DAR: Moscow Region

[RERomine]

US vs. Russia

Mission: Meeting Engagement, Moscow Region, 6/2009 - scattered objectives.

Enemy: Reinforced Battalion - 1-2 Armor Co, 2-3 Mech Infantry Co, 4-6 Artillery Btry, plus SAM, AAA, ATGM, etc. Average force experience, ~70.

Terrain: Map = 100x100. Moderately wooded terrain with 33% of the map having trees and the other 67% composed of clear area, fields and tall grass. The wooded areas are composed of some large clusters and some tree lines. There are a lot of small to moderate sized hills all over the map but none really dominate the terrain and aren’t high enough to allow vision over the trees. There is one stream that extends across the map on the north-south axis. It starts in the top middle of the map extending to the southwest until it reaches my deployment line before turning south, meandering back and forth across my deployment line. There is one East-West road one 50 meters north of the bottom edge of the map. Visibility = 10.

Troops: Battalion sized Task Force - 1 NG Armor Co. (14xM1A2), 3 Mech Infantry Co. (NG Infantry in M113A3 APCs), 3 Artillery Btry (On board, 8xM109A6s and 4xM1129s), 2 SP-SAM sections, 2 SPAA sections, 2 AH-64D attack helos, plus recon, ammo supply and a few other assorted HHC units. Average force experience, ~70 (base 80, but most units are National Guard which is a -10 penalty).

Time: 17 Turns

Analysis

There are two major factors that will impact this battle. The first is the low visibility. Infantry and the APCs will be groping around in the dark, especially my M113A3 relics being used.

The other factor will be the stream. Any vehicle crossing it is at risk of getting mired. There are a few locations were I can deploy units to the east of the stream to avoid that problem. On the northern third of the map, I can use the stream from a defensive perspective. It will slow any enemy units that advance in that sector.

One lesser factor will be the battle duration. There really isn’t a lot of time to take all of the objects. Being that this is an MBT game and most units are quite pricey, it might be better to set up ambushes and score points with kills rather than rush forward and allow the enemy to do the same to me.

There are so many hills on the map that most don’t offer any significant advantage over another short of there being a plethora of covered routes to places. One hill (Hill 1) is attracting my attention, however. It is located in the south central portion of the map just north of a large east-west wooded stretch (South Woods). The woods are over 2,000m long and roughly 250m wide. This could offer a nice covered, yet slow avenue of approach. The hill would work out well as a point covering the flank of the woods, over-watch several objectives a few hundred meters north and it could serve as a possible jumping off point to five objectives to the northeast.

Plan

My plan is very general at this point. I’ve already decided to use one infantry company as a blocking force up north. There is a line of trees that parallels the stream about 500m to the west. I will deploy some infantry in there and in a small section of woods to the south. There is a hill just west of the stream as well. I will get some scouts with night vision up there. Hopefully, they can find a spot that has some decent visibility.

Further south, there are two areas just east of the stream yet still in my deployment zone where the remaining two infantry companies will go. One will advance to the Hill 1 while the other advances through the South Woods. To assist them with their night vision problems while on the move, each will be supported by one tank platoon. From those positions, the infantry will try to determine the enemy’s main line of approach and set up some ambushes. The infantry in the woods will be in a nice position to turn on the road just to the south if the enemy chooses to use it extensively. I will push some scouts out along the road as eyes for my units in the woods.

The reserve will be thin. I will only have the tank company HQ and one platoon. They will be positioned to the south where they could support the either the infantry on the hill or in the woods. If nothing of consequence develops in those areas, they will move up to Hill 1 and with the infantry and the other tank platoon, try to push to the northeast and capture the objectives there.

The overall intent is to rack up points by destroying enemy units. If it appears their force is broken, units advanced in the southern region will push towards objectives in the enemy deployment zone and capture them.

I've attached a map with my basic plan outlined on it.

[RERomine]

Turn 0 (Prep Fire)

Lots of Russian prep fire, but didn't hit anything. It was spooky when the rockets with cluster munition started landing around my tank reserve and artillery positions.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 1

A little more Russian artillery, but anything that was close to the impact zones already bugged out. That includes my armor reserve. Seems crossing the LD was safer for them than staying put.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 2

Five enemy BRDM-2s spotted just east of the stream up north. My holding force is just starting to get into position there. I'm going to move my two gunships up to support in case it is needed.

