Beta Tester AAR: The Anvil March 1981

[ChrisND]

Hey everyone! I've been beta testing the Combat Mission: Afghanistan campaigns and we thought you guys might appreciate an AAR of one of the missions. Here is my AAR of the mission "The Anvil".

The Mission

It is March 1981. A village called Musa-Kala in the Kandahar region has long been a resupply point for Mujahedeen caravans traveling through the area.

Higher command has decided that the village must be swept clean of the rebels. While three battalions secure the village, my force has been air lifted into ambush positions alongside the road leading out of Musa-Kala. At my disposal are two platoons of dismounted infantry, reinforced with an engineer squad and a machine gun squad. I have light 82mm mortars for fire support.

The Mujahedeen are expected to flee Musa-Kala when the operation begins at first light. My mission is to trap and destroy the fleeing caravan. My highest priority targets are any trucks attempting to flee the village.

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High Res Version

[ChrisND]

The Battle:

I arrange my two platoons in linear formations on the slopes south of the road. One platoon (in the foreground above) occupies high ground overlooking the entire valley. They will observe the rebels as they approach the ambush site. The second platoon (in the background above) is placed behind a spur, shielding them from observation and gunfire from everywhere but the ambush site. Mines are placed in the kill zone. Once the Mujahedeen trip onto the mines, I intend to open up with everyone I have, overwhelming them before they have a chance to fire back. The time is 0620. The sun is peeking over the mountains.

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Full Res Version

At 0626 I spot the vanguard of the rebel column: about 50 men. Further in the distance I can see a much larger force trailing behind. They are seemingly unaware of my presence, so I let them continue down the road. They unexpectedly have much larger numbers than my two platoons, so I must retain the element of surprise if I expect to win. The sun is rising further in the sky, and with it visibility is increasing; I only have minutes before they spot me and I lose the initiative. Their trucks – my primary targets – are nearing the kill zone.

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Full Res Version

[ChrisND]

The leading rebel dismounts stumble onto my first set of mines, taking a few casualties. They spot some of my forces hidden on the ridge and begin to fire on them, quickly killing an ammunition bearer for one of my machine guns. The trucks are further away from the kill zone than I would like them, but it is now or never: I must spring the ambush!

The entire platoon opens fire simultaneously, immediately pinning the lead rebel element and inflicting heavy casualties. The trucks attempt to blow through the ambush, but my machine guns quickly chew them up.

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High Res Version

The lead Mujahedeen elements cease to be an effective fighting force as my unit pours fire into them, but a new problem develops. The follow-on forces are catching up, and they are putting accurate fire on my positions. The platoon exposed to them begins to take casualties.

Our forces trade furious fire for another few minutes, and although I am inflicting major casualties, it is obvious that time is running out for me to do something decisive. They outnumber me, and my troops are beginning to run out of ammunition. Worse still, Mujahedeen snipers from the main body are beginning to pick off my men one by one. I decide to withdraw the more

exposed platoon (in the foreground) to safety and let the forward platoon keep the rebels from advancing forward while I call in an emergency mortar barrage on the road. Only the sniper and FO remain, reduced to scavenging ammo off the dead to continue firing.

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After a few minutes, my positions give way. Critically short on ammunition and outnumbered, I am forced to break contact or be overrun. The rebels break into multiple groups, some heading down the road, others fanning out to search for Russians. I can only hope to cause some parting damage with the mortar barrage.

I withdraw quickly to the high ground above a secondary road. Some rebel forces follow me, but, shielded from the main body, I give them a bloody nose.

Spotting rounds are landing in the kill zone but I fear that the Mujahedeen forces will have moved too quickly. Several minutes later and the rebels have

returned with a much larger force to stamp me out. The mortars are now firing for effect but I have been pushed so far away I cannot observe its effects.

High Res Version

[ChrisND]

The end of the battle becomes a deadly hide and seek as my depleted forces avoid decisive combat, hoping to simply pick off rebels from the sides. The action is man-on-man. An RPG gunner, left with nothing more than a pistol, manages to pick off a 3 man HQ unit that wanders too close to him. The First Platoon Leader single-handedly destroys two Mujahedeen squads as they attempt to close into hand grenade range. Still, these scattered heroics cannot conceal the fact that my ambush has been scattered to the wind. I can only hope that it caused enough damage.

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Full Res Version

Results:

At 0716 the battle ends. It is a Draw. Soviet forces suffer 7 men KIA, with another 9 WIA. This is an almost 50% casualty rate. Afghan forces suffer 28 men KIA, 30 WIA, and 9 MIA. I succeeded in destroying the trucks, my primary target, but I allowed my forces to become decisively engaged with a superior enemy force, which cost me more casualties than I could afford. I become too cocky after annihilating the lead force, and the trailing forces just blew me aside. A lesson learned for another day!

[theFightingSeabee]

Cool. Thanks Normal Dude. This is basically my first real look into CM: Afghanistan. Nice aar.

[ForceMultiplier]

Great! Finally some news! This is going to be very interesting. Thanks Normal Dude.

[Alex]

Very nice.

[hcrof]

Very nice, thanks for the AAR!

[Sixxkiller]

That was great ND. CM:A can be humbling like no other Cmx2 game can.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

It almost sounds as if this was a scenario where retreating in the face of superior forces was pre calculated. Or was it the mistimed artillery that was the deciding factor?

