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Rake -> Time to Dance - NATO 2.0.11.2 Beta (3/19/2016 11:55:39 PM)
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Not much of an AAR, I just didn’t want to step on Stimpak’s fine Warsaw Pact AAR below…
I haven’t been playing this very long (just over a month) as it took a long time to hear about the game. I just played this scenario for the first time last weekend after loading up this last beta version… I most definitely agree that this is far more deadly than the few earlier versions seemed to be.
So, far, I had only played the tutorial (about a half-dozen times) and one other scenario using earlier versions. I played about an hour of Time to Dance as NATO before quitting, as the AI was steamrolling my poor Blackhorse troopers. I was unable to blow the bridges below Camp Lee with the HMMWV teams as they would retreat almost immediately. T-80’s rolled across the bridges and across the Streu in force before I could get enough firepower to slow them down.
[image][IMG]http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x333/mjt1229/play%20options_zpsayziakpp.jpg[/IMG][/image]
On restart, I used the Recce HQ (Bradleys) to blow the 1615 bridge with the HMMWV’s set to take care of the bridge at Heustreu and the two eastern-most bridges in Bad Neustadt. Blackhorse HQ sped down during the first resolution phase to take care of the remaining southern bridge during the second phase. The Oberstreu (northern) bridge was left intact throughout with a Recce team watching just in case.
Getting the bridges during the first phase was key because it bought just enough time to get reinforcements in. The WP recon element was wiped before they could build a bridge & Eaglehorse M1’s had just enough time to get to the northeast side of Bad Nuestadt and to occupy the ridge to the east of Wollbach before the T-80’s forced the Streu and entered a shooting gallery.
[image][IMG]http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x333/mjt1229/Graveyard%20sm_zps2vzn22pn.jpg[/IMG][/image]
I think the key for NATO is that the visibility stays good until the WP tanks can be whittled down at range and that NATO stays back from the woods southeast of Camp Lee. This terrain is too close to the 1813 and 1615 crossings and it could be a deathtrap if the Soviets force a crossing in strength... the ridge line to the north allows NATO a covered fallback position.
I thought that the AI might attempt to push the BMP’s toward the southern side of Bad Neustadt once they had secured the south bridge, but the tanks had taken such a pounding that it wouldn’t have made much difference. I kept wondering where the infantry was, because I hadn’t seen any sign of the BMP's until the scenario ended.
Two Soviet T-80 companies just disintegrated when they tried to move into Bad Neustadt from the northeast. I think I remembered counting 9 explosions during one NATO fire and 7 more during another. Still, it felt much more realistic than previous times when (at times) it seemed I would lose a tank for every kill when my guys were in good cover and the OPFOR was crossing open ground. Too, the tempo of the WP attach was off a bit; I had time to rest and resupply in between the easterly attack and the drive up from south of Bad Neustadt... I guess that's what happens when you're lucky enough to get a big jump in orders cycle [:D]
This could easily have been a decisive win had the Floggers not hammered me just before the end or had I decided to play on...
[image][IMG]http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x333/mjt1229/TimeToDance_NATO%20EndGame_zpssrekhnln.jpg[/IMG][/image]
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