Achtung Panzer: Shield of the Prophet AAR

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

This is an AAR of the Shield of the Prophet DLC for Achtung Panzer: Operation Star.   The conflict portrayed in the DLC is an alternate history of the Soviet-Afghan conflict.  In the game world, the Iran-Iraq war never occurred as Saddam Hussein was deposed in 1979, plunging Iraq into internal dissent.  Pakistan and India are at war, leaving the new Islamic Revolutionary government in Iran relatively free to exert influence in the region.  They do this by invading Afghanistan to spread Islamic Revolution and depose the secular, socialist government of Nur Muhammad Taraki. 

In response to the Iranian invasion of Afghanistan Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the the USSR orders troops across the border to support the Taraki government.

The scenario I chose has me leading the Soviet 5th Guards Motor Rifle and 24th Guards Tank regiments.  Our orders are to hit the Iranian forces hard, knock them off balance and drive them back into the mountain passes where Soviet airborne forces have deployed.  They're the anvil and we're the hammer.  The orders stress the importance of momentum as we don't want to give the Iranians the chance to dig in and link up with the Mujahideen. 

Intelligence is spotty as can bee seen on the initial map.  No information at all on Iranian positions and only a vague notion of where the Mujis are operating.






The operational map shows the initial location of my units.  Each icon represents a platoon sized unit.  The blue dots are the key victory point locations.  The scenario starts at 08:00 with clear weather.




Taking my orders to heart, I push three tank platoons into the northern Muji held area, set up a screen of two more tank platoons with recon, mech infantry, and mortars in support to the south, and push my main body to the western Muji held area.  The blue question marks indicate the presence of enemy units, but I have no intel as to their composition.




The enemy respond to my opening moves by attacking to the south into my screening force.  The flame icons indicate that a battle is to be fought.  Clicking on a flame icon will take me to the 3-D tactical map to fight the battle.  I have a choice of two battles to select.  I can choose the order in which I want to fight them and they are sequential, not concurrent.  Therefore, if I win the first battle and push back the enemy, my units will possibly move into the zone and can then take part in the second battle.  As I'm not sure what I'm going up against, I decide to fight the battle to the south with the screening force first as it'll let me stay on defence and give me a better idea what I'm facing.




The game drops into the deployment phase.  The flags are keypoints and whoever holds them at the end of the battle gains victory points.  The size of the flag corresponds to the importance of the keypoint.  Bigger is more important. 
My forces consist of:
1 Recon platoon with 2 BRDM light APCs and a command element.
1 Mech infantry platoon with 3 BMP APCs, 3 infantry squads, the company command unit, and a forward air controller with 2 Hind gunships on call.
1 mortar platoon with 3 BRDMs, a spotter, and 4 80mm mortars.
2 tank platoons with 3 and 4 T-55 MBTs respectively.



Deployment can be accomplished via the overhead map and/or on the 3D battle map.  each of the little green squares can hold one unit.  Some squares have smaller interior boxes that are green, yellow, orange, or red.  These indicate the degree of cover available (green being best, red worst.  No interior box means no cover available at all).

You can't really see it from the overhead map, but there's a dry riverbed running east-west on the northern edge of the Soviet deployment zone.  I decide to be aggressive in my defence and deploy all my tanks on the northern side of the riverbed, closest to the enemy deployment zone.  APCs and mortars are set back on the southern side but still with line of sight to the tanks.  (In this screen, the green represents the LOS of the forward air controller)





Once units are placed, you can assign initial orders, set arcs of fire, etc.  I basically just put my units on defence and give them permission to engage at will.

I hit the start button.....


And things go nuts instantly.

Obviously intel was very, very wrong.  The Iranians have already linked up with the Mujahideen and they're feeling feisty.  My tanks immediately spot several Iranian Chieftain MBTs in prepared defensive positions as well as several M113 APCs and a tonne of Mujahideen infantry in slit trenches. 

Flares go up from the Iranian commander and all their units charge as the rounds start to fly.  My tanks find the range right away and the first Chieftain takes a hit as it backs out of its prepared position.




A second Chieftain is hit before it can even start moving.





Muji pour out of their trenches and rush towards my lines.  I order my mortar spotter to call some rounds down on them.




