Bil Hardenberger

That's my thinking too.. though I am hoping they can be a distraction to Scott's US troops long enough for me to be decisive elsewhere. 2nd MRC's dismounts are in okay shape as far as fatigue goes.. but have suffered some casualties.. so that is problematic. Yes this formation is too far forward... but Scott has to now spend time to dig them out of the gullies they are in and that could take a while.. by the way, all of my air support is scheduled to come in (centered on center hill) in about 10 minutes.. so I need to hold out that long... not sure that'll be possible. Scott can't ignore them though.. they have enough combat power to be a pain in the ass if bypassed. Truthfully, I think Scott could destroy this company with one single platoon of Bradleys. 1st MRC however is a different matter... except for the T90 they are in pristine shape. Yeah the T90 situation really is not ideal. In the zone that will have to fight the US forces I will have 3 operational T90s... the rest are going to the pocket. My goal here is to delay and stall him as much as possible while I attempt to take the pocket. Going to be very delicate without any man portable ATGMs... I would trade my dismounted MRC for 4 or 5 of those right now. As far as I know Scott has two Tunguskas and at least one other AA asset in the pocket. Definitely not a good situation for my airpower.

A bit of an update.. just spoke with Scott and I am going to pause my turn reports at this point to let him catch up. Phase II of the battle is beginning, or as I like to call it: The Beginning of the End. Any critiques of my play at this point would be welcome to fill up the time (I think 3 or 4 days). I will chime in and try to answer any questions or reply to any comments. For starters.. I think 2nd MRC is in for a world of hurt. Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

The Fifteenth Minute Turn 15.. knowing that most scenario designers bring reinforcements in on the 5s.. I expect to see something nasty come in this turn (turn 15), and/or turn 20, and/or turn 25, etc... I'm not looking forward to the next phase of this battle,, I know it will be a far different matter to fight US forces than the Ukrainians... case in point: 1st MRC - 1st MRC lost its first vehicle this turn to what sure looks like a Javelin fired from the US Scout Platoon position (although I can't be certain of that)... I can not afford to lose tanks to top attack Javs, so this one sure hits home.. time for me to withdraw into my covered terrain and get some OPs up on these heights. It's going to be pure hell for me once every enemy squad totes a Javelin capable of killing anything I possess at will. 2nd MRC - My BMP-3 hunted forward, spotted the SA-13 and made quick work of him.. I was excited to see this kill, until I noticed the T90 get destroyed as shown above... In the West of the map, following is how things are to this point... time to get all of these vehicles under cover ASAP... which of course means that Scott's US Scout Platoon will escape my clutches... and be able to support his reinforcements. Damn. Pocket - in Krichek, many enemy vehicles and teams were seen moving toward my recon teams in the north... which suits me fine as I intend to attack from the other direction with my ad-hoc Assault Company. They are starting to form, and will start to advance immediately, the other platoons will join in as soon as they arrive. Situation looking East: Blood Board - note: I removed the hummer kill, so this will only count armor losses:

As will be seen in my next turn.... coming soon.

There would have been a hit text if the aircraft had been damaged or destroyed. Besides the munition looked like a cluster bomb to me.

Well in the AAR game my BMP 3s fire 30mm a lot... the ATGMs have been quite few in number in comparison. Scott's BMP 2s have tended to fire ATGM more than 30mm.. but they do use their 30mm guns.. most notably in the killing of my MTLB in 2nd MRC. Also, Scott's Bradley CFV only fired its gun at my T90.. no TOWs were fired.. not sure if I was inside its minimum range or not (probably not). So I am not sure there is a problem here at all.

The Fourteenth Minute My SU-25 made its first appearance this turn... as seen in the following gif two SAMs were fired at it (the first from Tunguska #1 and the second from another anti air asset within the town).. neither hit the aircraft and the Frogfoot dropped its load off map across from 1st MRC.... Note the location of the aircraft's munition.. slightly off map. The SA-13 in 2nd MRC's area (which was never fired on by my BMP 3) tracked the aircraft but never engaged... 2nd MRC - it appears like the US Scout platoon might indeed have withdrawn out of the orchard as the only contacts are now far beyond it in the next treeline. Granted this is a small portion of this formation so I cannot make this determination for sure yet. At the Power Station objective, my T90s continue to prep the objective... one T90 firing at the building within actually destroys a part of the wall with one shell. Hmmm.. so this opening will not be mined. The following is an example of what not to do... I reacted... I also advanced this BMP without an infantry screen... I reacted to Tunguska #1's position, thinking that there was a possibility that when the smoke cleared he would have good visibility on to the position of the recon BMP that crossed the river... so I rushed it forward to take up a hull down position near the town. It had already dismounted it's infantry. After it pulled in to position it spotted an ATGM team in one of the buildings.. it fired first to no effect, then the ATGM team got a missile off killing the BMP.. this enemy team was immediately engaged by the other BMP-3 across the river and eliminated. Scott also lost a recoiless rifle team this turn in the town that was maneuvering forward. At least that's one less ATGM Team Scott will have when my Assault Company starts to close on the town. Blood Board

Thank you, I am honored to be the subject of your first post. I hope to hear more from you in the future.

