Russkies in Oklahoma!

[seabolt]

TURN 15

Epoletov had even more than his usual difficulties sending me his last turn. It just would not arrive at my U.S. account. So I gave him my UK e-mail address, and binga banga, no sweat. There it is. Which can make a man speculate ...

Then I got busy on some deadlines so, you know, we're running really late here. We all know it happens. Even SPMBT has to play second fiddle to making money once in a while.

The replay showed the Godfather staying feisty. The troops at the extreme north, just above the urban hexes, kept pressing their attack, and a couple of rifle sections popped up farther north circa hex 92,10. The counterattack along ATGM Alley continued and Epoletov reclaimed VH 110,43. (There's only so much you can do when his cluster rounds have rendered a 500-by-500-meter zone west of the VH uninhabitable for anything larger than a virus ...) The Spetsnatz boys both north and south banged away a bit, though tellingly there wasn't a great deal of z-fire coming out of the dark woods. Then a real surprise as an ATGM fired at a hiding Fox ... from its 10 o' clock at hex 72,57. Uh, hello there. That's my turf and I haven't seen a transport plane get anywhere near there, you sneaky ex-Commies. Apparently I have more trouble lurking somewhere along the eastern shore of the island.

In short, this messy little fight just keeps getting messier.

So, to work. My counterattacking infantry gang-killed a Spetznatz section in the south, and pinned another. That may be all that's left of that landing other than a couple of crews and the inevitable ultraexpensive size-0 units hiding and hoping in the trees. I then had nearly identical results in the north: 1 dead, 1 pinned, and no opfire suggesting that there's much else left up there.

Meanwhile, the Apaches sniffed up and down the east coast like bloodhounds, to no avail. We've already well established that they're not exactly the bee's knees at digging out Epolotov's beloved size 0 sticks-in-the-eye, however. I tried to run one helicopter up north to reinforce the urban battle that's brewing, but a SAM tagged it. I'd love to leave it at that, but then I'd have to cry crocodile tears about losing one of my most valuable pieces. Truth is, Lady Luck decided it was time to make things even. That earlier Apache got dinged without getting fired at. This one bounced a SAM off its side armor. I've never seen that before, even though theoretically SAMs only penetrate 2 points of armor.

That's about it that I can talk about. Epoletov may have more than a rifle company up north; my SAM-charmed Apache will tell me more next turn. His paradrop zones are largely neutralized, but there's a mystery ATGM somewhere the heck out there, and who knows what's with it. And, of course, he still has plenty of cannons; in fact, parts of my half of the map are starting to resemble a lunar landscape. ;-)

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