El Incidente : a PBEM AAR

[TheVulture]

Turn 9 Action

2nd platoon have an exciting time of things. One squad succesfully take out the BTR with a javelin, the sixth vehicle destroyed. One of the squads advancing to meet the enemy recon platoon starts taking fire from the edge of the trees. One man is hit as the run for cover. But the enemy squad, whilst being further foward than I had expected, exposes itself to return fire from the other squad and one of the Strykers that are providing overwatch.

The Styker MG splinters the trees, and two definite Syrian casualties are caused.

The AGS that was up in the north and duelling a Mk19 Stryker is hit by even more HE rounds. I lose sight of the target when he starts to cower, but the gunner continues to put rounds into the area for a while. I must have hit someone in the 4-man AGS team by now.

In the center, 1st platoon are spared any further incoming fire, with the BMP out of view and the grenade launcher switching to engage the immoblised Stryker. The platoon as a whole has 5 men down and 6 men injured, with only 5 men at full efficiency.

The Syrians complete their move of a 2nd platoon into the central houses, and I also spot the generic 'platoon HQ' and a few other partial contacts advancing on the hills south of the town, heading for 3rd platoon's position. One of the occupied houses in the village gets hosed down by MG fire from the immobilised Stryker. I have no idea what effect it has.

My distant javelin team in the north also briefly detect a BMP moving in those hills, carrying another platoon HQ, but the trees interfere with their ability to keep track of it for long enough to launch. Plenty of ground for it to cross in my view before it is in a position to threaten anything though.

The spotting rounds turn out to be a pretty accurate indicator of where the mortar strike lands. The empty village takes something of a (useless) pounding. I do finally get a spot on the AGS right where the partial spot showed up. The new BMP can be seen on the hillside beyond the fields.

Turn 10 Plan

I'm fairly sure that there is going to be another full recon platoon (plus extras) lurking in those southern hills, pretty much confirming my estimate of two Syrian recon companies. As standard, they'd have 10 BMPs between them. I've destroyed 5, and seen a further 2, so 3 remain unaccounted for. It also means there are 4 ATGMs hiding somewhere. I've seen 2 AGS-17s, and with the area fire on 2nd platoon's houses last turn, I suspect that there is a 3rd somewhere on the southeast hills. One squad is two AGS teams, and a platoon is 3 squads, so there may be up to 6 AGS teams running around in total, of which 3 are seen / roughy located. There is also one stray RPG team seen, which isn't a standard part of a recon formation.

The Syrian positions in the village are:

Units from the same platoon have the same colour. Diagonal line indicates the HQ, I and II the two squads. Green II is the squad that got attacked by the Stryker last turn. The red HQ position is a guess based on where the men were seen running; all the other ones I have seen the units inside the buildings. And somewhere is the RPG team which I have lost track of.

I'm going to bring some of 3rd platoon's Strykers into the fight here; they are going to put area fire on various occupied buildings, just to cause a little attrition. They may of course get hit, but since they have shifted to new positions, I'm hoping that that, combined with the unpredictable lines of sight in the trees, will give them a bit of survivability.

The current map:

In the bottom right corner (the southeast) are marked an AGS and a BMP whose positions are unknown. The AGS is somewhere in that area, judging by the fire on 2nd platoon in the NW, and the BMP is the one that reversed behind the hill before i could get it.

Two of 1st platoons Strykers will continue to watch the north; the Mk19 will shoot up the position of the now-hidden AGS, while the other one will watch for movement from the northern Syrian force. 2nd platoon will attempt to flush that force out. The two squads already in the field will hold position for now. One Stryker will provide overwatch while the other area-fires the Syrian squad position with its MG. The final squad of 3rd platoon, languishing in the south after taking out the BTR, will advance towards the trees the Syrians are hiding amongst.

1st platoon will take the chance to rest a bit and maybe do some buddy aid, and generally try to hold their position.

3rd platoon are quite safe for now behind a ridge, which means that the Syrian force heading in their direction has to get within 10-15 meters to see them, and will then be the easy targets moving over a ridge against stationary, waiting opponents. No idea if that is what Stoex is planning, but for now my men are in no imminent danger. To further intefere with the southern platoon's movements, the other two Strykers from 1st platoon will reposition behind the outcrop to where they can see more of those hills without being exposed to the eastern end of the map. To bring a little more firepower to bear, a single Mk19 Stryker from 2nd platoon will move to the area of the dashed circle for the same reason: it can see the southern hills ahead of 3rd platoon, but shouldn't be largely covered by the outcrop from the vast majority of potential ATGM sites. It's not entirely risk-free of course, but it wouldn't be much of a wargame if it was.