Two southern columns advancing unopposed to their positions.

Scouts moving east down the road report no contact.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 3

Enemy force in company strength approaching northern holding force. One enemy BRDM-2 destroyed. Five more west of the stream. Two more BRDM-2s and seven BMP-2s on the east side. Gunships are in position to engage next turn.

Friendly force on west slope of Hill 1 and advancing.

Friendly force still advancing east through the South Woods.

Recon on road still reports no activity.

Casualties

Friendly: One casualty.

Enemy: One BRDM-2 destroyed and estimated two casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 4

Additional enemy units approaching the northern holding line. Things are getting hot there very quickly. I engaged the enemy with a few AT teams, destroying a couple BRDM-2s and one BMP-2. I pulled my remaining units behind the tree line in a kind of "reverse slope defense" concept. It worked out pretty well. Four BRDM-2s tried to push through, leaving three destroyed and one immobilized. A quick call for artillery destroyed three BMP-2s that moved to the west side of the stream. My gunships were able to account for a couple more enemy vehicles, but received a bit of infantry SAM fire in return. Finally, in the southern part of this line, another BRDM-2 poked through the woods and was immobilized. For all this, the enemy got one of my M113A3 taxis retreating from the FEBA, one AT team and a few other casualties. Enemy artillery started hitting the south end of the tree line.

Central force still pushing up Hill 1, but one platoon is moving into the gap between Hills 1 and 2 to capture some objectives.

No activity in the South Woods, but I started getting nervous having me tanks taking point. My M113s moved forward. They are in the woods afterall. Thermal imaging can't see through a tree.

Recon on road still reports no activity.

At this point, the whole enemy force seems to be up north. If that is the case, I should be able to push forward from Hill 1 and the South Woods and capture some objectives. The battle is short, so the northern force doesn't have to hold out forever and they seem to be doing just fine right now.

Casualties

Friendly: One M113A3 destroyed, estimated 5 casualties.

Enemy: Six BMP-2s and five BRDM-2s destroyed, estimated 30 enemy casualties.

[Skirmisher]

I like your AAR style alot but you need to fight a stronger enemy force.

Both of these fights was against Russia and one near Moscow!

Both were turkey shooots for you!

[RERomine]

These battles have been part of a campaign so the enemy forces gets larger as my force grows in experience.

There are a few of things that have made these easy. The first is the Russians have not had any air power, fixed wing or rotary during my first three battles. Nothing I set to happen. It's just been the luck of the draw.

Another thing is the technology is close enough that tactics really make a difference. The AI is pretty vanilla when it comes to tactics. In that first battle, the AI came with one mech infantry company with recon before I was even set. Had they followed up with something, tanks, more infantry, anything, life would have been very difficult.

The final thing making these battles easy is visibility. I'm getting the impression that Russia in June is the land of eternal darkness. Counting the battle I haven't started yet, visibility has been 10, 15, 5 and 16. IMO, this give the defending side an advantage if they have ample TI. They all have been "meeting engagements", but I've generally taken up a defensive posture.

Overall, I do agree with you. These have been way too easy. I use to do this on the WinSPWW2 site. During WW2, there tended to be a pretty wide disparity in technology. If I had the edge and usually did (played as the Germans), the AI could blot out the sun with artillery shells and cover the map with it's vast hordes of units. The masses of artillery and the screaming hordes made those battles difficult. I always had ammo problems. Here, I tried to put myself at something of a disadvantage by taking National Guard units with their -10 point hit on experience. Obviously, that hasn't mattered much. I am thinking about changing the percentages some to make the Russian forces stronger across the board. I won't change the "experience" percent, however. Their troops will be more experienced, but their units will just cost more. It kind of balances out.

The main reason I tried the 2009 time period was that thread about how to beat Russia with the US. I expected much more of a challenge than this turned out to be.

[Skirmisher]

Try giving the russians 50-100% more points next time.

That should make it tougher.

[RERomine]

Not sure I can do that with a generated campaign. What the AI takes is based on the cost of my core plus support units. In this case, I used about 22,000 points, so I suspect the AI did the same. The ratio for a "meeting engagement" is 1:1. It varies with other mission types.