The Thirteenth Minute 1st MRC - continues to move through the gullies to setup their AT screen and OP/LP positions... the Counter-Attack (CA) Force is in position just behind the AT screen and ready to react to any potential enemy movements. The rest of the company is either setting up in depth to defend this terrain or are starting to move toward the Power Station to start building the Assault Company. 2nd MRC - the T90s that were supporting the two BMPs and infantry hunting the US Scout Platoon have pulled out to start their trek to the Power Station. The BMPs, with their infantry screen in front begin to hunt forward looking for the US units. Two things spotted at the end of this turn.. the platoon leader team, and another SA-13.. this last was spotted by BMP-3 #1 and it was taking aim as the turn ended. The more I think about it the more nervous I get about staying on center hill with this company. The mortars Scott fired last turn, hitting my infantry teams really brought this home to me.. I need to move most of them forward into the gullies, clear them and take up positions from which I can attack any US reinforcements.. this will also mean that Scott will have to deal with them in close.. it'll be like the Battle of the Washboard at NTC (look it up). The positions in green marked 1, 2, and 3 are the supposed positions the US Scout Platoon could be in. I know there was one HMMWV and team in #1, might still be there... I also know there were a couple more HMMWVs in position #2, I haven't seen them leave, so they might still be there.. if I missed their withdrawal then they should be in position 3. With the Platoon HQ in position 2, its probable that the other teams are still here as well. The following image shows what I suspect could be the entry positions for the US reinforcements.. As soon as I identify where they are coming in, I will then give you my analysis on what I suspect they might do.. so we'll revisit this image then. The Pocket - Tunguska #2 moved forward, fired up one of my unmanned TIgrs (destroying it) then started moving quickly back toward the town moving right by one of my recon teams (which does not have an RPG). Tunguska #1 turned up in an overwatch position overlooking the river... hmmm.. this might give me an opportunity. No other activity was noted.. oh, my artillery is still falling despite losing my observer last turn.

Hmm.. what music was that Stephen? I have a nice classical guitar rendition of Malaguena.. perhaps that would suffice? Oh, and I don't mind prisoners.

Not sure why you posted that whinge in this thread... but while we are on the subject. AI paths are what they are.. the game can't read your mind... use more waypoints to ensure they do what you want them to... I rarely have problems with vehicles moving where I don't want them to.. sure once in a while (as in my Red Thunder BETA AAR), but C'est la guerre... that's war. If you are losing the game because of the AI pathing I contend that there is more wrong with your approach to the game than that.

Update on this... I just did a test and the BMP-3 takes the high wall down in 2 or 3 shots. So I have my way in.

My supporting fire, other than my aircraft will be spent by the time I come to grips with the Ukrainians in the town. I don't know what condition they are in, but they must be pretty beat up after 11 minutes of artillery fire... my priority targets are any enemy vehicles and any ATGM or RPG teams I can identify.. I don't need to kill all the Ukrainian infantry to accomplish my main task (eliminate this enemy force as a threat), thus I shouldn't need to go "house to house" except to clear the objectives. My number one philosophy is to NOT fight the battle that my opponent is best suited for so I will be avoiding any house clearing if possible.

John, here is the embedded video... email or PM me and I'll explain how to embed videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRTJVrYbzw&spfreload=10

That's pretty ungrateful of the CIC if you ask me... in proper Russian fashion I have attacked and annihilated what I believed to be the most important enemy formation, the Ukrainian MRC, while bypassing the enemy formation in the pocket which appears to be second rate. This task took all of 10 minutes or so, how much faster would the CIC suggest I move? Providing me with another MRC or tank company would be better received than his armchair leadership. Plans are in motion for the reduction of the pocket and I expect to attack its soft underbelly in the next three or four minutes.

I will have a couple BMP-3 platoons in the vicinity in the next turn or two.. while I'm waiting for the next turn I'll do some tests with BMP-3 versus the tall wall. I'll do that this evening and let you guys know what I discover.

Well.. the Russians speak .. umm Russian in game, so in a way, yeah.

A duel might be in order: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s

There is no way to directly target a wall like you can a building. Would be nice, but it appears, as antaress73 says, like the game assumes you want to kill infantry hiding behind the wall, and to me that is acceptable, if not ideal. For me in this game, that means I need to think of another way to deal with this objective.

Yes I have helicopters.. my problem is that only Air Controllers can call in air support (other than UAVs) and they can only call in one mission at a time... and I only have one Air Controller... so they are not as flexible as they could be. Yes I expect the US side will come in with AH-64 support.

No that won't work with the high walls.. they will not drive through them... and if you try to fire at them, the tank fires an airburst instead. I tested that.