[TheVulture]

Turn 10 Action

Welcome to the night of the long 40mm HE rounds.

3rd platoons's Strykers advance to firing positions among the trees, and proceed to put down fire on the occupied houses in the central village.

I don't see any troops inside those houses, and have no idea on possible casualties, but 50 cal MGs and 40mm grenades tend to be pretty lethal against infantry in buildings, so unless they got out before the trouble started, there will be some casualties.

In the north, 2nd platoon continue to manoeuver to engage the enemy recon platoon, with more 40mm support plastering the last known position of one of the Syrian squads. The advancing squad doesn't see any incoming fire.

The two Strykers of 1st platoon that were using the outcrop to cover the northern hills still haven't seen anything of the advancing Syrian squads. The AGS that the Mk19 was engaging is still invisible, but the position continues to suffer a rain of grenades. At least, it does until an ATGM turns up out of the blue to take out the Stryker.

As far as I can tell, the missile came from somewhere in the direction of the two burning BMPs. The Stryker crew get out safely, but the vehicle is destroyed.

In the south, 3rd platoon have finished assembling on their ridge line sheltered from the vast majority of possible Syrian positions. But, as expected, the 4th Syrian recon platoon is soon seen ambling their way forwards. The first burst of fire from the US troops startles the Syrians, but they quickly stop to return fire.

No casualties are seen on either side during the ten seconds or so of combat as the turn ends.

The replotted mortar mission against the rear AGS also calls 'splash' just as the turn ends; lets hope that this time the spotting rounds land somewhere where the FO can see them.

Turn 11 Plan

In broad terms, the plan remains unchanged. The 1st platoon Stryker next to the one that just got destroyed is going to reverse back into cover. It hasn't actually achieved anything against the northern Syrian force, and seems unlikely to any time soon, so there is no point exposing it to a possible (probable) ATGM hit if it stays where it is.

The Strykers shooting at the village buildings will shift targets to other occupied buildings (based on last known enemy positions). Although one has been immobilised by an ATGM hit, no other threatening shots have come in their direction, indicative of the difficulty of obtaining line of sight and spotting through the trees.

The southern Syrian platoon is mostly out of sight; only one squad is currently exposed, and is getting the area fire attentions of a Mk19 Stryker as well as the infantry that can see it. Two more Strykers from 1st platoon can see the area and have a chance of spotting moving units there, and will not area fire so that they can react to new threats that appear during the turn.

Overall I am quite happy with the situation. Although I have lost a Stryker now, and may well lose more soon to ATGMs, in practice my vehicles are doing a good job of engaging enemy infantry from relative safety, which is exactly what I want. Vehicle heavy weapons destroy the enemy infantry, and my infantry move in to mop up and take the ground, whilst keeping BMPs at bay. I do need to take some care to keep my vehicles moving around to take advantage of the dodgy spotting situation. Stoex needs to move his ATGMs to find new firing positions, and they have long setup times. Meanwhile my Strkers can reposition quickly to new spots to hit their targets that have a decent chance of breaking LoS to the ATGMs. I will lose some when new positions are exposed to ATGMs that don't need to move, but on the whole the game of cat and mouse greatly improves my survivability without greatly diminishing the pain dished out to the Syrian infantry (I hope).

[TheVulture]

Turn 11 Action

The high intensity combat continues unabated this turn. At the very end of the last turn I heard the sound of an ATGM firing. I've no idea what was being aimed at, but the round lands at the base of the outcrop, a long way from any vehicles. Unfortunately, it lands rather close to my battered squad that is resting there.

One more man down. Only the javelin gunner is left from that squad, with two missiles in his inventory. The main action in the village, and on the hill south of it, consists mostly of area fire against unseen Syrian troops. The lone man of the Syrian recon squad seen in the south is shot dead pretty early on, and then his whole area vanishes in a cloud of dust as the Mk19 rains 40mm grenades down on the area. Meanwhile other vehicles hit houses in the village. One of my infantry squads on the hill joins in the fun, putting fire on one of the rear houses that the vehicles can't see. Just to make sure of things, they also send a javelin at the building.

