Undercovergeek v Con - CMBS PBEM - Con can read if he wants to

[JasonPratt]

Can't wait to see Con's side of that!

Though my mind is trying to boggle around the notion of a weather station buried in the woods... near open fields... ???

[undercovergeek]

Funny you should mention that because i dont think it has LOS to anywhere either!

Team 'Crunch' - named almost at the start of the scenario when the stationary Sergeant asked for noise discipline and his squad came loudly crunching through the forest behind him - better known as the recon team out on the right. Impatient with the slow reloading of the AT asset, the LMG guy with underslung M320 simply rolls over and plants one in the side of the recon vehicle - no casualties spotted so its either empty or i didnt see them



Im assuming anyone capable of taking out the other vehicle cant see it and the ones that can see it dont have AT equipment because we have eyes on but noones attacking - the hopefully confusing and random exploding of the first vehicle will hopefully cause all the squashy targets to exit



Ill have the Stryker hunt towards it too but stay in the trees in case theres anymore vehicles coming down the field

[JasonPratt]

I won't give the context, but...

a move worthy of either utter madness or great genius or both

[undercovergeek]

lol, im not sure what category it falls into, ask Team Crunch, oh wait.............  :'(

Lesson learned - do not name squads, it hurts more when this happens

As i hoped, Con dismounts the men in the other vehicle right in front of team Crunch, except i forgot from the last turn that not all of them can see the vehicle, and this turn it looks like it was actually only one of them, because when he turns all contact is lost. A few snapshots are sent the enmies way first, at least to keep their heads down



But then return fire starts to come in, the grenade launching hero goes down as does his colleague next to him. The stryker is ordered to move rather than hunt to this area to save the rest of the squad. I dont pull them back, it would break all contact and involves turning my back to the enemy - wish there was a 'reverse' option for troops



and then we hear this behind the Stryker - yoinks



Just right and just behind Team Crunch the first reinforcement Stryker pulls up on our side of the railway tracks - more by luck than design the gunner picks up these two in the distance and starts to aim



Team Wascally Wabbit (i know, i know) still hunting near the Weather Station, i hear footsteps but thats all, the Stryker is still parked out front covering Team WW and the weather station front door



The XO team arrive at the tracks to call in more arty on the left hand wood, still cant see the base properly and then the LT calls out from the Stryker - 'if you call in a drone above the woods, you can then call in arty on what they see', with a comedic slap to the forehead the XO dials up the drone



More bugles and all kinds of s*** appears on the horizon, this is getting serious

[undercovergeek]

Despicable Russian foe - Team Crunch attempt to tend to their wounded and the evil Cossack presses the attack - he is quickly dispatched by the overwatching gunner



The support Stryker starts taking small arms fire..............



..........after a quick look around we find the protagonist - this might hurt if we dont bring guns to bear on him quicker than he can on us



And the mystery vehicle in our rear. The Stryker here will race past him on our side of the tracks, at the X the squad will exit and enter the woods armed with AT4s and a Javelin, and the Stryker will then break out from the woods and see who we have - the big issue is this vehicle can see all the way down the rail track on his side preventing any crossing at any point



The Stryker that saw the IFV in the woods in the distance opens fire - he doesnt fire directly at the vehicle, he launches Golden Rain (TM) across the valley - lots of hits but no smoking ruin yet

[JasonPratt]

Blind crazy and drunk is not a good combo on the battlefield unless you are a Viking.

>:D

[undercovergeek]

i hope he exploded somewhere unexpectedly!  >:D

Good news, the RPG hits the trees and fails to impact. Bad news the recon vehicle with the massive cannon on top sees me first and blows the Stryker to bits



Team Crunch spot the RPG team and finish them off - here, the one man army that is the gunner tosses a grenade in their general direction



Revealing their position to save their Strker costs them dear, a barrage of indirect fire comes down on their position from the recon vehicle



After a few seconds its all over, Team Crunch are destroyed



Their parting gift a host of sound contacts coming through the woods - the enemy must be all over this area



Out on the right an artillery round lands, im not sure whether its one of my off map spotting rounds or its my devious foes



And a few seconds later my hopes are confirmed - it starts raining death on the front lines of the right hand forest



Speaking of the right, the support Stryker for the first recon team to land here takes a rocket to the front - not a clue where it came from - its the only vehicle on the line so theres no need to panic



The sniper team in the middle forest come across a recon vehicle - i thought they were woefully underquipped but realised a support man has an M320 - lets see what happens



Everyone, this is Yuri, he thinks he can come over my side of the rails



**** you Yuri, thats for Team Crunch



And this, this is Leroy Jenkins, a one man killing machine. However, hes decided to run off into the cornfield for no reason whatsoever, we might see him again, who knows

[undercovergeek]

The battle of the embankment

The fight for the loading area begins in earnest.

