops up on both sides of the river, but got spotted and bogged down in firefights, never managing to hit any of the SAMs. Second time I kept everyone in the cabbage fields, and managed to sneak two teams up within view of the SAMs without drawing a shot. As soon as I fired though both Javelin gunners were immediately cut down by enemy fire, and I couldn't get to the Javs to recover them.  I never stuck around long enough to tangle with the APC that shows up, or at least we never spotted each other.

 

I finally cracked open the editor and gave myself a SAW team and a sniper team, which made the whole thing much more doable.

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I enjoyed this one as well, Russian do have night vision on their weapons (those US ones on the helmet look really unwieldy but must be better when on the move).  I managed to get 2 SA-13's and took out the flanking APC, but took a lot of hits and my remaining troops just managed to limp out in time. 

 

If it was not for the casualties i would have been happy enough but I will have to have another crack at this one to do better.

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This was fun one and the Tactical victory I got felt well earned. I only sent one team into the cabbage field and they were able to engage and destroy 2 of the 3 AAA assets. The others were sent hunting down the river bank to try to flank the Russians and get behind them. Didn't work they got bogged down about have way down, but with small 25m target arcs on all my troops, my units were initially able to ambush several maneuvering Russian units out in the open and I only sustained 3 kills with 1 wounded, and barely averted the BTR at the end while getting 16 Russian casualties.

The javelin explosions were so violent that the only AAA left had its tracking radar knocked out and it was immobilized. I considered it a total victory!

Definitely a really well crafted and fun mission.

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Cool. Glad to hear all the fun being had. No one has tried this as the Russians though? It can be fun too there are three US AI plans so it should have pretty good replay ability. Plus, the Russian AI plan will react to what you do so it too should play differently if you do different things.

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Was ambushed by enemy troops and some sort of APC that took out half my guys in about two turns! Much nerd rage at my own carelessness ensued.

Excellent! I kind of wanted the time pressure for the scenario to be help arriving as opposed to the time just running out. The Russian air burst HE is really nasty - you really don't want to be caught under that.

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This was great, indeed. Well done Ian!

I didn't find the engagement with the Russian infantry to be a turkey shooting - got a couple casualties from long range shooting. And my right flank stumbled upon a Russian squad which was patrolling the perimeter... That did not end stellarly.

Thanks, yeah the Russian's don't have as good night vision but they are not blind so you cannot ignore the battery security. Those guys probably heard you coming :-)

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I splitted my american patrol in two. One side with the HQ continued on the left side of the river, sneaking up along the wood line of the river. Its goal was to take on the russians behind the walls from the flank. The other part part of my force crossed the river at a fording point and their task were to sneak up in the lightly sloped cabbage field until detecting the SAM vehicules and kill them with Javelins. Worked very well.

Yes, that does sound like a good plan. I am glad to hear you had to deal with surprises though.

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I managed to get 2 SA-13's and took out the flanking APC,

 

 

This was fun one and the Tactical victory I got felt well earned. I only sent one team into the cabbage field and they were able to engage and destroy 2 of the 3 AAA assets.

Thanks,

Yes that third AAA is harder to get at and time can run out on you while you work you way there. If you get the drop on the BTR you can come out of it OK but man if it gets your guys in it sights it really hurts.

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I liked this one as well.

 

I scooted one Javelin team down the treeline on the far left, another team down the treeline on the river and another with the command squad on the far right (the risky approach as it is all open terrain).

 

The command element and Javelin team on the far right ran into a patrol and had to withdraw, with one man wounded but the enemy squad was eliminated.

 

The middle element managed to make it to position and with security being provide by the in-place scouts, managed to take out two of the AA vehicles, and then both teams withdrew.  By the time middle and right groups returned to the extraction point, the far left group had worked their way along the left map edge and the top edge.  They ran into a patrol but quickly won the fire fight, sighted the last vehicle and destroyed it, then booked it for the trees back along the route they took.  

 

By this time, they were tired so I opted to walk them back.  That is when a BTR showed up and slowly worked it way down to the extraction point, parallel to the squad trying to make it back to the extraction.  The rest of squads decided to clear out and withdrew.  The walking squad made it out no problem but it was nerve wracking occasionally getting a glimpse of the BTR keeping pace a mere couple of hundred metres away, know that if they got spotted, the 30mm/100mm would make short work of them.

 

Full extraction and one wounded, all three AA vehicles destroyed.  I would have tried to bag the BTR but there was no missiles left.