Nope... if that area is mined I need to come up with another way to gain entry. Stephen... the T90s are going to join my Assault Company when the other platoons are in the assembly area... so for now they will be providing support for the 3rd MRC which in your wisdom you dismounted. I need to scout the perimeter and the entry points before I make a plan for entering and taking the objective... I doubt it'll be a cunning plan.. the entry points are obvious. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking too clearly during setup because I placed the scout teams that do have breach kits on the other side of the map... and they would have to run a Tunguska gauntlet to get to the Power Station... if the entrances are mined I might need to just invest the objective until I can figure something else out.

The Twelfth Minute 2nd MRC - Scott is firing what appears to be mortars at 2nd MRC.. this fire caused several casualties among my dismounts. I need to get them mounted on their BMPs. The fire has been especially effective.., Power Station - at the Power Station objective two of my T90s started to area fire on the buildings next to the two openings leading into the objective. I seriously expect these entrances to be mined.. and there is but one way to find out. One of the T90s was fired at by an RPG team... the round was intercepted by the tank's APS. How many troops can Scott have in this objective? A platoon maybe? 3rd MRC is scouting along the walls of the objective and will test the entrances in the next few turns. Scott has figured out where one of my mortar batteries is located and has been conducting some counter-battery fire over the past few turns.. casualties have been light and these mortars are all getting close to running out of ammo so I am loath to move them. This turn one of the incoming rounds takes out the observer in my FO team.. we'll have to see what effect this has on my artillery fire on the town. In the town, the HMMWV that was on the edge of town was seen moving deeper in to the town chased by 30 mike mike from one of my BMP-3s. No hits noted. This AO is shaping up to be the next important front... the two enemy Tunguskas are still at large (Tunguska 2 is starting to advance, alone toward my scout teams in the south-west corner of the map). I have precious little to stop this thing in that area.. yet.

I should enter if just to get a rematch with Ken. Nah.

While I wait for Scott to send the next turn I am thinking about how I want to proceed. This is a key deicsion point in the battle. I want to keep a strong force to face the US reinforcements, but I also want to start to take down the units in the pocket and grab some of those objectives. This map is several turns old, but should be a good reference for the discussion: 1st MRC - After moving through the terrain that this company is sitting on I have concluded that Scott will not move that way even if his reinforcements come in there. The woods are impassable to vehicles except in a very few narrow corridors.. so any force he tried to move through those woods would be channelized and would have to advance single file. A dream for me to defend.. but I doubt it'll come to that. What I plan to do is push some AT teams as far forward as possible and take up reverse slope positions to attack any armor that might move laterally out of this corner of the map. I will deploy a lot of the 1st MRC infantry in depth in ambush positions in case Scott does try to bull his way through. I will also keep a platoon of BMP-3s as support and they will be positioned fairly far forward in the gullies and dry stream beds as a counter-attack force and for quick sniping if it looks like Scott is presenting a flank I can take advantage of. At least one Platoon of BMP-3s and the T90 platoon will remain in the rear of 1st MRC and be ready to advance to hull down positions to cover any other contingencies. The key is to get as close to Scott's US units as possible to negate his range advantage. Or, to hit them in the flank or rear when the opportunity presents itself. The remaining BMP-3 platoon will be moving out and I will discuss them in a bit. 2nd MRC - I am not comfortable with this company staying on the forward slope of center hill so I am planning on pulling them back to cover the flanks and the area especially between 1st and 2nd MRCs.. I suspect Scott will seek open ground to move through, especially now that I have this hill well covered. He probably will not want to move through this terrain where he could run into hidden AT teams. I will be leaving several AT teams in hide positions to pop out if Scott does try to recapture the hill. One platoon of BMPs and two of the T90s (the two that have suffered some damage) will be moving out and I will discuss them in a bit. GL Platoon and ATGM Section - These units will remain in their current positions to secure the area between the two MRCs and the open area to the north, I doubt the GL Platoon will be of much help, but I have to work with the resources I have available. I will strengthen them by moving the second remaining GL Platoon BMP 3 from the north to the area between the two MRCs. 3rd MRC - This formation which has no vehicles (which really sucks by the way ) has already started to scout the Power Station objective and will attack it in the next few turns. One platoon is moving up to the area around my immobilized T90 to provide some support and to scout that approach for follow on forces. Recon Company - This formation is too weak to be a viable offensive force other than the platoon that has two BMP-3s (without Arena). This BMP platoon will move across the river (one has already done so) and cause some havoc on any enemy units on the north end of the town. Many other teams have been scouting forward in to the town for several turns already and will continue that mission as a distraction and to keep Scott's forces in place. Assault Company Team (clever name TBD) - This new formation will be made up of the following units: Command: Tank Company HQ tank BMP-3M (Arena) Platoon/1st MRC BMP-3M (Arena) Platoon/2nd MRC 2nd Tank Platoon (-) - two tanks that have suffered damage. 3rd Tank Platoon (-) - two tanks - this is my reserve tank platoon, the platoon leader's tank from 3rd platoon is the immobilized tank Mission - this formation will strike hard at the enemy units in the pocket. I have yet to decide their scheme of maneuver but they will assemble near the Power Station objective over the next few turns. Objective - kill as many enemy units as possible and make Scott believe he has to increase his tempo with the US relief force which could cause him to get careless and rash with his US force.