Team China Shop (to be explained) head off into the woods to guard their patch of railway. Mid way tube guy spots an enemy recon vehicle on the other side



He takes far too long to tee up the shot and pays the price



A member of the team goes down, and a hail of enemy grenades comes out of the woods. The despicable foe has had the dishonour to come onto my side of the rail track - his treachery knows no bounds



Another team member falls and an enemy grenade explodes behind the team - they run headlong into the as yet unseen enemy like a bull in a China Shop (TM)



Finally taking cover and returning fire, we start our own volley of grenade throwing - this ones kills 2 members of an RPG team behind the hedge



Whilst waiting for support from their Stryker theres a horrendous commotion behind the team, i wrongly assume disaster - turns out the Stryker has seen Tube Guy's vehicle and opened fire





The scene from above, this is the left most section of the action



and to the right - the yellow circle is an ordered arty strike, the red circle is an incoming Apache strike and the yellow line is a mortar strike right down the enemy side of the bank - my units here are taking a few steps back into the forest before it falls



In the middle, the crack/elite highly trained sniper team fire 5 M320 shells at the recon vehicle - and miss with all of them, they look onwards helpless



My far most right unit - the first unit to attempt to cross the bridge and get eyes on the final destination



And the whole right hand section - the 'mortar park' - thats 3 mortar bearing Strykers on the left, an ammo resupply wagon, the HQ and the snipers HMMV from left to right - if there was a WW2 russian style infantry charge here we'd be in trouble - there is only the XO team, a spotter team and a small recon team



And Leroy, still being at one in the cornfield, only he knows where hes going, only trouble is, hes got the radio

[undercovergeek]

The Stryker finishes off the RPG team that were shooting at Team China Shop



And then starts taking incoming small arms fire from across the rails - he backs into the woods for safety



Further down the line two recon vehicles face off, the Stryker spots an enemy on the other side but the Russian fires a devastating barrage of fire that destroys the Stryker first



The sniper team on the right break for the bridge as the artillery barrage comes down on the woods



Strike a pose gents

[undercovergeek]

Another recon vehicle bites the dust on the railway embankment, shortly after the crew get it too



On the approach to the weather station this little bast**** pops up and kills one of Team Wascally Wabbit that had split into two elements in case this very thing happened



Fortunately Lee Harvey is in the surrounding forest, and with a quiet 'pop' of silent justice kills him with one shot



Heavy weapons arrive in the centre, they will turn left, and undercover of the forest cross the rail lines and get eyes on the woods from Cons side of things



A short homage to Skip Muck and Alex Penkala - real people i know, but more famous having been in Band of Brothers in the forest at Foy







except is was my arty  :-[

[Barthheart]

Ouch!  :(

[JasonPratt]

"Hesitation is fatal in modern warfare." "It's only a flesh wound!" "Bravely reversing towards danger."

[undercovergeek]

Short hiatus - apologies

Shoot, dear God man shoot, shoooooooooooooooot, SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!



Arse



Yes, YES TAC-AI thats what i FKNG ORDERED - REVERSE TOWARDS THE ENEMY WITH JUST YOUR ASS ON SHOW. I swear to god if Con puts a scratch on it im going to fly to Steve Grammonts house and punch him in the neck.

I learnt on the very first turn that for slightly odd maneouvres you need to give small waypoints, in the heat of the battle i forgot, ordered a reverse out onto the field ON THE OTHERSIDE of my woods and then race as fast as possible to help out the beleagured Team China Shop now without a Stryker.........



....in fact this is all thats between my left flank and whatever Russian skullduggery is coming through the woods



Except these...........



and these..........

The first lot are heading as fast as possible to my far left flank, theyll disembark and then either advance right on my side of the woods, or ill maybe send a recon over the other side and advance right on Cons side of the woods

The second lot will hit the middle of the woods, just behind where my Javelin just got vapourised, i figure if Con is sending a vehicle over the tracks there must already be some troops in the trees, i hope to catch them unawares as i come in behind them



Theres more Russians in the Weather Station than i thought - a lot of fire including RPGs hit the shed but my one recon guy holds out, the 2 sniper groups are working their way round the side to get eyes on the balcony and with covering fire should allow the rest of Team Wascally Wabbit to cross the open ground and then assault the tower

[undercovergeek]

Forces arrive on our far left and begin to disembark, they will get out, form up and cross the railway as one followed by the strykers - i will place them close enough together to provide mutual support having learnt the lessons with Team Crunch. Forgot to take a pic but further right Team China Shop are wiped out by a unit stood right next to them that they couldnt see - they took a few with them and then got wiped - the curse of the named team continues



A short action sequence if i may, i love the game for little moments like this - it reminds me of running round my parents garden with friends with sticks for machine guns and throwing fake hand grenades - the game is awesome for vignettes like this

Squad B of Team Wascally Wabbit form up to storm the Weather Station satisfied the enemy is surpressed



They assault the tower



Dammit, i forgot about the Recon vehicle the sniper team missed with the grenade launcher. The team make it to the building - Con had given the vehicle area fire orders on the barn assuming i was inside, i left just in the nick of time



The AT guy lines up the recon vehicle and takes him down - the explosion is glorious and noone gets out



A second later small arms fire is heard in the tower and the team take a casualty



I have no idea where the fire came from until i see this guy, he must have come running down the stairs like a madman, firing his weapon as i came running in, but the heroic Cossak is running straight towards the sniper team, seen in the trees



and hes down - i claim the Weather Station in the name of Team Wascally Wabbit, but cant help feeling there is still one guy left up there

[undercovergeek]

A bloody and explosive turn for me  :-[  :'(

1st Weapons Team crosses the railroad into the enemy treeline. Whats that, a Tunguska, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN



By the skin of their teeth, Team Jammy (TM) make it to the other side



2nd Team make it also, possibly covered by the smoke of the first attack



Come on the Stryker!!!!!!!!!!! Oh crap, thank god we got out and took the Javelins with us - nothing/noone/nobody gets out - its hard to describe the amount of fire that that thing delivers!!



This was a drone sent to spy on the back line so that i could drop a s*** ton of arty on any reinforcements



and this was a HE delivering bad ass mofo 'hiding' in the woods, never even saw the round - no idea where it came from