I hope it's the former. I'm getting tired of winnable scenarios, because I almost invariably do. Scenarios where I am not expected to win if I engage would keep me on my toes nicely.

Anyway, thanks for the AAR. I was set to write this one off as I can only play so much CM in one day and with the Dutch on the way in NATO and of course Normandy this seemed a title too many. But I think I might just squeeze it in there somewhere.

Nitpick: Musa Qala is in Helmand, not Kandahar province.

[souldierz]

Good AAR and it's good to see some action from the CM Afghanistan title.

[Gpig]

Excellent, thank you.

Love seeing the FN-FAL with scope in the hands of the fighters. M-16 as well. Really cool.

The desert hats w/brims on the airmobile troopers (SF?) are cool as well.

Gpig

[Sixxkiller]

Well at the risk of making too much hype and all, of all of the titles we have this shockingly has been my favorite to work with. Just something I like about it.

[sand digger]

Any reason why the mortars were not used to separate the two Afghan groups and isolate the first immediately the ambush was sprung? Drop them on that part of the route separating the two groups to delay and inflict casualties on the second group if they tried to move forward.

I know its easy to be wise after the event but it seems to be a logical plan requiring no further action after being set in place. Fix and forget.

[ChrisND]

It almost sounds as if this was a scenario where retreating in the face of superior forces was pre calculated. Or was it the mistimed artillery that was the deciding factor?

I hope it's the former. I'm getting tired of winnable scenarios, because I almost invariably do. Scenarios where I am not expected to win if I engage would keep me on my toes nicely.

The rebel force was definitely formidable in size and required that the player keep his priorities straight. I would have fared much, much better if I had timed my mortars correctly, although it would still have been a challenge to actually try and eliminate them, even with perfectly timed mortars.

ETA: I think you will like playing as Blue (rebels). In particular one scenario I greatly enjoyed involves ambushing a truck convoy that is escorted by BMD platoons, and you are armed with nothing more potent than RPGs. Gotta play it very careful there.

[ChrisND]

Any reason why the mortars were not used to separate the two Afghan groups and isolate the first immediately the ambush was sprung? Drop them on that part of the route separating the two groups to delay and inflict casualties on the second group if they tried to move forward.

I know its easy to be wise after the event but it seems to be a logical plan requiring no further action after being set in place. Fix and forget.

By the time I realized I needed to deal with a larger body of troops than I had anticipated, I had to wait about 10 minutes before the fire mission would FFE. I attempted to hold them down until then, and then use the mortar barrage as my cover to get out of dodge. There was no holding them back, however. In hindsight I should have started calling in the fire mission a few minutes earlier.

[Wengart]

Just wondering if it was personal choice to not exit the map, or is the exit ability only active in specific scenarios?

[Sivodsi]

I'm guessing the toyota pickups are standing in for the trucks that will eventually come with the title?

The date of the scenario is 1981, so if they use a toyota then this would be the model that would be in use:

The one depicted, which looks like this:

didn't come out until 1983.

<instant toyota pickup wiki-grog>

[Lee]

Interesting AAR. The only thing is that the enemies opposing you look a little artificially competent. Operating more like western military units than they really would. Seems they would be a little more haphazard, less organized and less effective than that, especially when ambushed liked that. We're fighting against the same sort over there now, and they aren't exactly known for their tactical skill...

[LongLeftFlank]

I'm guessing the toyota pickups are standing in for the trucks that will eventually come with the title?

The date of the scenario is 1981, so if they use a toyota then this would be the model that would be in use:

The one depicted, which looks like this:

didn't come out until 1983.

<instant toyota pickup wiki-grog>

I was thinking the same thing. Even when I was in South Asia in the late 80s most of the Hilux pickups still had the plastic grille and round headlamps. Red and white are the standard colours, with dark blue less popular.

Lots of dust streaks and rust spots too, especially around the wheel wells (the Japanese still had body rust problems then), but the modders will handle that.

Also, would M16s be prevalent in 1981? If so, wouldn't they have the Vietnam-era smooth barrel guards? Would the muj carry the good old M79 "thumper" too?

[AkumaSD]

Thanks Normal Dude. I'd love to see more of these.

[ChrisND]

Interesting AAR. The only thing is that the enemies opposing you look a little artificially competent. Operating more like western military units than they really would. Seems they would be a little more haphazard, less organized and less effective than that, especially when ambushed liked that. We're fighting against the same sort over there now, and they aren't exactly known for their tactical skill...

They just look competent next to my incompetence.

[ChrisND]

Just wondering if it was personal choice to not exit the map, or is the exit ability only active in specific scenarios?

You can only exit the map if it is designated as an objective by the scenario designer. In this scenario, Soviets do not have that as an objective. Which isn't a huge deal, there are plenty of places for them to hide.

[Wengart]

can only exit the map if it is designated as an objective by the scenario designer. In this scenario, Soviets do not have that as an objective. Which isn't a huge deal, there are plenty of places for them to hide.

I always enjoyed the secondary objection nature of exiting the map. I still remember the fighting withdrawal the rag-tag remnants of my German force fought in the CM:BB demo's Yelnia Stare.

[Ron]

Thanks for the AAR Normal Dude. In your experience how have the cover/concealment parameters changed from CMSF? (if at all)