For the first few seconds, things seem to go exclusively my way.  Two Chieftains are burning, all my tanks have good fields of fire and are getting rounds down range... (dark blue icons means the enemy is sighted.  Light blue means it's being engaged, yellow means no longer in sight but last seen in that vicinity.  Grey means knocked out.  Red are my units.)




But things start to go south a few seconds later.  A number of previously unsighted Muji recoiless rifles open fire from the trenches and start scoring hits.  ( you can see the round from this recoilless rifle as it streaks towards Deshanko's tank.)



And it scores a hit, killing the driver.





The remaining crew bail out, one of them obviously wounded.




The Iranians are suicidal fanatics!  They charge their M113s right up to my tanks before disgorging their infantry.


I order my mortar teams to shift fire from the Mujis to the new threat and order the T-55 to back up and put some distance between it and that infantry.



The mortars score several direct hits, but not before that bastard with the RPG blows the track off another of my tanks, causing my crew to panic and bail out.





Even worse, another Chieftain pops up on the right flank and starts putting rounds down on my FAC's position.  He's taken out by one of the T-55's, but not before he knocks out the company commander's BRDM and a BMP, killing both the company commander and the FAC.  This ain't good.




The battle runs for another minute or two, but once the last Iranian tank gets knocked out, they decide they've had enough and order a full retreat. 

The game tells me I've won a total victory in this battle, but it sure doesn't feel like it.  I have a feeling I'm going to miss that Hind support in the coming hours.




To make matters worse, I made a stupid mistake on the operational map and didn't see that there was a control point right at my starting location and I didn't seize it.  The sneaky Iranians slip in there and get the points after the battle.  That's it for turn one.  I don't need to fight the second battle as my screening force caused a full rout, allowing my 3 tank companies to take control of the area.






(one of the cool things about the game is that it lets you inspect the battlefield after the fight is over and see who got hit by what.  As you can see, my tank here got hit by 2 RPG rounds, a recoilless rifle shell, and a 120mm round from a Chieftain.  The white font indicates that it penetrated and did damage.  Grey means it didn't.)

[Bison]

Good stuff SDR.  How is this version of the engine different than Achtung Panzer Kharkov?  I've got that one on Impulse, but had forgotten about it.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I think the main difference between Kharkov and Op Star is the interface.  It's much more intuitive in Op Star.  You can use the buttons in the lower right to open sub menus to issue detailed orders to units or you can issue simple "on the fly" orders to units or groups of units by right clicking.

The operational map is also improved in terms of what it allows for unit placement, unit density, and calculating battle results, supply states, and retreat pathing.

[MengJiao]

I think the main difference between Kharkov and Op Star is the interface.  It's much more intuitive in Op Star.  You can use the buttons in the lower right to open sub menus to issue detailed orders to units or you can issue simple "on the fly" orders to units or groups of units by right clicking.

The operational map is also improved in terms of what it allows for unit placement, unit density, and calculating battle results, supply states, and retreat pathing.

Fantastic AAR!!!  Many thanks!!!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN TWO

Intel informs us that we're facing the Iranian 16th Armored and 17th Infantry Divisions as well as large numbers of Mujahideen irregulars.  The Iranians appear to be pulling pack to the west.  We'll keep hitting them and pushing them back towards the airborne units guarding the mountain passes.  (The scenario has a 15 turn limit.  Each turn is 4 hours.)  It's now 12:00.  The weather is still clear but starting to cloud over.




I pull back two of the three T-62 tank platoons from the northeast to finish off the Iranians who slipped through my lines (and took the keypoint).
The screening force will push north into the northernmost Mujahideen strong point and attempt to knock them out of the fight.  I send a reinforced T-55 tank platoon to the west of the strong point to cut off retreat.

I still don't have any detail on the units I'll be facing to the west of my main body.  I could probe the lines to get a better picture, but hey, I'm playing the Soviets.  Why poke when you can just hit like a sledgehammer?  I throw everything forward.



I'll have 4 battles to fight this turn.  I choose to start with the northeastern-most one first in order to take back the keypoint. 

