HEART OF DARKNESS - MISSION 3 AAR

[Erwin]

Played WEGO ELITE.

 

**********  SPOILERS **********

 

 

This is an interesting premise (90 minutes).  One has to defend an ambushed formation holed up in a village.  Just like a beleaguered  French Foreign Legion fort surrounded by bloodthirsty Arabs in the desert.  Low on ammo etc.  Meanwhile the cavalry (some US and more Brits) attacks with strong reinforcements to rescue them.   

First thing is for the isolated patrol to empty their immobilized IFV of ammo.  Then run for the safety of the "fort".   After that however, the defense vs the AI attacks is easy and the natives massacred in their attacks.  The surrounded unit never was in danger of running out of ammo.

The Brit "cavalry" is very strong and includes arty and airpower.  It seems that the key is to go left and cross country near the LHS map edge.  The only obstacle is an uncon 12.5mm HMG which can shred one's Humvees and Land Rovers.  But as soon as arty is available 25 minutes into the mission it's pretty easy to kill the HMG, and one can overrun all the way close to the "fort" outskirts.  The other wrinkle is that around the 30 minute mark just b4 the Taliban surrendered it suddenly gets dark.  If I hadn't assaulted quickly, this would have been a limited visibility nighttime attack which may have benefited the Taliban both in defense and attack. 

Taliban surrendered after only 30 minutes(!) (with 60 minutes more to go).  Total Victory:  US/Brits - 120 OK; 1 KIA; 15 WIA.  Taliban: 20 OK; 34 KIA; 35 WIA.

A easy mission if one bypasses the villages and doesn't engage in unnecessary conflict.  But, I liked it cos as with Mission #2, one is rewarded for good planning and tactics.  And again was very happy to not encounter mines or IED's.

 

[Erwin]

I remembered that in Mission 3, only 3 casualties were suffered by the "cavalry" rescue force - all vehicle crews as they reconned forward.  The other 13 were from the trapped Brits in the "fort".  However that was cos I had em on the roofs firing at the Taliban.  They killed a lot of Taliban, but suffered... 

It occurred to me that since the AI can't breach walls, one option to greatly reduce friendly casualties could be to have the trapped Brits hunker down in the "fort" at ground level protected by the walls.  If any Taliban try to enter via the only "gate", they would get shot to pieces. 

That would make the cavalry force much more important as they would have to do the work of assaulting and killing Taliban.  That would certainly require more time and be more challenging once night fell and the allied long range fire advantage disappeared.

As it is, the rescue forces did hardly anything.  I think the vehicles shot up a few Taliban, the 81mm mortar KO'd a 12.7mm HMG.  But, neither the heavy arty, the air support, nor the "cavalry" infantry units played any role at all(!).  And the battle ended with a Total Victory after 30 minutes rather than 90 minutes as allowed. 

Victory Conditions need tweaking imo.

[MOS:96B2P]

13 hours ago, Erwin said:

<Snip>   The other wrinkle is that around the 30 minute mark just b4 the Taliban surrendered it suddenly gets dark.  If I hadn't assaulted quickly, this would have been a limited visibility nighttime attack which may have benefited the Taliban both in defense and attack. <Snip> 

Because of modern night vision gear wouldn't the advantage go to the US and UK forces?  That would be my first guess anyway. 

[Erwin]

One has to differentiate what the AI troops can see and what you the player can see.  The player has much shorter LOS with which to make plans or waypoint orders.  One can only trust that the AI troops do what is appropriate, when appropriate.  Playing WEGO becomes much harder (riskier) in darkness.

Am I the only one actually playing this game??  

Edited August 4, 2017 by Erwin

[Sgt.Squarehead]

No. 

[Erwin]

Well you are not, otherwise we'd be hearing all about it.