It takes out the wall of the upper floor, where a Syrian HQ squad had been hiding moments before. An ATGM is also spotted, possibly the one that fired the missile at the start of the turn. The explosion was in a direct line from that ATGM to the immobilised Stryker. I'd guess that it was firing at that Stryker, lost sight of the target in the trees briefly, and so the missile nose dived, and just happened to hit my infantry. The cloud of dust on the right is where the Mk19 is plastering the southern recon squad that was seen. Two AGS squads can be seen. The one in the north (on the left) is the one that the Stryker destroyed last turn had been targetting, although it appears that it is now just a single man left with no actual AGS-17, so he is firing his rifle across the valley. On the right, the AGS that was previously the target of the mortar strike is running forwards. There is some small arms fire between my men on the hill and various units popping in and out of sight in various buildings, but none of it seems effective.

The ATGM on the roof has time to reload and fire off another shot. This one is very much on target.

Until it hits one of those famously indestructible Syrian trees, which completely protects the Stryker from harm. I suspect that Stoex is enjoying this fight less and less as time goes by.

Up in the north, 2nd platoon continue to move against the Syrian recon platoon, although having not seen any sign of it for a few turns, it is possible they have pulled back or are just hiding and waiting in ambush. As the southern trailing squad of the platoon finally cross the road and get back to the area of the fighting, they come under fire from an AGS somewhere across the map.

Once again, AGS fire at 600m or more proves to be pretty inaccurate.

The last action of the turn is rather mysterious. One of 1st platoon's squads decides to fire off a javelin. Here is what they can see:

(This is as the javelin launches, but the view from that unit is unchanged for the 20 or so seconds previous to this). Unless they've decided to blow up a randomly selected house within their arc, my guess is that they are aiming at the command squad seen in the house beyond the arc. Also everything within the arc is close enough that they'd probably use the javlein in direct fire mode, like 3rd platoon did earlier.

Turn 12 Plan

I'm still not interested in advancing into the village yet. Although I imagine that the two platoons there are taking some significant losses, I'm quite happy to wait until they've taken some more. My aim there is still primarily to make sure that they don't advance beyond the village, and to soften them up.

2nd platoon in the north are going to face close contact with the Syrians soon. On one hand, I have to move carefully so as not to get ambushed. On the other hand, they do need to cover the ground relatively quickly to clear the Syrian support units further back off the hill, so I suspect they are going to get ambushed and use vehicles to blow through the ambushers.

3rd platoon on the southern hill are going to sit tight for now. One squad is going to engage the ATGM to try and disrupt any more shots they might attempt, while another targets a Syrian squad in the village and the last squad continue to watch for any resumption of the Syrian advance in the south; they have three Strykers helping with the overwatch there, alhough I dare say there will be an ATGM squad setting up somewhere on those hills now or in the near future. So 3rd platoon will need to advance to screen their Strykers fairly soon. 3rd platoon's Strykers at the back will again switch targets to shoot up more new houses. The immobilised Stryker is going to hose down the ATGM roof top.

The mortar strike planned on the AGS is cancelled since the target has moved. I'd been thinking of cancelling it anyway since that AGS had become pretty irrelevant where it was. So I can save the ammo for dropping on ATGMs now.

[TheVulture]

Turn 12 Action

The battle degenerates into even more of a shooting gallery this turn. It's all getting a bit 1st world war, with a relatively static front line between the two sides that seems likely to stay that way until one side simply runs out of men and collapses. This turn, the action, and the javelins, are coming thick and fast.

This is in the first few seconds of the turn. A javelin has just hit the house in the center taking out all 5 men of a Syrian command squad. In the top left, the ATGM squad on the roof have just fired another missile at the immobilised Stryker, and again succed in hitting nothing but trees. The Syrian squad in the village loses a man to 40mm grenade fire, and loses another two soon after. The platoon HQ in the upper floor of the house behind them get off lightly when a javelin hits the roof of their building but causes no casualties. And right down the bottom, the lone survivor of one of 1st platoon squads is doing some buddy aid on the slopes of the outcrop.

The ATGM gunner's day doesn't get any better as he starts drawing 50 cal MG fire.

It gets even worse about a second later. You might notice the incoming javelin in that picture, the third of the turn used against infantry targets. No surprise that the gunner is killed in the explosion. That's nine definite kills this turn, compared to three in the battle up to this point.

The BMP previously seen making its way along the south hills turns up near 3rd platoon.