I have two platoons of T-62 tanks (7 in total).  I would like to have some infantry to help protect the tanks from enemy squads, but one makes due.




There's a dry riverbed between me and the enemy deployment zone.  I spread my tanks out to provide mutual support and set them rolling.




Sure enough, my fears are soon realized.  One of my T-62s starts crossing the riverbed when a bunch of Mujis pop up out of the rocks, far too close for comfort.  The commander grabs the MG and opens up...






Thankfully the morale of the Mujis was still very brittle after the last battle.  After seeing one of their comrades take a 12.7mm round in the face, they decide to give up.



A few seconds later, an Iranian Chieftain tank backs out of the riverbed.  I'm surprised that it slipped by me in turn one but no matter.  My T-62s make short work of it.



Immediately after we kill the Chieftain, I hear a loud bang and one of my T-62s brews up.  This is worrying as I can't see anything moving on the map.  I'm worried that there are more Mujis hiding close by, hitting my guys with RPGs but that turns out not to be the case.  The enemy surrenders and I'm able to go to the results map.  I find that my T-62 was a victim of friendly fire. One of the other T-62s nailed it while firing at the Chieftain and managed to score a hit on the ammo.  They'll be scrubbing latrines for this.

 


I select the attack on the northern Muji stronghold for the next battle.  I have a very strong force surrounding the stronghold.
1 recon platoon (2 BRDMs)
1 mortar platoon (3 BRDMS, 8 90mm mortars, and a spotter team)
2 mech infantry platoons (5 BMPs, 6 squads, and 2 platoon command units)
4 T-55 tank platoons (11 tanks left after the last battle)



The enemy are hiding in a wooded village in a small depression.  It looks very hazardous to my armor so I just hammer it with mortars instead.
I use up all my mortar ammo but inflict quite a few casualties on the enemy infantry.  The survivors retreat, leaving me in control of the strong point.



Things on the map are looking much better now.  I've cleaned up the lines and knocked out one of the Muji strongholds.  Two more battles to fight but the weather's changed and fog has rolled in. 




I select the northernmost of the two battles first.  I send in 3 T-55 tank platoons (12 tanks) with a mech infantry and a mortar platoon in support.


The fog is very thick, cutting visibility down to about 300 metres max.  I don't like this.  I have no idea what I'm facing and the poor vis means it'll be hard to the tanks to mutually support one another. 




Thankfully I've got some very rudimentary thermal vision. I can't see much but I do spot what looks like armor coming towards me. 


I get the drop on this armored column ( 2 Chieftains and 4 M113s) and quickly dispatch it.



But a second column slips behind one of my tank platoons and opens up on their rear at close range.  I lose two tanks completely and another two get heavily damaged but I force the enemy to retreat with a fair number of casualties.  I take their territory which means I will have units on the northern flank of the enemy in the 4th battle of the turn.






I suspect that the 4th battle is going to be a bit of a slug fest.  Due to my victory in the 3rd battle, I've been able to partially envelop the enemy position and I'll have a lot of flexibility when it comes to unit placement.

 

I start the battle with:
2 T-55 tank platoons (7 tanks)
2 mech infantry platoons (5 BMPs, 6 squads, 2 platoon command elements)
1 MG platoon (2 BMPs, 2 MG teams)
2 mortar platoons ( 6 BRDMs, 8 80mm mortars, 2 spotter teams).


The weather's even worse this time around.  I can't see much with the thermals, but I do spot what looks like a cluster of trenches and earthworks.  I start calling in mortar fire and just hammer the area for a good five minutes, occasionally shifting fire to ensure I've covered all the trench systems. 

I send in 4 tanks from the east and the other 3 from the north.  This works reasonably well.  The 4 tanks to the east draw some fire from Iranian Chieftain tanks.  I lose two tanks to mobility kills and lose 5 crewmen but the Chieftains are now visible to the tanks coming from the north.  The pour fire into the Chieftain's flanks and they are quickly knocked out.




I order the tanks and MG teams to spray the trench system with fire while the infantry dismounts from their APCs and move up.  There's a very intense firefight that last for several minutes but there's not much the Iranian infantry can do against the onslaught and they're slowly chewed up.



