Pillar of Fire
 

Ok here it is. I think its not quite right yet i want someone to test it a little. Israel assault Vs Egypt Defend.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

This was a good one. I got a marginal victory. A couple more turns and I think I would have been good. I had the town surrounded and was beginning to enter when the game ended. My paras did very well but I ran out of missles otherwise I think I could have taken out most of the vehicles.

I was confident that it was going to be a cake walk at that point, then I lost my commander to a mine and their artillery started to rain down. It took a couple of turns to regain the attack.

I really liked it although I wish the Merkavas had been 3's with thermal imaging. I could have take the town. Oh well you have to work with what you have :-)

Nice work

Kol Hakavod Tzahal

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

That was sort of the point. If you had 2 more missiles per ATGM team you could destroy the entire Egyptian force.

As the scenario briefing mentions, the situation is one where the IDF lost most of its front line tanks. I actually considered Using Magach 7s, but i decided the Mk2 are old enough:).

Thanks so much for responding, I really like to see how other people like my wierd tactical situations...:)

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

I was thinking about your scenario. Maybe you should have the tanks come a bit sooner. I think I had about 4 turns or so where I just hit the next turn button. My paras were out of missles and I didn't want to engage my small force against unknown Egyptians in the town. Also once the armor arrives it takes 3 or 4 turns to travel up the road and engage.
Just my thoughts... Anyway thanks for your time in making this scenario.
Craig

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Yes I think you arre right about the timings, as its very hard to get a decisive victory this way(you just run out of time).

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

ok. I gave the tanks an earlier arrival, so it should be better now.

almost 100 views on this thread, and only one person told me what he thinks of the scenario...I see 3 options:
1) no one has time to play my scenario...
2)people played it, think it sucks, and dont want to tell me.
3)People played it and liked it and dont bother telling me.

Ok, I know this sounds needy and lame, but i really want your opinions on this secnario. if its good, great. if its bad, why? how can i make it better?

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Steel Panthers players are a casual lot. Most people are just looking at the posts. I'll tell you what,I'm going to download it. I'll have concrete opinions on it for you within 48 hrs.(possibly sooner)

I downloaded the file from your last post. That's the correct one right?
You may want to re number the file with a higher number,as it attempts to overwrite a stock scenario.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

yeah, i know, sorry for being a whiner.

next scenario i make i will noumber it higher.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Ok I gave it a go. I managed to pretty much take out most of the enemy tanks with the ATGMs and I let my artillery take out their artillery. When my main force arrived I advanced under the cover of heavy smoke screens. I kept my sappers on the point and they cleared the way under as much smoke I could use. I ended up with pretty low casualties on the main attack body, but most of my ATGM teams were taken out by either enemy artillery, air strikes or late game enemy counter attacks. I hate not being able to retreat units off the top or bottom. I got a pretty solid marginal victory with scores in the range of 10 000 vs 3000.

So what did I think of the scenario? Well, it was pretty nice actually. Usually I don't bother finishing desert scenarios as they tend to be awfully dull. This one, however managed to combine small unit action with tanks roaring in the desert and finally urban combat. I like it when scenarios have some variety. So yeah, pretty solid work.

The only complaint I really have was that the Israelis had no AA resources. Admittedly I'm not familiar with the Israeli doctrine but I would assume an armored spearhead of this size would have at least something to keep the hostile airplanes away. At times I was forced to watch Egyptian planes strafe my advancing tanks unopposed.

Overall, however, I'd say this scenario was well above average and probably the most interesting one I've played this month. What really made the difference here was the diversity of the different phases of the scenario.

- Koh


Edit: oh yeah and my 4.0 version of the game doesn't have any stock scenarios in slot 203. They end at 199

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

yes i considered giving them helicopters for exfiltration, but i thought the helis would probably be shot down, so its better for them to sit down and wait for the main body.

Knowing the IDFs AA capabilities, I would say it is (unfortunatly) quite realistic to say that notevery unit enjoys attached AA. The IDF relies on IAF to clear the skies of enemy aircraft, and in this case I wanted to show a situation where this dosent work...Im sure the Egyptians had a much harder time with your F16, even though they do have AA assets.

Thank you very much for these kind words.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

I was going to post some screenshots as I go along but the images exceed the forum limits for file size. :(

Oh well, I'm on turn 14.