While the javelin gunner lines up his shot, two other troopers fire off the squad's AT4 launchers. Both shots fire simultaneously, and both hit bushes. This does however get the attention of the BMP which sends a few bursts of MG fire at the squad before apparently losing sight of them again. The javelin gunner eventually finishes his targetting and fires off the 4th javelin of the turn

Another large explosion just as the turn ends. Technically I can't tell if the BMP is knocked out or not, but its chances aren't terribly good. In the background you can see the AGS team that has been moving up from the rear heading in to one of the houses a way back from the front. There is also the house where the command squad were, and right at the top the roof top where the ATGM was.

Things are a bit quieter in the north. The lone survivor of the AGS squad there continues to fire his AK47 from 400m to no great effect, while 2nd platoon continue their advance. The lead squad reach the position where the Syrian recon platoon came under Stryker fire, and find 2 bodies there. The other 2 men of the squad either routed or withrew safely, but they aren't currently in sight.

Turn 13 Plan

The 'hold still and shoot stuff' plan paid dividends last turn, so with time pressing on I'm going to start pushing forwards again now.

1st platoon are going to attempt a probe into the village. Yellow dots indicate previously known enemy positions that have been shot up to varying degrees. The yellow and blue dots show which buildings are getting more fire on them this turn, while the lead squad that got the touch objective early on are going to head for the nearest house (after a slight pause). The house itself is shielded from the Syrian side by another building, meaning that their position there should be just as safe as their current one lurking behind objective E (unless some men have occupied that other building, but I'm pretty sure I'd have seen that if it had happened). The nearby buildings that can see their move are being suppressed, but they might be exposed for the last part of it, so this isn't risk free, but I want to apply some more pressure now while the Syrians are still suffering.

One squad of 3rd platoon is going to advance towards the BMP wreck, while the other (and the Strykers) provide overwatch. Hopefully they can make contact and give me an idea where the Syrian platoon has deployed itself, or whether it has pulled back out of view of the Strykers.

In the north, 2nd platoon will continue to push past the dead Syrians and move through the bushes in search of targets.

[hcrof]

Exciting stuff! Your screenshots are great and it is a tense battle!

[Erwin]

Yes, thanks for the interesting reports...

I have to play vicariously until I can get my problematic CMSF running again on my Win 7 machine.

[TheVulture]

Glad to hear that people are enjoying the AAR.

Turn 13 Action

Things don't go so well this turn. The immobilised Stryker comes under long range RPG and BMP fire (the BMP isn't spotted until later), which causes it to pop smoke, blocking the sight of two Strykers at the back. The 1st platoon squad make a dash for the village, but come under immediate rifle fire from the RPG team (seen below firing an RPG at the Stryker), and then from a defending squad in one of the houses that was meant to be suppressed by the now obscured Strykers.

The squad suffer two casualties and a further light injury, and are reduced to hugging the dirt trying not to get hit.I guess that move was slightly premature then. The rest of the village fight goes more according to plan, with small arms fire on various buildings and a javelin hitting one of the HQ units, causing two Syrian deaths.

3rd platoon also have an interesting time of things in the south. The javelin launch at the end of last turn does indeed take out the BMP, but draws the attention of a BTR right next to it.

The vehicle quickly loses sight of that squad, but another squad of 3rd platoon is advancing more or less towards the enemy vehicle.

At the same time, one of the enemy recon squads is seen crawling through the bushes, apparently in an attempt to sneak up on my position. My advance squad comes under fire from somewhere, taking a one minor wound, and shortly after my patient javelin team lurking back in the north-west corner of the map spot the BTR and destroy it.

The last squad of 3rd platoon, currently watching over the village and opposing hill, comes under AGS fire again, and my FO spots that the AGS team down to 1 man has apparently recovered the AGS and set it up to keep firing. Another minor injury, but fortunately no further losses.

Two BMPs are spotted moving back into firing positions on the central hill in the Syrian rear (they can be seen in the background of one of the above pictures).

One is firing in the general direction of the Strykers in the rear, the other doesn't appear to have fired at anything. They have both chosen pretty good positions, out of sight of my infantry. Conversely, that means they aren't posing much of a threat to anything for now either.

In the north, 2nd platoon continue to advance without meeting any enemy contacts.