My infantry also take a fair number of casualties and I'm burning through ammo at an alarming rate.  I take 3 of the 4 victory points but I'm happy enough to accept a ceasefire offer from the Iranians rather than push my luck trying to take the last flag.



I feel I've done a decent job driving the Iranians back but my supply state is not the best.  I am running low on ammo (especially for the mortars) and a lot of my tanks and APCs have taken damage.  I may halt the push after the next turn and spend the night turns repairing vehicles and resupplying. 

[TheCommandTent]

Great AAR SDR, keep it up.

[-budd-]

Great read and presentation, makes me want to fire up APOS again.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I've got turn three done and I'm about halfway through turn four but the campaign is hold for a bit. 

A new .exe and new patch were released today.  I installed the updated .exe without issue but it doesn't recognize the new patch.  It seems that perhaps the wrong file was uploaded.  Hopefully Andrey will look into it tomorrow and resolve the issue.  The game appears to work still, but I don't want to risk it.  The last patch release was also a bit screwed up and the game appeared to work at first glance but users later found that player controlled tanks wouldn't engage. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Fixed patch was released today so the game's working again.

TURN THREE

16:00 hrs.  The weather's turning.  Fog is limiting visibility to less than 300 metres in some areas.  My units are becoming disorganized.  Morale is down, fatigue is up, ammo is getting low, and I've got damage to a fair number of vehicles.  I'd like to use the last bits of daylight to push on, but the combination of the weather and the supply/morale state convinces me to hold in place.  I use the turn to get the men fed and rested, fix some damage, and resupply.

The Mujahideen launch a few nuisance raids from the northwest.  They cause me to expend more ammo but don't do any significant damage.


TURN FOUR

20:00 hrs.  A storm is raging.  Visibility is down to less than 100 metres and we've lost daylight.  I continue holding and resupplying.  No contact with the enemy at all this turn.


TURN FIVE

The weather's starting to clear.  There are some high winds stirring up dust, but it's blown the fog away.
Reserves are released and I order another tank company with some engineers in support to link up with the main body in the west. 
Some Mujahideen have infiltrated behind the lines and are trying to stir up trouble.  I order my T-62s in the rear to deal with them.




The enemy doesn't seem too active.  They launch a probe up in the northwest, but mainly spend their time digging in.




The battle in the east against the Muji raiders is a pretty one sided affair.  The combination of clear skies and night vision allow my tanks to see them off handily.  We suffer no casualties. 




The attack on my northern flank is somewhat more problematic.  I have only a scratch force up there.  (They were the furthest away from the supply and repair units, so they got nothing.)  I've got some mortar crews with no mortar rounds left so they'll act as infantry.  7 T-55 tanks (many damaged or missing commanders) and 1 infantry platoon down to 2 squads, 1 BRDM, and 1 platoon command unit.

On the plus side, at least they've had time to dig in.



A pretty intense little fight develops.  The Iranians attack us with armor and mechanized infantry.  My tanks are able to knock out theirs quite early in the battle, but a nasty little firefight develops between the infantry.  I see them off but I lose my BRDM, the platoon leader, and the squaddies take 70% casualties.  They're rendered ineffective.



TURN SIX

04:00.  Clear skies. 

Intel reports that the Iranian 16th Armored Div has pulled back through the Muji strong point and is now digging in.  The 17th Infantry Div is still falling back but a new Division has appeared and is launching offensive operations towards my northern flank.

In the south, some of my Guards Motor Rifles have managed to race ahead and are poised to hit the Iranian 16th Armored from the south.




I order the southern flanking units in behind the MLR while my main body to the east continues to resupply.



In response, the new Iranian division launches a massive attack on my northern position.  I think it's going to be an interesting turn.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN SIX -continued

I have a lot of fighting on my hands this turn. I decide to get the easy one out of the way and deal with the Muji infiltrators in my rear.  The combination of tanks with infantry support sees off the pesky little fanatics quite easily.  They had only a handful of infantry and a light mortar.  A few rounds of HE from the tanks wiped them out.

I take the sector with no casualties.

Things on the western front look to be a lot deadlier.



I've got a massive 3 pronged attack hitting me in the northwest, what looks to be a smaller attack with armor and some unidentified units in the middle, and my push against entrenched armor in the south. 