Northern Sayeret Team doing well. Advancing south.

Southern Sayeret Team nearly wiped out by lengthy Egyptian bomblet barrage. (Apparently I shouldn't have been so concerned with taking the Ziva location.) Isreali bomblets took out all 3
Ramses 2 tanks in one strike.
Only one lone sniper left down here.

Western Sayeret Team getting bogged down. Pouring on the 155's and cluster ammo to the southeast of thier position.

F-16's approaching for first run.

13 Egyptian vehicles burning.

Over and out for now.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Here are the screenshots in zip format.

NST : North Sayeret Team moving past destroyed Egyptian BMP's

SST : South Sayeret Team awaiting to move into Ziva loacation
after intense Isreali 155/bomblet bombardment. 3 Ramses splashed. Shortly after this the Egyptian bomblets hit this team.

WST : West Sayeret Team moving toward Mosque experiencing heavy Egyptian resistance.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

yikes! I tried to bypass some of that resistance but discovered that I would have had to double back and take care of them anyway.

Those bomblets come in handy don't they? Oh and I wasn't impressed by those Ramses 2 tanks.

Semper Fi, Carry On

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

On turn 20 now,


North Sayeret Team continues south.

West Sayeret Team still bogged down in area of the Mosque. Still calling in artillery strikes and smoke screens.

South Sayeret Team :Radio Contact lost. Very heavy Egyptian cluster bombardments in this area.

Kadesh heavy armored team has arrived to the east.

19 Egyptian vehicles burning.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

NST2: North Sayeret Team moves past softened up Galit location. Several Ramses 2 tanks destroyed here by F-16 action.

WST2 :West Sayeret Team near mosque calling in 155's and smoke.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

I'm on turn 30 now. I feel like the clock is ticking against me.

It took 10 turns to get the armor where I wanted them to strike.

226th Armored Units have killed 3 more units. Egyptian ATGM's have hit several tanks but with no effect.
Total destroyed Egyptian units now at 23.

Western Sayeret Team is at the remains of the bombed out mosque. Ammo is low and they lack the manpower to move anywhere except backwards. So they staying at the mosque. Killed Egyptian HQ.

Northern Sayeret Team is also low on manpower and ammo. They have been getting hit by Egyptian 120mm and 152mm artillery.
Also attempted to enter urban area unsuccesfully.

There have been no more Egyptian cluster attacks ,but I'm mindful of it. Armored units will not linger anywhere for long if I can help it.

Over and out.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

226th_Armored- Armored force engaging units and closing on intersection zone.

NST3- Northern Sayeret Team at this point just attempting to circle around to get to mosque. Combat power low.

WST3- West Sayeret Team bunkered down in the rubble of the mosque. Low on 155mm artillery. No more missle bomblets or F-16's.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Turn 33 now,

Screenshot shows progress in the Galit & Dina locations area.

Lost one Bardehlass APC to long range Ramses 2 fire. Everybody made it out ok. Only the APC was destroyed.

Laying down smoke for cover.
25 Egyptian vehicles burning at this point.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Turn 35

Screenshot shows 226th Armored rushing through smoke screens.

Aproaching central intersection zone from the north.

Sapper elements have lagged behind the main attack body.


Over and out.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Turn 38

A couple turns ago I lost some of a mech squad to mines, so I had to bring the Sappers up. Not that far from the objective now.

Some of the force broke off and is coming in from the northwest.

30 Enemy vehicles burning.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Turn 45 Endgame

Took over the crossroads. Lost a few APC's,and some occupants.

Long range Ramses 2 fire from Veronica location prevented me from grabbing a last victory hex to the south.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Skirmisher thanks for your playtesting.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

OK. This is the last version. Thanks to all who commented. Anyone playing this for the first time: READ the Scenario Briefing...My experience in the military has taught me to read brieings well so the mission goes smooth, and my scenarios are like that.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Your welcome,a very good scenario all around.

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

Very nice scenario, I played it 3 times. I think with a shipon and one more sniper in each light kadesh team I could take the crossroads without any help by heavy kadesh.

R

Re: Pillar of Fire
 

thank you. yes I know that with a little ore force that is possible, but that is not the point of the scenario.