Turn 14 Plan

No great surprise that the immediate plan is to try shoot the hell out of the Syrians in the village. The RPG is no threat to the Strkers, but could cause a lot of damage to 1st platoon. With the smoke obscuring my support line of fire, the infantry have to take up the job of putting out what suppression they can. One Stryker is going to expose himself to put some MG fire down on one of the buildings, which is risky, but I'm hoping he can do some damage to help my infantry get back in to cover before he gets ATGMed.

The southern Syrian advance is going to come under heavy Mk19 and MG fire, while 2nd platoon hold position again and wait to shoot any movement.

I don't have great chances of getting the rear BMPs this turn. The only javelin equipped squad that has LoS to either is the 1st platoon squad with 1 survivor at the base of the outcrop. He has a CLU and missile, but is currently performing buddy aid and is injured. Whether he can get a shot off at his target seems unlikely.

The FO plots a very brief mission to hit the AGS in the north. It seems like a waste to target a single man, but the AGS could hurt my men, so it might well save some lives.

I've lost contact with the northern Syrian platoon; they could be pulling back, holding position further back (and I only bumped in to the point squad), or hiding and waiting for me to go past so they can sneak in to the objectives (which isn't going to work when they have to cross open ground in view of 2 Strykers and the company HQ). No idea what is left of the Syrian platoons in the village. The south-eastern AGS is a guess, and there is also an ATGM somewhere in the north, which i think is vaguely on a line between the central outcrop and the two northern destroyed BMPs.

[TheVulture]

Turn 14 Action

With the front lines of infantry now brushing up against each other, it it no surprise that things are getting a little more bloody for both sides. And by 'both sides' I mean 'me'.

In the north, 2rd platoon continue to advance. The point squad discover a third body from the Syrian squad seen previously. As they go past these bodies though, they come under fire from the other squad of the recon platoon.

Two men are cut down, and a third injured in the opening salvos. Unfortunately for the Syrians, they have chosen a position within sight of the Stryker parked in the northwest to provide javelin ammo for the HQ squad I stationed there in overwatch. The 50 cal MG returns fire, causing some suppression and one casualty. This enables my point squad to rally somewhat and return fire too. I don't know how much good it does; one more of my men goes down, and all that is left of the point squad are two injured soldiers. The Stryker might just have saved both their lives.

In the south, the situation is reversed, with the Syrian men advancing on my stationary position. The one thing that is the same however is the one sided vehicle heavy weapons fire.

2 Mk19s and another 50 cal totally obliterate the area where the enemy troops were seen for the whole minute. It's a fair guess that I hit at least one person there. The rest of 3rd platoon see no other movement in the area.

In the center, things are a little tougher for my men.

And for the Syrians too. My squad that tried the ill-advised advance on the village continue to come under fire from the RPG squad, and the full strength 4-man recon squad in the nearby house. Of the three remaining men, two are killed. In return, the RPG gunner gets a javelin to the face (he was standing at the near corner of the building), and when a Stryker in the rear finally gets into position to hit the other house, one of the Syrian squad is killed, and the rest duck for cover. In the rear you can see an AGS squad mounted up in a UAZ rushing forwards and hoping not to die. Sadly, they make it to the rear buildings in safety: the one burst of HMG fire in their direction just happens to be as they scoot behind the javelin-damaged building, which blocks the rounds.

More bad news in the center. The BMP that my injured solo javelin gunner at the base of the outcrop was lining up is lost to sight almost immediately, so he goes back to tending the wounded. And doesn't notice it reappearing a short time later, putting area fire down on my FO.

The foremost man of the FO team is killed. The other man, further back, is unharmed for now. Again, 'splash' is called just as the turn ends, so he might just last long enough to get the mortar rounds on the targetted AGS. That AGS is lost to sight as yet another Stryker puts suppressive MG fire on his position. Stoex by now is probably wondering how any of the damn things I have (to which the answer is 15, 3 of which haven't yet come out of hiding).

One final piece of good news is that the AGS squad that was harassing 2nd platoon earlier, which I'd guessed was somwehere down in the south east, is finally spotted.

It might not be the one that was firing earlier, on reflection, since it is a fair way forward. But it could well have got a lift in the BTR seen early on and deployed there in time to have shot at 2nd platoon as they corssed the road. So it probably is the one.

[TheVulture]

Turn 15 Plan

There isn't a great deal of planning to go on. It is mostly assigning target arcs and area fire orders.