I choose the smaller attack in the middle of my line as the first to fight, hoping it will draw off some of the units intended to go in on the attack in the north.



My forces for this battle consist of:

2 full strength infantry platoons (4 BMPs, 4 infantry squads, 2 platoon command squads)
1 mortar platoon with about 70% of full ammo compliment ( 3 BRDMs, 4 80mm mortars, spotter team)
2 T-55 tank platoons (6 T-55 tanks but only 4 are operational.  The repair crews fixed all of them, but the wounded crews haven't been replaced, so two tanks are down to 1 man each.)
1 T-62 platoon (3 T-62 tanks with full ammo and 80% fuel)


I string my units out in a defensive line, nothing fancy.  I just want overlapping fields of fire.  Mortars are about 500 metres behind the main line.  The two T-55 tanks with 1-man crews are going to be a problem.  As soon as the battle starts, they'll both announce that they're unable to fight and will just bail out and hide.  I have to admit the reinforcement/repair/resupply aspect of the game is still a bit confusing to me.  I don't know if there's a way to set priorities for which units you would like repaired or replaced but I can't seem to find it if there is. 

At any rate, once the battle starts, the two one man crews both bail and run, as I knew they would.  I switch to night vision and start having a look around.  The wooded defile running WSW-ENE is just one massive glowing hotspot.  I suspect this isn't going to be the "smaller" attack that I was expecting.

I get the mortars to work dropping rounds in the defile and I'm rewarded with some secondary explosions and fires.  Then the enemy answers in kind.  Looks like the few turns I took to rest and resupply allowed them time to set up artillery and rounds start raining down in my deployment zone. 



Thankfully they're firing at nothing but sand and rocks for now, but I will have to be mindful and keep the infantry in their APCs or in trenches.

I continue to hit the defile with mortar fire for a few minutes more.  The enemy arty switches from HE to illumination rounds but again, they put their rounds in the wrong spot and succeed only in making some dirt glow red or green from the reflected light. 

Then the attack comes.  I can hear multiple vehicle sounds coming from the defile.  A minute later, my tanks start picking out the first vehicles as the pour out of the defile and rumble towards my line.  This is a massive attack.  I count at least twenty tanks and APCs before the screen lights up with tracers, ATGM trails, and fireballs.



It's utter chaos.  Two of my T-55s go up in flames almost immediately, leaving that sector of the battlefield without heavy armor.   The BMP crews acquit themselves like heroes and their missiles account for 6 Chieftain tanks.  They soon run out of ammo and pay the price as yet more Chieftains pour through the wreckage and pump round after round into my APC positions.

Sometimes the God of War favours you though.  Every single one of my tanks and APCs took at least one hit (one took over twenty) but our armor actually worked and most rounds just bounced off.

 

I lost 2 T-55s but nearly every other vehicle took some damage.  I have 10 in need of repair.  In exchange, I left 11 Chieftains as burning wrecks and damaged another 8.  The Iranians limp back to their lines with my mortars chasing them the entire way.



I dread clicking the fire icon to start the big battle in the northwest.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN SIX -even more continued


Time for what I expect will be the massive battle on in the northwest.

I'm not in good shape up in this section of the map.



I've got:

My trusty recon team, still unscathed after all this time.  (3 BRDMS, 2 infantry squads, 1 command element)
1 mech infantry platoon  (2 BMPS, one with only 2 ATGMS left, the other with zero.  Two squads with no ATGMS left, one platoon command element, and the remnants of the Forward Air Controller team who will act as infantry)
1 platoon of mechanics that strayed too far forward (2 repair vehicles.  They'll be hiding in a ditch)
1 platoon of T-62 tanks (3 tanks, all with full crews, full ammo and about 75% fuel)
3 platoons of T-55 tanks (badly chewed up. 7 tanks left, 2 with minimal crews who will bail as soon as the battle starts)

I place my teams in hull down positions, trying to cover all the avenues of approach and hide my repair vehicles well back.  I order everyone to take up defensive positions and to engage at will.   I hit start.  Immediately several of my tank crews announce they're combat ineffective and start to pull back.  I order them to maintain position.  Even if the tanks can't fight due to a lack of crew, they can still distract the enemy and hopefully take some hits that might otherwise be aimed at my combat ready tanks.