Edited by BlackMoria
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Oh there ya go changing the rules.

 

How's the saying go - "Always cheat, always win?" ;)

 

I'm surprised how many people are reporting success with the scout teams vs. the Russian defenders.  Looks like I underestimated them and/or had some lousy luck.

Edited by astano
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I had resounding success right up until I had my ass handed to me.

Left the scout team where they were, moved the rest of my forces along the path parallel to the trees and creek. One team would sprint 100m ahead to pull security in the woods and watch the creek while the others moved up. Scouts spotted a squad moving into the woods. Two teams oriented towards the river and ended up cutting down 2 full squads of Russians as they moved into the water. No return fire given. Meanwhile my other two teams (command and another) engage a patrol at long range on the road near the bridge. The patrol is quickly pinned and takes heavy casualties. A javelin shot (unintended but effective) wiped out fully half their number, and a bounding assault finished the rest. No casualtied up to this point and three squads of Russians dead.

Continue to move along intended route. One team catches site of a SAM unit through the trees from the far side and kills it with a Javelin. With two teams picking off defenders near the low wall covering the fields and another covering the creek crossing where the Russians died earlier, I infiltrate a team across, wading next to the bridge. These men come under fire from the Russian platoon leader in a house, but he is suppressed. Another SAM is killed by javelin by the bridge team, and the original scout team knows the location of the third. Russian defenders are taking heavy casualties along the wall and I cross my other two teams to cover the building area better. My team at the crossing advances up to take their old positions, while the first team across advances up the road to kill the last SAM with an AT4 (they still have a Javelin but it was meant to be a close shot). With no casualties and my men closing in on the few survivors, it seems like a hell of a victory is imminent.

And this is where it all goes to hell. The BTR spawns as my AT4 team huddled behind a bush alongside the road a mere 150m away. Both AT gunners are instantly cut down and the two survivors stunned. The BTR rushes down the road and fires 30mm into the woodline at my two covering teams. Once again, everyone with an AT weapon in one team is taken out while the other can't see the BTR on the road due to obstacles. Instead that team gets eyes on the last SAM and kills it with a Javelin, their last one.

The BTR drives across the bridge, suppressing my treeline as it goes. I lose sight of them across the bridge. At this point I want revenge and still have a few AT weapons left so I seal my own fate. I wade my survivors across the water to find the BTR while the lone team on that side moves further up to assist. One team catches a brief glimpse of the BTR only a few dozen meters from the trees, having disgorged a Russian Squad. The BTR spots them before they can fire a launcher, and with covering fire from the Russian infantry, my team dies to the man to 30mm fire. The other weakened team is exhausted and spotted by the infantry first, and they are soon cut down. The BTR then somehow spots my last full strength team and kills two of them before they can withdraw. At this point I am down to a handful of men, too spread out to cover each other or fight their way through the few Russians still in the farm (one route to withdraw) or past the BTR from hell. I cease fire at this point. I think I technically scored a victory but of my platoon I'd only give the original scout team any chance of actually avoiding capture.

I thought I was doing great, but the BTR popping up so close at the worst possible time was just a nasty mechanic of the game. I'm torn in wanting to repeat it given my early successes with a dedicated team covering the road for the BTR, but on the other hand that feels too gamey since I know it's coming.

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I had resounding success right up until I had my ass handed to me.

Awesome story - thanks. Yeah when the cavalry arrive for the Russians it can get nasty quick.

I'm torn in wanting to repeat it given my early successes with a dedicated team covering the road for the BTR, but on the other hand that feels too gamey since I know it's coming.

Or you could choose a different attack plan entirely.

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Very nice mission, the best this tiny I have played in CMs. Here's how my first attempt went:

 

I moved one team to the position of the spotters and three other teams I kept at the other side of the river. A squad of Russians walked along the river and was gunned down in crossfire by spotters and the teams on the other side of the river. After that I slowly moved the spotters and their supporting team forward and out of the trees until they started spotting enemies at the stone fence.

 

On the other side of the river the three teams took some fire from a light MG next to the road. I left the HQ to pin down the MG and guard the road while the two other teams crossed the river flanking the defenders who were already trading shots with the spotter and the other team. The river crossing teams took out one SAM with AT4 and another with Javelin after some targeting issues due to the couple pines at the firing line, the third SAM was taken out by the team supporting spotters with Javelin. After that I started quickly retreating the troops along the river as I had less than 20 minutes to leave the area and most of my troops were tired already.