Red arrow is the movement of the AGS squad in the UAZ. Green arrow is the line of retreat of one of the BMPs. Numbers are where my platoons are, all engaged in their various fights. One 3rd platoon squad is going to advance into the beaten zone to see what is left of the squad seen there, and mop up and traumatised survivors. 2nd platoon are going to put as much fire as possible on the position of the Syrian squad in the north, while one squad closes with their position. 1st platoon are again going to try and hit the BMP that is visible, and generally survive. Various people will shoot at various things.

[TheVulture]

Turn 15 Action

A slightly less frantic turn this time. Most of the action is in the north, where my point squad got ambushed last turn. Return fire from nearby infantry and Strykers on the enemy position has its desired effect, suppressing the enemy so that one of my squads can close to short range.

One enemy is killed, while the rest appear to be cowering. There is no longer any fire coming from them. One of the squads of this platoon comes under AGS fire towards the end of the turn, although thankfully to no great effect. One man is slightly injured.

The mortar battery puts a spotting round very close to the northern AGS, and fire for effect is called towards the end of the turn. I think there will be enough left for one more short mission once this one is complete.

In the south, 3rd platoon advance to see the damage wrought by the Stryker bombardment last turn, and duly find four bodies scattered around in the bushes. One less squad to worry about. At the location of the other Syrian squad that was seen in the area, three more bodies are seen. The enemy infantry line is looking pretty depleted now. But reinforcements appear to be on the way.

Another BTR is seen rumbling slowly through the undergrowth. Near to that vehicle, another AGS can be heard firing. This appears to be further forwards than the one seen last turn, so there seem to be 2 grenade launchers up on the southern hills, making 5 seen (or implied) in total. They normally come in 6-packs, so there is probably one more as yet unnoticed somewhere.

The AGS that has been running up from the rear now makes it in to the rear of the centre village, as a variety of rounds smack into various buildings. At least 4 separate squads are seen this turn, not including the 4-man squad seen before which caused my advance such pain, and the AGS rushing in to the village. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to dislodge them before the battle ends now; I need vehicle fire power to clear houses, but I don't think I can neutralise the ATGMs fast enough for the Strykers to do their job.

The BMPs seen lurking around the rear have all vanished again, reversing back into the trees. They seem to be adopting a shoot and scoot policy to avoid javelins, although it will only take one bit of spotting luck or one misjudged position to lose a vehicle there.

The last new development of the turn, another platoon HQ is spotted in the south hills, with the sniper from the squad taking shots across the valley at 2nd platoon engaged in the north.

They get the attention of some nearby infantry, causing one casualty, and are rather exposed in their current position.

Turn 16 Plan

That exposed HQ squad is going to get more attention this turn, including the traditional Stryker battering ram. 2nd platoon, lurking very near by, and going to hold position this turn, since with the BTR moving in their direction, I don't want them walking along should the vehicle come over the hill to spray them with short range MG fire. They get to stay still and prepare to get the first shots off at it instead. There is still one javelin and one AT4 ready for use by the forward squads here, not to mention the BTR will be exposing itself to further back elements if it does come hunting my men.

2nd platoon will continue their assault by sections on the northern Syrian platoon. The heavy fire will lift, and the squad under AGS attack will charge in, while another nearby squad provides light suppressing fire. With luck, that will all but break the remainder of the Syrian platoon, since the HQ squad has probably lost a few men from earlier Mk19 fire.

As for the rest, it's still a case of sitting still and shooting at buildings or whatever targets present themselves. At the moment it's all about firepower, not maneouver or tactics.

[c3k]

TheVulture,

Great stuff! Keep it coming.

Thanks,

Ken

[TheVulture]

Turn 16 Action

As promised, it is more standing around and shooting things this turn. Infantry shoot at any Syrians poking their heads out of cover. Strykers continue their vendetta against grass by shooting up large areas of terrain, and a few buildings. The house sheltering the RPG team in the village finally begins to wilt under the pressure:

You can see that unfortunate HQ squad getting the attention of 40mm HE rounds from the Mk19 on the hill behind the houses. One man from that HQ squad is killed. The RPG man is lost to sight, but I don't know if he was hit or not. One or two other guys in the village are hit during the exchanges.

I finally get a mortar mission on target, landing on the northern AGS.

That should take care of him.

In the north, I have a squad putting suppressing fire on the Syrian recon squad position, but the squad supposed to close with them this turn are interrupted by incoming fire. No casualties, but it does cancel their movement order. No actual sighting of any Syrians up there this turn. The suppressing squad themselves do enough to draw the attention of the BDRM seen roaming the southern hills, which stops to take some long-range shots at them.