(all the yellow diamonds are units who can't/won't fight)




I wait for the onslaught.

....and wait.....


...and wait....


...The sun breaks on the horizon and sitll no sign of the enemy....





Finally, I start getting contact reports but it's only infantry trying to sneak across the desert in ones and twos.  Flat desert terrain isn't ideal sneaking ground once the sun's up.  MG fire knocks them down as soon as they're spotted.  The enemy calls for a cease fire, then reneges on the offer, then offers it again.  I ignore their offer and continue firing as targets appear.



This continues for nearly 15 minutes.  Sporadic fire as enemy infantry show their heads.  Is this really it?  Was all that armor I encountered in the last battle pulled south from this fight?  It appears to be the case.





With less than 15 minutes left in the battle, I decide to send my T-62s and recon platoon forward to see if they can take the enemy held key points.



They encounter some resistance in the form of a few infantry platoons, 1 M113 APC, and two mortars but the tanks and APCs supress them while the infantry advances.  I seize all the victory locations and suffer 2 KIA and 5 wounded.   I kill 25 of theirs, and destroy their M113 and mortars.  Job well done.....


WTF?!  I just don't understand how this game calculates scoring at all..... I guess I got a defeat because I let the time run down rather than accept a cease fire or cause a rout.

 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN SIX - continuing the continuation

Time to fight the final battle on the southwestern edge of my main line.




I plan to push through their salient and grab the village in the west.

To accomplish this task, I have

1 tank company commander (1 T-55 tank, 1 BRDM command vehicle)
1 mech infantry platoon with a forward observer in tow  (2 BMPs, 1BRDM, 1 command element,  3 squads, 1 forward observer with a battery of 4 120mm mortars on call)
1 platoon of T-55 tanks (3 tanks, full ammo and crew, ~80% fuel)
1 platoon of OT-55 flamethrower tanks (4 tanks, full ammo, crew and fuel)
1 MG platoon (2 BMPs, 1 MG section, 1 command section)

I position the T-55s, infantry, and the FO to the south and the flamethrower tanks, company commander and MG team to east of the salient.




When you have a forward observer with access to off map arty, you get to place three initial planned fire zones for your artillery.  Any fire called on these markers will arrive within 30 seconds.  You can move these markers as the battle progresses, but moving them increases the delay between your request and the arrival time of the barrage.  The further you move the mark from its initial spot, the longer the delay will be.

I place two markers along my planned axis of advance to the first key point and place the third at the front of the village.  Prior to starting the battle, I call for an initial strike on the village.






I start the battle.

You know how earlier I said that sometimes the God of War favours you?  Well for this battle, he decided to favour the enemy.  Even as my artillery barrage hits the centre of the village, I take fire from the flanks.  I can't see any units but right off the bat, two of my three T-55s in the south are nailed.  One bursts into flames while the other has the main gun knocked out.  I order the surviving tank to reverse behind a ridge.




In the east, my BMPs start to roll forward and immediately come under heavy machinegun fire from the area around the salient flag.  I shift artillery there and call in a 10 round per gun stonk.

The rounds land on target.  Turns out the MG fire was coming from a platoon of dug in Chieftain tanks.  The mortar barrage encourages them to back out of their entrenchments but does no actual damage.




My BMPs engage with ATGMs at the same time the Chieftains bring us under fire with their main guns.  Too bad tank rounds are so much faster than missiles.  Here you can see my missile whipping along the desert towards the enemy tanks while in the background you can see two tank rounds flying towards my BMPs.



My lead BMP gets hit.  The fuel fireballs, killing the crew.  The second BMP dies moments after.





My ATGM glanced off the tank turret but doesn't detonate and flies off into the desert. (you can see the sparks from the strike and the missile in the left of the screen)



The four OT-55 flamethrower tanks engage the four Chieftains from about a kilometre out and are able to knock all of them out.  In response, the enemy calls down a rocket artillery barrage on my position.  It doesn't do any damage but it sure rattles the tank crews.  Command and control suffers.  (The blue bar at the top of the screen indicates the degree of command you currently exert over the selected units.  Issuing an order causes it to drop and it takes time to replenish.  Issuing too many orders in a short period of time will deplete it and your units won't comply.  Morale, unit leader's command skill, unit distance from command unit, and degree of radio or voice contact also play a part.  The rocket barrage knocks it right down to zero.)