 

While half of my forces were still crossing the river and even the teams providing cover had started moving I noticed the sound contact of IFV driving to the bridge and crossing it. Luckily it only noticed my troops in the river after it had crossed the bridge and only managed to shoot one burst trough the underbrush, only lightly wounding one man. Next turn I moved one javelin team to the edge of the Trees to wait for the IFV while others continued retreating along the riverbanks. The BTR did drive into the view of the Javelin team but it stopped only 30 meters away from them so too close for Javelin shot (those were the longest 30 seconds of the mission :D), next turn I had the javelin team pop smoke and moved another team with AT4 to the treeline further away.

 

Next turn I successfully had the Javelin team run to the river in the cover of smoke grenade. Turn after that the BTR drove into the view of AT4 team and was destroyed. One of the crew bailed out and noticed the running javelin team at the riverbank and managed to shoot the team leader, this was my only loss in this mission (I stupidly had the AT4 team at target armor arc so they didn't shoot the crewman even though they saw him). Next turn the AT4 team killed the crewman and other teams continued their retreat. I stopped the AT4 team to give buddy aid to the heavily wounded team leader and after that had them retreating too.

 

In the end the last exhausted team (the AT4 team) made it to the exit zone at the last seconds of the last turn. End result was Total Victory with 721-142 (130 enemy points were from "friendly bonus" don't know what that means). Enemy lost a 18 dead, 6 wounded, all 3 SAMs and the BTR. I only lost the one team leader wounded but did manage to give him buddy aid so that counts as AT4 team carrying him off the battlefield I guess, no man was left behind :D

 

 

 

I hate to nitpick with such a well designed and scripted mission but the mission description erroneously refers to the SAMs as AAA battery and AAA missile launchers. AAA is usually used only to refer to gun AA (Anti Aircraft Artillery). Using acronyms AA missile launcher/battery and/or SAM launcher/battery would be more correct.

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Very nice mission, the best this tiny I have played in CMs. Here's how my first attempt went:

<snip>

 

In the end the last exhausted team (the AT4 team) made it to the exit zone at the last seconds of the last turn. End result was Total Victory with 721-142 (130 enemy points were from "friendly bonus" don't know what that means). Enemy lost a 18 dead, 6 wounded, all 3 SAMs and the BTR. I only lost the one team leader wounded but did manage to give him buddy aid so that counts as AT4 team carrying him off the battlefield I guess, no man was left behind :D

Thank you. Your result is impressive. The best I have seen and some of the testers did pretty well but no one managed to loose only on soldier. Wow!

The friendly bonus is just a way to make sure if you cease fire early as the US you don't win. I forget if it is programmed for a draw or a loss if you cease fire early. Not big issue 'cuase who would want to do that? That is what it is for.

 

I hate to nitpick with such a well designed and scripted mission but the mission description erroneously refers to the SAMs as AAA battery and AAA missile launchers. AAA is usually used only to refer to gun AA (Anti Aircraft Artillery). Using acronyms AA missile launcher/battery and/or SAM launcher/battery would be more correct.

Go a head, good catch actually.

Try it from the Russian side and see if you can do as well.

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Thank you. Your result is impressive. The best I have seen and some of the testers did pretty well but no one managed to loose only on soldier. Wow!

Thanks :D I think luck had much to do with my low losses. I almost couldn't believe that no-one had died when the BTR shot a cannon burst at the teams running in middle of the river.

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BTW when the platoon co fell, the HQ support team became the Platoon Hq - changing the icon and all. I think this is new, either the engine is showing us something it didn't up to CMRT 1.03 or this was brand new feature.

 

That's nothing new.

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  • 1 year later...

First of all a crown of laurels for IanL. This is a fine little scenario. I played it twice last weekend and am about three-quarters the way through a third playing at the moment.

CAUTION: FOLLOWING ARE GADS OF SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, with that out of the way, my first playing was a near disaster. My plan was to move the bulk of my forces up through the wheat field on the north side of the river, only stealthily advancing the team already on the south side. The idea of attacking frontally through the cabbage patch I rejected out of hand as too risky since it involved a long approach march over open terrain. I figured once my troops were abreast of the wall, I would try a flanking attack to neutralize or destroy the security detachment and take out the Strellas. This didn't work out quite as I had planned. I did take out all three of the Strellas, but the cost was higher than I liked. I had one man killed and two more seriously wounded and at least a couple more lightly wounded. This was, IIRC, about 15 or so minutes into the mission, and at this point I simply aborted the mission before it could get worse. Naturally, at the end Red got all the points for not exiting my units.