One man is hit, but that BRDM is now in full view of at least two javelin CLUs, not to mention having 1st platoon close by on its left flank.

Turn 17 Plan

No more plans. Stoex and I agree to a ceasefire, since there is virtually nothing left he can do at this point. His few remaining infantry are cowering or get plastered by fire the moment they do anything. The few BMPs left have a choice between hiding or exploding, and his ATGMs are in fine position to hit several Strykers are steadfastly refuse to spot or fire at them. So defeat is conceded; there isn't much fun to be had in playing this game when all you do each turn is watch your men die and give orders that won't be obeyed because your men are no longer capable of doing anything.

The actual AAR part of the ARR may be coming up soon.

[AkumaSD]

Cool. Good game!

[tagge]

The actual AAR part of the ARR may be coming up soon.

Lookin forward to that! This has been very interesting reading, thanks!

I too played "El Incidente" by PBEM a while ago. With slightly modded troops, though. Syrian airborne vs. British light infantry. And with two tanks each, arriving at the 10. turn (T-90 vs. Challenger). It resulted in me being completly wiped out...

The tanks were a bit overkill, BMP-2 vs. Scimitar would have been better.

[Blackcat]

Thank you, Mr. Vulture, for your time and effort in giving us another excellent AAR.

[Gpig]

Thanks for the great AAR!

I played this battle as the Syrians, and they can't shoot their ATGMs fer Sheeeet! If they didn't hit a tree, they wildly flew in all and any direction. Sometimes landing 500m away from the intended target. And not just in THIS battle. Red force ATGMs are a real roll-of-the-dice, if'n youz ask me.

Anybody else frustrated with the ability of the Syrian ATGM gunners. (Some platforms are better than others, I know.)

Gpig

[hoolaman]

I was frustrated by their ability to hit me when I played this one.

[Pandur]

Anybody else frustrated with the ability of the Syrian ATGM gunners.

well, you have to consider that most maps use ATGMs in a very sub optimal way or even unrealistic way if you want to call it that way.

usually you need to hit the first rocket with your ATGM becouse the return fire will kill the crew short after they fired the first shot. now this happens on maps that have less then 1000 or around 1000 meters distance between the ATGM and the target. unfortunately due to the theoretical small scope of the game and scenario designers somehow makeing mostly small maps you rarely have more then 1000 meters for your ATGM´s.

now if you can, you want to use the ATGM´s on maximum possible range that the maps allow. the hit probability is not going down in a extreme way but the survivability is going up tremendously when you have ranges of 2000 to 3000 meters or more. any ATGM got a good chance to pop off all their 4 or 5 shots if they are 2000+ meters away from the enemy and some of these will hit. also if return fire is coming, it is much less accurate and its often easy to reposition ATGM teams at that distance. but with less then 1000 meters all this is lost as the crew gets shredded 9 out of 10 times in a matter of seconds.

so, well they are still frustrating somewhat at times but when you have the position to let them shoot all the shots off you will score hits. even the cappy AT-3 will usually score 1 hit out of their 5 shots. and if you get better ATGMs with better crews they likely hit at least 2 if not 3 or 4 of 5. AT-14 got the potential to hit 5 of 5 shots.

same goes for the ATGM BRDM´s, i have not seen them in a scenario so far but tried em myself in a private scenario. on short range its scrap metal but at 2000+ you can put them to good use as they can fire off ATGMs in quick succession and are mobile to reposition itself.

hope that helps in a way

[Frankster65]

What a great read! I must have missed this the first time around. Screenshots are just superb! Thanks for sharing this battle.

[vincere]

I stayed up too late last night reading this; head was bobbing, but I had to read on. I got a sense of tension.

[Gpig]

@ Pandur: Thanks! Good stuff, all of it. And I would agree with your assessment. It seems that sometimes, however, the damn ATGM are just plain broke!

I was playing Road to Dinas the other day and had a Veteran ATGM team (Spigot, I believe) on a forested hilltop, take 5 shots at STATIC T-55's more than 1600m away. Missed ALL 5. The ATGM team was never detected. There was no shooting going on. They were unsuppressed.

Some of the misses missed by half a klick! The first one turned left and nose-dived into the base of the hill.

Just seems, well . . . broke.

Sometimes, they work just fine.