I'm still taking a lot of AT fire from the village but I've yet to spot anything.  I get my vehicles to take cover behind wrecks and I just start walking arty all over the village.
The infantry no longer have their APCs, so I order them to bound towards the village as the barrages fall.  They eventually uncover some AT guns in and around the village and slowly knock them out with arty.  The AT guns exact a pretty heavy toll though.  They switch to HE and just decimate my infantry units.



I win the battle but it's a pretty hefty butcher's bill.




I have one last battle to fight this turn.  It's in the far west of the map where my flanking Guards units have come up behind the main line from the south.

Looks like my APCs got a little too far ahead of everyone else...


I have only one mech infantry platoon and one MG platoon with 5 BMPs.

I decide I'll just keep them all to the very edge of the deployment zone, try to inflict a little damage and then retreat south once the enemy gets a fix on my position.
The battle starts out with the enemy blowing 9 kinds of hell out of my keypoints with artillery.   Thankfully none of my units are there.  I spot some M-60 tanks and M113 APCs racing across the desert and I knock out two tanks and one APC before I start coming under return fire.   I order a retreat and cede the zone to the enemy.



Turn six is finally over.....

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN SEVEN

08:00 - foggy

Having captured one of the major objective markers last turn, I decide to consolidate around it in order to regroup and re-arm while I await the inevitable counter-attack.  My tank commanders have an annoying habit of getting blown out of their turrets while they scan for targets.  I wish the game had a "button up" command.  Tanks with a full crew are now the exception rather than the norm in my forces.

I don't have to wait long for the counter attack.  The Iranians throw a heavy armored assault at the objective point.   It's comprised of fresh troops from the new armored division driving down towards my lines from the northwest.  They're equipped with M60 tanks instead of Chieftains.  In some early skirmished I played out prior to starting this campaign, I found the M60 to be less robust than the Chieftain but this isn't proving the case in this campaign.  The M60s seem to shrug off hits that would've knocked out a Chieftain. 

It was a pretty significant battle which I.....um......totally failed to document with screen shots.  I dutifully took several, saved them to my HDD via MS Paint, and then deleted  as is my norm.  I just happened to omit the usual step of uploading them to Photobucket first.  I are geneeus!!!!  (sorry.  it was a totally sweet battle with like lasers and ninjas and stuff... and there was a sweet guitar solo and this one guy has a kick ass van with like a chick in a chain mail bikini riding on a Pegasus painted on the side.  You totally missed it.)


Anyway... That was the only battle to be fought along the main line.  There were several to fight down in the southwest corner with my flanking Guards units.  They were heavily counter-attacked.  This feels a lot less like a stinging flank attack and more like running groin first into a hornet's nest.




I elect to fight the southernmost battle first as it seems like a lighter attack than the ones in the north. 

I don't have a lot to fight with here.

I have:
1 infantry platoon  (2 BMPs, 1 BRDM, 2 squads, 2 command elements, 1 forward observer team with a battery of 4 BM-21 rocket trucks in support)
1 MG platoon (2 BMPS, 1 MG team, 1 command element)
1 tank platoon (3 T-55 tanks)



The terrain is terrible for defence.  It's completely flat with absolutely nothing in the way of cover.  I put out a staggered line and mark the likely avenues of attack for rocket barrages.  I call in a 40 rocket barrage on the enemy's main victory point location and start the battle.

This is no light attack.  I immediately get visuals on 20 M60 tanks and another 20 M113 APCs, all roaring across the open desert towards my pitiful collection of tanks.  I get some early hits but their massive weight of fire absolutely demolishes me.  Every single one of my vehicles is knocked out of commission before the rocket barrage finishes falling.

 


There's hardly even time to take screenshots before my forces rout off the map.  Even though the game awards me a draw, my flanking force in the southwest is effectively gone.  It's going to be a challenge to even hold on until the main line reaches them.