After that, I completely rethought my strategy. I had gone to school on the first playthrough and there were several things that I concluded. One was that the Javelin has a range several times the length of the map. There is no advantage to getting in close if you can get an LOS from farther away. I had noticed earlier that there were locations on the north side of the river whence two of the Strellas could be spotted through the trees along the river. So I searched for one, found it and took out those first two SAMs without any bother. However, it seemed that there was no way to get an LOS on the third one without advancing to the road, but I knew from my first playing that that was guarded by a strong squad of infantry. But the map provided a solution to that one. I am a strong believer in using masking terrain to conceal movement whenever possible—that's why I had placed my forces across the river and behind the trees in the first place. But here there was something even better than trees. There is low ground to the north of the wheat field and a couple of small ponds. By sending a section with Javelins there, they can move while staying out of sight from Red troops to the south. So this is what I did and it worked. Once I got them to the fence, I had them dash to the base of the little rise of the road and then Hunt to the top of it. They spotted the squad waiting there and got the drop on them, managing to suppress them well enough to get off the Javelin shot that took out the third SAM. Then they dashed back down the hill and began the long trek back to the start line. When I knew they had cleared out, I began withdrawing the rest of my troops. Earlier I had ordered the team on the south bank to cross the river and join my main body, so I now had four rifle teams in addition to my HQ and two Javelin teams. The latter I sent ahead while my rifle teams formed a walking rear guard under the close command of the HQ. This body of troops did come under fire from a squad that had crossed the river and was pursuing. This frightened them and a couple of the teams would take off running. I would have to wait for the end of the turn and change their order to a Move or they would have quickly tired themselves out and not been able to move at all, and that I did not want. Things worked out well. I got a Total Victory with everybody exiting alive and only one guy lightly wounded during extraction, and he limped off last with only 29 minutes gone off the clock. It was only after the battle and I was examining the battlefield that I noticed the BTR and a squad that I guess came with it. They were pretty far back in the eastern end of the wheat field and I suppose never got sight of me.

I have to say that luck and chance played a big part in my victory. First in finding so easily the sweet spot to kill the first two SAMs. Secondly, that I was able to suppress the squad guarding the road and get a killing Javelin shot off without taking any casualties and then beat it before the squad could recover. Finally, that I was able to exit all my troops before the BTR could catch them. As we have seen, all that might have gone the other way.

I have a question for Ian, what kind of troops are the Americans and what is their parent formation (in the game)? I searched the various formations available in the QB lineup and the closest thing I could find was dismounted Cav, but even those were not exactly the same.

Once again, it is a fine scenario and I hope to see more like it. Nice map too and pretty well thought out.

Michael

Edited by Michael Emrys
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14 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

I have to say that luck and chance played a big part in my victory. First in finding so easily the sweet spot to kill the first two SAMs. Secondly, that I was able to suppress the squad guarding the road and get a killing Javelin shot off without taking any casualties and then beat it before the squad could recover. Finally, that I was able to exit all my troops before the BTR could catch them. As we have seen, all that might have gone the other way.

Oh cool.  Well done.  I tried to make it progressively harder to get LOS on the AA battery - looks like that mostly worked. And I wanted there to be a nasty surprise if you dilly dallied too much.  You hit the sweet spot in that match up taking your time but not wasting it so you were already heading back before the QRF arrives.  The US can still deal with the QRF, mostly, but it is hard to have no casulties if you end up mixing it up with them.

Back when this was tested @c3k managed to win like that too and my initial response was - crap *I* cannot do that well when I play. :D So yeah I have won the battle from both sides but never that decisively. Well done @Michael Emrys

 

14 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

I have a question for Ian, what kind of troops are the Americans and what is their parent formation (in the game)? I searched the various formations available in the QB lineup and the closest thing I could find was dismounted Cav, but even those were not exactly the same.

You know what I forget. I'm not at my gaming computer so I'm going to have to look that up. 

 

14 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

Once again, it is a fine scenario and I hope to see more like it. Nice map too and pretty well thought out.

Thank you. And the map is nearly a real place. Well it is a real place but I made the stream actual water and the road higher quality with a better bridge and tweaked the buildings to fit my purpose but the elevation, fields, trees and even the fact that there is a farm there etc are from a real place. I personally prefer to work to recreate a real place than to try to make a realistic looking place out of my memory.

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