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A_B -> AAR for alternative history campaign. (2/3/2002 5:16:00 AM)
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Following is a SitRep (situation report) and AAR from an 'interacitve' campaign i just started. THe interactive part means that battles are generated based on the results of the previous battles - so the person in the role of GameMaster sets up depending on the storyboard and previous results (does your unit need to get pulled out of the line, continue forward to exploit a breakthrough, etc.).
The campaign is alternative history. It assumes the Germans did a little better in Russia than historically, allowing them to put enough resources into N. Africa to push the Brits out of Egypt (taking Malta, Gibraltor as well). The campaign follows a Mech Inf. Combat Btn. from the 1st ArmDiv. This unit offloads at Suez on Dec. 6th, in order to try to stave off total defeat of the Brits in the middle east. The first half dozen battle will take place in Egypt. Following this, US and UK forces will withdraw to Iraq, and campaign up the Euphrates river. How realistic? who cares, really. I just want to play in the desert some more, and i spent a few weeks in Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, so will be able to make some good maps. If anyone wants me to GameMaster this one for them, i can - but only one person. That person will have to commit to Gaming one other. Email me if you're interested.
Sit Rep.
Airfield, Village and Fortified hill secure. All mission objectives accomplished. Light US casualties; 1 tank, 2 rifle squads, 1 half track, several scout teams and vehicles destroyed. Australian casualties were heavier; 3 tanks destroyed, one immobilized, 4 recon vehicles destroyed. They refused to follow US forces in a flanking maneuver, insisting on traveling straight down the road into the German kill zone. No wonder Rommel had been kicking their limy butts.
A company is (will be) securing the village, B company the hilltop fort, and C company will be in reserve in the old tank lager (fortified hill). Australian infantry are deployed around the airfield, with scout screens out to the North and East. Remaining Australian armor is in reserve with C company, prepared to counter German Mobile forces. (note; I’ll stick to this deployment, so if you set up Germans to east or south where I can spot them, I won’t set up ambushes)
Request food, ammo, infantry and Anti Tank support – scouts report vehicle dust trails to the north, east, and west. Unknown whether enemy or friendly forces making the trails – general intel situation very poor. Feel confident on defending airfield from frontal assault, but lack sufficient forces to defend airfield on a wide front. Danger of being surrounded and cut of quite real.
Please Advise
After Action Report
General plan was for A and B companies to flank to the left, behind the british scouts, and C company to flank even further to the south, in case A,B ran into heavy defenses, and to screen their flanks. Ausi’s went up the main road.
Flanking attack worked well. Only light german resistance – several light AT guns – which was easily overcome. A,B companies conducted hasty attack of the village from the south, where they encountered German Pioneers. This is where the half track and one rifle squad were destroyed. A,B companies cleared the village, and then proceeded to clear the hill fort, which was nearly unmanned. At this point, the germans attempted a counter attack, which was easily repulsed with the two tank platoons of A,B companies (the german panzers never made it on the map). C company cleared the tank lager, and then moved onto the airfield. One of C companies rifle squads was ambushed by a mg bunker, and one tank was killed by an 88mm AA gun.
Australian forces were pinned down in a German AT kill zone. They eventually conducted a flanking maneuver to the left, onto the hill with the old tank lager. There, they linked up with C company and cleared the airfield, where they continued to suffer casualties from AT guns (some of which were never spotted).
Note that the weather helped us. There was a heavy wind blowing up the dust, reducing visibility to about 1500 meters. Even at that range, spotting or effectively engaging was difficult (reduced spotting and hitting percentages in the game). This reduced the effectiveness of the german AT guns, especially the 88’s, allowing us to close with and rapidly suppress the enemy with the tanks and halftrack MG’s.
Overall, an good first introduction to combat for the Battalion.
Next Game.
Battle 2 is ready to set up (scenario 101). I converted the end of game ‘saved battle’ as a scenario, took away the german and American forces, leaving the Australian and brit auxilllery forces. I redeployed these (which have their actual casualties still), and cleared some of the dust trails. I left some just for speed, but they are mostly on the roads, which makes sense because HQ and Supply vehicles would be cruising around between battles. The wrecks and bombarded hexes are all from the previous battle. I’ve never done this before, but it worked great.
You can set the next battle as you see fit. A frontal assault will obviously be problematic, since you won’t have room to deploy. The two main choices would be to A) german flanking assault which hits the brits first, or B) Germans move to the south of the map, I’m ordered to break out (which could be a third battle). This airfield will be crucial for the german advance, to set up an advanced airbase.
I won’t get any rebuild points, and whatever support points that would be necessary.
The first battle was pretty easy, which is ok. I do want a variety of easy (which this one was), medium battles, hard, and impossible. In an impossible battle, I won’t try to accomplish the original mission, rather I’ll adjust to the situation (retreating or delaying, whatever). Of course, I won’t know what kind of battle it is, unless I get hints in the op order.
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