The battle's over so quickly that I have to go into the after-battle stats page to even see what happened to my troops.  It's not a pretty sight  (grey icons mean dead.  Red are the few still left alive.)



My units are routed so the other two battles need not be fought.  That's it for turn seven.

[Windigo]

Good AAR. Enjoyed slogging through it... good narrative.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

TURN EIGHT

12:00 - clear skies.

New orders from HQ.  Our original mission has failed.  The Iranian 92nd Armored Division swept aside our airborne forces blocking the mountain passes and is now counter-attacking us as the remnants of the Iranian 16th Armored and 17th Infantry Divisions  continue their retreat.  We're to contain the 92nd here and hold until reinforced.




In the east, I continue to push the main body of my forces towards the objective point.
In the south, I order the remnants of the flanking force to adopt a defensive posture.  A second wave of flankers show up on the southern flank, but further east than the first wave. I order them to attack north towards one of the main roads. 



The Iranians respond with heavy attacks against the beleaguered forces in the southwest and smaller delaying attacks in the south and southeast.




8 battles to fight this turn.  It's going to be a long one.

The first battle I elect to fight is my attack on the salient on northern portion of my main line. 
I have massive forces queued up for this attack.  It'll be revenge for the slaughter I suffered in the southwest last turn.



I have:
2 mech infantry platoons (6 BMPs, 6 squads, 2 command elements)
1 MG platoons (2BMPs, 1 MG team, 1 command element)
2 mortar platoons (6 BRDMs, 8 80mm mortars, 2 spotter teams)
2 T-62 tank platoons (7 T-62 tanks)
5 T-55 platoons (13 T-55 tanks left, 3 with diminished crews)


It's not the slaughter I was hoping for as the enemy wisely chooses to retreat.  My tank gunners manage to knock out several M113s as they fall back, but it's all over pretty quickly.

I also have a lot of assets for the enemy attack on the southern flank of my main line.

I have
1 Forward Observation team (1 BRDM, 1 BMP, spotter team, command element)
1 Mortar platoon (3 BRDMs, 4 80mm mortars, 1 spotter team)
4 T-55 tank platoons (12 tanks, 2 without sufficient crews)




Again, it's a one-sided affair.  The Iranian attack consists of mainly infantry with only 2 Chieftains and 1 M60 tank in support.  The three Iranian tanks die early in the battle.  The Iranian infantry presses on regardless but they die long before they get anywhere near my forces.



I think I've broken resistance to the south of my main line.  I hope to be able to link up with the flanking force next turn.




Next, I choose to fight the battles where the Iranians are attacking the newly arrived flanking force.

The terrain in this area sucks!  Completely flat.  No buildings, no vegetation, just flat. 
I have:
1 Forward Observer (2 BMPs, 1 command element, 1 artillery spotter with 4 D-30 122mm howitzers on call.)
1 1 infantry platoon (2 BMPs, 2 squads, 1 command element)
2 T-55 platoons (6 T-55 tanks)

Again, I put them in a staggered line.  I suspect this might be another massive battle. I decide to assign my armor to pairs and try placing them with greater dispersion. I assign fire arcs to each armor pair and hope this will prevent everyone from attacking the same enemy as they pop up.

The Iranians mask their advance with a smoke screen, but once their armor passes through the smoke my units engage.  Two of my BMPs get knocked out in the opening volley and I begin to fear this is going to be a repeat of last turn.



Luckily the tide changes and I start picking off their tanks without incurring any further losses.  This looks like a mixed force of the remnants of the 16th armored with their Chieftain tanks and the newly arrived 92nd with their M60 tanks. 



My assigning of fire arcs seems to have paid off as I manage to knock out all the tanks I can see.  Again, the infantry attempts to press the attack and the M113s charge my lines. 




As before, the APC get torn to pieces long before they reach effective range.  Much better result than last turn.




(Just a comparison of the amount of fire it took to take out a Chieftain vs. an M60.  The Chieftain was knocked out with one 100mm shell whereas the M60 took 12 hits before it went down)



That'll do it for now.  I'll fight the slaughterfest in the southwest tomorrow.